David Martyn Lloyd-Jones was born in Cardiff, December 20, 1899, the second of three boys. In 1906, the family moved nearer its roots in rural Cardiganshire, to Llangeitho, scene of the labours of Daniel Rowland, the eighteenth century’s greatest preacher. In that relatively remote Welsh speaking community, he grew up, a bright boy, though not particularly studious until his teenage years.
It was in many ways idyllic but in January, 1910, the family home burned down. Increasing financial difficulty necessitated moving to a very different scene - London. Without losing the advantages of a Welsh speaking culture, which thrived in London at the time, other vibrant worlds opened to the teenager. Immersed in the religious and cultural life of Charing Cross Calvinistic Methodist Chapel he also enjoyed following political debates at the House of Commons.
A startling discovery
In 1916 he began his medical career at Bart’s. Qualifying in a remarkable three years he went to work for leading physician, Lord Thomas Horder. By 1923 he was chief clinical assistant and began research into endocarditis. The world appeared to be at his feet and many no doubt envied this talented young man. However, it was at this period that he made a startling and discomfiting discovery – he was not a Christian!
It is hard today to grasp how, in the 1920s, there could be so much religion, especially among the Welsh, still affected by the 1904 Revival, yet so little evangelical Christianity. But modernism had ravaged the churches and seeing the hollowness of Liberal religion some ran from it, while others continued with a form of religion, denying its power. Others, like Lloyd-Jones, came under deep conviction and, by God’s grace, were converted. The Doctor’s conversion came over a period of time and was attended with strong conviction that he should abandon his glittering medical career and become a minister.
He preached his first sermon in 1925, at a Mission Hall for down and outs in Poplar, East London.
Calvinistic Methodism was the leading Welsh sect. As the name implies, its roots are in the eighteenth century revival associated with names such as Whitefield, Hywel Harris, William Williams. Having grown up in the denomination and having great sympathy with its evangelical doctrines Lloyd-Jones proceeded to seek to minister in it. He went for interview at their Aberystwyth Theological College but was not drawn there. He was accepted as a ministerial candidate, however, and preached his first sermon for them in Newport. That church was keen to have him but he was drawn rather to a tougher situation further west: Bethlehem, Sandfields, in Aberavon, a Forward Movement church.
This whole period was one of great turmoil as Lloyd-Jones struggled with this decision but an increasing sense of the emptiness of this world and a growing compassion for people in their sins compelled him to preach. God was gracious and helped him in various ways. He had already begun to discover his Calvinistic Methodist heritage. Powicke’s biography of Baxter, republished 1926, led to a discovery of the riches of Puritanism. There were times too when he felt an overwhelming sense of God’s love filling his soul.
Then there was Bethan Phillips, a chapel friend since his arrival in London and a fellow doctor. She became Mrs Lloyd-Jones at the beginning of 1927. What a boon companion she was to be. They were later blessed with two daughters, Elizabeth and Ann.
Sandfields
Aberavon was a working class area. The church, founded as a sort of mission hall, had 146 members but the lack of clear ministry meant many were unconverted. Social activity and politics dominated the thoughts of most. There were to be radical changes in the earlier years as Lloyd-Jones sought to steer the church back on to firm ground. The drama society was closed along with all activities not directly related to God’s Word and prayer. As he opened up individual texts, Christians blossomed again and many, within the church and from outside, were converted. By 1927 there were 165 members; by 1928 – 196; by 1929 – 248. In 1930, 88 were added. Seventy of these were directly ‘From the world’. Such growth was remarkable and Murray’s chapter on it is headed ‘Revival’, a word Lloyd-Jones was reluctant to use. Some of the individuals converted at this time are described in Mrs Lloyd-Jones’s Memories of Sandfields.
From the beginning there was great interest in Lloyd-Jones. His undoubted clinical skills and extraordinary career change guaranteed that. His remarkable success now brought him further attention and he was often asked to preach at weekday and weeknight meetings, which still went on around the country. In 1932 he made his first trip across the Atlantic to preach in Toronto. In 1935, 7,000 heard him on Acts 2:38 in a marquee in Llangeitho and he preached to a packed Albert Hall on behalf of the Bible Testimony Fellowship. On this occasion G Campbell Morgan, minister of the Congregational Church at Westminster Chapel, heard him and invited him to preach.
Eventually Morgan invited him to assist in the work and in 1938 he resigned his Aberavon pastorate and returned to London. His position at Westminster was not formalised for a year owing to the expectation that his own denomination would call him as principal of one of their theological colleges, Aberystwyth or Bala. When this did not materialise, Lloyd-Jones accepted it was God’s will for him to minister at Westminster Chapel – which he did for the next 29 years.
Westminster
Even while still in Wales ministers were coming to him for advice and guidance. Students were also very much helped by a man who had both the intellect and the fervour they so needed. In 1930 he was elected President of Inter-Varsity Fellowship (now UCCF). His wisdom and conservatism gave IVF and IFES a backbone and vigour that they benefit from to this day.
It is his ministry in Westminster that stands out for then he became a great leader and then he preached the sermons later published and still being published today. However, it is in the first 40 years that the foundation was laid. His acute and well trained mind (watchword – ‘Back to first principles’) was a great asset to God’s people in what were very dark and difficult days, when evangelicalism had been decimated by wave after wave of modernism. He found great help too in neglected authors such as Denney, Forsyth, Jonathan Edwards and Warfield, who died in 1921. He discovered Warfield’s works in Toronto. Lloyd-Jones’ clear theological convictions enabled him to successfully resist subtle foes such as ‘Moral rearmament’ and the ‘Neo-orthodoxy’ of Barth and Brunner. By God’s grace he was able to forge a truly Calvinistic, Bible expounding yet experiential, expression of evangelicalism to which we are all indebted to this day.
This summary article originally appeared in an edition of Grace Magazine called Dr Who?
This summary article originally appeared in an edition of Grace Magazine called Dr Who?
