1904-1905 Welsh Revival
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The 1904–1905 Welsh Revival was the largest full scale Christian Revival of Wales of the 20th century.
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[edit] The Background
Before the 1904–1905 revival the last revival that Wales saw was in 1859, but prior to that change was afoot in its Christianity. From 1850 onwards the Christianity of Wales was markedly less Calvinistic in form. A generation of powerful biblical preachers ended, as leaders such as Christmas Evans (1838), John Elias (1841) and Henry Rees (1869) died.
Prior to the 1904–1905 revival two thinkers came to prominence, the political philosopher Karl Marx with his Communist Manifesto in 1848 and Das Capital in 1867 and the scientist Charles Darwin with his major work the Origin of Species in 1859, both of which arguably posed a challenge to the Christianity of Wales. In the face of hardship the poor quarrymen of North Wales wanted hope and so many modified their preaching style to that of social gospel; likewise Christian leaders came to accept the theories of Darwin despite the sometimes perceived conflict with the teachings of the Bible.
Between 1859 and 1904, there were local revivals: in Cwmafan (1866), Rhondda (1879), Carmarthen and Blaenau Ffestiniog (1887), Dowlais (1890) and Pontnewydd (1892).
[edit] Revival begins
Due to the nature of the Revival as a spontaneous social movement it is hard to identify an origin for the movement but several loactions can be viewed as major components of the revival.
[edit] Ceinewydd (New Quay) and Blaenannerch
A prominent leader of the Revival was the Methodist preacher of Ceinewydd Joseph Jenkins, who, in 1903, arranged a conference in Ceinewydd under the theme ‘to deepen our loyalty to Christ.’ After a meeting in February of 1904, the regular Sunday meetings as well as the newly founded mid-week meetings became lively and Joseph Jenkins’ Church went to other surrounding Towns and Villages to witness.
In September a conference was held in Blaenannerch. It was reported that 'massive blessing' was upon this conference and the news quickly spread thought the area and beyond. The South Wales Daily News picked up on the events and reported that 'the third great revival was afoot through the nation!' — the other two revivals being the Welsh Methodist revival and the 1859 Revival.
[edit] Ammanford
At the beginning of November 1904 Jenkins was invited as guest preacher at meetings in Bethany Ammanford, the Church of Nantlais Williams. When it was arranged that Joseph Jenkins was to be guest preacher there was no news of the conversions in Ceinewydd and Blaenannerch, but an extra meeting was hastily arranged on the Sunday afternoon so that Joseph Jenkins could tell the about the events in Ceinewydd and Blaenannerch. Nantlais Williams is recorded to have said that he was worried that there would be no interest in such a meeting and he was sceptical what the turn out would be; when he himself arrived he could only just squeeze in to the Chapel to hear Joseph Jenkins.
It had been arranged before Ceinewydd and Blaenannerch that Joseph Jenkins was to preach on the Monday night before his return to Ceinewydd. The Church was again full with people professing their faith in Jesus; but perhaps the most dramatic turn was when one of the crowd announced “Another meeting like this will be held here tomorrow night...”, and so that meeting again was well attended and went on until the early hours of the morning. Despite already having been ordained as a Minister it is worth noting that upon that weekend in November 1904 Nantlais Williams himself was not a Christian, he became christian on the Saturday night prior to Joseph Jenkins’ arrival.
[edit] North Wales
In December of 1904 Joseph Jenkins embarked upon a three month period preaching and professing in areas of North Wales. Many meetings were held in Amlwch, Llangefni, Llanerchymedd, Talysarn, Llanllyfni, Llanrwst, Dinbych, Dinorwig, Disgwylfa and conversions occurred amongst students in the University of Wales Bangor. But perhaps the largest conversions were seen in Bethesda, where another leader of the revival J.T Job described the meeting held in Jerusalem Bethesda on the 22 of December 1904 as ‘a hurricane’.
[edit] Evan Roberts and Casllwchwr
Evan Roberts was a young man influenced by the stories and experiences that were happening over in Ceinewydd and Blaenannerch. He decided to leave for ministerial training in Newcastle Emlyn. He therefore landed up in the, then, hot-bed of the Revival in south Ceredigion. The news of the mass-conversions in Ceinewydd and Blaenannerch had already spread to Newcastle Emlyn and served as quite a distraction for a man who had been sent there to study. Seth Joshua, another prominent leader of the Revival came to the area to hold meetings, which Evan Roberts attended eagerly.
After his three months training at Newcastle Emlyn he was to return to Casllwchwr to start his ministry. He claimed to have direct visions from the Holy Spirit; very specific visions such as the number 100,000 representing the souls God intended to use him to save. As the revival unfolded Evan Roberts is said to depend more and more on what he considered the guiding of the Holy Spirit.
Response to Evan Roberts’ ministry was slow at start but soon the crowds turned out and the meetings were carried on until the early hours of the morning. After the meting at Casllwchwr Evan Roberts got together a team and went on a tour of the South Wales valleys to spread the revival.
Evan Roberts did not take well the decline of the revival, and the frustration of great expectations of a world wide revival that had arisen in his team, and afterwards fell into depression. He was housed then by a friend and co-authored a book with his friend's wife Jessie Penn-Lewis, War on the Saints, (believed by some to be heretical because of its use of the term "possession" to describe demonic spirit's potential effect on believers) from which he dissociated himself after he recovered from depression and the book was severely criticised.
[edit] Role of newspapers
A feature of this revival that was not seen in any other revival prior to 1904 was the role of the media. The Western Mail and the South Wales Daily News, Wales’ daily newspapers spread news of conversions and generated an air of excitement about the Revival that helped to fuel it further. The Western Mail in particular gave extensive coverage to Evan Roberts’ meetings in Casllwchwr. The Western Mail articles were reprinted in book form in 2004 by Quinta Press.
[edit] Reflections on the Revival
It is believed that at least 100,000 people became Christians during the 1904–1905 revival, but despite this it did not put a stop to the gradual decline of Christianity in Wales, only holding it back slightly. It has been argued by christian historians that the 1904–1905 revival lacked the depth of previous revivals in terms of nurturing the newly converted Christians in Bible doctrine.
[edit] A Diary of Revival
2004, The Centenary of the 1904 revival, saw Kevin Adams of Llanelli launch a Video/DVD "A Diary of Revival" documentary on the 1904 revival. Educated through the medium of Welsh and English, Kevin is a fluent Welsh speaker and writer. He was theologically trained at Bangor University where he gained a BD in Theology and then went on to research the 1904 revival and twentieth-century evangelism in Wales. The DVD is available form the website of 1904revival.com
[edit] Amazing Grace musical
In 2005 a musical [1] was made about the 1904-1905 Welsh Revival. The music and lyrics are written by Mal Pope and the book is by Frank Vickery. Its first tour began at the Grand Theatre in Swansea, Wales and was directed by Michael Bogdanov with the Wales Theatre Company. The first tour included an appearance from Peter Karrie.
[edit] Sources
- Evans, Eifion: “Diwygiad 04-05” : 2002
- Gibbard, Noel: “Nefol Dan – Agweddau ar ddiwygiad 1904-1905” : 2004
- Davies, Gwyn: “Golau Gwlad – Cristnogaeth yng Nghymru 200-2000” : 2002
