WALES has periodically been a land of religious revivals. Griffith Jones, Hywel Harris, Daniel Rowland, William Williams (the ‘Welsh Charles Wesley’) led earlier awakenings in the eighteenth century. The 1859 revival was reported around the world. The land was set ablaze by the Moody-Sankey meetings in the late 19th century.

But nothing matched the spiritual intensity and social transformation produced by the Revival of 1904-5. This was a divine intervention that drastically changed life in churches, homes, mines, factories, schools and even places of leisure and entertainment.

In February, 1904, in a meeting in New Quay, the earnest, sincere words of 17 year-old Florrie Evans, who simply stated: “I love Jesus with all my heart,” were electrifying. Person after person arose and made full surrender to Jesus. The news of the service spread throughout the area as young people testified in other churches.

When, seven months later, Seth Joshua, from the Forward Movement, visited West Wales, he found a remarkable ‘revival of spirit.’

That same month, Evan Roberts was returning to Newcastle Emlyn to prepare for the Christian ministry. Roberts came from Loughor, a village between Swansea and Llanelli. Now aged 26, he had been praying for thirteen years for the power of the Holy Spirit. When he became a collier, at the age of 12, the Bible had been his constant companion and prayer his continuous recreation. While a young coal miner, a page of his Bible was scorched during an explosion underground. The page that was burned was 2 Chronicles 6 where Solomon prayed for restoration. This desire for revival became his passion.

As a result of his long and persistent yearning after God, he had a life-changing encounter with God in the spring of 1904. This was the launch pad for his later ministry: “At one o’clock in the morning, suddenly I was awakened up out of my sleep, and I found myself, with unspeakable joy and awe, in the very presence of Almighty God. And for the space of four hours I was privileged to speak face to face with Him as a man speaks face to face with a friend. ... it was every morning for three or four months. I felt it changed my nature. I knew that God was going to work in the land, and not this land only but all the world.”

At the close of that early morning meeting at Blaenannerch, Seth Joshua prayed, using the words, “Bend us”, and in the 9 o’clock meeting those words burned in the heart of Evan Roberts. He fell on his knees, with his arms on the seat in front, and his tears felt like blood gushing from his face. After two terrible minutes, he cried out, “Bend me! Bend me! Bend me!”

Afterwards he wrote: “It was God commending His love that bent me, and I not seeing anything in it to commend. After I was bent a wave of peace filled my bosom… I was filled with sympathy for the people who will have to bend in the Judgement Day, and I wept. Afterwards, the salvation of souls weighed heavily on me. I felt on fire to go through the length and breadth of Wales to tell about the Saviour, and had such a thing been possible I was ready to pay God for being allowed to go!”

At a meeting held during his first week back at Loughor, he made known the four things that he considered necessary for revival:

• Confession of known sin
• Removal of everything doubtful
• Entire commitment to the Spirit
• Public confession of Christ

The meetings continued in the second week and on Sunday, 13 November, Evan Roberts began a lengthy first tour through Glamorgan. He was consumed with a passion to see Wales transformed by Jesus.

Simultaneously, revival was breaking out in many other places and spreading like wild-fire all over Wales.

In the next fourteen months, Evan made four prolonged journeys throughout Wales, seeing remarkable conversions. Also, hundreds of overseas visitors flocked to Wales to witness the revival and take it back to their own lands.

Amazing happenings repeatedly occurred in meetings. Young men and women testified fearlessly; others were bowed in prayer; some sang songs of Zion or traditional hymns. Tears, sobs and songs of praise were intermingled, continuing until the early hours of the morning. A key note was simple spontaneity. There were no hymn books – folk had learned hymns in childhood - no choir, for everybody sang; no collection and no advertising.

Evan Roberts was ready to be totally radical and obedient to the Holy Spirit. James Ogden, an English visitor, commented on a meeting in Merthyr Tydfil.

“Evan Roberts stood up, said something in Welsh, and immediately every window in the place was smashed. It appeared Evan Roberts had told those who were near windows to break them: the cool air was admitted and the crowd outside could see inside, and took part in the singing. The Revivalist said that the salvation of one soul was of more importance than the fabric of the chapel… Evan Roberts never prepares an address, but speaks as the Spirit gives him utterance… Another striking fact was that two-thirds of the congregation consisted of men, and nearly half were young men…”

His spirit was often a joyful one He would walk up and down the aisles, swinging his arms and clapping his hands, jumping up and down at times and always smiling warmly at each new arrival. He often played down his own importance. “This movement is not of me, it is of God. I would not dare direct it … It is the Spirit alone which is leading us.”

Evan Roberts’ work was essentially that of a catalyst, moving quickly from meeting to meeting, spreading the fire and leaving others to continue the blaze. He was not so much a Bible expositor or an eloquent preacher (as in previous Welsh revivals) but a man with a burden. God had sent him to warn, exhort, invite and plead lovingly. Underlying this was a great compassion. He was heard to cry out on one occasion, “How can I repay Him for the privilege of going through Wales to proclaim His love?”

But the revival took its toll on his health. By early 1906, he was feeling the effects of nervous exhaustion and beginning to show signs of more strained behaviour. Criticism of him and his methods grew and he began to suffer from depression.

Advised not to engage in any more public ministry, he devoted himself to intercessory prayer and writing. He accepted an invitation from Jessie Penn-Lewis to spend some time at her home in Leicester. He made this his base for several years, actively interceding and collaborating with Jessie Penn-Lewis on a book, ‘War on the Saints’, which had a wide readership. However, within a year of its publication, Evan Roberts had denounced it, telling friends that it had been a failed weapon which had confused and divided the Lord’s people.

From the mid-1920s, Evan lived in Brighton and the south of England, eventually returning to Cardiff in 1928. He was involved in a series of prayer meetings at Gorseinon, where many were reminded of the Revival days. He lived in Cardiff until his death in 1951, expressing himself increasingly through his poetry, most of which is still unpublished.