The Elim Pentecostal Church is a UK-based

Pentecostal Pentecostalism or classical Pentecostalism is a Protestant Charismatic Christian movement

Christian denomination A Christian denomination is a distinct religious body within Christianity that comprises all church congregations of the same kind, identifiable by traits such as a name, particular history, organization, leadership, theological doctrine, worsh ...

History

George Jeffreys (1889–1962), a Welshman, founded the ''Elim Pentecostal Church'' in

Monaghan Monaghan ( ; ) is the county town of County Monaghan, Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It also provides the name of its Civil parishes in Ireland, civil parish and Monaghan (barony), barony. The population of the town as of the 2016 census was 7 ...

, Ireland in 1915. Jeffreys was an

evangelist Evangelist may refer to: Religion * Four Evangelists, the authors of the canonical Christian Gospels * Evangelism, publicly preaching the Gospel with the intention of spreading the teachings of Jesus Christ * Evangelist (Anglican Church), a c ...

with a Welsh

Congregational church Congregational churches (also Congregationalist churches or Congregationalism) are Protestant churches in the Calvinist tradition practising congregationalist church governance, in which each congregation independently and autonomously runs its ...

background. He was converted at age 15 during the Welsh Revival of 1904. Alexander A. Boddy, Vicar of All Saints,

Monkwearmouth Monkwearmouth is an area of Sunderland, Tyne and Wear in North East England. Monkwearmouth is located at the north side of the mouth of the River Wear. It was one of the three original settlements on the banks of the River Wear along with Bish ...

, Sunderland invited him to preach at his International Pentecostal Convention in Sunderland in May 1913. Between 1915 and 1934, Jeffreys was extremely active as a revivalist, and preached to large crowds throughout the United Kingdom. The church was brought together, first as the Elim Evangelistic Band, but this was changed to Elim Foursquare Gospel Alliance when the Deed Poll was registered in April 1934. The name 'Elim' was taken from the account in the

Book of Exodus The Book of Exodus (from grc, Ἔξοδος, translit=Éxodos; he, שְׁמוֹת ''Šəmōṯ'', "Names") is the second book of the Bible. It narrates the story of the Exodus, in which the Israelites leave slavery in Biblical Egypt through t ...

, chapter 15, verse 27, where the

Israelites The Israelites (; , , ) were a group of Semitic-speaking tribes in the ancient Near East who, during the Iron Age, inhabited a part of Canaan. The earliest recorded evidence of a people by the name of Israel appears in the Merneptah Stele o ...

, leaving the bondage of Egypt under the leadership of

Moses Moses hbo, מֹשֶׁה, Mōše; also known as Moshe or Moshe Rabbeinu (Mishnaic Hebrew: מֹשֶׁה רַבֵּינוּ, ); syr, ܡܘܫܐ, Mūše; ar, موسى, Mūsā; grc, Mωϋσῆς, Mōÿsēs () is considered the most important pro ...

, found an oasis called Elim: "Then they came to Elim, where there were twelve wells of water and seventy palm trees; so they camped there by the waters." This represented a place of refreshing and it was thought appropriate for a revival movement at that time. Differences of opinion over Jeffreys' open espousal of British Israelism and disputes on church governance led Jeffreys to withdraw from the Elim Pentecostal Church in 1939 and to form the Bible-Pattern Church Fellowship in

Nottingham Nottingham ( , East Midlands English, locally ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, city and Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area in Nottinghamshire, East Midlands, England. It is located north-west of London, south-east ...

, which founded other churches throughout England until the 1960s, but that now only continues as a small fellowship. The presidency of Elim then passed to George Kingston, a wealthy businessman who had founded many of the Elim congregations in

Essex Essex () is a county in the East of England. One of the home counties, it borders Suffolk and Cambridgeshire to the north, the North Sea to the east, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent across the estuary of the River Thames to the south, and G ...

. On the night of 23 June 1978, eight British

missionaries A missionary is a member of a religious group which is sent into an area in order to promote its faith or provide services to people, such as education, literacy, social justice, health care, and economic development.Thomas Hale 'On Being a Mi ...

and four young children (including a three-week-old baby) connected with the Elim mission in

Rhodesia Rhodesia (, ), officially from 1970 the Republic of Rhodesia, was an unrecognised state in Southern Africa from 1965 to 1979, equivalent in territory to modern Zimbabwe. Rhodesia was the ''de facto'' successor state to the British colony of S ...

(now Zimbabwe) were bayoneted to death by guerrilla fighters in the

Vumba massacre The Vumba massacre (also known as the Elim Mission massacre) was a massacre of eight British missionaries and four children committed by ZANLA guerrillas during the Rhodesian Bush War on 23 June 1978. The missionaries belonged to the Elim Penteco ...

. Most of the women were

rape Rape is a type of sexual assault usually involving sexual intercourse or other forms of sexual penetration carried out against a person without their consent. The act may be carried out by physical force, coercion, abuse of authority, or ag ...

d. This brutal massacre in the Vumba and the ministry of Elim in Zimbabwe was commemorated in the 2017 book ''The Axe and the Tree'' by Stephen Griffiths.

