W.E.
Sangster
Contributor
William E. Sangster was one of the great British Methodist preachers of the 20th century. He did all he could to hold the Methodist denomination to its Biblical roots during the tumultuous times of religious compromise. He ascended to the pulpit of London's Westminister Central Hall in 1939, just in time to lead his congregants through the terrors of World War II. His great sermon, What If Calamity Comes? deals with those times. His sermons were regularly halted by bombings in the city. Sometimes he preached through them, telling hearers, "Those of a nervous disposition may leave now." During the five years of German bombing, Sangster virtually lived in the great bomb shelter below the church building. In 1949, he was elected leader of the Methodist Conference of Great Britian, ephasizing evangelism and spiritual growth. He was a great student of homeletics, authoring several books on preaching, including The Craft of Sermon Construction. He died in 1960 of progressive muscular atrophy, an incurable neurological disease.
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