Sidlow Baxter came to a lively, expectant church, with well-attended Sunday services, 33 active auxiliaries and many overseas missionary links. His 18 years in Edinburgh divide into: (1) the four years from his induction in October 1935 to the outbreak of the Second World War in September 1939; (2) the six war years; and (3) his eight years of post-war ministry.
During the first period, life in Charlotte Chapel continued much as it had during the pastorate of Graham Scroggie. The auxiliaries grew in strength and in effectiveness, the Sunday services filled the building to overflowing, membership rose to its highest ever at 1,123, missionary support increased and the Thursday Bible School flourished. This chapter focuses on developments during Sidlow Baxter’s first four years.
Pulpit ministry
As a preacher, Sidlow Baxter was expository and warmly evangelistic, with a popular appeal. At his first anniversary, he publicly thanked God that there had not been one Sunday in the previous 12 months without some conversions at or after the services. Published sermons rarely do justice to the preacher, but the following transcript from a tape may, if one imagines his slow diction and his broad Lancastrian accent, give the flavour of a typical Scripture reading at the beginning of a Sunday service. The words in italics are the biblical text:
