Episode 15 with Maldwyn Jones

Elim MPower

We’re in conversation with Maldwyn Jones, who has been an Elim minister for 54 years. Maldwyn is married to Ruth and they have three children and two grandchildren. He is proudly Welsh, and became a Christian when he was 14. He has been a pastor at several Elim churches including in Plymouth, Belfast and Birmingham.

In this podcast episode, we discuss why men find it hard to face mental health problems. Maldwyn shares about a time when he himself suffered a mental breakdown at the age of 27, which took him several months’ recuperation to overcome.

He points to several factors that helped him get better: his wife Ruth acknowledged the struggle without letting him slip into a morasse of depression; he had a daily routine supported by a mutual friend; he talked with the psychiatrist referred for him by his GP, and he spent a period of time doing physical work on a church building project, which helped him not just to feel useful but which also gave him better sleep at night.

Maldwyn talks about struggling with self-confidence, and with battling his own self-esteem for much of his ministry. He credits the increased confidence of his later years both to Jesus and also to the strong love and support of his wife Ruth.

He also describes the terrible issue of suicide particularly among younger men – and points to the love of God for us as men as the foundational starting point of who we are and for a strong sense of worth. He says that Philippians 3:10 (KJV) has been the biblical touchstone for his life and ministry: “That I may know him (Jesus), and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death…”

Maldwyn’s own father died when he himself was only 14 months old, and he was known in the village as ‘the little boy without a dad’ – and he does feels that he missed out because of this, particularly in his teenage years when lads need a man about the house to show them how to be.

The fatherhood of God has been a vital factor in replenishing this loss – and also having older guys around him in his life and ministry who have really helped him in his life, mentoring and encouraging him.

He gives some great advice for guys needing to connect a bit more – which is to give other men permission to be in your life, perhaps looking to those a bit older who can encourage. Alongside this older guys also have a big responsibility to look out for younger men, to meet with them, talk and be fatherly.

Maldwyn closes for gents listening in prayer.