Revival Stories
The 1904 American Revival
God consistently throughout history revived His church by first raising up individuals who heard God’s heart and began to call others into prayer and a deeper longing for the Lord. In most of the well-known revivals, God highlighted a man or a woman who acted as a lightning rod for the outpouring of the Spirit. That person was prepared by the Lord to be the face associated with that revival. But, in some revivals, God primed His revivalists and then spread them out across many regions to ignite the spiritual fires, and all this without any one person gaining fame or a significant following. This was the case for the 1905 American Revival.
The early 1900’s in America were marked by the electrifying work of the Holy Spirit in 3 particular areas:1) Zeal in sharing the Gospel, 2) Anticipation of the coming revival, and 3) Intensification of prayers for God to awaken His Church. Regarding zeal for the Good News, different denominations such as Methodists and Presbyterians fervently sent out dozens of evangelists and held many campaigns from 1900-1904 to share about Jesus across the country. As a result, thousands upon thousands of the lost found salvation in these years.
As the Spirit touched many unbelieving hearts with the power of the Gospel, He also started to stir the spirit of the Church to long for revival. People started enthusiastically to write and talk about a great coming revival. Thousands of Revival Consecration Meetings and conferences began to convene across the nation to make people ready for the revival that surely would ensue. When the American Christians began hearing reports of what God was doing in the Welsh Revival of 1904, the anticipation skyrocketed in the United States.
Finally, the last piece that catalyzed this spiritual revival was the growing intensity of prayers crying out to God for a fresh outpouring. As early as 1903, the country witnessed thousands of pastors nationwide joined together in a network to pray for this outcome. In 1904, the prayer groups, especially among young people, vastly multiplied in number as they sought after God’s manifest presence in their own city.Churches in the great cities like New York and Chicago and Washington D.C. set aside differences to pray in unity for a soon-to-come mighty move of God.
And, then, in December of 1904, in just a few short weeks after the ignition of the Welsh Revival, the Holy Spirit’s fire swept across the town of Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania. Large numbers of people - many of them Welsh immigrants - crammed into churches, accompanied by a keen thirst for spiritual matters, powerful conviction of sin, and unfettered cries unto God. The people were moved to passionately seek after God, and they experienced a new degree of supernatural power in the churches. There was the intense sensation of the very presence of God in the congregations.
By springtime of 1905, it was reported that over 10,000 people had received the Gospel there. And it had spread to Troy, New York, and then throughout New England as well as to Atlanta, Georgia, and Louisville, Kentucky, and the other Southern states. Businesses citywide closed for prayer at noontime. Everywhere people went, salvation was the one topic of concern. The flames of revival reached out to touch Minnesota, Oregon, and California. Tens of thousands of souls were saved. Almost every church denomination grew in number. College campuses were scorched with soaring enthusiasm for Christ, and many young people arose to commit themselves to the work of the Kingdom as future ministers and missionaries. The American Revival, though lacking one distinct face or name, rippled across this nation to awaken its people to God’s presence once again.
QUESTIONS TO DISCUSS:
- Why do you think God sometimes raises up a revivalist to become singularly well-known during a revival? Why do you think God, at other times, keeps a low-profile team of revivalists working behind the scenes and in different locations?
- What were the 3 elements that helped catalyze the American Revival of 1904 and 1905? Which ones are already present in your city today? What can you do to help fan the flames that precede revival?
- Where do you think the next revival will start? What pathway do you think the Spirit will take to spread the revival across the nation and across the globe?