20 Revivals of the Twentieth Century

How many countries experienced a religious revival during the 20th century? According to this new book on church revival history, there were, at the very least, twenty such revivals occurring in various parts of the world. Revival swept from Asia to Australia, through America, and across the European continent; all within the space of one century.

When did I begin writing The Twenty Revivals of the Twentieth Century?

It was many years ago; I first took pen to paper and began jotting down some of the revivals that occurred over the last one-hundred years. At that time, the twentieth century had barely ended. Yet, looking back, the realization came that there were at the very least twenty revivals, many of which do not appear in other books of this nature. The fact that there were so many revivals may come as a surprise to some, considering it averages out at one spiritual awakening every five years! So, one could say, the early twentieth century was an era of Revivals.

Why This Book?

I wrote The Twentieth Revivals of the Century because there are so many stories that need to be told. Stories of sweeping revivals, which happened all across the globe. Spiritual awakenings that occurred in countries making headlines today--sometimes for all the wrong reasons. Nations like North Korea's Pyongyang, which had at one stage, in 1907, over 3,000 people in one church. Who would think when looking at the North Korea of today under the current regime, Pyongyang was once called the Jerusalem of East Asia!

Then, there is Japan, which almost became a Christian nation, leading up to the twentieth century. At this time, Christianity began gaining ground at a rapid pace. It even got to the point where some non-Christian government officials suggested that Christianity could become Japan's state religion. Such was the impact heading into the twentieth century that some said not to send any foreign missionaries into Japan. Why? Because the homegrown churches were gaining so much ground. Besides this, many also believed that if the local Christians continued the way they were going, wrote Verbeck in 1889, "you need not, after 1890; send any more missionaries to Japan." So, what was the date for the expected Christianization of the country? The writer continues, "Some put 1890 as the date, some 1895, but no one puts it any later than 1900!"

Great revivals covered in this book also include China, India, the former Soviet Union, as well as the United States, when America felt the flame of true religious revival.

The thing that surprised me most, though, when writing this book, was that the first flames of worldwide revival were the prayer circles that originated in Australia. Most, if not all, of the revivals detailed in this book, took their cue from these praying groups in Melbourne. For example, Pandita Ramabai, in 1905, sent her daughter from India to Australia. Why? To learn about the prayer circles. Before long, India experienced a revival similar to that of the Welsh Revival of 1904.

There are very few books today, which go into such depth as The Twenty Revivals of the Twentieth Century does. So. if you want to learn about some unknown revival activity in the church, why not look at this book, it may change the way you think and pray about worldwide revival in the church.

Dettagli