|
A.A. Boddy (1854-1930) As a young man Alexander Boddy came under the spiritual atmosphere of Keswick (deeper life conference) which was the means to bring him into ministry in the Anglican Church. One of the great influences upon his life at this time was Bishop Lightfoot who was famed for his commentaries; it was Lightfoot who ordained and sent him to Sunderland. Boddy was a very well travelled man, exploring western Canada, Egypt, North Africa, Palestine and Russia. Upon hearing of the Welsh revival of 1904 immediately he went to see. While there he unsuccessfully invited Evan Roberts to Sunderland. All this stirred up fervent continual prayer meetings for a move of God in his church. He was a leading figure of the Pentecostal League, a holiness movement which drew great crowds to its meetings and was strong in Sunderland. Later the leader, Reader Harris would become a strong opponent of the Pentecostals and denounced tongues as satanic. In 1906 Boddy heard of the outpouring in L.A. and when the same took place under Barratt’s ministry in Norway he went to see. Of these few days he says “I stood with Evan Roberts in Tonypandy, but have never witnessed such scenes as those in Norway.” He pleaded with Barratt to come preach in Sunderland which he did, only small numbers gathered and only about 20-30 people were baptised in the Holy Ghost and spoke in tongues. Yet this would be the beginning of a great force in the land. To this very day on the wall of the church are engraved the words ‘September 1907. When the fire of the Lord fell it burnt up all the debt.’ (At this point he was fifty three years old). The year after in 1908 he published his magazine ‘Confidence’ which was the very first Pentecostal paper of its kind. It ran straight through to 1926, 141 issues in all and carried teaching, testimonies and announcements of events. At its peak it was being sent throughout the UK, America, New Zealand, S.Africa, Liberia and India. In its first copy he called for a Whitsuntide conference which would be an annual event until 1914 when the war began. Myerscough and Wigglesworth both received the Holy Ghost at these conferences, in attendance over these few years were men like John and Howard Carter, George Jeffreys, Cecil Polhill and Stanley Frodsham(later to be a leader in the States) to mention a few. There were never great numbers at these gatherings, yet they deeply affected the future leaders of a movement. From here also the PMU was organised in 1909. For these early years Boddy was looked to as the main leader and was able to preserve unity until the other men got established in there various roles. He was never again to hold a public leading role in the movement after the war. He resigned from his church in Sunderland in 1922 and moved to a small pastorate in Durham. No doubt his Anglican stance (especially infant baptism) and his stand against pacifism by Pentecostals during the war would of course have caused the new young leaders to move on without him. His continued input was felt by his publishing of ‘Confidence’ straight through to 1926. Like John Wesley he refused to leave the Anglican Church and had no desire to start a new denomination. He died in 1930 at the age of seventy six. |
|
Copyright © 2008 [www.seeking4truth.com]. All rights reserved .Revised: 05/17/2009 |
