19/12/1909 — 15/08/2005

Some aspects of the work that the Lord carried out through this brother in Brazil.

“I don't want to see you jumping about the street like a clown!” shouted the chief of police, visibly irritated. Mr. Maxwell tried to explain himself, but this was absolutely impossible as the chief just kept on shouting; he wouldn't stop to listen. “You are forbidden to shout and jump about the streets of Guará!“

At that time, in the month of June 1944, Mr. Maxwell was having a series of Gospel meetings in Guará, along with another Scotsman, Mr. Alex Simpson. He wrote in his diary that the meetings with the children were doing well, and that the attention at the open air preaching was also good — until that Wednesday when the local priest complained to his friend, the chief of police, who immediately forbade preaching in the streets.

No doubt many residents in Guará were wondering who this stranger was, and why he was preaching in their streets. I believe the people of Nineveh must have asked the same questions when Jonah came to their city. The same God who told Jonah to leave his country and deliver a message from God to the Ninevites, told this evangelist to leave Scotland and take the message of the Gospel to Brazil. Mr. Maxwell was convinced of this. It was because of this conviction that he was in the police station on that sunny day in 1944.

But who was this Mr. Maxwell? Where did he come from? And why did he come to Brazil?

The story begins in Scotland on the 19th of December 1909 when a boy was born in the district of Shettlestone, Glasgow. He was the third son of William and Jessie Maxwell and received the same name as his father. His parents weren't wealthy in material things, but possessed the greatest of all riches — they knew they were saved and had eternal life through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ alone.

However, they did not belong to any of the religious denominations existing in that country at that time. They were convinced that the God who had given them salvation had also given instructions to guide them in every sphere of their life. Accordingly, they met with other Christians in Shettlestone, whose aim it was to conform to the simple pattern for church gatherings that they saw in the New Testament.

Young William knew the Gospel from childhood, and was saved when he was twelve years old. He himself told of his experience; we transcribe it in his own words, as recorded by his daughter Ana:

I was saved when I was twelve years old, after hearing a gospel message when the preacher read the verse: “My spirit shall not always strive with man” (Gen. 6:3), and as this was the third time that the Lord had convinced me of sin and the need of repentance for salvation I felt, that night, as if it were 'now or never' and so accepted the Lord Jesus Christ as my Saviour.

In all the years since then, I have been unfaithful many times, and I have had days of spiritual weakness, but I have never, never had any doubts about my salvation. I grew up in a happy family, with four brothers and one sister, and with the young people of Shiloh Hall, Glasgow, attending all the meetings and taking more and more part in the activities of the local assembly under the influence of godly elders.

A few of us held open air meetings in the centre of Glasgow, and I was also one of the 'Green Tent Gospel Campers'. We spent our holidays in a green tent, put up in some village or beach camping site, where we not only enjoyed a holiday, but also preached the gospel daily.

I started going out with a childhood friend, Leila Crawford, and even as we courted we talked about our desire to serve the Lord wherever He would show us, with some interest abroad, especially Africa or India. With this in mind Leila decided to take up nursing, feeling that she would be more prepared to serve the Lord. We were married in 1936; I worked as a salesman and we set up our home in a very nice and comfortable flat and continued happily working and helping the brethren in the work at Shiloh Hall, in various activities.

One night as we were walking home from a meeting in the company of an older sister she suddenly turned to us and said: “Willie, I always thought that you would be engaged in the Lord's service”. Her words made a deep impression on me, but I just laughed and said: “I am engaged in the Lord's work”, to which she gravely replied: “You know very well what I mean”. And I did know! That night Leila and I talked earnestly and prayed sincerely, once again putting our lives at the Lord's disposal.

However, instead of the doors opening before us, the very opposite happened, and I became ill with a disease that, at that time, was considered very serious: tuberculosis. What now Lord? Where do we go from here? What about our call to missionary service?

This started a period of intense treatment and I was greatly helped by my wife and her family, actually staying for some months at her parent's farm where the air was purer than in the city. During all this time, we always had in mind that the Lord had called us, and that this was only a passing phase of learning to wait on the Lord and of preparation for service which would certainly open up before us in His time.

