W B Forsyth 100 years - a lifetime of ministry

It is 1932 and we are in the North East of Brazil. A young missionary is facing a very hostile crowd which has been summoned by the Roman Catholic priest to stop him preaching.

The priest calls out: ‘What bishop ordained the preacher?’ The firm reply comes back: ‘The Lord Jesus Christ who said, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel”, it was the Lord Jesus Christ who ordained me’. This is provocation enough for the priest and the stones begin to fly in response, forcing the missionary, together with his Brazilian colleagues, to leave town.

William Bannister (Ban) Forsyth was that young missionary. Born on July 30 1906, he had been in Brazil for just four years, but he was to remain there another 42, faithfully preaching the gospel. Called to missionary service quite dramatically while singing a hymn during an evening service in February 1925 (he did not know the Lord at the time and only came to saving faith several months later!), he completed two years of training at the Bible Training Institute in Glasgow.

One of his lecturers was D.M. McIntyre, so he is perhaps our closest link to Scottish worthies Andrew Bonar (who was McIntyre’s father-in-law) and Robert Murray M’Cheyne. After this he did a further year at the Missionary School of Medicine.

Off to Brazil

Ban Forsyth was accepted for service by the Evangelical Union of South America (now Latin Link)and arrived in Recife, Brazil, on October 3 1928. After language study he married Edith Paton and together they worked over a huge area of the arid north east region during which the incident at the beginning of this article took place. Many speak with great affection of his time there: his tireless visiting remote churches and mission stations (on horseback), his impassioned preaching (sometimes five times every Sunday — he once said, without boasting, that he never got messages muddled up) and his deep commitment to expository preaching of the Bible.

Training others

In 1933 he began what would become his ministry for the rest of his time in Brazil, that of training Brazilian men and women for the work of the gospel. Ban and Edith worked in the North East for 11 years, before moving to Anapolis in 1944 on account of Edith’s poor health. Anapolis was the location for both the Evangelical Hospital of Goias and the Biblical Seminary, so they remained there until 1957 when Edith was so ill that a return to the UK was unavoidable.

Two bereavements

Edith Forsyth died in 1958 in the UK and one year later Ban Forsyth married Mary Hamilton, a great friend of Edith’s and a nurse at the Anapolis Hospital. They returned to Brazil, to the city of Sao Paulo, and once again the training ministry was the main focus, in addition to pastoral work in a local church. It was about this time that Ban Forsyth carried out one of his most important ministries within the EUSA. It had become clear that the direction of the mission should pass from a London Board to an International Council formed by the leaders of the various fields — Argentina, Brazil and Peru. The person to lead this forward was Ban Forsyth, who paved the way for a peaceful transition and to a system which has lasted, basically, to the present day (although the fields now include the original three plus Bolivia, Ecuador and Costa Rica). Tragically, it was on a journey in Peru on behalf of the new leadership that the Forsyths were involved in a road accident in which Mary died. Once again he had lost a faithful partner and after just five years of marriage.

First retirement

In 1965 Ban married his secretary, Brenda Wayling, and they have been together now for 41 years. They then moved to Rio de Janeiro, continuing as Inter-Field Secretary until Robert Grant was elected the first International Secretary of the EUSA. This freed up Ban to return to his beloved teaching ministry and he pastored a church on the outskirts of Rio, together with teaching in the Bible Seminary of Rio de Janeiro. They returned to the UK to retire in 1974 after doctors diagnosed that the Ban had cancer, but once in the UK the doctors found no trace of the disease!

Pastorate

It might be imagined that retirement would take the form of a well-earned rest, but Ban Forsyth never had this in mind. Taking the pastorate of a struggling church in Wiveliscombe, Somerset, which had just a dozen or so regulars, he proceeded to reinstate regular services and Bible studies, bring back disaffected members and oversee the amalgamation with another evangelical church in the village. After eight years he retired again, but remained in post as overseer until a new pastor was found in 1984, by which time there were 30 members and a congregation that spanned all age groups.

His ministry thereafter consisted of quiet and gracious encouragement (without interfering!) to a young pastor — in reality, an extension of his training ministry! — and preaching regularly until he was well into his 90s. In 1999, while still preaching at the age of 93, he wrote to his grandson: ‘74 years have passed. I have preached the gospel literally thousands of times, and yet it is as fresh, if more mature, as it was when I first believed. Christ-centred, Bible-based, inexhaustible, life-giving.’

Centenarian

On July 30, Ban Forsyth celebrated his 100th birthday. A celebration was held for the occasion at the Wiveliscombe Congregational Church, with family, friends and former colleagues joining him from all over the world, to give thanks for the life and work of a dedicated servant of God. It is, of course, impossible to summarise 100 years adequately, so just two points will have to suffice.

Godly character

Firstly, not that he will admit this, Ban Forsyth’s life and character has always reflected the Lord Jesus. He has already said he wants no more to be said about him than ‘A sinner, saved by grace’. Jesus Christ remains his focus and he has no higher aim than to see the Lord Jesus honoured.

Surprising fruit

Secondly, a lifetime of ministry bears surprising fruit over the years. If we go back to 1932 we will find among the crowd a young man unexpectedly unnerved by the day’s events. Even as he is pelting the missionaries, questions have arisen in his mind: Why have these people come? What is it about their message that makes it worth risking injury to get it across? He thus begins a search for answers, finds faith and himself becomes a preacher of the gospel. How do we know this? Fast forward 42 years and this same man heard that the preacher he had once attacked is in town, taking one last service before leaving Brazil for retirement, so he went to meet him and told him that one day’s seemingly useless work had not been in vain. In a lifetime of ministry there will be many more such stories that will not be seen until we reach heaven and see what the Lord has done.

W B Forsyth 100 years - a lifetime of ministry

Off to Brazil

Training others

Two bereavements

First retirement

Pastorate

Centenarian

Godly character

Surprising fruit

To God be the glory!

Roy Dumphreys & Ian Rees

Main Articles

Other articles