The Elim Pentecostal Church was one of the first Pentecostal church fellowships in the British Isles; it has now expanded to some 35 countries around the world. It was founded in Ireland in 1915 by Welsh-born revivalist George Jeffreys (1889 - 1962). At first an opponent of Pentecostalism, Jeffreys received the baptism of the Holy Spirit and was ordained in 1912. He and his brother Stephen (1876 - 1943) evangelized for the new movement throughout the British Isles. George's revivals were known for the healings that occurred.
In 1915, George and a group of supporters in Ireland founded the Elim Pentecostal Alliance (later Church), and established the first congregation the next year in Belfast.A congregation was started in England in 1921, and the church grew rapidly thanks to Jeffreys's preaching. Though Jeffreys left the church in 1939 in a dispute over church polity, Elim continued to grow, with 500 new congregations by the end of the century.
In the 1920s, the church adopted the four-fold gospel concept of Albert Benjamin SiMPSON,as revised by American evangelist Aimee semple McPherson. The doctrine honored Christ as Savior, Healer, Baptizer in the Spirit, and coming King.
The church became international in 1920, when it sent missionaries to Africa. In 1934, the Jeffreys brothers preached successfully in Switzerland, their efforts leading to the formation of the Eglise Evangélique du Réveil. Today, the Elim Church has affiliated bodies in some 35 countries. Its Bible college, originally founded in 1925, has become part of Nantwich-Regents Theological College, which has accredited status through Manchester University It offers both B.A. and M.A. degrees.
In England, Elim is best known through its lead congregation, Kensington Temple in London. Elim was a founding member of the Pentecostal Churches of the United Kingdom, an alliance of the primary Trinitarian Pentecostal denominations in the country.
See also United Kingdom.
Further reading:
■ E. C. W. Boulton, George Jeffreys: A Ministry of the Miraculous, 1928, rpt. (Ventura, Calif.: Gospel Light Publications, 1999)
■ D. W. Cartwright, The Great Evangelists - The Remarkable Lives of George & Stephen Jeffreys (Basingstoke, U.K.: Marshall Pickering, 1986)
■ W. J. Hollenweger, The Pentecostals (London: SCM, 1972).