953 Banning St, Winnipeg

Sidney Saword (1894-1988) was born in Thornton Heath, England. Saved on 7th February 1909, he emigrated to Canada with his parents and siblings in 1912, where they set up home in 953 Banning Street, Winnipeg, Manitoba. There Sidney found work as a stenographer with the Canadian Pacific Railway.

When conscription came to Canada during World War 1, Sidney refused the draft and was taken to court. As a conscientious objector, he was assigned a non-combatant administrative role with the Canadian Expeditionary Force. Discharged in 1918, Sidney’s burden for gospel work increased until the day came when he was commended to full-time service for the Lord in May 1920.

After a few months of service in Canada, he sailed for England in the Spring of 1921. There he preached the gospel, but England was not to be his life-long field of service. In England, Mr. Saword became convinced that he should go to the land of Venezuela to pioneer the gospel where it had never before been heard. He left England in November 1922, landing in Puerto Cabello, Venezuela, on 17th December. Soon after, he met Miss Eleanor Scott, to whom he was married on 6th May 1926, and with whom he had three daughters and two sons.

For over five decades, Sidney Saword laboured in the gospel in Venezuela alongside other gospel preachers such as William Williams, Eddie Fairfield, James Walmsley and Joe Turkington (who married Sidney’s daughter Ruth). Mr Saword saw many souls saved and numerous local assemblies planted. In his book Fifty Years with the Gospel in Venezuela, he describes the rigours and realities of pioneer gospel work in a third world country, battling with everything from poisonous snakes to pugnacious R.C. Priests. Sidney Saword was a lionhearted missionary who stayed the course and left behind a legacy for future generations to follow. Here is a paragraph from his book to give a flavour of his service in South America:

The Saword family 1938

“Once whilst the Turkingtons, my wife and I were having meetings in El Baul, a man from Guadarramas called in to see me. He was a fisherman who had brought his monthly statement of the fish he had caught to the government fisheries office. He said that the people where he lived had heard of our meetings in El Baul and wanted us to visit them. We told him that we would advise him when we were free to go, but within a week from his visit, we received a telegram saying that he would be coming to get us in his canoe. He arrived on the Sunday so that we could leave next day. Joe Turkington, my wife and I packed our baggage and got together the necessary household goods, provisions, Bibles, gas lamps and camp stove, with Gospel literature. When we arrived at the river’s edge we got an eye-opener. It was a small old dugout canoe without seats or keel, and an outboard motor. When it was loaded with ourselves and baggage, the top edge was only about four inches out of the water, at midships. The bow of the canoe was split and had been plugged up with mud, and as we sped along the spray reached us. All went well until there was a shower of rain, and as the motor had no cover, the ignition got wet and the motor stalled. Our friend managed to steer the canoe with his paddle to the river’s edge to let us out, whilst he attended to the motor. He told us to go up the bank to the nearest house and tell the people about the gospel. We found them friendly and willing to listen whilst we sung a hymn, read a portion and explained the gospel. Before we finished, word came from the next house that the family also wanted a visit. We thanked the Lord for this opportunity to be able to take the light of salvation to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death. It was the first time and perhaps would be the last that they would hear the glad tidings. By the time we got back, the boatman had all ready to start off again, but just as he was pushing off from the bank, his outboard motor broke away from its place and he was just in time to grab it before it sank in the river. With his plyers he then cut off a length of barbed wire from the nearby fence and wired the outboard to the boat. It proved to be a very scenic trip with many items of interest for us, strangers to those parts, but we had to keep very still as the slightest move would rock the canoe and make us panicky.”

In this recording of a sermon by Mr Saword, given in the Gospel Hall, Taylorside, SK, Canada, he speaks from Psalm 26 about “spiritual exercise”, something which to him was a way of life.

Sidney Saword as a young man

The post Sidney J. Saword – Spiritual Exercise (38 min) first appeared on Gospel Hall Audio.