GEORGE CAMPBELL MORGAN
1863 - 1945
During the early years of
this century Westminster Chapel became known
as the white elephant of Congregationalism.
Many gifted men were approached about the
pulpit vacancy but none appeared interested.
Serious consideration was given to selling
the site and using the proceeds to build smaller
churches away from the centre of London.
Under God's providence, with
the situation at its most critical, Dr George
Campbell Morgan accepted the challenge and
the call to Westminster Chapel. He began his
ministry on the last Sunday of October 1904.
Dr Morgan was a gifted preacher and teacher;
he was a schoolmaster before ordination, with
a tall imposing presence and perfect speaking
voice. He was a Congregationalist by persuasion
and was well-known in England. In the United
States where he had worked closely with D.L
Moody and his son William in their evangelistic
work. His life-long friend, the Rev'd Albert
Swift, came with him as co-pastor.
Dr Morgan was in charge of
the preaching and teaching while Swift supervised
the Sunday School and youth work. A sisterhood
visited the poor and sick. Among those who
remained faithful to the Chapel during the
wilderness year before Dr Morgan's arrival
was Mr Alfred Hewitt and in September 1878
he was appointed full time evangelist. In
March 1881 the Westminster Chapel Mission
opened with Hewitt in charge. Miss Mildred
Cable, a distinguished member of the China
Inland Mission, joined the church early in
Dr Campbell Morgan's ministry.
A Friday night Bible school
was instituted (Friday was chosen because
few other churches had Friday evening meetings)
and it became the forerunner of the present-day
Westminster Chapel School of Theology. The
first edition of the Westminster Record appeared
in January 1905, founded by Dr Morgan and
edited by him and Swift. Tithing for missionary
work began then and has continued ever since.
Albert Swift left the Chapel
in 1907. Dr Morgan continued bravely without
his beloved friend. The First World War (1914-18)
increased Dr Morgan's considerable workload
and after a debilitating illness at the beginning
of 1917. To the dismay of the membership,
Morgan announced his resignation from the
Chapel. When his health revived, he moved
to America - but he was destined to return.
In 1928 Dr Hubert Simpson
assumed the pastorate but he was a sick man,
still suffering from the effects of the First
World War. Dr Simpson's writings reveal a
sensitive man who had been under great stress
as a chaplain to a Guards Brigade in France
and later as chaplain to a war hospital.
Finding the Westminster Chapel
so difficult, he approached Dr Campbell Morgan
who happened to be attending a conference
in England, with a view to his sharing the
Westminster pastorate. In 1933 the new partnership
began but Dr Simpson was soon forced to retire
completely. With the retirement of the pastor
so ended Dr Morgan's formal association with
the Chapel but he continued to minister and
a few years later was formally inducted as
the minister once again.
Dr Morgan was well aware
of the hazards of a second pastorate with
the same fellowship and acknowledged this
at the church meeting. The character of his
second term differed from his first. There
was less emphasis on social activities. This
reflected, in part, the improving conditions
in the area but undoubtedly the main influence
was the changing attitudes within Evangelical
circles. Howard H Rowden of the London Bible
College opens his essay on Dr Morgan's old
friend, Albert Swift, with this telling observation:
'It is one of the minor curiosities of recent
church history that evangelical Protestants,
who provided some of the leading activists
of the 19th Century, had, by the middle of
the 20th Century, gained the reputation of
being socially aloof and even opposed to Christian
involvement in almost any kind of social or
political action'. [Albert Swift: A Social
Gospeller at Westminster Chapel?]
The church buildings were
renovated and enlarging congregations returned.
The wonderful voice, the logical exposition,
sustained the large congregation, but the
physical strain became more noticeable as
the years went by. It was spiritual inspiration
when he asked Dr D Martyn Lloyd-Jones, a young
minister from South Wales, to come to help
him.
Many books and articles have
been written about Dr Morgan's life and ministry.
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