Timothy Alford went home to glory on 6 December 2018.
I first met Timothy when I was a young pastor in the early 1990s and he was the General Secretary of Africa Inland Mission (AIM). Little was I to know then how much of an influence he would have upon me and the work I am now doing at Pastor Training International (PTI).
In the sermon he gave, he spoke from the servant song in Isaiah 42 and how amongst the inheritance the Lord would receive would be the islands. We then learnt of how AIM was seeking to plant churches on a small set of islands off the coast of Africa, not knowing that soon our church would be praying for those peoples and that I too would be visiting those self-same islands to meet some of the first converts.
I was struck by how gracious a man Timothy was, by his humility and by the passion he had for those who might so easily be forgotten or overlooked.
Training overseas pastors
Timothy had been aware of a very important ministry known as Books for Africa – now taken up by PTI’s sister mission Christian Books Worldwide (CBW) – which endeavoured to provide pastors in Africa with some of the literature resources they so desperately needed. However, Timothy had become aware of the many thousands of pastors who have the responsibility of tending the Lord’s flock and faithfully and correctly preaching the Word of God, yet had received no training and preparation for that important role. So PTI was formed to meet the need, and Timothy became one of its first trainers (in Malawi) and a member of its Ministry Board.
Having been in leadership at Salford Evangelical Church in Somerset, the Slade, Plumstead and Bethesda Baptist Church, Felixstowe, he took up the pastorate at Great Victoria Street Baptist Church, Belfast in 1974. Over his ten years there, he got to know the church members through many visits, and many young people were baptised and joined the church which supported a number of missionaries in places including Kenya and the Amazon jungle. In 1984 he moved to East Horsley Evangelical Church in Surrey where he once again proved himself a caring pastor and a zealous evangelist. It was from there that he moved to AIM.
Rachel, one of his five children, said: ‘He is reunited with his dear wife Pansy in the presence of the Saviour, who they both loved.’
