The Legacy of Jean Darnall in the Foursquare Church in W.A.

The Foursquare Church in W.A. owes a great deal to the missionary work of Jean and Elmer Darnall here in Western Australia. They served here from 1953 to 1959. This was their first overseas mission, to support and encourage the small Foursquare Church family in Perth at that time.

Jean Darnall with the congregation in Victoria Park WA
Jean Darnall (in cape) with the congregation in Victoria Park WA

During this time they established a church in the Perth suburb of Victoria Park, outreaches to country WA, and a Bible college. Out of that work the Foursquare Church denomination grew to several churches in WA. Much of the leadership for the next 20 years was as a result of the work they did here.

Gospel Lighthouse Church-Victoria Park WA
Gospel Lighthouse Church-Victoria Park WA

A significant event in her ministry and the start of a great revival in WA - written by Graeme Pope.

 

Jean Darnall
Jean Darnall

In 1958 Jean Darnall came to our house at Gordon River initially to visit Perry Hammond's brother, Fred Hammond, who was a farm-hand at Winchcombe at the time. Perry was the choir leader at the Gospel Lighthouse church in Victoria Park.

As inquisitive children do, I followed her into the house and I can still remember clearly to this day as she sat at the table talking about the Lord, mum was the interested one and dad was sitting at the end of the table with his newspaper held up pretending he wasn't listening. The reason mum was interested was because her sister, who she was close to, married a Lutheran and it got her interested and thinking about the spiritual aspect of life. She was ripe for the picking, but dad's miraculous conversion followed days later where it became obvious, he had heard every word Jean Darnall had to say while hiding behind his newspaper.
As many of you may recall his testimony, he stopped the tractor while ploughing a field, knelt beside the tractor sobbing as he gave his heart to the Lord.
From that day on, Will’s farm, money and material things meant absolutely nothing to him, and all his life, he never wavered from that. He and mum gave their entire lives to serve God which impacted on the lives of thousands of people throughout their entire life. What role models our parents were to us.

Anyway, that is where it all began - the Gordon River revival. So, thank you Jean Darnall for taking the time to visit Fred Hammond, her message turned the world upside down at Gordon River. Nothing quite like that has ever happened. How privileged we were to have lived then.

Read another account of these events by Frank Ashton.

 

The growth of missionary outreach in WA

 

A missionary outreach to Papua New Guinea in that time was also supported by the WA Foursquare Church. Since 1959 over twenty-one missionaries from WA have gone to PNG. This outreach has grown into a vibrant Foursquare Church family there that is now sending out missionaries of their own. Mission outreach to Indonesia, Africa and Asia has also come out of the growth in the WA Foursquare Church.

The impact and fruit of the willingness of Jean and Elmer to respond to God’s call to mission in WA continues to this day. Jean Darnall went home to the Lord on January 11th 2019 at the age of 96. Listen to a tribute to Jean Darnall and condolences to her family from Ps. Don Phillips, Ps. Thom Whittaker and Ps. Ruth Redner.

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