I was only a teenager in 1954 when a young American evangelist, Billy Graham, and his team were invited by local churches to come to the UK and conduct an evangelistic crusade in London.
I have a mixture of good memories of the team and their ministry. The ‘song leader’ was Cliff Barrows, and George Beverley Shea, with a rich baritone voice, was the soloist.
Harringay Arena, with a seating capacity of around 11,000, was (I believe) initially booked for a month, but this was extended to 12 weeks as the crowds kept coming. The final meeting was held in Wembley Stadium and had a crowd estimated at 120,000. Other meetings were held in Hyde Park and Trafalgar Square, for example. Billy even had the opportunity to preach before The Queen.
Up to London
I lived down in Thanet, but the crusade was big news there with evangelicals and so we would travel up to London, to both Harringay and Wembley. Inevitably the crusade met with opposition, from within the Christian community and from outside. Some of the criticism was probably valid, but debatable. In fact, many of the secular press turned round to back his ministry. They included regular updates and interviews. On occasion they would summarise his message. Can you imagine the gospel being on the front pages in our country today? I recall that one of the comments by his critics was to acknowledge his humility.
Singing on the Tube
As Londoners returned home from the meetings on the Underground, it was not unusual to hear the carriages echoing with the sound of ‘Blessed Assurance’ and other gospel songs.
What about the impact? I was already a Christian, but the effect of seeing people responding to the appeal to repent and believe is a long-lasting memory. There was a lot of scepticism among some evangelicals about these ‘conversions’, but, in fairness, the team never claimed that – they were ‘enquirers’. However, there were definite conversions in my own family and among young people in my parents’ youth groups. I know that the responses to the gospel were the result of prayer as well as the preaching of God’s Word. Though it was often described as ‘mass evangelism’, it was considerably more personal than that; non-Christian folk attended because they were taken by Christian friends and family.
Many testimonies
For the next couple of decades I remember hearing the testimony of men entering the ministry and of men and women going onto the mission field. It seemed that most of them had come to faith in those meetings.
Billy Graham’s preaching was essentially simple, but a direct challenge, and one felt that the Holy Spirit was truly at work through him. His famous quote was: ‘The Bible says…’. This was his only authority, powerfully declared. God honoured that.
To a young lad whose home church was relatively small, it was a great inspiration and encouragement to see so many who believed the same as I. To sit in the arena and just see how many others shared my faith was a great help. It gave a ‘new’ opportunity for Christian witness and inspired us to evangelism. Oh for such opportunities again – but those days have gone. The Lord has new men and means, but the message is the same. I thank God for Billy, who will surely receive a ‘Well done, faithful servant’.
