Duncan Campbell and the Lewis Revivalby Christa HabeggerWith the prayers of two godly women, a great outpouring of God's power began There are a great many views held by people today as to what revival is, so you hear men say, "Are you going out to the revival meetings?" "We're having a revival crusade," and so on. There is a world of difference between a crusade or a special effort in the field of evangelism [and true revival]. . . . We praise God for such movements. But is it not true that such movements do not as a general rule touch the community? The community remains more or less the same and the masses go past us to hell. But in revival, the community suddenly becomes conscious of the movings of God, beginning with His own people, so that . . . in a matter of hours, churches become crowded . . . and you find within hours scores of men and women crying to God for mercy before they [go] near a church. --Duncan Campbell (1898-1971).That is a description of the type of revival which swept the island of Lewis during the early 1950s. The man with whom the movement is most often associated is Duncan Campbell, a Scottish preacher whose ministry spanned nearly 50 years of this century.Duncan was born on February 13, 1898, at Blackcrofts in the Scottish Highlands, the fifth child in a family of nine. His parents, Hugh and Jane Campbell, were saved as a result of the witness of two female "Pilgrims," missionaries sent by Scotland's Faith Mission to the Western Highlands and Islands. Family worship became an important part of the family routine, and Jane Campbell particularly influenced the children for righteousness by her constant prayers and godly example. Duncan, described by a brother as a "wee rascal" with a shock of bright red hair, was an adventurous and independent youngster. Like the rest of the Campbell brood, he was expected to harness his energies to help with household and farming chores.As a young teen, Duncan discovered a talent for playing the bagpipes. By the winter of 1913 he and a group of other young pipers were providing entertainment for dances and concerts. During one concert Duncan was suddenly seized by great conviction of sin. Even as he tried to retain his composure the thought plagued him: "Is this all that life has to offer a young fellow?" He left the concert after a brief explanation to his companions and made his way home to get right with God. His mother, who had prayed earnestly for him, rejoiced with him at his conversion. From then on, there was no doubt in anyone's mind that Duncan Campbell had been born again. The young man witnessed to everyone he saw about the saving power of Jesus Christ.In his late teens Duncan was called to serve in the British army. As a machine-gunner in some of the bloodiest battles of the First World War, Duncan was in constant danger. The Lord preserved him physically throughout his time in the service, but Duncan was even more aware of God's grace because of the way He protected him spiritually. Duncan maintained a strong testimony, but testified later that he had fought tremendous inner battles with sin.Upon discharge from military duty, Duncan returned to the Highlands and soon embarked upon a ministry to his own village and surrounding districts. Not trained to preach, Duncan simply told the Highlanders the story of his own conversion, read the Scriptures, and prayed with the people whose homes he visited. These "kitchen devotions" were effective in pointing many to Christ.Duncan became conscious of the need for Bible training if he were to expand his influence for the gospel. In 1919 he enrolled in the Faith Mission in Edinburgh where he received nine months of intensive training to be a missionary. His first assignment as a Pilgrim was to North Ireland. From there he returned to his native Scotland and ministered primarily to remote communities in Argyllshire and Inverness-shire.In December of 1925 Duncan married Shona Gray, a blue-eyed "lassie" with whom he had fallen in love 11 years before. Shortly after his marriage Duncan accepted a call from the presbytery in the little town of Ardvasar to serve as pastor of their church.From then until 1948 he pastored churches--in Ardvasar, then Balintore, and finally Falkirk. In addition to regular church services, Duncan filled his schedule with preaching engagements to other congregations. He was a popular preacher, not because he delivered appealing, soothing messages, but because he was straightforward and passionate. Teenagers were attracted by his vigorous manner and obvious concern for them. His message was simple. He did not try to argue "theology." His was a theology of working Christianity. "He knew God could save and transform lives. He had seen it happen. It worked. That was enough." Duncan avoided long invitations or appeals following a service. Rather, he announced short prayer-meetings afterwards to which Christians were welcomed and also anyone who wished to be saved. He willingly counseled with those needing help following a meeting, "but preferred to hear of men and women having transactions with God without any human involvement."In 1949 at age 50, Duncan left a settled ministry of 23 years to return to his first love--missionary evangelism with the Faith Mission. He and Mrs. Campbell moved their growing family of five children