Brief Bio - Duncan Campbell

Brief Biography:The minister at Barvas, the Rev James Murray Mackay, had been led to write to Duncan through the prayers of his congregation, and in particular two elderly sisters named Peggy and Christine Smith who had received the God-given assurance that Duncan would be the instrument that God would use to fulfil His purposes on the island.Duncan was quite unaware of these things and he intended to stay in Lewis for just ten days and then take a rest from his mission work. However, despite his tiredness, he immediately recognised the feeling of spiritual expectation amongst the people who had invited him to Barvas, and after the preaching service on the second evening he was there, the congregation lingered outside the church and were joined by others who had not attended the meeting. At that moment, the voice of a young man was heard praying aloud inside the church, and many were moved to join him as a sense of deep conviction came over the crowd. The church was soon filled with people calling upon God for mercy and praising Him for His goodness, and even when they separated in the early hours of the morning, small groups went on praying in various parts of the village. The powerful awakening which swept through Barvas in the following days was not an isolated event, and although Duncan Campbell's preaching was similarly blessed when services were hastily arranged in villages such as Tarbert, Leurbost and Arnol, the revival was felt throughout the whole of Lewis, to such as extent that he later described it as "a community saturated with God".

Note: The house I bought in 1991 from Murdo Maclean stood in Habost, Nis in the far north west of Lewis. I was invited to preach by Finley Campbell, another elder in the Church of Scotland. Every elder passed through my home, else I bought the senior Elders house in the first two weeks of my time in Lewis. I sat with the elders in their seats in the church by invitation and looked at the young men behind me and asked the Lord, 'Is there no other young man Lord who you can use?' I knew nothing of revival or Donald Macphail in that hour. Yet it pleased the Lord to give me an insight into His people who in their inner parts knew that God comes to revive His people when his people seek Him with all their hearts. I would to God that I were innocent, yet I am guilty of the same flesh of laziness and the flesh of self as are others. Now is the time to repent, as I repented in sack cloth and ashes. For the Lord can take just one young man and through his tears revive His people by an outpouring of His power. Just a few weeks ago I spoke with Peter Macphail, Donalds's son, and when we had finished we prayed. I prayed for the pastors and asked for mercy. He prayed for the prophets and asked that the Lord would set their faces like flint to press forwards. Then we spoke of the first Mosque that is now erected in Stornoway. And Peter shared that seventy years ago that Mosque was spoken about as coming to Lewis. Beloved all about us are the flights of birds that are symbols of the end of this age. Now is the time to get on our faces and to call upon the Lord. Therefore the Lord says to you - repent.

Article:

In the Outer Hebrides between 1949 and 1953 a work of God was seen; which being of such a magnitude of effects, came to be called revival. When I lived in the Hebrides with my family I met numerous brethren who had been saved in revival.

The Hebridean Revival

Duncan Campbell spoke of Donald Macphail as the Evan Roberts of Lewis, and said of him that through him, more men were saved in revival, in Lewis, than through any other man. Yet Donald was a boy of sixteen years. I knew Donald and fellowshipped with him in Arnol, with his family. What struck me about this man was his quiet attitude. And even though he always laboured to see the work of salvation done, in mission and in the church, his quietness was the witness that he understood that revival of God is always a matter for God. It is never a matter for men, save for obedient men and women, who through prayer and intercession seek God for that evidence of His power in the revival of the Church and its effect of revival in communities in which the church is visible.

It is for this reason that when I speak of revival, both of the church and of men, I mean the power of God, the awareness of God and the evidence of God to save men and women and children; as well, to make His servants obedient and faithful.

Godly Liberty

You would think that all who are born again of the Spirit of God ought to be outwardly set in conduct and speech so as to bear witness to this power of God to save. Yet as I know in my own life, and have seen in the lives of many others, our witness is so often prescribed and has little to do with true liberty and godliness. If liberty and godliness are ours, then so also will be sound doctrine, good character and a fruitful life without being judgemental, burdensome and merciless. We will in those circumstances be less inclined to put chains on others, and realise that God has given us both an inner measure and an outer witness to what it means to be Christians to others, and bondservants of Christ.

The inner measure is the cross unto death, and the outer witness is a true revival. It is the revival of the inner man through being identified with the cross, and the outer man by the salvation of others. In all, it is God labouring in us, both to will and to work according to His good pleasure. It is, therefore, the power of God in revival, from which power there is no escape, and by which power we are the workmen of God. All our work must be held in that quiet balance that Donald Macphail received when he was taken up in the power of the Holy Spirit and saw into heaven so that through a child it pleased God to save men. How much more will God save many others through men and women in every place if they are obedient unto the death of the cross, as Christ was obedient? Let our work be the work of the Church, let our churches be evidenced by the power of God to save others, and to see those saved grow into mature and fruitful servants of Christ. In all things let us also see that we too must become revived men and women.

http://www.revival-library.org/index.php/pensketches-menu/historical-revivals/the-hebrides-revival

In this link (above) Duncan Campbell in his own words expresses some details about the Hebridean Revival. Including Donald Macphail's conversion in a farmhouse whilst kneeling beside a pigsty.

I am unable to share what is on my heart at the moment because I need to speak to Peter Macphail and ask for his blessing and approval. What I can say is that Arnol, the village that Donald grew up in, provided the greatest opposition to revival in Lewis beyond any other village. That opposition was settled by an earthquake and then those opposing men were saved. The farmhouse that Donald was saved in was next door to this house. They were both still visible when I lived in Lewis. I knew Donald for six years and yet he never once spoke of the revival. Not once. Some years after revival, Duncan Campbell told Donald that he was wasting his time in the pulpit and should go on the mission field. So he did. Yemen was the place and Islam was the mission field.

What many believers cannot easily realise is that opposition to revival comes from the church and not the world. And today this means something more difficult than ever it was in the past. So when we pray we needs must first stand and discern the enemy of our souls who has garnered help from a quarter that is in the midst of God's people. When we repent, that repentance must be measured equally with the grave effect that now is our inheritance. And that measure is so grievous that we will be broken before we can walk.