History Today: John Pugh

A challenging story of a young man, nurtured in a Christian home, soon drawn into a worldly life but then converted and called to the ministry of the Presbyterian Church of Wales. Ordained in 1872, John Pugh (1846–1907) held pastorates in Tredegar, Pontypridd and Cardiff.Many people were converted through his open-air and church preaching throughout Wales and beyond.

Freed from pastoral duties, he gave himself fully to evangelism and church planting in the industrial areas of Wales where the spiritual and social needs of the people were desperate.

His remarkable success and burden for the work led to the formation of the Forward Movement within the PCW.

He established 48 mission halls / churches where there were many converts; Pugh also established a home for destitute women in Cardiff.

'He preached with one arm clinging around the Cross, and with the other outstretched to snatch souls from the wrath to come'.