Geoffrey Bull

Geoffrey Bull

1 Sermons
Geoffrey Bull (June 24, 1921 – April 11, 1999) was a British preacher, missionary, and author whose ministry with the Plymouth Brethren carried the gospel to Central Asia and endured a profound test of faith during three years of captivity in Tibet. Born in Eltham, southeast London, England, to William and Ethel Bull, he grew up in a family steeped in conservative evangelical beliefs. Converted as a child and baptized at 15, he joined an Open Brethren assembly, shifting his early banking ambitions to a missionary call by 1941, confirmed by his church elders after World War II. Bull’s preaching career launched in March 1947 when he and George N. Patterson ventured to China’s Tibetan border, studying Mandarin and Tibetan for three years before entering Tibet on July 29, 1950. There, he preached until the Chinese Communist invasion led to his arrest as an alleged spy, enduring solitary confinement, torture, and brainwashing from 1950 to 1953—released on December 19, 1953, in Hong Kong. His sermons, later shared globally and preserved on SermonIndex.net, reflected his prison-honed faith, detailed in books like When Iron Gates Yield (1955) and God Holds the Key (1959). Married to Nan Templeton in 1955, with whom he had three sons—Ross, Peter, and Alister—he died at age 77 in Largs, Scotland.
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