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 PrintableVersion Caradoc JonesA forgotten missionaryWelshman in FranceCARADOC JONES Caradoc Jones ministered in one small town in Brittany, a fishing port by the name of Paimpol, between 1920 and 1967; in other words from the age of 45 until 18 months before his death. The Baptist church he built up in that place is today part of the Baptist Federation of France and continues to bear witness to the gospel. The narrative starts with his childhood in Clwyd, takes in the Welsh Revival, Caradoc’s time at Spurgeon’s College, London, and his pastorate in Cardiff before he left for France with a strong sense of personal call. At the outbreak of the second world war, Caradoc refused to leave Paimpol, and he ended up in an internment camp in Vittel in the east of France. His continuing ministry there is vividly recounted. Overall the style is factual and does not communicate much of the way in which Caradoc went about his ministry in Paimpol. Some of the church practices seem rather quaint to us today, as do some of the areas of church discipline — playing tennis was apparently frowned on! But there is an underlying warmth to his character (‘I can still see his grave, sweet face explaining Christ’s great sacrifice’, said a fellow internee) and he showed a practical concern for suffering human beings by setting up an orphanage in Paimpol. How we still need such men of perseverance and conviction in church planting in France. As the book says in its conclusion: ‘The great, finished sacrifice was the basis of everything that Caradoc did. He knew that, because of the finished work of the cross, nothing could prevent the continuing work of the gospel.’ David Brown, © Evangelicals Now - October 2007 |
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