Finally the doctor said that I was cured and the doors began to open up once more. One day we heard a missionary giving a report of the Lord's work in Argentina and our hearts were touched, however the way did not open up to that country, although our attention was already being focused on South America. Soon after that we read a book called “Adventures with the Bible in Brazil” written by F. C. Glass, telling of his experience and adventures as a colporteur, distributing and selling Bibles.

Around that same time we also had the privilege of receiving John Murray in our home for a weekend, as the assembly had invited him for some special meetings. This was his first visit back to Scotland, and he was quite weak due to a parasitic intestinal disease. He told us about the work in the interior of the state of Minas Gerais, in Ituiutaba, and of the great need of more workers in that vast land.

Almost at the same time we met Mr. Edward Hollywell who served the Lord in São Paulo, Brazil, and who also influenced us with his enthusiasm for the Lord's work in that vast land, so unknown and to us at that time. We then felt very sure that the Lord was calling us to Brazil. This was a calm and firm conviction that brought peace and inner happiness. During all this time the brethren in Shiloh Hall gave us their full support and prayers.

We began to make the necessary preparations, and after a few months we left Central Station in Glasgow, on the 25th of March of1938 when a large group of Christians (about 200 people) went to bid us farewell. As the train slowly pulled away from the platform our young hearts beat faster, feeling already the loneliness which would be ours for the rest of our lives, but at the same time the courage and strength that the Lord gives, along with the burning desire to take the glorious message of the gospel to those who did not know it. As the train gathered speed the voices of those who sang a hymn faded into the distance until the only sound was that of the train taking us further and further away from our loved ones, and our hearts rose to the Lord in prayer that He would bless us and use us in Brazil.

We sailed from London the next day on the Highland Monarch. While we watched the land slowly disappear, what thoughts filled our hearts! Anxiety, loneliness, wonder and expectation… We found strength in the Lord, however, remembering that He would be with us wherever we went, and what more could we wish for? We arrived in Santos after twenty two days at sea and after stopping at Recife and Salvador where the beauty of the country, which we were already learning to love, warmed our hearts.

On our arrival we were met by Mr. Edward Hollywell and Mr. Frederick Smith with whom we stayed for some months awaiting the Lord's guidance as to the next step. After a short stay in Ituiutaba, in the company of the Murrays, we went to São Joaquim da Barra where we saw souls saved and an assembly established. After the death of Mr. Alex Simpson in 1950 we moved to Uberaba.

Mr. And Mrs. Maxwell stayed in Uberaba until called home to glory. Mrs. Leila Maxwell on the 17 of December 1988 and Mr. William Maxwell on the 15 of August 2005.

Mr. Maxwell in Brazil

After their arrival in Brazil, in April of 1938, Willie and Leila Maxwell stayed in São Paulo for some months seeing about the necessary legal permission to remain in the country, and learning the Portuguese language. Whilst going through these formalities, Mr. Maxwell never forgot the need of sinners, and with joy and enthusiasm he helped the local brethren in the distribution, from house to house, of 5.000 tracts and invitations for people to come to a series of Gospel meetings in that place. They were told later that five people professed to have been saved at those meetings.

In August of that same year they spent three weeks with brother R. D. Jones, in Uberaba, and besides visiting Ituiutaba, in the Triângulo Mineiro, he was also able to visit other places like Conquista, Sacramento and Garimpo. He records in his diary that he was well received by the people in these towns.

The first steps

Seeing the work that was being carried on in such a simple and unpretentious manner in the Triângulo Mineiro, Mr. Maxwell clearly perceived that it was the work he wanted to do. And he lost no time. In October 1938 Mr. and Mrs. Maxwell moved to Ituiutaba, in the Triângulo Mineiro, where they stayed until June 1939.

But this was still a time of preparation. Other doors were opening; other fields were white for harvest, and God was preparing His servant. Shortly before leaving Ituiutaba, he wrote:

We are thinking about the region beyond Frutal. We are considering the possibility of purchasing a trailer to use in that region.

