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Showing posts from March 11, 2021

Visits from the Holy Ghost? Martyn Lloyd-Jones on Word and Spirit in Preaching

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It is very hard to estimate the influence of Martyn Lloyd-Jones (MLJ) on non-conformist Christianity in Wales. Leaving a prominent London medical career to minister in a socially deprived locality among the working classes of Sandfields, Port Talbot, his early ministry stood out as tremendously fruitful at a time when many churches were becoming lifeless under the influence of liberal theologies. Later, as minister of Westminster Chapel in central London, he drew large congregations and many people were helped spiritually through his clear, doctrinal preaching. He became a ‘pastor of pastors’ for a generation of Welsh ministers, inspiring many to make a costly stand and leave denominations which had become increasingly hostile to plain, orthodox Bible teaching. In this sense, his impact was clearly substantial. Still I hesitate, and for this reason. MLJ died 40 years ago this March so I never met him or heard him preach ‘in the flesh’. Through close friendships with older ministers