to Edinburgh, and with that as headquarters, Duncan accepted invitations to conduct "missions" (special meetings) all over Scotland.It was during a series of meetings in 1949 on the island of Skye that Duncan received an invitation to preach in Lewis, the largest isle of the Outer Hebrides. The Christians of Lewis sensed the growing apathy toward spiritual matters among their church members and among the young people of the island, most of whom avoided church altogether.In the village of Barvas in Lewis lived two godly elderly ladies, Peggy and Christine Smith. Peggy was blind, and her sister was crippled with arthritis. Because they were not able to attend services in the village church, they met with God in their cottage. There they received the promise: "I will pour water upon him that is thirsty and floods upon the dry ground." One night Peggy sent for the minister, Rev. James MacKay, and told him that God had revealed to her His promise of revival. She asked that he call his elders and deacons together for special prayer. They met for months at night in a barn, pleading with God for an outpouring of His power in their midst. Yet, despite their prayers and efforts to interest the Barvas youth in spiritual things, not a single young person attended services.During one prayer meeting a young deacon rose to his feet and read from Psalm 24: "Who shall ascend into the hill of the Lord? or who shall stand in his holy place? He that hath clean hands, and a pure heart; who hath not lifted up his soul unto vanity, nor sworn deceitfully. He shall receive the blessing from the Lord." He closed his Bible, looked down at the group of kneeling men, and said: "Brethren, it seems to me just so much humbug to be waiting and praying as we are, if we ourselves are not rightly related to God." There among the straw the men confessed their own needs and received assurance that the Lord would certainly visit Lewis in revival.Duncan Campbell was the man they invited to conduct meetings in Barvas. Their faith was tested when they received his reply stating that he was obligated to remain in Skye to arrange a holiday convention. The minister took the letter to Peggy and told her Duncan would be unable to come. She replied: "Mr. MacKay, that's what man says; God has said otherwise! Write again! He will be here within a fortnight!"Meanwhile, the Lord was working in Skye to bring Duncan to Lewis. The tourist board of Skye had booked all accommodations for a special festival during the time the convention was to be held. In consequence, the convention was cancelled and Duncan was free to accept the invitation from Barvas.On arrival he was met by the office-bearers of the church in Barvas. An old elder approached him by asking: "Mr. Campbell, are you walking with God?" Duncan, aware that here were men among whom revival had already come, replied, "Well, I think I can say this--that I fear God."Tired and hungry after his journey, Duncan nonetheless agreed to address the Christians who had gathered at the church that night. He never got his supper or his sleep that night. After preaching to a congregation of about 300, Duncan closed the service and the crowd dispersed. As he left the pulpit area, a deacon beckoned him to the church door. There Duncan saw that the entire congregation remained outside. Others had arrived at the church also, drawn by deep conviction. The entire crowd, now about 600 people, packed the church once again and stayed until the early hours of the morning, so great was their hunger for the Word of God. When Duncan finally left the church, he received the news that there were 200-300 people from neighboring villages gathered at the police station where they knew there was a God-fearing constable. Duncan went to the station and found there men and women on their knees praying to God for mercy. As Duncan was always eager to point out, this was not man's effort, but "a manifestation of God that moves sinners to cry for mercy before they go near a place of worship."When Duncan had accepted the invitation to come to Barvas, it was for a ten-day mission; but the revival that broke out in Barvas was occurring simultaneously in other parts of Lewis, and Duncan stayed for three years preaching and strengthening new believers. As he put it: "In revival, time does not exist. You see, the presence of God puts to flight programs." Duncan said that during those years in Lewis you could stop any passerby and find that he was thinking about God and the state of his soul. It was this awareness of God that struck Duncan as one of the outstanding features of the Lewis revival. "Because of this awareness of God," maintained Duncan, "the churches were crowded . . . through the day right on through the night to five and six o'clock in the morning."The revival had begun because Christians got on their knees, and its continuation was due to their perseverance in prayer. Peggy and Christine Smith sought the Lord unceasingly, and as a result, enjoyed a special intimacy with their Heavenly Father. Once when the movement was at its height, Peggy sent for Duncan and told him she felt burdened that he go to a particular village to preach. Duncan demurred, insisting that he had no particular leading to go there. Men in that town were bitterly opposed to revival and had already stated