A few months ago, I attended the funeral of a dear senior saint who had immigrated to Canada from Wales in the 1960s. Gwyneth and her family had been active members of our church since that time. Her son is a pastor. In his eulogy, Paul mentioned that the Welsh Revival of 1904 had preceded his mother’s birth by 30 years. Her Baptist chapel in Wales had been strongly impacted. This in turn had affected his mother’s life and succeeding generations (including his own).
My curiosity was piqued. What exactly had happened in that rugged corner of the British Isles over a century ago?
The Revival
The Welsh Revival began with prayer and fasting (as all revivals do). Many congregations had been praying for revival for over a year. One historian described it as “earnest, agonizing prayer with heart-broken humility”. The revival began in the town of New Quay and spread first to the valleys of southern Wales and then to the north. Churches and chapels in towns with strange names (like Amlwch, Llangefni and Dinorwig) started to fill up on Sundays and many added a mid-week service as well.
Meetings were described as a “massive blessing”, a spiritual “hurricane” and touched by “the finger of God”. They were very interactive and spontaneous with many lay people participating. Some evening services continued with singing, praying and testifying until the early morning hours since no one wanted to leave. When they did, they marched through the streets still singing. The Welsh like to sing and the hymns were sung in English and Welsh without a hymnbook but with much conviction “as though they really believed them”.
The revival seemed to be Spirit-led more than human-led. There was little paid publicity and no musical instruments were played. Some meetings were more emotional with “weeping, shouting, crying out, joy and brokenness.” They were held in churches but also in open fields with a small platform erected for speaking. Many testified that the presence of God was very near and real.
One skeptic tried to disrupt a meeting by walking up to the platform. He never made it. He was overwhelmed by the Spirit and collapsed crying out for mercy and pardon. A policeman complained that people had “gone mad after religion, so that there was nothing to do”. So, he went to see for himself. During the meeting “he burst into tears, confessed the error of his ways, and repented.”
The Revivalists
One of the men God used was 26-year-old Evan Roberts. He grew up in a devout Methodist family and was very serious about spiritual matters. Roberts was converted as a youth and began working the coal mines at age 12 with his father. He began praying for revival in Wales every day for the next 13 years. When he felt God’s call to ministry, he went to Bible college just as the revival began. He eagerly got involved saying, “I felt ablaze with the desire to go through the length and breadth of Wales to tell of the Saviour.”
Roberts was not a gifted speaker yet people swarmed to his meetings. The focus was on God (not man) so He would receive the glory. Yet Roberts exuded joy. He smiled when he prayed and he sometimes laughed when he preached. He also claimed to receive visions from God. One of them gave him the number “100,000” which he understood to mean how many souls would be saved. Roberts formed a ministry team and started to tour Wales. The vision was fulfilled nine months later.
The result
The atmosphere in Wales changed dramatically, especially in the coal mines. Swearing, gambling and loafing were replaced by clean language, singing and hard work. Even the pit ponies (used to pull the carts of coal) were affected. They were accustomed to obscenities and kicking so the changed language and behavior confused them!
Relationships were healed and marriages were restored. Incidents of drunkenness and criminal behavior plummeted. Bars shut down and places of entertainment and sports couldn’t compete with the revival meetings.
The revival spread to other parts of Britain and were daily reported in the press. “Revival Editions” came out giving updates, conversion numbers and even printing hymns. It is estimated that one million people came to faith in Britain at that time.
News of the spiritual awakening in Wales, in fact, affected the whole world. In Europe it especially touched Scandinavia, France, Germany, Austria, Poland, Slovakia, Hungary, Russia and the Balkans. It impacted Chile and Brazil in South America, South Africa on that continent, and India, Japan and Korea in Asia. In North America, it helped fuel the Asuza Street revival in California which marked the beginning of the Pentecostal movement which continues to this day.
Can God do it again? Do God’s people want to see it happen again? I believe what happened in Wales can happen in Welland. And what happened in Pisgah and Ffestiniog can happen in Pelham and Fonthill. May it be so.
Rob Weatherby is a retired pastor.
