The Lewis Revival

We are in the Evangelism Awakening Revival Institutes, and if you'll turn in your handouts to session 10, the Lewis Revival, the revival that occurred in the Scottish Hebrides in 1949 to 1952 was a revival that affected many of the young people of the island, and teenagers who were converted in this revival went to the ministry. The human instrument of the revival was Duncan Campbell. It was said of Duncan Campbell, he was an ordinary man who had had an extraordinary experience of God.

Duncan Campbell made the following statement, how many today are really prepared to face the stark reality that we have been outmaneuvered by the strategy of hell because we've tried to meet the enemy on human levels by human strategy. In this, we have succeeded in making people church conscious and mission conscious without making them God conscious. Well, Duncan Campbell was a man who believed God and a man who feared God.

The Lewis Revival, as it later became known, was a powerful revival that gripped the entire communities. It was said of the revival, the awful presence of God brought a wave of conviction of sin that caused even mature Christians to feel their sinfulness, bringing groans of distress and prayers of repentance from the unconverted. Strong men were bowed under the weight of sin and cries for mercy were mingled with shouts of joy from others who had passed into life.

The Lewis Revival was birthed by prayer. Many godly parents were concerned about the teenagers on the island who were forsaking church functions for the local dance and drinking, and reverie seemed to be their main objective. The moral downgrade of the island was described by a local resident.

The town of Stornoway had one of the highest drinking rates in Scotland, and illegal drinking houses flourished throughout the island. In 1949, there was a growing carelessness toward spiritual matters among the younger generation. In the high school, some pupils were actually speaking of conversion as the plague, something from which to keep away at all costs.

So because of these concerns, the people began to pray for the youth of the community. But the thrust of revival came primarily from two elderly sisters, Peggy and Christine Smith. They were 84 and 82 years old, respectively, and spoke only Gaelic.

Peggy was blind, and her sister almost bent over with arthritis. Unable to attend public worship, their humble cottage became a sanctuary where they met God. To them came the promise, I will pour water upon him that is thirsty, and floods upon the dry ground, which they pleaded day and night in prayer.

One night, in a vision the Lord had revealed to Peggy, not only that revival was coming, but also the identity of the instrument he had chosen to use, Duncan Campbell. They called for their minister to contact Duncan Campbell to visit the island. They told their minister that revival was coming to the island.

They said, we struggled through the hours of the night, refusing to take a denial. Had he not promised, and would he not fulfill? Our God is a covenant keeping God, and he must be true to his covenant engagements. Did he fail us? Never.

Before the morning light broke, we saw the enemy retreating, and our wonderful lamb taking the field. Well, I love that story of the Smith sisters, friends, because it demonstrates what burdened, unfortunate prayer can accomplish in praying for revival. They were both invalids physically, but they were spiritual giants who battled the forces of darkness in their community until God sent revival in answer to their prayers.

At times, it seemed the entire island was bathed in prayer. Some deacons gathered regularly in a barn to pray for God to send revival, and these men made a covenant with God that they would give him no rest until he sent a blessing. They gathered in the barn faithfully to pray, and as the months passed, and nothing happened, until one evening a young man there took up his Bible and read from Psalm 24.

Who shall stand in his holy place? He that hath clean hands and a pure heart, he shall receive the blessing from the Lord. The young man stood and closed his Bible, and looking at his companions on their knees before God, he cried, Brethren, it is just so much humbug to be waiting thus night after night, month after month, if we ourselves are not right with God. I must ask myself, is my heart pure, or are my hands clean? Well, it wasn't long after this incident in the barn that God sent revival to the island.

The story reminds me of an elderly pastor who once telephoned me to ask me to lunch to discuss revival, because he had read my book on revival. At lunch he told me how badly he wanted revival to come to his church, and he asked me if I would help him. I looked him in the eye and replied, if you want to have revival come to your church, then revival must first begin with you.

You need to get right with God. You need to repent before God. Well, I thought my words offended him, for he got up from the table and left the restaurant suddenly.

But the next week he called me again to ask me if I would meet with him and two other pastors for lunch to discuss revival. Well, I met with these men, and they asked me if I would consider meeting with them once a week to pray for revival. I agreed, and for the next several months we met for prayer.

We would arrange our chairs in a circle to pray, and well, I'll never forget it, but the elderly pastor, whom I told that if he wanted revival, he needed to repent. Well, this man, while we were sitting in that circle, he suddenly jumped up from his chair like a bolt of lightning struck him. Then he fell to the ground on his face and cried out in despair, Oh great God, forgive me for all my dirty rotten sins.

Send revival to my church and let it start with me. Well, that man was getting serious with God, and God gets serious with those who get serious with him, and that's what was going on on the island of Lewis. The people were getting serious with God.

The revival saw that kind of desperation and prayer before the revival came to the island, and God heard those prayers. He sent Duncan Campbell to the island, and under Campbell's searching sermons, many were awakened to their lost condition and brought to Christ. Listen to this account of how the Lewis revival commenced.

A solemn hush came over the church when Duncan turned his time to the foolish virgins. The service closed in a tense silence, and the building emptied. As Duncan Campbell came down from the pulpit, a young deacon raised his hand and, moving it in a circle above his head, whispered, Mr. Campbell, God is hovering over.

He is going to break through. I can hear already the rumbling of heaven's chariot wheels. Just then the door opened, and an elder beckoned, Come and see what's happening.

The entire congregation was lingering outside, reluctant to disperse. Others had joined them, drawn from their homes by an irresistible power they'd not experienced before. There were looks of deep distress on many faces.

Well, the main message of the revival, emphasized by Campbell, was the wrath of God and coming judgment. God seemed to grip the island in the fields or at the weaving looms. Men were overcome and prostrated on the ground before God.

One said, The grass beneath my feet and the rocks around me seemed to cry, Flee to Christ for refuge. The agony of conviction was terrible to behold, and the confirmation of the revival occurred one night as Duncan Campbell leaned over the pulpit and stopped preaching when he noticed a young lad visibly moved under a deep burden for souls. Duncan Campbell asked him to pray.

The lad rose to his feet and, in his prayer, made reference to the fourth chapter of Revelation. Oh God, I seem to be gazing through the open door. I see the Lamb in the midst of the throne, with the keys of death and hell at his girdle.

He began to sob, then, lifting his eyes toward heaven, cried, Oh God, there is power there, let it loose. With the force of a hurricane, the Spirit of God swept into the building, and the floodgates of heaven opened. The church resembled a battlefield.

On one side, many were prostrated over their seats, weeping and sighing. On the other side, some were affected by throwing their arms in the air, in a rigid posture. God had come.

There is a video about the Lewis revival which I highly recommend to you friends to obtain and view it. It's called Wind of the Spirit, and on the video are some of the converts from the revival. As they are interviewed, they are now old people talking about how God saved them as teenagers in the revival.

You can learn a lot about revival by watching that video of the actual people who lived through those glorious days. I also recommend the biography of Duncan Campbell written by Andrew Wolseley. It's a remarkable account of the Lewis revival.

It's important to our study revival that we take the time and make the investment to learn as much as we can about revival. It's important for us to support revival ministries to help get the word out. This concludes our session.

Let us prepare for session 11.