Wales Revival Movement 1904/05

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The 1904-05 Wales Revival was the largest of its kind in Wales in the 20th century.

background

The last revival movement before 1904/05 was in 1859. After 1850, Christianity in Wales was markedly less Calvinist than before. An era of powerful preachers ended when such Christian leaders as Christmas Evans (1838), John Elias (1841), and Henry Rees (1869) died.

Between 1859 and 1904, there were localized revivals: in Cwmafan (1866), Rhondda (1879), Carmarthen and Blaenau Ffestiniog (1887), Dowlais (1890) and Pontnewydd (1892).

People traveled from the UK, USA, Canada, Australia and other parts of the world to attend the Welsh revival. For their part, many were expecting a revival in remote parts of the world.

Beginning

No clear place can be identified for the beginning of the movement, rather several places have made an important contribution.

New Quay and Blaenannerch

A prominent revival leader was New Quay Methodist preacher Joseph Jenkins , who called a conference there in 1903 on the theme of "Our Faithfulness to Christ." After meeting in February 1904, the Sunday meetings and the newly started midweek meetings flourished, and Joseph Jenkins' ward began to witness their faith in the surrounding towns and villages.

It was reported that "great blessings" occurred at the conference and that the news of it quickly spread throughout the region and beyond.

The South Wales Daily News picked up on the events and reported that "the third great nationwide revival was under way," with the Welsh Methodist revival and the 1859 revival counting as the first two revivals.

Ammanford

In early November 1904, Jenkins was invited to the Nantlais Williams Church , Bethany, Ammanford , as a visiting minister . Williams, commonly called simply "Nantlais", was a Welsh poet and Methodist church leader during the revival. Williams is reported to have been skeptical of interest in the guest preacher, but when he came himself he was just barely able to squeeze into the overcrowded chapel to hear Jenkins preach.

Jenkins preached again the Monday night before returning to New Quay. The church was full again, but things took a dramatic turn when someone in the crowd announced that there would be another meeting the next day. This meeting was well attended again and was so extended that it only ended in the early morning hours of the next day.

It is worth noting that while Williams was ordained a preacher, he had a conversion experience that weekend in 1904, the Saturday night before Jenkins arrived.

North Wales

In December 1904 Joseph Jenkins came to North Wales for three months for the preaching and confession. Many meetings took place in Amlwch, Llangefni, Llanerchymedd, Talysarn, Llanllyfni, Llanrwst, Denbigh, Dinorwig, Disgwylfa and there were conversions among the students of Bangor University of Wales. But the most and greatest conversions were in Bethesda, where JT Job, another revival leader, described the Jerusalem Bethesda congregation on December 22, 1904 as a "hurricane." In Rhos, the revival quickly spread throughout the city and spread to all Christian churches. The denomination boundaries between Methodists , Congregationalists , Salvation Army , Anglicans, and Baptists were no longer important in people's perception. The effects of the revival lasted until the outbreak of war in 1914. The spirit of revival, according to witnesses, was ended after the war by rationalist theology and Welsh nationalism.

Evan Roberts

Evan Roberts , shaped as a young man by the stories and experiences of New Quay and Blaenannerch, became the chief evangelist of that revival. He briefly trained as a preacher in Newcastle Emlyn and experienced the revival in the south of Ceredigion. Roberts eagerly attended the meetings held in the area by Seth Josua, another important revival leader. After completing three months of training in Newcastle Emlyn, Roberts returned to his native Loughor to begin his service.

He claimed to have visions directly from the Holy Spirit. He made some very specific information, such as B. that God intends to save 100,000 souls through him. Roberts put a group together and went on a tour of south Wales to spread the revival.

Roberts, frustrated by the decline in the revival and the lack of a worldwide revival expected by his team, fell into depression, from which he recovered much later.

The role of newspapers

A special feature of this awakening was the role of the media. Wales' daily newspapers, Western Mail and South Wales Daily News , carried news of conversions and created an excited mood about the revival, which helped spread it further. The Western Mail in particular brought extensive coverage of the Roberts meetings in Loughor. These articles were published in book form by Quinta Press in 2004 .

Interpretations

The revival began in the fall of 1904 under the principal direction of Evan Roberts (1878–1951), a 26-year-old former miner and apprentice minister. The revival lasted less than a year, but there were 100,000 conversions in that period. It began with non-denominational and non-sectarian spirituality and coincided with the growth of the labor movement, socialism and general dissatisfaction with religion among workers and youth. In this context, this short-lived revival appears to be the culmination of nonconformism and a flare-up of change in religious life in Wales. The movement spread to Scotland and England, and it is estimated that around a million people were converted in Britain. Missionaries took the movement abroad, and it was particularly influential on the Pentecostal movement in California.

Unlike previous revivals fueled by powerful preaching, the 1904/05 revival movement relied primarily on music and on paranormal phenomena such as the visions of Evan Roberts.

media

In 2004 the BBC featured a feature on the Wales Revival of 1904 in the series Bread of Heaven .

In 2005 the musical Amazing Grace was produced about Evan Roberts and the Wales Revival.

literature

  • WT Stead: The Wales Revival. A report of facts. Transferred from Pastor G. Holtey-Weber, 8th edition, Buchhandlung der Stadtmission, Witten, undated, 75 pp.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Brian H. Edwards: Awakening! A land captured by God. 3 L, Waldems 2010, ISBN 978-3-935188-87-6 , p. 290.
  2. ^ Brian H. Edwards: Awakening! A land captured by God. 3 L, Waldems 2010, ISBN 978-3-935188-87-6 , pp. 288 and 292.