But the evangelist is always searching the horizon, and he thought also about the region of Orlândia, in the state of São Paulo and so, in August he decided to go there and look around.

That day at the end of August 1939 looked like any other day at the Uberaba Railway Station. The train of the Companhia Mogiana was leaving the station for São Paulo. This journey was made every day, but none of the passengers could imagine the importance of the journey on that day!

Only God knew that a servant of His had boarded that train in Uberaba. He had been sent to preach the Gospel 'in the regions beyond'. No doubt the words that he quoted so often were in his thoughts as the train pulled out of the station: “woe is unto me if I preach not the gospel” (I Cor. 9:16). When the train stopped at the station in Orlândia, in the State of São Paulo, Mr. Maxwell got off. He didn't know the town of Orlândia; he knew no-one there, but one thing he was sure of — its inhabitants needed to hear the Gospel.

Many heard it that day, for Mr. Maxwell spent his time there walking around the streets handing out tracts and speaking of the Gospel. Later on he would write that he wasn't very well received in Orlândia. The next day he went to the neighbouring town of São Joaquim da Barra, and the following day he visited Ituverava. The people in São Joaquim seemed better disposed to hear the Word, so he returned there and started to look for a house to rent, and as soon as this was secured, he returned to Uberaba where Mrs. Maxwell awaited him, and on 19 September 1939, the couple with their little daughter Ana moved to the house he had rented in São Joaquim da Barra.

In those days Mr. Maxwell wrote:

The house is in a mess; it will take 10 to 15 days to get it in order and to have meetings. We feel very lonely here; “lost”, not knowing anybody. We want very much to start preaching, but we must have patience. This morning we read in Joshua 17, and this reading cheered and strengthened us. There are strong enemies here, and also in our hearts — unbelief and doubt — but we shall certainly overcome them, for the Lord is with us.

Sowing in São Joaquim da Barra

As soon as the house was ready, Mr. Maxwell began to sow the good seed. He decided to have a Gospel meeting every Sunday in their home. The first meeting was on Sunday, the 6th October 1939. During the week preceding that meeting, he went from door to door along the street where they lived, inviting everyone to come over to their house on Sunday to hear the Gospel. He went down one side of the street and came back on the other, inviting everyone; and he did this also in all the other streets of the town.

The time came for the meeting to start, and he was pleased to see 15 people present for that meeting. They also had a meeting for children and the result was better still — 22 children attended.

But the opposition soon started. The local priest prohibited the people from going to the meetings and told them to tear up the tracts they had received. He said he would be going himself to the meeting to see who was there. Because of this the attendance at the meetings diminished and for three or four Sundays there was no meeting because nobody came. The evangelist, however, does not forget that God told him to preach, and so Mr. Maxwell continued with the meetings at their home, in spite of the fact that very few people came. Around 15 children came regularly to Sunday School.

More opposition

During the long years of his service for God, this servant of the Lord would have to face much opposition in various forms. We mention just a few examples:

In October 1940, Mr. Maxwell rented a room in Santana (the town is now called Ipuã) to preach the Gospel there. There was little interest, but there were always some people there to listen. The local priest told the people that the preacher was a communist, and would soon be imprisoned.

About that time Mr. Maxwell bought a car, a Ford 28, and so was able to go further afield. He took the Gospel to Campina Verde, and Mrs. Maxwell and their little daughter went with him. Arriving in Campina Verde, the first thing he did was to reserve a room in the boarding house. Having done this, Mrs. Maxwell and daughter rested there while Mr. Maxwell went out with Gospel tracts. Soon Mrs. Maxwell heard fireworks and watched the “show” from the window of the boarding house; she never for a moment thought that it was because of her husband! The local priest had used the fireworks to gather the people and at the same time a man with a gun in his hand was following the new arrival collecting all the tracts which had been distributed. The chief of police told Mr. Maxwell that he didn't have sufficient men, or weapons, to guarantee his life, and advised him to leave the town before dark, as the priest had several violent armed men in town. Mr. Maxwell returned to the boarding house to fetch his wife and daughter, and they left the town with difficulty, as nobody wanted to sell them petrol. On leaving the town, they had to cross a bridge, and all the local schoolchildren had been taken from their school to the bridge to insult the family as they passed.

