A. W. Tozer (1897-1963)

Aiden Wilson Tozer was an American Christian pastor, author, magazine editor and spiritual mentor.

Aiden liked to be referred to as Tozer.

He was born into poverty, he came from a tiny farming community in Western la Jose, Pennsylvania and was self educated. He taught himself what he had missed in high school and university.
He was converted to Christianity as a teenager in Akron , Ohio when he overheard a street preacher say ,If you don’t know how to be saved… just call on God, saying, Lord be merciful to me a sinner.** He went up into his attic and heeded the preacher’s advice

His future mother-in-law Mrs Pfautz helped him progress rapidly in the things of God. He married Ada Cecelia Pfautz and they had 7 children- 6 sons and a daughter.

In 1919, 5 years after his conversion he accepted an offer to serve as pastor of his first church. This began his 44 years of ministry associated with the Christian and Missionary Alliance (C&MA), a Protestant Evangelical denomination.
( C&MA read ’ Alliance World Fellowship’)

He pastored in several different congregations before he became pastor of Southside Alliance Church in Chicago (1928-59). The congregation grew from 80 to 800. 100’s of people, especially nearby college students, flocked to his services. In 1941 they had to build larger facilities.
His final years, 1959-63, were spent at Avenue Road Church, Toronto, Canada.

Tozer was known for his sermons. Prayer was of vital importance to him. His preaching as well as his writings were extensions of his prayer life.* His lively imagination and descriptive powers gave force and vividness to his presentations. He spent hours meticulously producing sermons that could be described as being majestic and profound. He was able to express his perceptions in a beautiful simple, forceful manner. His approach to preaching captivated the congregation with superior language and phrases and his splendid voice and diction. Instead of shouting he used crisp, precise, climatic sentences. His voice was quiet but the sermon penetrated the soul*

In May 1950 Tozer was elected the editor of Alliance Weekly magazine (now Alliance Life). It was a position he held until his death in 1963.

From 1951-9 Tozer’s ministry enlarged when WMBI, the Moody radio station, broadcast a weekly program originating from his church study.

More than 60 books bear his name. many of which were compiled after his death.
At least 2 are regarded as classics The Power of God and The Knowledge of the Holy.

Tozer died on12th May 1963 of a heart attackin Toronto. he was buried in Ellet Cemetery, Akron. Ohio. The simple epitaph marking his grave reads A.W. Tozer - A Man of God

He had the ability to make his listeners face themselves in the light of what God was saying to them.
James I. Snyder - his biographer