David Pawson

J. David Pawson (born 1930) is a prominent contemporary Bible teacher based in Great Britain. After more than 50 years of Bible teaching, he has become known for sticking closely to the text, accepting its authority while explaining its context. Because he follows the teaching of Scripture where it clashes with delivered (church) tradition, he is often controversial. His personal reputation has remained untouched by scandal, and he is generally respected for his integrity and conviction, even by those who disagree with him. His autobiography even reveals theological disagreements he has had with his own children.

Since his ancestor John Pawson preached with John Wesley in the 18th century, the Pawsons have been farmers, (Methodist) preachers or both. His father, Professor Cecil Pawson, was involved with both. From his childhood days in the north of England David had wanted to be a farmer, but by the time he had completed his studies for a BSc in Agriculture at Durham University, God had shown him clearly that He wanted him in fulltime Christian ministry.

Studying by arrangement with the Methodist church for his M.A. degree in theology at Cambridge University, under the influence of liberal teaching and liberal lecturers, David lost his trust in the Bible and very nearly his faith in God. After a short spell in ministry for the Methodist church, including the pastoring of churches in the Shetland Islands and evangelisation, David regained his trust in the infallibility and inerrancy of the Bible as a chaplain in the Royal Air Force of Great Britain. He had been appointed chaplain for servicemen who did not designate themselves as Anglican or Roman Catholic. These included committed free-church Christians and servicemen who designated themselves atheist or agnostic.

In Britain and Aden, his preprepared topical sermons went down like lead balloons among the young airmen. Exasperated, he started preaching the Bible systematically from start to finish. The results among the servicemen surprised both him and them, and confirmed to him Scripture's inspiration. Since then, David's preaching has either been Bible study or topical studies based on detailed contextual examination of what the Bible says.

On his return to Britain, this caused a problem. Away from the religious tradition of Britain, and studying the Bible on its own terms, Pawson had become convinced that baby baptism, as practised in the methodist ministry, was not scriptural. He had come to the conclusion that the New Testament acknowledged only one type of baptism, believer's baptism. He was therefore unable to practice baby baptism with integrity, though this stance could cost him his home, his income and his pension. After he explained to his young new wife, Enid, that they might lose everything, she replied, 'I want a man who pleases God rather than people.' Such stances on Biblical doctrine above church tradition become a mark of David Pawson's ministry. After appearing before a doctrinal committee of the Methodist church, Pawson was expected to leave the denomination, and did. Within 24 hours, however, he received - and accepted - an invitation from Gold Hill Baptist Church in Buckinghamshire to become pastor there.

Later, as pastor of Guildford Baptist Church (The Millmead Centre), David Pawson established a solid reputation among both evangelicals and charismatics as an effective and balanced expositor of the Bible. From here his teaching tapes - originally made for the church's sick and elderly members - became popular worldwide.

Behind the communist Iron Curtain these tapes struck a chord with the persecuted church. Missionaries and spiritual leaders in far-off corners of the world, without the opportunity to sit under a regular teaching ministry, also drew nourishment from Pawson's preaching. Pawson's teaching and sermons continue to be used by other preachers and church leaders.

Millmead became regarded as a model church by many Christians and, under Pawson's ministry, it became the largest Baptist church in Britain. Every Sunday many pastors from elsewhere sat under David Pawson's preaching, to learn and be encouraged. The church was unusual in that attendance was double the membership number - people regularly came from London to hear Pawson preach. Cliff Richard, who had been baptised by Pawson, was a regular attender.

After being called to a wider preaching ministry, and after returning to duty following a break necessitated by overworking, Pawson left Millmead in 1979 and engaged in an itinerant worldwide Bible teaching ministry, which has been his main work to the present. During this time he has written a number of books (detailed below). He is a frequent speaker in the UK, and his speaking engagements have taken him to many other parts of the world, including Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, The Netherlands, Israel, Southeast Asia and the United States.

David Pawson lives near Basingstoke, Hampshire in southern England with his wife Enid. Despite his age he remains busy with speaking engagements and has annual speaking appointments in Europe and at the Festival of Tabernacles in Israel, where his talks are held in high regard. He also speaks at different venues in Britain on invitation.