In São Joaquim da Barra, apart from the meetings at their home, he preached in the streets and town squares. The priest, Frei Eugênio, got very irritated and would chase the children away with his umbrella and sprinkle holy water over the street; he didn't want the children to hear the preaching.

There was also opposition of another nature. Several denominations that professed to be evangelical also created problems, speaking evil of Mr. Maxwell personally, or trying to cause doctrinal confusion among the recently converted and so attract them to themselves. The “pastor” of a traditional evangelical denomination in Guará visited the people who attended the meetings where Mr. Maxwell was preaching, and said that Mr. Maxwell would soon finish as he had started (that is, on his own), and tried to persuade these people to stop going to the meetings and follow his denomination!

Widening the horizons

While he continued preaching the Gospel at their home, the evangelist was thinking on the “next towns” (Mark 1:38), and soon we see him again in Orlândia, where he had not been well received when he made the previously mentioned visit. There he had some meetings for the preaching of the Gospel. Although often alone, as there was nobody else to go with him, he preached in the open air. At the same time he was visiting the rural areas, and preaching the Gospel on the farms.

João Adão de Oliveira, a very well known brother now well advanced in years, still remembers arriving in São Joaquim and seeing a lone man preaching the Gospel. He remembers perfectly well some of the words of the preacher: “Woe is unto me if I preach not the gospel” (I Cor. 9:16).

Reading the report of some of the activities of our late brother Mr. Maxwell, we are impressed by the simplicity of this work. It was so different from what we see today. The tendency in this 21st century is to organize great campaigns with an attractive program, and to have the support of the greatest number possible of “churches” and “workers”, involving many people and a lot of money. But Mr. Maxwell knew the principles laid down in the Bible and followed the apostolic example, preaching the Word where God opened the door for him.

One evening near the close of 1939 a man selling peanuts was finishing his day's work. He went along a street in São Joaquim, and a small meeting, in a small room drew his attention. He went in. After the meeting, he spoke to the preacher, Mr. Maxwell, and among other things told him that his brother-in-law Sr. Antônio de Paula, who lived in the town of Guará, was interested in these things.

Mr. Maxwell needed no other incentive. He went to Guará looking for another thirsty soul. Sr. Antônio wasn't at home; he was working in a field near the town. Mr. Maxwell went there. Soon Sr. Antônio's home became another preaching place. During a long time Mr. Maxwell cycled every Saturday to preach the Gospel in the home of Sr. Antônio (nearly 40 km, there and back).

Reading what he wrote in his diary in those days, we are amazed at the effort and perseverance of our brother. Only the love of God and the compassion for lost souls could cause a man to make such a great effort, always broadening his horizons to take the Gospel to every creature.

Besides untiring efforts to establish an assembly in São Joaquim da Barra, he (like the true Evangelist he was) was visiting farms and sowing the good seed there. In his diary he mentions many farms that he visited (some of them often) in his effort to take the Gospel to every creature. Among the many farms where he preached, he mentioned Aroeira, Santa Helena, Boa Esperança, Olaria, Ponte Nova, Córrego Fundo, and many more.

It wasn't easy to get to these farms, but Mr. Maxwell didn't spare his old bicycle, without gears. Returning in the evening, in the dark, with only the help of a weak light produced by the dynamo on the wheel of the bicycle, he had many a fall! Later, when another brother used to go with him, things were even worse, because the second bicycle had no light at all so it went in front, with Mr. Maxwell's bicycle lighting the way, and the collisions and falls were many! Some other places could only be reached on horseback or on foot.

Even with this work in the rural areas, he still found time to take the Gospel to many towns, as we see in the following quotation from his diary:

I spent another day alone in Sales de Oliveira, and I left a tract in nearly every house in town.

