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 PrintableVersion Rediscovering RoyRoy JoslinUrban saint?REDISCOVERING ROY Roy Joslin is chiefly remembered in evangelical circles for his influential book Urban Harvest, published in the 1970s. That work alerted many to the vast spiritual needs of Britain’s cities and challenged the Christian middle-class tendency to abandon urban areas for suburbs and provinces. That challenge remains as Roy Joslin’s legacy. He died in 2004. What many of his original readers did not know about Roy Joslin was that, while he was writing that book and serving as a pastor in Walworth, he was suffering from Parkinson’s Disease. His long struggle with that affliction, from its early onset in his 30s, and the faith and love which sustained him, is recounted in this book, written and published privately by his widow Valerie. It is an endearing and fascinating story on a number of levels. First of all, in its early chapters it conjures up the atmosphere of post-war Britain. You can almost smell the Brylcream. Secondly, it reveals something of an ordinary pastor’s love and labours for his Saviour, with the huge range of encounters, triumphs and disasters such a ministry includes. Thirdly, it is the poignant chronicle of an energetic and enthusiastic Christian, who, by a bewildering stroke from the God he loved, was rendered weak and often helpless when he so wanted to strike some blows for God. Perhaps, most of all, it displays the love and devotion of a faithful wife, who walked no less difficult a path, watching the painful demise of her husband and caring for him, with all that came to mean, to the bitter end. The book is a testament to one who kept the faith and ran the race. For all these reasons it is instructive and inspirational. Ann Benton,
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