Percy Weston Heward (13 December 1882 – 6 May 1948) was an independent[1] English Christian evangelist, Biblical scholar, author and principal of a "Bible Training College"[2] in London.
[4] He became the leading teacher of a gathering of Christians[5] in Forest Gate, East London, which was in association with a number of other similar assemblies[3] in England.
Later the American missionary S.C. Duce wrote: "He seemed to enter into the very warp and woof of the Scriptures and his deep knowledge of the Hebrew and Greek languages made him an authority on questions of interpretation.
A learned Hebrew Christian in the United States once remarked to the writer that Mr. Heward was the most deeply instructed student of the Scriptures in the original languages he had met on either side of the Atlantic".
[2] "Straight from school he entered into Christian service",[8] began to issue his magazines and then "instituted courses of Bible study amongst men".
[2] "His work of overseeing the B.T.C., and taking a large share of the lectures (others also lectured for the B.T.C., e.g. Mr. Archibald Brown, pastor of East London Tabernacle; Mr. Marcus Bergman, Hebrew Christian worker with the London City Mission; Mr. E. Bendor Samuel, Mr. Bloxsidge, Mr. J. Neil, Mr. Wilkinson of the Mildmay Mission to the Jews), necessitated constant study of Holy Scriptures".
"[8] The work under his direction was characterized by strong evangelistic efforts locally in Forest Gate and beyond,[2] "sound doctrine" followed by godly practice[7] and an increasing literature ministry[11] maintained on a basis of faith.
He remained unmarried to the end of his life and after contracting pneumonia[7] he died suddenly at the age of 65 on 6 May 1948 in London, shortly after returning from his last missionary journey to Germany, where he had stayed for about one month.
Many of his sermons, preached either to the congregation in the "Meeting room" in Forest Gate (East London) or in other places, were transcribed as he spoke and were published as "Typewritten Notes"[17] and are still available.
"The Gospel of the grace of God"[22] was his motive for open-air preaching in various locations in London (e.g. in Jewish streets, Hyde Park) and abroad, for "a quiet word to his fellow passengers in a bus or on the subway",[2] for leaflet distribution on race courses (Epsom, Ascot),[23] and for regular visits to the London docks,[24] to which he held a pass.
[30] Duce wrote about him: "Most of his Gospel preaching and ministry was in England but he also made visits to the countries of Europe in the service of the Lord and he reached the far corners of the earth by his tracts and correspondence.
[7] The more readable magazine from his pen for a wider audience was called Thoughts from the Word of God,[18] published by Heward from 15 August 1898, at the age of 16, until his death in 1948.
He also published an irregular magazine with gospel-related articles, called A Testimony of the Truth, in various languages like French, German, Japanese, Spanish, Portuguese, Dutch, Greek, Yiddish, Russian, Chinese, Italian, Bengali, and Norwegian.