FOREWORD

The words of the title of this booklet are not mine but those that were used by an Anglican Minister Rev W H Maddock to describe the impression that the 1934 Liverpool Crusades taken by Edward Jeffreys had made on him, and I do not think that his words were an exaggeration. As one person commented “apart from raising the dead and turning the water into wine, the New Testament miracles were repeated in these meetings. Also on one day in June 1934, 3000 people came to know the Lord, and I think that this one event alone could well be unique in UK history.

When you read the remarkable story of these crusades and the profound effect it had on the lives of many thousands of people in Liverpool, it is perhaps even more remarkable that the details of this historical event are not generally known about today. The congregations of the two remaining Bethel Churches formed from the crusades, Bethel Baptist Church in Bootle, and Bethel Church in Tuebrook are of course familiar with this part of their history, and I have been pleased to have the support of the ministers of both these churches in writing this booklet. I feel that the time has come, however, for this great story to be shared once again not only in Liverpool and Merseyside but also to anybody else who is interested in reading of the wonderful things that God has done.

The Liverpool Crusades impacted not only Liverpool and Merseyside but also eventually other parts of the country and the world. Writing 25 years later about these crusades Edward Jeffreys said that they were the greatest in his career as an evangelist and that he had met people in various parts of the world who were either converted or healed through these crusades.

So what is the value of writing about something that happened over 70 years ago? The answer is I believe as follows-:

a) Because this was one of the greatest moves of God in the city and is very much part of Liverpool’s Christian heritage.

b) It is a good thing to remind ourselves of what God has done in the past just like the people of Israel used to tell their children of God’s miraculous deeds of their past.

c) To encourage faith and expectancy for the future i.e. if God has done this in the past he can certainly do it again.

I have heard of so many different things about the Edward Jeffreys crusades since I became a Christian many years ago. Then a few years ago my wife and I were visiting some friends of ours in Wales, Mary and Henry Walker and whilst there, when they were showing some of their wedding photos, a souvenir edition of the 25th Anniversary of the Liverpool Crusades fell out. What I did not know was that Mary was the granddaughter of one of the outstanding converts of the Bootle crusade, Mrs Medlicott, who is mentioned later on. From reading this came a fascination about the crusades and more recently an increasing desire on my part to write this booklet.

Was this really a revival? Some may argue that it was not, in the accepted sense of the word, but at the time that was certainly how it was seen by a number of God’s people. In any case the question is an academic one. What really matters is that this was an extraordinary outpouring of God’s power that stirred this city in a way that had probably not been seen before or since.



G R Green

April 2005