Frederick Cundick (1907-1975)
During the month of June, 1923 the Welsh evangelist David Matthews, who was wonderfully used of God in the salvation of souls, visited the town of Treherbert in the Rhondda Valley, South Wales. Among those converted and baptised was Fred Cundick, then a youth of sixteen. At the time he attended Bethany Baptist Chapel, but very soon afterwards, because of the lack of teaching there, he began to meet with a company of believers in a home. Eventually this company of Christians met in Trinity Gospel Hall, Treherbert.
Of those early days, a boyhood friend said, "As I look back upon our lives, I can see how the hand of our God was upon him. I can really see that the Lord sealed him for the work He had for him to do. I really esteemed him as a scholar in his younger days."
Fred had left school at thirteen hoping to take up carpentry, but his father refused to pay the premium then necessary for him to be articled as an apprentice. Instead, at the age of fourteen, he followed his father into the coal mines, working long hours for poor pay. Eventually he became a repairer in the pit, working night shift, often alone, securing the roof supports after the coal had been extracted.
Home life was at times almost unbearable after Fred's conversion. Persecution was continuous in a home where father, mother and sisters did everything to discourage. Yet he made progress in spiritual things. He was preaching the gospel at eighteen, and beginning to teach the Scriptures at believers' meetings. He also conducted children's meetings during a tent campaign in the Valleys.
By 1932, Fred Cundick was unemployed during the depths of the great Depression. During this time he worked a fruit and vegetable round, along with his future brother-in-law on behalf of their future mother-in-law. In 1933, the way opened up for him to go to Luton in search of employment, which he found as a sheet metal worker with Jackson's Electrical Stove Company, where he remained until 1946. Although this was work to which he had not been accustomed, Fred tackled it in his customary way and overcame the difficulties associated with it.
At Luton, Fred met with believers who gathered at Biscot Road, where he was a Sunday School teacher, and helped in the preaching of the gospel and in the ministry of the Word. He also gave help to neighbouring assemblies. In 1934 he married his Welsh girl friend and set up home in Leagrave. In 1938, Selbourne Hall was built, and the saints moved to the new premises. By this time Fred was often away at weekends ministering the Word.
When the Second World War came, normal activities were restricted. Fred's working day stretched from 6.30 a.m. to 6.00 p.m., and on Saturdays, from 6.00 a.m. to 12 noon. He took his turn at fire-watching but refused to do it when meetings were on. Later, he obtained exemption from weekend duty, much to the annoyance of his fellow-workers who victimised him. When he did not have a meeting in one of the surrounding assemblies, he would study the Scriptures throughout the evening and into the small hours in the small bedroom that served as his study. During this time he was also an overseer in Selbourne Hall. Little wonder that periodically he suffered from exhaustion which the doctor would diagnose as flu.
In October, 1945, one of the early years of the Aberdeen Bible Readings, Fred and his brother-in-law, Harry Lacey conducted the Readings. By February, 1946 he was exercised about full-time service. On May 18th, 1946 he left his secular work for good. Fred Cundick had twenty-nine years ahead of him in which to serve the Lord full-time. This was largely in Bible teaching throughout England and Scotland, then in Ireland, across the Atlantic and finally in Australia. It was not an easy road, and there were times when Fred, like all servants of the Lord, was tried. Many a time, after taking weeknight ministry meetings some distance away, he had to walk the three miles from Luton Railway Station to his home.
Fred Cundick delighted in the deep things of God. He was more at home in a series of meetings than in giving a single address. He preferred a fortnight's meetings so that he could develop divine truth properly. He liked and used charts, and these he designed and constructed himself. He had large hall charts on the Tabernacle, the Feasts of Jehovah, Matthew's Gospel and the Revelation.
Fred has left some written ministry behind. He wrote a small book entitled: "The Kingdom in Matthew" and a booklet entitled "The Book of Ezekiel". He also left a manuscript on the signs in John's Gospel as well as a wealth of unpublished material, the fruit of the diligent study of Scriptures from Genesis to Revelation. The approach of this devoted servant of God to the ministry of the Word was systematic and constructive. His presentation was lucid and orderly.
Fred Cundick was a man of high principle and deep conviction in personal and assembly life. He was not easily deceived, but rather his perception and discernment in spiritual things was keen and sharp. The truth of God was always adhered to tenaciously. In the home he was a gentleman. While he was a keen student who prepared thoroughly for his meetings, he would disappear in the morning to give his landlady the chance to clean his room. He would insist on paying for his phone calls.
His foreign visits began in 1969. His ministry was appreciated in Canada and the U.S.A. His final trip abroad was to the Antipodes—Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne, N. Queensland, Tasmania and New Zealand. On the return journey, he was invited to Malaysia were he spoke at Kuala Lumpur and Malacca. It was then that he showed unusual signs of tiredness so that on returning home he was persuaded to visit the doctor. Then it was realised that he had a serious illness, and within nine months of arriving back in England, he was at home with the Lord.
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