During and after World War I, many English-speaking Evangelicals were hoping and praying that one positive result of the horrors of that war would be a great awakening of men and women to their sin and their need for the Saviour.
It was not to be; but there were local revivals, a century on, that we should remember.
The Stephens brothers
One such revival took place in Toronto in 1919, when two itinerant American evangelists, Harold L Stephens and his brother George, were invited to speak at Calvary Baptist Church in the east end of Toronto. They were Methodists with a theology shaped by the holiness movement of the previous century. They were particularly emphatic on the necessity of not only talking about the sins of non-Christians, but also about the sins of the saints.
Also prominent in their preaching was the person and work of the Holy Spirit, an emphasis not uncommon throughout 19th-century holiness circles. At a series of evangelistic meetings in Oregon in 1918, Harold Stephens had declared to one congregation: ‘Every person in this church, and every other church, too, should realise that without the Holy Spirit the church must fail. The Spirit gives us faith and courage. He makes us strong. He sends us on our way rejoicing. Let the church people become more and more imbued with this Spirit and the church will be what Christ meant it should be.’
Through the Stephens brothers, large numbers of men and women in North America experienced conversion and became passionate for evangelism and Christian service in society.
Revival and opposition
When Harold Stephens and his wife came to Calvary Baptist in Toronto in early 1919, they brought the same message of total commitment to Christ, and that anything less was displeasing to the Holy Spirit. But this message seems to have disturbed some of the leadership of the church, though the pastor, Donald MacIntyre, was fully in line with it, as were many in the congregation.
There is no explicit evidence that those leaders who opposed the message of Harold Stephens were motivated by liberal theological ideas, but it may well have been that laxity in theology had led to laxity in thinking about Christian discipleship. However, the men and women who deeply appreciated the preaching of Harold Stephens were on fire for Jesus and found it difficult to restrain their disagreement with many of the leadership of the church. And, as is often the case in times of spiritual awakening, a division resulted between those who embraced the revival and those who did not.
About 60 men and women left Calvary to form a new congregation, which would come to be called Forward Baptist Church, and which celebrates its 100th anniversary this year. At the heart of this new local church were three things: a solid commitment to the Word of God, a hunger to worship Christ, and a passion to see the lost saved. In the century that followed, this church would see over 100 of their congregation commissioned as cross-cultural missionaries, and at times the monies given to missions amounted to well over a third of the annual budget.
James A. Grant, pastor of St Clair Avenue Baptist Church in Toronto, preached at the church’s first communion on Sunday evening, 6 July, 1919. As he preached and the congregation of 50 or so celebrated the Lord’s Supper for the first time (as a distinct body of believers), it was recorded in the church minutes that ‘the presence of the Holy Spirit was felt in power by the whole congregation.’
Needing the Spirit of God
While we might have some disagreement with Harold Stephens about the work of the Holy Spirit, surely he was right to insist that without the presence of Him we can do nothing for Christ or His kingdom. Oh to know that blessèd presence in all our gatherings as did those Toronto Baptists 100 years ago!
