Eryl Davies Autobiography

I have been aware of the retired Welsh pastor and academic Eryl Davies all my Christian life, although I have rarely heard him preach and only met him once (when I was a student in Aber and wanted to subscribe to Foundations which he edited from its inception and for the next 19 years - it ws produced in those days using a plastic binder adn no staples). The story is of growing up a nominal Christian and being non-academic but siuddenly feeling called to the ministry and starting to train.

During the nine years it took he was converted through Vernon Higham and others and went on to pastor a denominational church in Maesteg. Eventually he led the church out of the Welsh Presbyterian denominatio because of its compromised position. They lost the manse and the church building but God provided. After Maesteg he went on to pastor the newly formed and student dominated bilingual church in Bangor, in his native North Wales.

After around 15 years there he became the lead tutor and then principal of a new EMW college that merged wih Barry Bible College (he had completed a PhD in philosophy while a pastor - partly possible because he and his wife Magwen went 13 years without children until a son and daughter were born to them). He served a good long stint there developing the work and supervising some 27 PhDs. He also writes about several trips to Korea and the many books on various topics he has written. Dr Davies is clearly a very spiritual man of great integrity. He is quite mystical but no charismatic.

He now looks after his wife Magwen who is quite unwell. As he reflects on his life, he is very thankful to God and his providence but find the periods of poverty he has known a little hard to accept (though he does). He tells us that Dr Lloyd-Jones was disappointed when he decided to leave the pastorate but came to accept the move. For some reason he wants us to know how, although he did not agree with him on several things, he reached out to Dr R T Kendall when he was in London and the fact that he has seldom consulted Spurgeon's sermons. I suppose the point is that he has been his own man throughout.