History

A man of Vision, faith and action... The Spearhead magazine of June 1981 in an editorial which briefly reviewed the life of Colin Tilsley up to his homecall on 23 March 1981, described him as a 'man of vision, faith and action.' A man of vision he certainly was, for God had given him a burden to reach the millions of this world, perishing without Christ. He took seriously the Lord's command in Mark 16:15 - "Go ye into all the world and preach the Gospel to every creature". He would often challenge Christians - "half the world's population have never once heard an adequate presentation of this glorious message." But how could it be done? - was the question that concerned him. It was a challenge that moved him to conceive the vision to mobilise Christians into missionary teams and to use mass distribution of Gospel portions and literature as the means of reaching the masses of people needing to hear the Good News. A man of faith he also was, for he immediately set about challenging for 10 young Christians to join a team heading for Madras in India in August 1966, to do what seemed an impossible task - namely to sell 500,000 Gospel portions to poor Indians over a period of two years - and to provide follow-up in fellowship with local assemblies for those who responded to an invitation to do further Bible studies. Imagine a handfull of young Australians seeking to sell about 1000 Gospel portions a day to impoverished Indians, accomplish what in our eyes seemed impossible. His vision to see training facilities established in Smithton, Tasmania, worth about $100,000 (in 1976 dollars) also seemed an impossibility but not to a man of (God honouring) faith. As for being a man of action, Colin's motivation was based on 1 Sam. 21:8b - "... the king's business required haste." How often he would repeat this as he planned for crusades in Brazil (1967), Japan (1969), Rome, Zambia and Tanzania (1970) as well as local crusades in Adelaide (1971), Cooma (1972) and Geelong (1973). This was in the midst of seeing GLO committees being established in New Zealand (1967) and in UK (1971/4). He obviously was able to access the power of God to accomplish what humanly speaking, seemed impossible. It is difficult to summarise what God accomplished through His servant Colin Tilsley in the establishment of GLO in such a short space. Perhaps it can best be put by saying that he had an infectious faith, an immovable commitment to accompanying God's will, a sense of urgency and a firm belief in the power of prayer.

GLO was launched in Australia in 1965 primarily through the vision of Colin Tilsley. He had the goal of furthering mission work through the use of teams. Colin was called home in 1981, at age 46, after suffering bravely Motor Neurone Disease.