DR ERIC GURR - AN OBITUARY

Dr Eric Gurr died on 3 December. His funeral was conducted by Rev. Paul Bassett at Melbourne Hall, Leicester; where Dr Gurr was the minister from 1963 until he accepted a call to Jarvis Street Baptist Church in Toronto in 1975.

His lifetime work of preaching the gospel began at East Sheen in post-war London, under the guidance of Rev Alan Redpath of Duke Street, Richmond. Strongly influenced by Dr Martyn Lloyd-Jones, he believed fervently in the importance of preaching and he used that gift in the Lord's service for 40 years.

In addition to Toronto and Leicester; Dr Gurr ministered in Great Victoria Street Baptist Church, Belfast, and also in Barking, Hull and Highbury. His widow, Hazel, and his two sons praise God for a life that was demonstrably fruitful in the cause of the gospel.

What follows is an edited extract from the address given at the funeral by his son Andrew.

REFORMED TRUTH

The only child of gracious and loving Christian parents, my father grew up in rural Surrey, where his father was the Superintendent of Pains Hill Chapel, near Oxted. He was converted and baptised there.

In his early 20s he began to preach God's Word. He gave himself to study and to preaching at services and 'rallies' throughout the south of England.

'At the age of 25 he was called to be pastor of East Sheen Baptist Church in SW London. This was a daughter church of Duke Street Baptist Church in Richmond, and so my father began his ministry under the wing of Alan Redpath.

He was also closely associated with John Caiger at Gunnersbury, and both these godly men had a substantial influence on him in those formative years.

My father's lifelong love of reformed truth had its origin in consultations with Dr Martyn Lloyd-Jones. He came to believe that in the basic tenets of the reformation embodied in Calvinism, he was dealing with truth manifested in a rigorous and systematic way that would serve him throughout his life.

FRUITFUL YEARS

In 1950, at the age of 3O, he moved to Northern Ireland as pastor of Great Victoria Street Baptist Church, Belfast, a downtown church of some size that was regarded as a 'preaching centre'.

Those years in Ulster were very fruitful. The church was always crowded and special early morning prayer meetings were packed. People were queuing for church doors to be opened long before the services; conversions and baptisms were the rule rather than the exception. God was blessing in a very demonstrative way.

However, his passion for preaching the word was accompanied by a restlessness that was not always easy for his family to understand. He found sleeping difficult, and was often plagued by a lack of self-confidence that would have puzzled those who saw only the pulpit image,

In 1956 a call to Barking Baptist Tabernacle in Metropolitan Essex brought him back to England. He was instrumental in setting up a fraternal among evangelical ministers in the area. This provided the setting for one of his many favourite humorous stories which demonstrates his ability to tell stories against himself.

The Free Church minister attending had tried for a long time to get the vicar to come and, after some arm-twisting, he was persuaded to do so, My father asked him to close in prayer but he said: 'I'd rather not, if you don't mind'. Dad, who felt that a good rapport had been established, said: 'Have you forgotten your prayer book then?' 'It isn't that,' replied the vicar, who was equal to the
situation: 'I just don't want God to know I'm here!'

WESTMINSTER FELLOWSHIP

His time at Trafalgar Street Church in Hull was the shortest of his seven ministries, being three years long. Once again the task of preaching was at the core of his activity but he also made sure that he was aware of the broader issues confronting pastors by regular attendance at the Westminster Fellowship chaired by Dr Lloyd-Jones.

When the call to Melbourne Hall came in 1963 it was clear and persuasive. The size of the congregation and the breadth of the work was something of a quantum leap, but in preaching terms my father felt very much at home.

Many will remember the informal 'Family Firesides' after the Sunday evening service, when he would sit on a table at the front and guide discussion in a manner that was both helpful and enjoyable for all present.

He was a man of study and of prayer. When he retired to his study and was speaking with God, the sound of his pleading could be heard all over the house. The involvement of the whole man in his appointed task, so evident in the pulpit, was also obvious in his private devotions.

TORONTO

The call to Jarvis Street Baptist Church in Toronto came in 1975, when my father was 55, and presented a unique opportunity on a new continent.

Jarvis Street is huge, with a seminary, many staff; and a fleet of buses to service the Sunday school. The Church thoughtfully sent me the tapes of his sermons every week and I listened to them avidly. A consistent impression of a powerful ministry came through.

When his time there came to an end, my parents returned to the UK without an immediate call But he was then called to the pastorate at Highbury, where he ministered until retirement at the age of 65.

For the past 16 years my father declined steadily in health, and in almost every other aspect of life. The love and care that he received from the hand of his church in Melbourne Home is something for which we, as a family, will always thank God.

He had been physically and mentally burned out by the pressures of 40 years of preaching. But however we interpret his final years, we can only glorify God for the achievements of his life.

He must have prepared and preached over 40,000 sermons, and thousands were saved through his ministry. God gave him an ability to speak - and he used it well in the service of the Saviour who loved him.

ANDREW GURR

This obituary is found in the February edition of the Evangelical Times and is used by permission.