- Home
- Speakers
- G.W. North
- Two Chosen Vessels
G.W. North

George Walter North (1913 - 2003). British evangelist, author, and founder of New Covenant fellowships, born in Bethnal Green, London, England. Converted at 15 during a 1928 tent meeting, he trained at Elim Bible College and began preaching in Kent. Ordained in the Elim Pentecostal Church, he pastored in Kent and Bradford, later leading a revivalist ministry in Liverpool during the 1960s. By 1968, he established house fellowships in England, emphasizing one baptism in the Holy Spirit, detailed in his book One Baptism (1971). North traveled globally, preaching in Malawi, Australia, and the U.S., impacting thousands with his focus on heart purity and New Creation theology. Married with one daughter, Judith Raistrick, who chronicled his life in The Story of G.W. North, he ministered into his 80s. His sermons, available at gwnorth.net, stress spiritual transformation over institutional religion, influencing Pentecostal and charismatic movements worldwide.
Download
Sermon Summary
G.W. North emphasizes the distinct paths of Peter and Paul in their ministries, illustrating how their unique backgrounds shaped their understanding and approach to preaching the Gospel. Peter, rooted in Jewish tradition, struggled to fully embrace the new covenant, while Paul, with his liberal upbringing, quickly recognized the significance of the Gospel for the Gentiles. North argues that God's choice of Paul as the apostle to the Gentiles was intentional, as it aligned with His purpose for the early Church. He highlights the importance of spiritual baptism over water baptism, asserting that God's desire is for believers to be immersed in the Holy Spirit. Ultimately, North calls for a deeper understanding of the transformative power of the Holy Spirit in the life of the Church.
Two Chosen Vessels
It is profoundly true that if a man be promoted to public preaching, his own personal experience will affect his whole ministry of the things of God to others. Peter, the apostle to the Circumcision, came to Christ in a totally different way from Paul, and entered into understanding of the things of Christ in the reverse order from Paul, the apostle to the Uncircumcision. These men were complete opposites, each destined to play a vital role in the founding and raising up of the early Church. From a reading of the New Testament it seems that Peter could never quite break free from his Jewish heredity and traditional background. On the other hand Paul instantly saw and counted all Jewish traditionalism to be but loss. Perhaps this is one of the reasons why God, in His foreknowledge, chose Paul to be the apostle to the Gentiles; his more liberal background of training in Tarsus was better preparation for his later ministry than the fishing grounds of orthodox Galilee, where Peter had spent his days. This indeed could quite easily have been the reason, and if so it is not without precedent in the history of the Jews. The patriarch Joseph, for instance, spent years of preparatory training in a foreign land before he was allowed of God to minister to His people in Egypt. But however true that may be, it is at least observable from scripture that upon occasions Paul refrained from baptising people in water, but evidently insisted that everyone to whom he ministered must experience the reality of which it is but a representation. The Purpose of God Accepting the indisputable truth of the evidence as facts, it emerges that: (1) it is God's greatest desire to baptise people in the Holy Ghost, and (2) if the ratio be adhered to, then obviously God regards speedy Baptism in the Spirit to be of far more importance than hasty baptism in water, for the differential is markedly two to one in favour of Baptism in the Spirit; (3) since God means what He records in scripture, then the important baptism for the Church age is that which immerses the spirits of men in the Spirit of God.
- Bio
- Summary
- Transcript
- Download

George Walter North (1913 - 2003). British evangelist, author, and founder of New Covenant fellowships, born in Bethnal Green, London, England. Converted at 15 during a 1928 tent meeting, he trained at Elim Bible College and began preaching in Kent. Ordained in the Elim Pentecostal Church, he pastored in Kent and Bradford, later leading a revivalist ministry in Liverpool during the 1960s. By 1968, he established house fellowships in England, emphasizing one baptism in the Holy Spirit, detailed in his book One Baptism (1971). North traveled globally, preaching in Malawi, Australia, and the U.S., impacting thousands with his focus on heart purity and New Creation theology. Married with one daughter, Judith Raistrick, who chronicled his life in The Story of G.W. North, he ministered into his 80s. His sermons, available at gwnorth.net, stress spiritual transformation over institutional religion, influencing Pentecostal and charismatic movements worldwide.