Many other towns are mentioned as having being visited with the Gospel. The list would be too long to reproduce here, but some of those he worked in during the 1940s were: Guará, Ituverava, Igarapava, Uberaba, Sacramento, Conquista, Garimpo, Campina Verde, Lajeado, Frutal, Barretos and many others. In Santana he got permission to preach in the cinema. It was customary in that town (now called Ipuã) to ring a bell when a new film arrived, and the people would come in the evening to see it. So Mr. Maxwell rang the bell, and 300 people filled the cinema and heard the Gospel!

The amount of work done by one brother, without fellow-workers for the greater part of the time, but led by the Lord, is impressive. In simplicity, without ostentation and without seeking the applause of the brethren, Mr. Maxwell served God and his generation. Without the good roads and modern means of communication that we now have, he sowed the good seed in the cities and farms in a very large area of the Triângulo Mineiro and of the Northwest of the State of São Paulo.

Some brethren, as well as many assemblies, faithfully preach to their neighbours and acquaintances, but feel no compassion for those who are far away or even in other countries. There are also many who think only of the multitudes who live in darkness in far away places, but have no concern for those who are near at hand. Mr. Maxwell wasn't like that. While he continued to preach in São Joaquim da Barra, he went to the farms to take the good news of salvation, and still found time to visit many other towns with the Gospel. And while he did all this, he could still have gospel meetings, every Wednesday, at the other side of São Joaquim!

In September 1941 we read about the first baptisms when four people were baptised (two men and two women) — about 2 years after starting work in that town.

Sometimes there was fruit to encourage, but that wasn't always the case. In the middle of 1941 he wrote:

We stopped the meetings in Santana; … there is little interest in Guará; … São Joaquim, struggling.

At this stage of his work we often find this word, “struggling”; how well it expresses the attitude of this fearless evangelist in times of much opposition and little apparent fruit. It could well be that our late brother felt the pain of discouragement, but he never gave up. On the contrary, he was always abundant in the work of the Lord, knowing that his work was not in vain in the Lord (see I Cor. 15:58).

Mr. Maxwell in Uberaba

In 1950 Mr. Alex Simpson, who had often worked with Mr. Maxwell, died. The home-call of this devoted servant of the Lord left a great need in the Triangulo Mineiro and because of this Mr. Maxwell went to live in Uberaba.

This move, of course, didn't change his way of working. His diary and other sources of information show us the same enthusiasm and the same untiring effort, preaching in Uberaba and also visiting farms and other towns, often on his motorbike. Names like Conquista, Sacramento, Quenta Sol, Garimpo, Ituiutaba, Conceição das Alagoas and many others come up. Some of these towns are places he knew from the time when he lived in Ituiutaba. At this time he was already 41 years of age.

Besides his preaching and his journeys, we see in Uberaba another dimension of his effort to reach “every creature”. He started a weekly radio program of 15 minutes. Many certainly heard the preaching, but he wrote that the results were disheartening. Only in eternity shall we be able to fully evaluate its result.

From his diary we can see that he was feeling more opposition from the Adventists, Jehovah Witnesses and Pentecostals, but the opposition of the Catholics continued, as we see in Quenta Sol when one of the brethren, Mr. Cesário died. They would not allow the body to be buried in the local cemetery, and this resulted in the construction of another cemetery, for the believers!

With the increase in the number of assemblies in various states of Brazil, it was necessary for experienced brethren, capable of teaching in accordance with the model left in the Scriptures, to travel more, and Mr. Maxwell was always ready to help, specially the more isolated and weaker assemblies. And so, even in the last years of his life, he continued being what he always had been, an itinerant preacher. At the end of the 20th century and beginning of the 21st he visited many far away places. I had the pleasure of accompanying him on his last visit to the assembly in Iporá, in the interior of the state of Goiás. He had helped this assembly from its beginning. He not only gave wholesome, simple and practical ministry at the meetings, but he always went to the homes of the brethren and brought the warmth of a sincere love, and showed a true burden for the well being of each brother and each sister, and specially of the children. And all knew how he appreciated a cup of fresh black coffee!

