Frank Thewlis

Add links
Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Frank Thewlis
Protestant
Christian minister
Spouse
Edna Jukes
​
(m. 1943)​
ChurchMethodist Church of Great Britain
Ordained1945
WritingsThink Again (1978)
Congregations served

Frank Thewlis (13 September 1917 – 31 August 1990) was a British Methodist minister beginning in 1941 and an international conference speaker in the 1950s–1980s. He was born in Huddersfield, Yorkshire.[2] As superintendent of the Brighton Dome Mission Circuit in Brighton between 1967 and 1975, Thewlis preached weekly at the large Brighton Dome Concert Hall in East Sussex, the largest Methodist congregation at the time in the United Kingdom.[1] He was also a frequent guest on "Pause for thought", a religious segment heard on the long-running BBC Radio 2 programme, The Radio 2 Breakfast Show. During a career in the ministry spanning five decades, he preached at the three largest Methodist congregations in the United Kingdom.[3]

Early years

Thewlis was born on 13 September 1917, in

Southport, Lancashire, he first aspired to a career as an architect, before finding himself called to the ministry. A fan of association football, he was assistant secretary with the Southport Football Club before entering college.[2] In 1938, he entered Wesley College, then in Headingley, completing his studies there in 1941.[1][4]

Ministry

Whilst a probationer minister before ordination, Thewlis served as an army chaplain during the Second World War;

superintendent in Huddersfield and then served at the Methodist church in Bradford, which had the largest Methodist congregation in the north of England at the time.[2]

In 1967, Thewlis became minister of Dorset Gardens Methodist Church in Brighton and superintendent of the Brighton Dome Mission Circuit (which merged in later years with the Brighton and Hove Circuit) on the East Sussex coast. In addition to conducting Sunday morning services at Dorset Gardens Methodist Church, he preached weekly on Sunday evenings at the large Brighton Dome Concert Hall to audiences of one thousand to as many as two thousand persons. This was the largest Methodist congregation in the British Isles at the time.[1] He continued there until August 1975.

The Brighton Dome, where Thewlis preached 1967–1975

In 1968, Thewlis participated with other clergy in the 72nd anniversary of the Whitechapel Mission and the start of a fundraising campaign for the construction of its new facilities.[7] His final pastorate before retirement was at Victoria Hall, Sheffield.[3] Aside from his public speaking, Thewlis was known for counselling and encouraging young ministers and being a friend to their families.[1] "He had a tremendous gift for making friends and caring for others", recalled his official obituary published in the Minutes of the Methodist Conference, 1991.[1]

Thewlis wrote the book Think Again, a 1978 compendium of his frequent talks on "Pause for thought", a religious segment heard by millions on the long-running BBC Radio 2 programme, The Radio 2 Breakfast Show.[3][8] In response to criticism of Freemasonry as unchristian, Thewlis urged his fellow Masons, "Try not to feel hurt, don't give way to those who seem determined to turn Methodism into an exclusive minor sect".[9] As a prominent religious leader in Great Britain, he was often asked to comment on current events and issues. In 1979, he urged closer liaison between social workers and lawyers in child-care cases in Sheffield.[10] In the midst of the rioting in English cities in 1981, Thewlis feared that the unrest in Huddersfield might become a race war, saying, "I would make an appeal from the pulpit — but what's the use? It would fall on wrong ears".[11] Thewlis was appointed by Queen Elizabeth II a member of the Order of St John of Jerusalem (MStJ) in 1977.[3][12]

International preaching

Ocean Grove Auditorium
, New Jersey, where Thewlis frequently preached in the 1960s–1980s

Thewlis' gifts as a preacher and evangelist gained him an international reputation as an effective speaker and resulted in frequent guest-speaking engagements throughout Great Britain and beyond, including numerous appearances in the United States between the 1950s and the 1980s.

Yorkshire accent and peppered his sermons with humorous anecdotes, much to the delight of American audiences. Thewlis spoke at a conference in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, in 1954 and was invited back for a return engagement twelve years later in 1966, the event organizers recalling "the lasting impression that grew out of his stirring Christian message" resulting from his previous visit.[13] Thewlis was a favourite speaker at Ocean Grove, New Jersey, in the 1960s–1980s, and exclaimed over the crowds of 3,000 or more who attended his services there.[3][14] He tailored his sermons to address the needs of people, applying the truths of God, reported a local newspaper covering a series of Ocean Grove meetings in 1972.[14] Though he had retired from the pulpit at Victoria Hall, Sheffield, by 1986, Thewlis continued speaking at the weeklong Ocean Grove Campmeeting that year.[15]

Personal life

Thewlis was related to

pocket square (also called a pocket handkerchief) in the chest pocket of his suit jacket when preaching, subtly indicating his Labour Party support.[17]

Thewlis and his wife, Edna (née Jukes), had been teenage sweethearts and married in Southport in 1943.[18] He died at home on 31 August 1990, aged 72.[1]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Minutes of the Methodist Conference, 1991. Methodist Conference Office, Methodist Church of Great Britain. p. 59.
  2. ^ a b c d e "Reverend Frank Thewlis". Outreach. Brighton (Dome Mission) circuit. Summer 1968.
  3. ^
    Newspapers.com.Open access icon
  4. ^ Minutes of the Methodist Conference, 1940. Methodist Conference Office, Methodist Church of Great Britain. p. 157.
  5. ^ "No. 36010". The London Gazette (Supplement). 7 May 1943. p. 2108.
  6. ^ Minutes of the Methodist Conference, 1945. Methodist Conference Office, Methodist Church of Great Britain. p. 19.
  7. ^ Parkes, William. "Things Present ... Things to Come". The Whitechapel Mission Annual Report 1968: 2.
  8. OCLC 16436546
    . Retrieved 3 February 2021.
  9. ISBN 9780880295840
    .
  10. University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
    . 1979. p. 662.
  11. ISBN 9780415176392
    .
  12. ^ "No. 47207". The London Gazette. 26 April 1977. p. 5636.
  13. ^
    Newspapers.com.Open access icon
  14. ^ a b "Evangelists for 103rd 'Camp' Praise Grove's Continuing Spiritual Program" (PDF). The Ocean Grove Times. 31 August 1972. Retrieved 3 February 2021.
  15. ^ "Ocean Grove – Sunday August 3". The Daily Register. Red Bank, New Jersey. 1 August 1986. p. 4.
  16. ISBN 978-0-297-81276-0
    .
  17. ^ Hickman, Michael R. (2007). A story to Tell: 200 years of Methodism in Brighton and Hove. Brighton & Hove Methodist Circuit. p. 138.
  18. ^ "Index entry". FreeBMD. ONS. Retrieved 9 November 2021.
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Frank_Thewlis&oldid=1175041078"