that they did not wish to be involved in any evangelistic effort. Peggy turned her sightless eyes in Duncan's direction and said, "Mr. Campbell, if you were living as near to God as you ought to be, He would reveal His secrets to you also." Duncan took the rebuke, and invited the minister to join him and the Smith sisters that morning in prayer. Peggy began to pray: "Lord, You remember the conversation we had this morning at two o'clock. And You told me You were going to visit this part of the parish with revival, and I've just spoken to Mr. Campbell about it but he's not prepared to think of it. You'd better give him wisdom because the man badly needs it."The next evening Duncan traveled to the village, and God provided both a meeting place and a congregation. Opposition had been overcome, and the Spirit of God was present in convicting power.One of the chief concerns of the men who had begun to pray for revival in Lewis had been the spiritual unconcern among the young people. Apathy was so widespread among them that conversion was typically referred to as "the plague." Their interests centered mainly around dancing, the cinema, and the drinking houses. A favorite story of Duncan illustrates how God brought revival to the youth of Lewis, despite their hardened condition.Duncan was preaching in a house-meeting in Barvas. A minister, Murdo MacLennan, from neighboring Carloway was there with his wife to assist in the services. The two preachers rejoiced to see two pipers converted at the meeting. They were to have played at a concert and dance that night in Carloway. Burdened for the youth of their parish, Mr. and Mrs. MacLennan returned to Carloway while the dance was in progress. Mr. MacLennan entered the hall by a side door. The young master of ceremonies for the evening met him and angrily denounced the intrusion of religion. "If you want to come to the dance," he said, "you should have come through the main door and paid your entrance fee like everyone else!"Mr. MacLennan replied, "As the minister of the parish I have come here with the authority of my Lord." The young man, suddenly daunted by the minister's reply and penetrating gaze, left the hall abruptly and retreated to one of the buses outside, where he sat weeping, already under conviction. He could not be persuaded to go back into the dance hall, not even to retrieve his coat.Meanwhile, Mr. MacLennan engaged the attention of the entire party. He prayed for them and related to them what was happening in Barvas and how the two pipers had been converted. When he left the hall, the group dispersed. Many of the young people got on their knees in the buses that had brought them and found the Lord that night.One of the most remarkable manifestations of the power of revival occurred in the town of Arnol, where many villagers remained aloof to the gospel. Godly men in that town met to devote an evening to prayer. Around midnight, Duncan asked the local blacksmith to pray. He rose and addressed the Lord: "O God, You made a promise to pour water upon him that is thirsty and floods upon the dry ground, and, Lord, it's not happening. Lord, I don't know how the others here stand in Your presence . . . but, Lord, if I know anything about my own heart I stand before Thee as an empty vessel, thirsting for Thee and for a manifestation of Thy power." After a pause he continued, "O God, Your honour is at stake, and I now challenge You to fulfill your covenant engagement and do what You have promised to do."At that moment the house began to shake "like a leaf." Duncan related that a minister said to him, "An earth tremor . . ." Duncan said, "Yes," but he was thinking of the fourth chapter of Acts where the Christians prayed and "the place was shaken where they were assembled together." Duncan pronounced the benediction and "walked out to find the community alive with an awareness of God." From that night forward, a "movement broke out that is spoken of in Scotland today as the Arnol revival, one of the mighty movements in the midst of this gracious visitation."Duncan lived to see some of the fruit of the great Lewis revival. During its height the local press recorded that "there are more people attending the prayer meetings now than attended public worship on a communion Sunday." More important to Duncan, however, was the evidence that the results of those meetings were permanent. Years later he could state, "I could count on my five fingers all who dropped off from the prayer meetings. You see, in Lewis and in the highlands generally, they would no more believe that you were a Christian, than they would believe that the devil was a Christian, if you don't attend the prayer meetings." To his great joy at the end of his life, he observed that as a result of the continuing prayer meetings, men and women, both young and old, were "coming savingly to Christ," and many Christians were going into the ministry at home and through foreign missions.Duncan Campbell died in 1971, having preached up to the last week of his life. A young man converted under his ministry wrote that "it was not so much what he said that gripped me but the man behind the words—his Christlikeness. Jaesus was real to him." It was certainly the reality of Duncan's walk with God which rendered him a powerful preacher and an instrument in revival.