Other assemblies that he helped a lot at their beginning were those of Uberlândia and of the Federal District. And he never forgot those places where he had sowed the good seed decades earlier, like Sacramento, São Joaquim, Guará, Barretos and Ituiutaba, among others. In the region around Descalvado and Pirassununga, his visits were always appreciated.

His latter days

Even in the last years and months of his life here, his interest in the Gospel was an incentive to many. I remember an incident that shows the attitude which was characteristic of this brother during all his life. He came to our home in Descalvado, and after having a quick meal he said he needed to rest a little. An hour later we were ready to go to Porto Ferreira to preach the Gospel. We decided not to call Mr. Maxwell, as the journey he had just made was long, hot and tiring for a man of 94. We left by the back door so as not to disturb him but when we got to the front door Mr. Maxwell was already there, with jacket and tie on, and his Bible in his hand waiting to go to the meeting! He knew we went to a meeting every evening so he only asked: “Where are we going tonight?” On the way I asked him if he would like to share the meeting with me. I suggested he take as long as he liked, even if only two or three minutes, and I would speak the rest of the time. He agreed, and when he went up to preach it was with difficulty that he stepped up to the reading desk, but the old enthusiasm and joy were evident while he did what he always loved to do — preach Christ crucified. But we didn't share the time. He profitably took up all the time himself!

This is the Mr. Maxwell I remember.

A challenge

When writing these few words, we do not wish to exalt the name of our brother Mr. Maxwell. He would be the first to condemn such a thing. His one aim during all his life, since that moment in 1921 when he was saved by the grace of God, was to glorify and exalt the name of the One Who had saved him.

We haven't told the whole story of his life, nor presented the foregoing facts chronologically. We have related with a simplicity which was characteristic of Mr. Maxwell, some facts which present a picture of something which is very rare in our days, that is, a man, who desired to be guided in all his work only by the Holy Spirit. The “flesh” may like to preach to a great multitude of people, in a stadium or in a large auditorium, supported by large assemblies, but only a man of God would choose the humiliations, the threats, the opposition and the lack of fellow-labourers, to take the Gospel to places where there were no assemblies, and to labour there faithfully for years, far from the praise and recognition of men.

Before returning to heaven, the Lord Jesus told His own to preach the Gospel to every creature and to make disciples of all nations. And they obeyed. The Gospel was preached in the whole world (Col. 1:6). It was preached to every creature under heaven (Col. 1:23).

Those first brethren caught a vision of a lost world, and even suffering great persecution they went everywhere preaching the Word (Acts 8:4).

No doubt Paul, the apostle, was one of the greatest examples of those evangelists. In the year 60 AD he wrote in a letter to the Corinthians: “…for we are come as far as to you also in preaching the gospel of Christ … having hope, when your faith is increased, that we shall be enlarged by you according to our rule abundantly, to preach the gospel in the regions beyond you …” (II Cor. 10:14-16). These were true pioneers!

Again, writing to the Romans, he said: “… from Jerusalem, and round about unto Illyricum, I have fully preached the gospel of Christ. Yea, so have I strived to preach the gospel, not where Christ was named, lest I should build upon another man's foundation” (Rom. 15:19-20). This evangelistic spirit, however, didn't die with the apostles, it has continued, sometimes in great weakness, but there have always been those who were prepared to give their life preaching Christ crucified, under the direction of the Holy Spirit.

Mr. Maxwell was one of these, and our desire when offering you this booklet is that it may arouse some to see the multitudes as the Lord Jesus saw them — sheep without a shepherd.

As you read this short account of the work of an evangelist who spared no effort, nor ever considered it a sacrifice to take the Gospel to the dark places of this earth — to towns and villages, to farms or lonely cottages, sometimes on foot, or using a bicycle or a horse, a motorbike or a car, may God remind us of the multitudes who are still perishing, in danger of the lake of fire for eternity. May the compassion of Christ compel us to proclaim the Gospel while there is yet time.

“Woe is unto me if I preach not the gospel” (I Cor. 9:16).

R. E. Watterson