Willam Thomas Morris Clewes biography, Consolidation ministry is a vital ministry for the growth of Christianity. It is a process by which the ministry among the new believers gets firmly rooted so that they move forward on to maturity and do not slip back into their old ways. While some missionaries were pioneers of the missionary work, some others watered that work and made sure that it survived. Rev. Willam Thomas Morris Clewes was one of the latter types of missionaries.
Biography:
Birth: 17-10-1891
Home Calling: 30-05-1984
Native Place: Lye
Country : England
Place of Vision: India
Rev. Willam Thomas Morris Clewes (affectionately called ‘Clewes Durai’) was a missionary to India from the London Missionary Society (L.M.S.).
He came to Erode in Tamil Nadu and worked at the mission station that was already established by Rev. A. W. Brough and Rev. H.A. Popley. Accompanied by his wife Edna Jane Baker, he worked hard to progress the mission and the advancement of the Gospel in Erode and surrounding areas.
Willam Thomas Morris Clewes ministry in India
In 1923, there were around 94 schools established through the L.M.S. Instead of opening new ones, Clewes strengthened and consolidated the existing schools. He made sure that schools were not just namesake buildings but benefitted the lives of the locals. He is largely responsible for the progress of education in the diocese of erode and the surrounding region. The education not only changed the blind beliefs of the natives but also cured the spiritual blindness of many.
Along with his wife, Edna, Clewes was instrumental in founding the Erode C.S.I. Hospital. The hospital offers medical services to many people in and around the Erode area, even today. He also established a church at the Pungambadi village, called the C.S.I. Good Samaritan Church, for the people to come together and worship the Lord.
Clewes served the Lord in Erode for around 26 years (1923-1949) without growing weary in serving his people and doing good to them. Like Apollos, who watered the ministry of Paul, Clewes watered and established the works of the previous missionaries in Tamil Nadu.