And They Came to Elim: An Official History of the Elim Pentecostal Movement in the UK

by Maldwyn Jones

The Elim Pentecostal Church has had a phenomenal impact on the UK. This complete and official history, written in two volumes, chronicles its story from 1915 to the present day. This first volume covers the years 1915-1940, introducing Elim’s founder, George Jeffreys, and other prominent leaders, it explores their roots in the Asuza Street and Welsh revivals, and the Sunderland and Keswick conventions. The Movement’s humble beginnings and rapid, evangelistic spread across the UK are charted, along with the accompanying demonstrations of the Spirit’s power that marked it out. Sensitive consideration is also given to the painful division that resulted in Jeffreys leaving Elim in 1940 to establish another denomination. This split, together with the outbreak of World War Two, had a devastating impact but, as the second volume records, Elim’s work was far from done.

366 pages, Kindle Edition

Published May 21, 2021

Reviews

[Paul · Rating 5 out of 5]

Real page turner. A lucid, open and honest appraisal of a movement that within its infancy was able to touch the hearts and transform the lives of so many.

But also brings to the fore an honest and detailed account of the spilt between the founder and the movement.

Looking forward to Part 2

[Adrian]

It must be challenging to write History with a broad perspective, congratulations to Maldwyn on his evident intense research for this book. What do I mean by the overall perspective? It does feel like one is looking at a tree but ignoring the forest. I remember meeting people who had attended the awaking meeting in Birmingham Bingley Hall. When I questioned why they had gone as they seemed unaffected by the awakening, I was told it was warm, entertaining, no money, and cold at home because they had no coal.
Not to detract from those extraordinary historical times, my Mother had her life totally changed by those meetings as a young teen.
I also came across the boring discussion on BI as a local group close to where I lived held that persuasion. They constantly lectured me about the subject; it always seemed like a discussion on deck chair arrangements after the Titanic had hit the iceberg.
I wonder if the writer of this History is perhaps a bit too nice, we always have a perspective, don't we? Even though I know that many people dislike that word perspective preferring to say these are the facts, and maybe they are but seen from your perspective.
Noting that the writer constantly quotes the unpublished History by George Canty, I can not help but wonder why it was prevented from publication. Knowing George Canty very well, having worked closely with him for a long time, I know his perspective would often be somewhat more controversial.
George Canty often wrote for the oft mentioned Evangel. However, I spotted articles in that magazine by one called George Pulford; knowing GC very well, it certainly seemed to me that it was his writing; I took the said article to him and asked, is this you? His response was, it's not my name! However, that magazine sometimes won't take my articles. I also know that he wrote a weekly column for a newspaper under the pseudonym Jack Yorkshire. He also wrote books under that name, the most well known being Jack Yorkshires weekend book, sold prolifically from railway bookstalls. You can still buy a copy on Amazon, but they don't half charge a lot for a very cheap book.
Well done for the history book, but I want to read George Canty's version!

[Stephen · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a thoroughly researched and well put together history of the Elim Penetcostal Church in the UK and Ireland (volume 1). It is not going to be a page turning novel that I will recommend highly - but it is not meant to be that. Rather it does exactly what it claims - documenting the history of this pentecostal denomination. And this is an excellent thing, because such histories have largely been lacking. Donald Gee wrote something in the 1950s, and there are a couple of biographies of the founder of Elim, George Jeffreys. But Jeffreys left Elim in 1940, and those works do, obviously, focus on one person rather than the larger movement.

Pentecostal theology was, according to Donald Gee (and Gee was right), focussed on the second coming of Christ, believing it to be imminent. Perhaps for this reason, few saw the value of writing any history of the movement. Perhaps there were other reasons too, but other than a Ph.D. thesis, I am not aware of any major treatment of the history of this movement up to the point of the split with Jeffreys. Gee says it was over British Israelism. Others suggest the matter was church governance. The truth is it was both, and Maldwyn Jones ably brings the threads together and shows how they were intertwined.

Making careful use of sources, and a well argued synthesis, this book is the best history I have read to date on this subject. Perhaps not of very wide interest - it is a research interest of mine. I'd recommend the book to anyone interested in the history of Elim though.

[Sammy Lawrence · Rating 5 out of 5]

I commend Jones for this grand undertaking. It was easy to read and follow. I felt it extremely thorough. I look forward to reading the second volume when it eventually comes out.