Tributes to Dr. Lloyd-Jones

Memorial Service - 6th April 1981

Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones - The Latter Years

This historical address, delivered by Iain Murray a few months after the death of Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones in 1981, reflects on the life and legacy of this great preacher of the gospel. Mr. Murray, a close friend of Dr. Lloyd-Jones and his official biographer, shares personal memories and insights from the final months of Dr. Lloyd-Jones's life. He emphasizes Dr. Lloyd-Jones' deep faith, his preparation for death, and his lifelong commitment to biblical truth. Mr. Murray recounts how Dr. Lloyd-Jones viewed his declining health as an opportunity to prepare spiritually for eternity, rather than lamenting his inability to preach. He highlights Dr. Lloyd-Jones's continued devotion to Scripture reading, prayer, and theological reflection even as his health failed. The address provides glimpses into Dr. Lloyd-Jones's thoughts on death, the sovereignty of God, and the importance of ministers being well-prepared to feed their congregations spiritually. It also touches on key moments in Dr. Lloyd-Jones' life and ministry, including his conversion, call to ministry, and influential tenure at Westminster Chapel in London. Throughout, Mr. Murray emphasizes Dr. Lloyd-Jones's unwavering trust in God's providence and his desire to face death with Christian testimony. The sermon serves as both a tribute to Dr. Lloyd-Jones and an exhortation to other ministers to follow his example of faith, diligence in study, and focus on eternal realities. It provides a deeply personal and moving portrait of one of the 20th century's most significant preachers in his final days.

Elizabeth Catherwood Interview

In this rare and deeply personal interview, Elizabeth Catherwood — eldest daughter of Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones — draws back the curtain on the private world of one of the twentieth century's most significant preachers. Far from the thunderous platform of Westminster Chapel, she reveals a father who was quiet, warm, and genuinely invested in the lives of those around him: a man who secured a cigarette card bearing Norma Shearer for his seven-year-old daughter, watched sumo wrestling with his grandson to earn the right to be heard, and argued passionately with his own son-in-law that a young girl's soul mattered more than a rigid observance of Sunday routine. What emerges is not a diminished portrait of a great man, but a fuller and more luminous one. <br/><br/> Elizabeth also speaks with great tenderness and candour about her mother, Bethan Lloyd-Jones — the strong, competent, and quietly indispensable partner who declared that her life's calling was to keep her husband in the pulpit. Together, the picture they paint is of a home governed not by religious formality but by living faith — evening prayers that sparked conversation, an open door at Christmas for the lonely and the displaced, and a Sunday at Aberavon when the presence of God in the evening evangelistic services was something even a small child could feel. This is a conversation about what faithful Christianity looks like when no one is watching.

Tribute to Dr. Lloyd-Jones by Fred Catherwood

In this moving tribute, Sir Fred Catherwood shares personal memories and insights from his 28-year relationship with Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones, first as a member of his congregation, then as his son-in-law. With warmth and reverence, Catherwood reveals the lesser-known dimensions of the renowned preacher's character—his intellectual brilliance as a theological teacher, his warm family relationships, his generosity of time and resources, and his vision for Christian ministry. Beyond the austere pulpit presence that many knew, Catherwood paints a portrait of a man whose theological depth was matched by genuine human warmth, whose reformed convictions were inseparable from passionate spirituality, and whose diagnostic precision in medicine transferred seamlessly to spiritual matters. This intimate glimpse into Dr. Lloyd-Jones' life and ministry demonstrates how his influence extended far beyond Westminster Chapel into international student movements, personal mentorship relationships, and family life—always characterized by a remarkable gentleness that belied his powerful public persona.

Tribute to Dr. Lloyd-Jones by his eldest daughter, Elizabeth Catherwood

In this tribute to her father, delivered at the Evangelical Library in London, Lady Elizabeth Catherwood fondly recounts Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones's strong affinity to books and reading. She begins by recalling some of her memories of her father, who always had a book in his hand. She recalls a beach holiday, where all her family was playing and enjoying the sun, sand and water in beach attire, but her father was fully clothed in a suit, sitting quietly by a rock reading “The Divine Imperative”. “Everyone took reading as a part of him” she states. Lady Elizabeth then goes on to list some books and aspects of reading that Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones disliked: paperbacks, digest and encyclopedias, over-concentration on “style” in books, agonizing over words, novels, and wrong intention for reading. Next, she lists the positive aspects of Dr. Lloyd-Jones’s reading such as his phenomenal memory, the amazing breadth and depth of his reading, his ability to point out dangers in books, and the variety in his reading (both basic and elaborate). She then expands on Dr. Lloyd-Jones’s favorite genres to read, that being Welsh hymns (as he was "a true Welshman"), church history, biographies, and of course, the Bible. To end her tribute, she speaks on how her father had confidence in his faith on his death bed. He had fought a good fight. He had finished his race.