Doctrine

Elim Pentecostal beliefs include: the Bible as divinely inspired; the three in one as the Godhead; the virgin birth of

Jesus Jesus, likely from he, יֵשׁוּעַ, translit=Yēšūaʿ, label=Hebrew/Aramaic ( AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ or Jesus of Nazareth (among other names and titles), was a first-century Jewish preacher and religious ...

Christ and his complete humanity and sinless life,

substitutionary atonement Substitutionary atonement, also called vicarious atonement, is a central concept within Christian theology which asserts that Jesus died "for us", as propagated by the Western classic and objective paradigms of atonement in Christianity, which ...

, bodily resurrection, heavenly intercession, the

second coming of Jesus The Second Coming (sometimes called the Second Advent or the Parousia) is a Christian (as well as Islamic and Baha'i) belief that Jesus will return again after his ascension to heaven about two thousand years ago. The idea is based on mess ...

; the universal sinfulness of mankind; the work of the

Holy Spirit In Judaism, the Holy Spirit is the divine force, quality, and influence of God over the Universe or over his creatures. In Nicene Christianity, the Holy Spirit or Holy Ghost is the third person of the Trinity. In Islam, the Holy Spirit acts as ...

in conviction, repentance, regeneration and sanctification according to Acts 2:38; the

baptism of the Holy Spirit In Christian theology, baptism with the Holy Spirit, also called baptism in the Holy Spirit or baptism in the Holy Ghost, has been interpreted by different Christian denominations and traditions in a variety of ways due to differences in the doc ...

"with signs following"; that salvation is received by

faith alone ''Justificatio sola fide'' (or simply ''sola fide''), meaning justification by faith alone, is a soteriological doctrine in Christian theology commonly held to distinguish the Lutheran and Reformed traditions of Protestantism, among others, fr ...

and evidenced by the fruit of the Spirit. The baptism of believers by

immersion Immersion may refer to: The arts * "Immersion", a 2012 story by Aliette de Bodard * ''Immersion'', a French comic book series by Léo Quievreux#Immersion, Léo Quievreux * Immersion (album), ''Immersion'' (album), the third album by Australian gro ...

and Communion are held to be ordinances.

Organization

Elim represents a global network of 647 churches in the UK and Ireland, and 4,143 Elim or Elim affiliated churches overseas, with a weekly attendance of about 50,000 in the UK and 319,000 overseas, operating in some 50 countries worldwide.

Kensington Temple Kensington Temple is a Pentecostal Church in the Notting Hill area of London, England. It is pastored by Reverend Mark Ryan, and is the largest church in its denomination, the Elim Pentecostal Church. History The present church building was foun ...

in London is the largest church in the denomination. Elim missions exist in 35 countries with hospitals, orphanages, and schools. The church operates

Regents Theological College Regents Theological College is a theological college in Malvern, Worcestershire, England. It is the training centre of the Elim Pentecostal Church. First called Elim Bible College, it was founded in 1925 by the evangelist George Jeffreys, also ...

Malvern, Worcestershire Malvern is a spa town and civil parish in Worcestershire, England. It lies at the foot of the Malvern Hills, a designated Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. The centre of Malvern, Great Malvern, is a historic conservation area, which grew dr ...

, where the movement's headquarters are also based. The authority of governance of the church is rested in the annual conference. Guidance of the denomination is placed in the National Leadership Team and the General Superintendent between sessions. Chris Cartwright has served as General Superintendent since 2016, superseding John Glass. Elim headquarters is in Malvern, alongside its Bible College. Elim became a founding member of the Pentecostal Churches of the United Kingdom in 1998. It has been a member of the

Evangelical Alliance The Evangelical Alliance (EA) is a national evangelical alliance, member of the World Evangelical Alliance. Founded in 1846, the activities of the Evangelical Alliance aim to promote evangelical Christian beliefs in government, media and socie ...

for many years. Though the local congregations are commonly and popularly known as ''Elim Pentecostal Churches'', the legal name of the denomination is still ''Elim Foursquare Gospel Alliance'', which is based on the church's stand for four fundamental claims – "Jesus Christ as the Saviour, Healer, Baptiser in the Holy Spirit, and Coming King."

Hymnal

The standard hymnal of the Elim Church was the ''

Redemption Hymnal The ''Redemption Hymnal'' is a red-covered hymnbook containing 800 evangelical hymns, first published by the Elim Publishing House in London, in 1951. The hymnal was compiled by a committee of leaders from the three main Pentecostal denominations ...

''. Today however, the music and worship is mainly modern and contemporary worship songs with some traditional hymns alongside. Now Elim has its own Worship Department writing songs and training worship teams called "Elim Sound".

Churches

* Myrtle House, in Llanelli, Wales

History

Doctrine

Organization

Hymnal

Churches

References

External links