The Welsh Revival 1904-1905
The Welsh Revival is regarded as the last of the great awakenings, in that it impacted not only individual communities but a whole country. Wales had already known revival previously having been impacted by the First, Second, and then the Third Great Awakenings. However, toward the end of the Nineteenth Century, there was a growing recognition that the spiritual tide was going out and they needed another gracious move of God.
The Welsh Revival: A River of Blessing
As with all other revivals, the awakening in Wales was birthed in a movement of prayer. Jesse Penn-Lewis who was an eyewitness to the revival, outlined in her book The Awakening in Wales, the various tributaries to what became a mighty river of blessing. As with all revivals, prayer was central. What is especially interesting is that events in Melbourne here in Australia motivated people in Wales to pray for revival there! Let me explain.
Melbourne's Prayer Circles: An Unexpected Spark for Revival
R.A. Torrey, who was a colleague and associate of the noted evangelist D.L. Moody, was invited to conduct a series of meetings in Melbourne in 1902—just one year after the Australian Federation in 1901. Prior to this evangelistic campaign, thousands of people met for prayer in homes all across the city. The impact was such that at a time when the population of Melbourne was only 500,000, an estimated 250,000 attended the evangelistic meetings at the Royal Exhibition Building. But here is the really interesting part! Although a large number of people came to know the Lord, and there were rich blessings that came from these meetings, it didn’t produce a regional let alone a national revival. However, in Wales, when people at the Keswick conference heard about the circles of prayer in Melbourne, they decided to intensify their prayer effort, and the rest is history. The people of Wales had their revival. God’s sovereign timing for a national revival in Australia is yet to come.
Hark! The story of the “home prayer circles” around Melbourne is being told. Hearts of workers are burdened and sad. Weary of organisation and effort, no fresh “Prayer Union” would appeal to them, but quickly the spark from the fire in Australia falls into many hearts. “Home prayer circles!” The “twos and threes” of those who are truly burdened for “world-wide revival!” Ah, this is the call of God! If a city may be thus girdled with prayer, why not the world? - Jesse Penn-Lewis
Evan Roberts: The Coal Miner God Used to Ignite Revival
The human instrument that the Lord used in the Welsh revival was a young twenty-six-year-old coal miner named Evan Roberts. Having a thirst for spiritual things at an early age, the Lord wonderfully filled this young man with the Holy Spirit and prepared him for a unique ministry. After years of working in the coal mines, Roberts was offered an opportunity to receive an education. He became a pupil at the Newcastle Emlyn Grammar School to prepare for his theological training. Although he was embracing the privilege and opportunity of gaining an education, he felt a burden to leave his studies and return to his hometown of Loughor to preach the gospel to the young people he had grown up with.
Confess, Put Away, Obey, Confess: Evan Roberts' Message for a Nation
His Welsh Calvinist roots gave Evan Robert’s a high view of God and so his message was very clear. His charge to his hearers was that they get right with God and obey Him implicitly. This was communicated through a simple but effective message that he proclaimed everywhere the Lord led him:
Confess all known sin to God.
Put away all doubtful habits.
Obey the Holy Spirit promptly.
Confess Christ publicly.
This new level of obedience gave the Lord a channel through which He could work and resulted in a wonderful outpouring of the Holy Spirit that spread throughout Wales and beyond.
Life-Changing Encounters with Jesus during the Welsh Revival: Stealing and Swearing No More
Filled with the Holy Spirit, Evan Roberts preached the gospel with amazing effect and a revival was ignited that spread like a bushfire throughout their community and surrounding districts. Lists of converts were sent to the newspapers, giving a record of professed conversions of over seventy thousand names by December 1904—just two months from when the revival broke out at Loughor. The number reached over eighty-five thousand by the end of March 1905! These figures recorded first-time conversions but many who were already believers made a re-consecration of their lives to the Lord at this time. The churches were full to overflowing and their communities were transformed. As with other revivals, many of the most hardened sinners in their communities came to the Lord and were converted to follow Jesus.
An Open-Air Meeting in Wales during the Welsh Revival
The many life-changing encounters with Jesus during this revival make for interesting reading today:
A young man would return his prize medal and diploma because he had gained it unfairly. A grocer would return money picked up in his shop, and kept although knowing the one who dropped it. Long-standing debts were paid. Stolen goods returned. Prize-fighters, gamblers, publicans, rabbit-coursers, and others of the class rarely touched by ordinary means came to Christ, and quickly the world knew the results. Magistrates were presented with white gloves in several places because there were “no cases.” Public houses were forsaken. Rowdiness was changed to soberness. Oaths ceased to be heard, so that, it was said, in the collieries the horses could not understand the language of their drivers. The reading of light literature was exchanged for Bible reading, and shops were cleared of their stocks of Bibles and Testaments. Prayer meetings were held in collieries underground, in trains and all kinds of places. The work went on until, a local minister said, the entire population had been transformed into a praying multitude. Men and women of whom he had despaired had voluntarily come to Christ. The lives of hundreds of colliers and tin-plate workers were transformed. The men went straight to chapel from the mills, and the public houses were practically deserted.
Jesse Penn-Lewis The Awakening in Wales
Under the influence of the Holy Spirit, those in attendance were brought face to face with the living Saviour and their lives were wonderfully changed forever.
We have already noted that as well as the first-time commitments to follow Jesus, the Welsh revival also impacted many who were already Christians. As with the other revivals, many who were already followers of Jesus began to recognize their need for more of God in their lives. They became passionate to know Him more personally and to live victoriously and fruitfully. It was here that the overflow of heavenly power produced new life in the churches and began to transform communities. It was when people who already knew the Lord came into a closer walk with him that their love began to overflow to share the good news with those who didn’t know him yet.
There were thousands of believers in our churches, who like the disciples St. Paul met at Ephesus, had received Christ, but had never received the Holy Ghost. The mark of Christ’s blood was upon them, but where was the mark of the Spirit’s anointing? Saved themselves, they made no attempt to save others.
Jesse Penn Lewis The Awakening in Wales
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