Missions History: Norman Grubb

Oct 21, 2022

Norman Grubb and Archibald Leach were British-born contemporaries who both made their marks on America. Never heard of them? Of course, Archibald changed his name to Cary Grant to befit a Hollywood image. Norman, who kept his prosaic name, labored to make famous the Name Above all Names, and that over six decades on three continents. As an evangelist, writer, and theological teacher, Norman Grubb co-founded two ministries that significantly impacted my own Baby-Boomer generation. 

Successful as a high school athlete, and with an acceptance letter from Cambridge University in hand, Norman was jolted by the question posed by a family friend, “Well, I am sure you have a bright future ahead of you, but does that future include Christ Jesus? Do you belong to Christ?” Norman, the son of a vicar, knew facts about Jesus from Church of England prayers and catechisms. But deep down he knew that, no, he did not belong to Christ. Full of conviction, Norman devoted his life, one that would span 98 years, to his Savior. In fact, two love interests harbored doubts whether there was room in Norman’s heart for a wife as well.  

The outbreak of the First World War abruptly altered young Norman’s career plans. Commissioned as an army officer, Norman was wounded in the knee going “over the top” of the trenches in France. After creating an officers’ fellowship called C.O. for Christ’s Own, Norman brainstormed with other lieutenants how to best reach the enlisted men with the Gospel. He soon learned that these working-class men were much more at ease talking about spiritual matters while on smoke breaks. Thus, Norman distributed cigarettes and took up smoking a pipe himself! 

While convalescing back in England, Norman often prayed and conversed with the hospital chaplain. The Reverend Gilbert Barclay once brought along his wife, Dorothy, a daughter of C.T. Studd, who answered Norman’s many questions about the family’s missionary work in China, where the four Studd daughters had been born. Now ministering in Africa, C.T. had long enjoyed renown throughout England as the cricket athlete who relinquished sports fame for missionary service. Yet, he was unfamiliar to the wounded soldier. That would soon change.

Norman could not get his mind off one of C.T.’s reports from the Congo: “the whole country round seems to be really greedy to hear the Word of God, many are deciding for Christ.” Norman sensed God’s prompting: that is where he is to go also. Immediately, his letter to the Heart of Africa Mission was answered by Mrs. C.T. Studd, who invited Norman to visit the mission HQ in London. And Norman had reason to be in London – King George V was to decorate him with the Military Cross for his valor in France. So it was that the still-hobbled Norman was helped to the ceremony by the youngest Studd daughter, Pauline.

You guessed it! Pauline was the second of the two second-guessing love interests. She had called off the engagement with Norman, but, by reading scripture, overcame her misgivings. The two would be married after all and serve together under C.T. Studd in the Belgian Congo! What could be better than that? 

 

But when to depart? Norman had been re-enrolled at Cambridge in the veteran’s fast track for degree completion. There, he co-established the C.I.C.C.U., a campus ministry affectionately called “Kick-You” for Cambridge Inter-Collegiate Christian Union. Now Oxford, London, and Durham Universities wanted to join in. Norman would make it happen with the first Intervarsity Conference in 1919 (the triennial conference continues to the present, gathering in Indianapolis in December 2022). But in order to do so, he wouldn’t be able to complete his final semester. Norman counted the cost, and confident in his calling and education, degree or no degree, he and Pauline left for the Congo.

 

As it turned out, the lauded C.T. Studd, while beloved by the host culture, proved to be stubborn and contentious with co-workers. Many staff left WEC, or World Evangelization Crusade, the mission’s new name. Norman found himself shuttling back and forth between the U.K. and the Congo running interference for C.T. and a central committee increasingly at odds with the founder. 

Norman and his brother-in-law had to wrest away WEC’s entire records from under the nose of the committee while Norman had legal authority to do so as C.T. still lived and Norman was his designated successor. 

In 1931, when C.T. passed, it was the midst of the Great Depression and seemingly not the time to restart a nearly-bankrupt mission that had suffered numerous defections and whose reputation was in decline. Norman felt the burden of it all, but, through faith and prayer, gave it all over to God and the mission reinvigorated itself and lived up to its new moniker with hundreds of new members proclaiming Christ worldwide. Even World War II didn’t slow down WEC’s growth. 

Norman began writing the first of many biographies, C.T. Studd: Cricketer and Pioneer , followed by many Bible study and theological works. A couple who owned a Christian bookstore could not decide between the store or becoming WEC missionaries. Norman had an idea - both! Nothing supports evangelism like good reading material and the Christian Literature Crusade was born. During the next 50 years, the heyday of print media and Baby Boomers coming of age, new ministries such as Operation Mobilization (OM) and Youth with a Mission (YWAM) made literature distribution a hallmark of their evangelistic tools.

At an age when others contemplate retirement, Norman keenly sensed that the USA was ripe for missions mobilization. So, the 63-year-old, with extended family, moved to Fort Washington, Pennsylvania, to establish WEC-USA. That was 63 years ago and WEC is still going strong today. When visitors behold the 43-room mission HQ, they rightly believe that they have stumbled upon an English castle. That citadel, like Intervarsity Fellowship and the Christian Literature Crusade, is another legacy of the unsung Norman Grubb.


Written by: Douglas Batson

Source: Norman Grubb: Mission Builder by J. & G. Benge, YWAM Publishing 2019.

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