Tom Allan (minister)

Rev. Tom Allan died on 8 September 1965 in Glasgow.

The Lord Provost of Glasgow, Mr Peter Meldrum, announcing the award of the 1964 St Mungo Prize "for the person who has done most in the past three years for Glasgow by making it more beautiful, healthy, or more honoured", was reported to have said: "Mr Allan had become a minister, friend, and adviser not only to his parishioners but to many others, no matter their religious persuasion ... He had travelled extensively and carried a strong and favourable impression of Glasgow abroad, so that his church became the meeting place for church leaders from all over the world. Mr Allan had contributed to the cultural and educational development of the city in a worthy and honourable way."

All this work load was ‘paused’ when Tom Allan suffered a heart attack in 1961. He had to give up everything. However, it was found that the heart damage was not serious and slowly over a year, he was able to pick up all the tasks as before, accepting invitations to USA and Canada. A second very serious heart attack while visiting a Billy Graham campaign in Miami, USA, made retirement an immediate necessity.

Beyond congregational membership, the realities of the city centre area were demanding. There were 4,000 residents. More thousands of workers crowding daily into the city centre; a different kind of invasion came for entertainment and retail; the rampant social problems of the city, often revealed in late night and early hours, included homelessness, prostitution, alcohol abuse, criminal activity and ex prisoners. St George's-Tron Church sought to first survey and then to adapt its life to be in contact with these issues. In 1958, in conjunction with D.P. Thomson and the city centre congregations of other denominations, Allan promoted the Glasgow Central Churches Campaign.

Following the Crusade, Tom Allan resigned as Organiser for Tell Scotland and in September 1955 became minister of the city-centre of Glasgow at St George's-Tron Church.

The Billy Graham campaign in London in 1954 caused divisions in the Tell Scotland leadership: Rev. Dr George MacLeod and the Iona Community especially objecting to such crusade evangelism. Yet as a Billy Graham visit to Scotland seemed inevitable, Tom Allan recommended that an ‘All Scotland Crusade’ could fit into the Tell Scotland programme by inspiring many more lay people to commit themselves to undertake local church evangelism; the Movement's leadership agreed with him and invited Graham to conduct the 'All Scotland Crusade' of March to April, 1955. Tom Allan was appointed Chairman of the Executive Committee for the Crusade while remaining Tell Scotland Field Organiser.

Tom Allan was a key planner, contributor and missioner to the 1950 and 1952 ‘Radio Missions,' which Falconer thought unique to Scotland, being Christian mission promoted by radio programmes broadcast by a national network. Local churches were invited to set up listening groups and discuss, assess and act on the content of the broadcasts - Falconer also wrote that while only a small minority did more than simply listen in, North Kelvinside provided model cooperation.

In 1947 Allan issued an invitation to D.P. Thomson to conduct a visitation campaign in North Kelvinside. Volunteers from Seaside Mission teams and from the congregation visited all homes in the parish, speaking of faith in Christ and offering invitations to church. Thomson described the campaign in a leaflet: Visitation Evangelism. Public attention was caught and further increased when Allan published his own reflections in The Face of My Parish (1954) which led the World Council of Churches to invite him to join their Commission on Evangelism.

During Allan's seven year ministry, North Kelvinside's congregational membership grew towards 1,200. The emergence of a Congregational Group from all ages, sexes and backgrounds, committed to the work of evangelism, was central to Allan's ministry, offering training in prayer, bible study and application in Christian service. In The Face of My Parish, however, Allan described the divisive impact of the 1947 campaign and its aftermath and commentators since have picked up this point.

1947 also saw the beginning of Allan's involvement with first radio and later television religious broadcasting via the Scottish service of the BBC which began with his ‘Family Prayers’ series and lasted eighteen years. The then organiser for the BBC's Religious Broadcasting in Scotland, Ronald Falconer, considered Allan's ‘Way to Live’ series a highlight of the period, recording that audience research gave one episode an "Appreciation Index several points above any other Scottish broadcast that week, religious or secular".

He returned to home and family, to an intense year of study at the Department of Divinity in Glasgow University, winning the prize in New Testament studies and graduating M.A. in 1946. During this period as a mature student, he began a lengthy association with the Church of Scotland evangelist, D.P. Thomson, becoming a leader at the Seaside Missions Thomson organized after the war.

Tom Allan was called to his first parish of Glasgow's North Kelvinside in 1946, an inner city area of mainly tenement buildings housing 10,000 people. Congregational membership increased from 487 to 611 in his first year.

When the Second World War began Allan left his exempted divinity studies and volunteered for service in the Royal Air Force. Eyesight faults prevented flying. He was sent for officer training and on to Intelligence work. 1945 saw him at Supreme Headquarters Allied Expeditionary Force in Reims and Frankfurt.

Tom Allan always cherished his Ayrshire roots. Born in Newmilns, he benefited from the rich music and singing traditions of the valleys and participation in the life of the local church. He also there met Jean Dunn from the same community and school. They were married in 1941. Allan completed a First Class Honours in English at Glasgow University in 1938.

Thomas (Tom) Allan (1916-1965) was a minister and evangelist of the Church of Scotland, broadcaster, author, columnist and pioneer of practical church outreach in social work, primarily in the city of Glasgow. His notable achievements were recognised with one of the city's highest honours, the St Mungo Prize in 1964.