Frank Bartleman

As noted in the previous chapter, there were reports in the press of scattered revivals in many areas of America between 1900 and 1904 that preceded the worldwide revival of 1905. To gain a broad perspective and penetrating insight into the events and outworking of the American edition of the 1905 revival and the 1906 Pentecostal revival, we can look to the life and work of a young minister who became both a participant in and historian of the great American awakening during the first decade of the twentieth century. Born in rural Pennsylvania in 1871, Frank Bartleman became a journalist and traveling evangelist for forty three years to the time of his death in 1936. His participation in both the American Awakening of 1905 and the Pentecostal movement’s embryonic stirrings in 1906 coupled with his extensive, first-hand accounts give the modern reader an unparalleled view of those momentous times in church history.

Bartleman grew up on his family’s farm but left at age seventeen. He was converted in the Grace Baptist Church of Philadelphia in 1893. Within a year he felt a call to full-time ministry and was soon ordained by the Temple Baptist Church. He ended […] Continue Reading…

The Welsh Revival of 1905

Wales has been called the “land of Revivals.” No less than sixteen remarkable revivals occurred in Wales between 1762 and 1862.[1] Wales is a country that is part of the United Kingdom on the island of Great Britain. It borders England to the east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, and the Bristol Channel to the South.

In spite of its great history of revivals throughout the land, the church in Wales was in decline during the last decade of the nineteen century. According to revival historian Dr. J. Edwin Orr, the church suffered from a “loss of power in the pulpits and a worldly spirit in the pews.” Church attendance was low for Sunday services, prayer meetings, and general fellowship among the members. Bible reading and family worship was neglected by much of the church. These conditions greatly concerned many of the leaders of the Welsh churches, and most saw a great need for a spiritual revival through a special outpouring of the Holy Spirit.[2]

F. B. Meyer was a friend of D. L. Moody and one of several of Moody’s American and British preaching associates such as Reuben A. Torrey, J. […] Continue Reading…

America succumbs to mammon

J. M. Roberts in his definitive The New History of the World stated that the magnitude of societal change produced by industrialization was the “most striking in European history since the barbarian invasions”…and perhaps the “…biggest change in human history since the coming of agriculture, iron, or the wheel.” By 1850 Great Britain was the only country in the world that had established a mature industrial society. Yet, most industrial workers in England were found at businesses employing fewer than fifty people and those that worked in larger factories were concentrated at the large Lancashire cotton mills with their distinctive urban appearance and character. However, a significant increase in the number of large factories would soon occur because of the trend toward greater centralization, specialization of function, economies of scale and transport, and regimentation of labor. By 1870, France, Switzerland, Belgium, Germany, and the United States had joined Britain in the race for self-sustained economic growth through industrialization.[1]

In “Shame of the Cities,” American historians Larry Schweikart and Michael Allen gave a vivid description of American life in the cities during the late 1800s.

…immigrants flooded into the seaport cities in search of a new life. […] Continue Reading…

Revival begins at a Canadian farm 1853

The first stirrings of revival in what became the Third Great Awakening in America began on a Canadian farm in the province of Ontario. Dr. Walter Palmer was a wealthy physician who had turned evangelist. Both Palmer and his wife Phoebe held evangelistic meetings mostly in the United States but occasionally traveled to Canada. In August 1853, the Palmers preached at a camp meeting on a farm in an eastern township near Nappanee where over five hundred people were converted. They returned to Nappanee in 1854 and saw another great harvest of souls in which hundreds were converted. They came again in 1855 to Barrie and once again saw hundreds converted.[1]

Hamilton was a bustling Ontario community of 23,000 in October 1857. The Palmers were merely passing through Hamilton on their way back to Albany, New York, from Georgetown, Ontario, where three thousand were in attendance. The Palmers had planned to stay only one night but were forced to stay longer with friends because of the loss of their luggage. Two ministers soon discovered the couple’s presence in Hamilton and invited them to tea at which they were encouraged to […] Continue Reading…

The ripening fruit of the Second Great Awakening

During the first half of the Second Great Awakening from 1794 to the beginning of the second half in 1822, the expansion of Christianity rested on two pillars: revival and the evangelical organizations growing out of them, especially in the United States and Great Britain. It was in the first half of the Second Awakening that these Christian organizations were birthed and nurtured, but it was in the second half that they matured and spread Christianity’s evangelical mandate to a waiting world. Here we note but just a few of these Christian organizations brought about by the Second Great Awakening.

Baptist Missionary Society was founded in England by William Carey in May 1792 and is generally regarded as the beginning of modern Protestant missionary endeavors.

Wesleyan Missionary Society formed in 1817-1818 arose from the work of Thomas Coke’s Methodist mission to the West Indies during the 1780s-1790s.

Anglican evangelical Thomas Haweis led in founding the interdenominational London Missionary Society in 1795.

Church Missionary Society founded in 1799 based on an idea conceived by Charles Simeon and sponsored by the Church of England.

The Scottish and Glasgow Missionary Societies were formed in 1796 but did not […] Continue Reading…