Rev.John Llyod Dorsey
A humble servant of God from USA
By Job Anbalagan
Rev.John Llyod Dorsey was born in Blacksburg, South Carolina, USA on 22-11-1924 and left this
world to be with Jesus on 17-9-2002 in New Delhi, India. He was a member of the Presbyterian
denomination. Hearing the call of God, he came to India in 1947and served his Master faithfully
till his last breath for 55 years in India. He was one of the few missionaries who had opted
to stay in India, notwithstanding the fierce opposition to them in this country. God had not blessed
the Dorsey couple with any child because, probably, God wanted this couple to treat
the children in India as their own. He and his wife founded a Christian School, called Faith Academy
in New Delhi in 1964, which grew into an elite Christian educational institute, over the years,
by dint of his hard and tireless
work.
Rev.Dorsey lived a life, which was simpler than a middle class Indian. He did
not own a car
for his personal use and used to visit the nearly areas in the slum colonies and in the neighbourhood only on his bicycle.
He preached the gospel to the poor and used to conduct regular bible classes for the post graduate students of a famous
Government research institute in Delhi, who were
mostly Hindu students.
He was a man of prayers, and was a great source of strength and of comfort to
those who were in tears. He had never sought after
the pulpits of big churches but was preaching sermons in house churches, fellowship meetings, etc. He had not hankered for any
position in the Christian world but was silently doing the
will of God in his life.
Many students of Faith Academy belonging to other religions were touched by his
simple life of devotion and of discipline.
When the health of his dear wife deteriorated, he sent her home in 1991, and
chose to remain in India to carry on God’s work. He
sacrificed everything at the altar of God. Normally, a couple in their advanced age would not like to part with each other.
Rev.Dorsey died of a massive heart attack on 18-9-2002, following a surgery on his leg in Delhi. At the time of his death, Mrs.Dorsey
was not here. Due to her ill health, she could not reach Delhi for the funeral service of her beloved husband. Dorsey was conscious of
his home call on the deathbed and spent his last hours in prayers and in hearing the Word. On the deathbed, he expressed
his desire to the people around him that he should be buried in a burial ground in Delhi which is meant for the poor Christians.
His desire was fulfilled.
During his memorial service on 21-9-2002, many testified that he was a true
servant of God and disciple of Christ Jesus.
In this connection, I want to share my personal testimony about this great
servant of God. On 24-12-1997, a day before Christmas,
my beloved mother slept in the Lord. Since it fell on a day preceding Christmas, the pastor of my own church, due to his preoccupation
with the Christmas celebrations, could not attend the funeral service at the War Cemetery, Delhi. But Rev.Dorsey was there,
to our great surprise. He did not know my mother personally. He came there to comfort us and to pray for us.
This incident
is evergreen in my memory.
These days, there are ministers of God in our midst who perform signs and
wonders in Jesus’ Name and who love to preach in big
churches and in big evangelistic crusades. But hardly we find any servant of God like Dorsey who had left the luxury and comfort of his
own nation to serve God in another nation where there are extreme climates, opposition to the glorious gospel, and a dearth of comforts
and luxuries.
Through the life of Dorsey, the Lord showed the insufficiency in my life to
serve Him. On the memorial service, I rededicated
my life to His service in the footsteps of Rev.Dorsey.
The Holy Spirit exhorts us to follow the footsteps of this great servant of God and to bring the revival fire to our
churches through his life and ministry.