Francis W. Dixon
(1910-1985)
Francis Dixon was born in north London in 1910, and became a Christian in 1929 through the preaching of the Irish evangelist W. P. Nicholson.
Before entering the ministry Francis Dixon spent some years in business in London, and his evenings and weekends became increasingly filled with preaching engagements in many places.
He felt the call of God into the ministry, and from 1940 to 1945 he pastored Hamilton Road Mission in Whitstable, Kent. From 1945-1946 he was Assistant Minister to Alan Redpath at Duke Street Baptist Church, Richmond, London.
In late 1946 he commenced his ministry as Pastor of Lansdowne Baptist Church in Bournemouth and quickly saw the blessing of God as the congregations grew.
Francis Dixon was a gifted evangelist and Bible teacher. He could present the gospel (that is, the good news of the Lord Jesus Christ) in a warm, convincing and compelling manner. Many came to faith in Christ through his preaching.
But he was also an able Bible teacher. He could open up any passage from the Bible and explain it and apply it in a searching, straightforward, down to earth way. His preaching was profound, yet simple, and ordinary people benefited from it. They would come away from the services at Lansdowne having met with God in worship, and having heard a message from the Bible which they could understand. People were fed, encouraged, challenged and comforted in what they heard, and stimulated into a closer personal walk with Jesus Christ.
Printed notes of his weekly Bible Study meetings were produced and soon their circulation exceeded the local congregation to a worldwide mailing list of 40,000. These notes and the outlines were food for hungry Christians in all manner of places and of great help to busy pastors in their own preparation and preaching.
Francis Dixon was a pioneer, and would use whatever means to publish an unchanging message. Lansdowne was among the first to produce recordings of services, and these became known as the "Words of Life" recordings. His Bible studies were produced in braille for the blind. He pioneered a telephone ministry to present a simple daily two-minute message of help and encouragement.
Other ministries included overseas preaching tours, and the Keswick Convention (Cumbria) where he was a regular speaker.
He "retired" to Eastbourne, Sussex, in 1975 where he took up an itinerant ministry until the Lord called him home in January 1985.