He has written a number of books including:

• Truth To Tell - Christianity Explained
• The Normal Christian Birth
• Unlocking The Bible (Omnibus)
• The Road to Hell
• Once Saved Always Saved?
• Jesus Baptises in One Holy Spirit
• Leadership is Male
• When Jesus Returns
• Word and Spirit Together: Uniting Charismatics and Evangelicals
• Where Is Jesus Now and What is He Doing?
• The Challenge of Islam to Christians
• Not as Bad as the Truth (Autobiography)

The steady popularity of Pawson's books is outstripped by his popular video and audio teaching messages available from authorised distributors:

Anchor Recordings in the UK; Goodseed Ministries in the USA; David Pawson Ministries in Australia; Inspirational Media in New Zealand; Truth To Tell Media in South Africa (supplying Pawson's material to the whole of Africa); Ruedi Haefliger for Europe; R Stanley for India and Chung Siew Leng for Southeast Asia. Under the umbrella of the new David Pawson Teaching Trust, David Pawson and the Board of Trustees meet personally with these distributors at biannual conference meetings.

He also appears regularly on various Christian radio and television broadcasting networks. In particular, Pawson's popular Unlocking The Bible DVD series is used among housegroups all over the world.

Teachings

In The Normal Christian Birth, Pawson argued that a biblical initiation into Christianity should involve more than a simple 'prayer of repentance'. Whilst accepting the fundamental basis of salvation by faith, he argued that the Biblical model of a person's "birth" into God's kingdom included aspects which are frequently ignored or forgotten today. He proposed four principal steps: repentance towards God; believing in Jesus, baptism in water and receiving the Holy Spirit. This, according to Pawson, is the biblical pattern for a "normal Christian birth". According to the book itself, "David Pawson advocates a synthesis of the 'liberal' emphasis on repentance, the 'evangelical' on faith, the 'sacramental' on baptism and the 'pentecostal' on the Spirit." This work of Pawson has been influential and is taught at a number of theological seminaries and mission stations.

In Leadership is Male, he teaches that leadership is a role given by God to men. In so doing, he criticises men for not taking proper responsibility in important aspects of family and church life. He argues that modern men too often neglect their social obligations and should return to the Biblical model of manhood. This book's foreword was written by a woman, Elisabeth Elliot.

In The Road to Hell, Pawson is critical of Annihilationism, the teaching that the punishment of hell is not eternal. He teaches that people who go to hell experience eternal suffering. According to the book itself, by "challenging the modern alternatives of liberal 'universalism' and evangelical 'annihilationism', David Pawson presents the traditional concept of endless torment as soundly biblical."

In Unlocking the Bible, Pawson presents a book by book study of the whole Bible. The book is based on Pawson's belief that the Bible should be studied, as it was written, "a book at a time" (certainly not a verse, or even a chapter at a time); and that each book is best understood by learning why it was written. It is based on an arranged series of talks in which he set out the background, purpose, meaning and relevance of each book of the Bible, and was transformed into written form by Andy Peck. The groundwork for this study was laid in the 1960s and '70s, when Pawson took his congregation through nearly half of the Old Testament and all of the New Testament line by line (recordings of those studies are still distributed).

In When Jesus Returns, he critically considers in the light of scripture the major views on eschatology popular in the church today: amillennialism, postmillennialism and the various forms of premillennialism. He holds to a premillennial understanding of the Second Coming but rejects the pre-tribulational and mid-tribulational timing of the rapture, favouring a post-tribulational timing. He argues that the return of the Jews to the Holy Land is a fulfilment of scriptural prophecy and that further prophecies relating to Israel remain to be fulfilled.

In Jesus Baptises in One Holy Spirit, Pawson discusses the evidence for the Baptism in the Holy Spirit as a separate event from believing, repentance and water baptism. He argues that a believer does not receive the indwelling Holy Spirit until s/he is baptized in the Spirit, a distinct experience evidenced by charismatic gifts such as prophecy or tongues. This differs from the evangelical view that the Spirit is automatically received when a person believes, and the Pentecostal view that receiving the indwelling Spirit (at conversion) and receiving the Baptism in the Spirit are two experiences with different purposes.

In Word and Spirit Together: Uniting Charismatics and Evangelicals (a revision of Fourth Wave), Pawson calls for an end to the division between charismatic and Evangelical Christians over the issue of charismatic gifts. He argues that the charismatic gifts are for the church today but that their practice should be built on a solid scriptural basis. He therefore argues that the two groups can and should learn from each other.

External links

The following are authorised distributors of David Pawson's DVDs and CDs (as well as books):

• David Pawson, Anchor Recordings
• Goodseed Ministries, USA
• David Pawson Ministries, Australia
• Inspirational Media, New Zealand
• Truth To Tell Media: - South Africa - and African continent