W. Ian Thomas

Who was W. Ian Thomas?

W. Ian Thomas was a Christian evangelical writer, theological teacher and founder of the Torchbearers bible schools.

Some Christians learn that the Lord can make life an adventure. Major W. Ian Thomas of England was one of them. The Major was every inch a soldier. With his infantry battalion he served in the British Expeditionary Forces in Belgium at the outset of World War II and took part in the evacuation at Dunkirk. Often in combat, in France, Italy, Greece, and elsewhere during the long war, he found the Lord Jesus to be his complete sufficiency. The Major was likewise a soldier of Christ, faithful to the Captain of our salvation. He found life an adventure with God.

Reared in a "respectable" middle-class English home, he was taken to church and taught its precepts. He learned little or nothing of the Bible, however, either at home or in the church attended by the family. At the age of twelve he was invited to a Bible study group of the Crusaders' Union by a lad of thirteen who, during that year, received Christ as his Savior. The Bible began to be meaningful to young Ian, and the following summer, still twelve years old, he was converted to Christ at a Crusaders' Union camp.