ELLIS, James John M.Sc., B.D. 1883 -1962

 Born in Wacton, Norfolk, in 1883 son of the manse. he graduated in science and began training in medicine, intending to be a missionary doctor.

However, he heard the call to the Ministry, and on leaving ; Didsbury College, Manchester, he was appointed in 1907 as science master to Findlay ‘ High School, Mannargudi, in the Trichinopoly District of India.

He was gifted and qualified as a teacher and later returned to Mannargudi as Vice-Principal of the school, but he was above everything a passionate evangelist.

He served two years in the Madras District and was then appointed, in 1913, to Dharapuram, where shortly afterwards he baptised the first converts in what was later called the Mass Movement.

Into this work of the Spirit he threw himself with all his dedicated powers, ministering with great effect for thirty-one years in the towns and villages of the Trichinopoly District.

Before he left India his work was acknowledged by the award of the Kaiseri- Hipd Gold Medal.

He returned to England and spent three years in the Birmingham circuit before retiring in 1947 to live at Filey in Yorkshire.

He had an outstanding gift for evangelism through personal friendship, and throughout his ministry gave special attention to young people, during his retirement conducting a class for them in his home.

A quiet, modest man, he never talked about himself, and never spoke critically about others. His life was without ostentation, indeed he asked nothing from it but to know the presence of his Lord.

A man of deep personal devotion, he gained much from his interest in the Methodist Group Fellowship, and to it he gave great spiritual insight and inspiration. His life and ministry have enriched the Church of God at home and overseas.

He died on 8 July 1962, in the seventy-ninth year of his age and the fifty-fifth of his ministry.

©Trustees for Methodist Church Purposes 1962