Background
A century ago Wales experienced
the last National Religious Revival, a revival that brought in an extra 100,000
new converts according to the estimates of the time, and a movement that quickly
spread to the 4 corners of the World. Yet that great move of the Spirit had very
small beginnings. Beginnings that didn’t always involve the great preachers
of the day – erudite and educated as they were, but instead included, for
instance a young teenager from New Quay, Cardigan – Florrie Evans –
who in a youth meeting in February 1904 declared publicly that she loved the Lord
Jesus with all her heart. With these words the Spirit seemed to fall on the meeting
and the fire quickly spread to other young people in the Cardiganshire area.
In September of the same
year, an Evangelist Seth Joshua was addressing a Convention which included these
young people at Blaenanerch just 5 miles north of Cardigan. Seth himself had
been praying for years that God would raise up a young man from the pits to
revive the churches – little did he know that on Thursday September 29th
1904 his prayer was to be answered in a life changing experience for one 26
year old student, Evan Roberts.
For
years Evan had been a faithful member of Moriah Calvinistic Methodist church
at Loughor, he was a Sunday School Superintendent, a consciencious reader of
the main theological works of his day, and more than that he had been praying
for revival for over 11 years. Having been converted as a young teenager, he
continued to pray regularly that God would visit again the nation in Revival
Power. Determined to do his part, he felt compelled to go into the Calvinistic
Methodist Ministry and on September 13th 1904 he became a pupil of the Newcastle
Emlyn Grammar School to prepare for Trefecca Theological College
It was only 2½ weeks
after arriving that he found himself at Blaenanerch – and at a crossroads
in his spiritual experience. A spiritual experience which would lead him back
to the young people of his own church Moriah Loughor where he shared his experience
and encouraged them to be open to God’s Spirit. Within two weeks the Welsh
Revival was national news and before long, Evan Roberts and his brother Dan and
his best friend Sidney were travelling the country conducting Revival Meetings
and they were meetings with a difference. Meetings which broke the conventional
and bi-passed the traditional – often the ministers just sat down unable
to preach or even to understand what storm had arrived in their usually sedate
temples.
This was a Revival with
youth on fire – young men, yes and women. After the first stirrings amongst
the young women of New Quay, young women continued to play a part in the Revival
work – young Florrie went on a team to North Wales with her friend Maud
– others used their voices as instruments of God’s message and amongst
the most well known was Annie Davies Maesteg who accpomanied Evan Roberts on
his missions.
Yes a storm had hit the
churches yet for so many it was a storm of love and power which completely transformed
their lives.