Evangelical Revivals in New Zealand, and an Outline of Some Basic Principles of Revivals

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Evangelical Revivals in New Zealand, and an Outline of Some Basic Principles of Revivals EVANGELICAL REVIVALS IN NEW ZEALAND -----//----- A History of Evangelical Revivals in New Zealand, and an Outline of Some Basic Principles of Revivals. -----//----- by Robert Evans and Roy McKenzie. -----//----- Published by the Authors, in conjunction with ColCom Press. PREFACE Many years of experience in the Lord's work, and the relative ease of retirement from parish responsibilities, have provided both of us with the time to carry out a work of love in presenting to the public this history of evangelical revivals in New Zealand. It is an aspect of the work of God which we believe is of enormous importance, both for church and for society, but which has been widely neglected for many years. The research for this book has relied, in the first instance, upon our privately-owned library resources. The main public libraries to which we are indebted are the New South Wales Uniting Church Archives Library and the Camden Library of the United Theological College, both in North Parramatta, the Hewitson Library of the Knox Theological Hall in Dunedin, the John Deane Memorial Library of the Bible College of New Zealand in Auckland (formerly The New Zealand Bible Training Institute), the Moore College Library (Anglican) in Sydney, and the Alexander Turnbull Library in Wellington. We also acknowledge the help of Miss Ferne Weimer, Director of the Billy Graham Center Library, in Wheaton, Illinois. We have also been indebted to many individuals. Chief amongst these have been the Rev. Dr. J. Graham Miller, now living in Wangaratta, Victoria, Dr. Brett Knowles of Dunedin, and the Rev. John Thomson, now living in Nelson. Professor Ian Breward kindly reviewed one chapter. David Jull has also kindly given us access to material he was preparing for his PhD thesis. While we are very grateful for their thoughtful help, they cannot be blamed for any mistakes or lack of balance in this book. Such faults are purely our own. There are many others who have helped us, but, if we tried to mention by name everyone to whom we are indebted we would certainly omit someone mistakenly. To all these friends we express our grateful thanks. We also gratefully acknowledge our indebtedness to all the authors who have published books, or have written research papers, on more specialised parts of the story, and upon whose wisdom and collected information we have been able to rely. So far as we are aware, this is the first published book to bring together, with this degree of detail, the various stories of revivals in New Zealand. Dr. J. Edwin Orr's "Evangelical Awakenings in the South Seas" provides a much briefer sketch outline, but he painted a picture on a much wider canvas. We pray that this story of what God has done in the past, will help inspire prayer for a Great Spiritual Awakening in the land of the long white cloud, and that all the glory will go to God, to Whom it is all most justly due. Robert Evans. Roy McKenzie. P.O. Box 131. 10 Naumai Street, Hazelbrook. Gore. N.S.W. 2779. Southland. Australia. New Zealand. INTRODUCTION The purpose of this book is to study what God has done in the realm of evangelical awakenings and revivals which have occurred in New Zealand since the coming of Christianity to these shores. There is a value in centring our attention on New Zealand revivals in particular, and in looking at the many other features of New Zealand church history, and of New Zealand general history, only in so far as they relate directly to the revivals. There is another value, very important historically, in looking at the revivals in their full context, as a single part of the whole panorama of New Zealand history. This has not been attempted here, as such a task would require the dedication of a professional historian much more qualified and experienced. It will be obvious to every discerning reader that, at almost every point covered in this book, we have been able to rely upon valuable publications which already exist, and which embody records and research into aspects of our subject. We are indebted to these authors who did this work before us, and made our work much easier. Only in the case of the Waikaka Revival is there no basic resource already published. It should be added, however, that in many instances, the previously published works on these different aspects of church history in New Zealand had a completely different aim from our's, which meant that the story of the revivals did not receive much attention, or may have received no attention at all. In a number of instances, therefore, the story of a revival movement has been hard to reconstruct in much detail from the sources which are currently available. More research into primary sources may well reveal other details not included here, and this would be a worthy project. Our purpose has been to make a basic history of the evangelical revivals in New Zealand, of good interest to the average reader, and not to embark upon a research project that would cause the book to become like an academic thesis. As we shall see, evangelical revivals function on the basis of a certain general theological stance, and they cannot happen without this. Basically, we agree with the theology proclaimed during these revivals, and earnestly would like to see many more of such movements in New Zealand national history. Furthermore, we would like to see a wise, balanced, tradition of revivals develop in this country, which might continue and develop for many years. Definitions While there is quite a discussion by various experts about the meanings which basic words might have, the meanings to be adopted here are as follows: A Folk Movement. This is a turning toward Christianity by a large group of people who are not tutored in the meaning of what it means to be a Christian, or in the basic components of the faith. Usually, this has occurred amongst uneducated, tribal people who have only just come into contact with Christianity for the first time. An Awakening. This is a movement where many people become concerned about their relationship with God, and they turn to Christ, with or without there being an extensive revival amongst the Christians first. In this sense, a folk movement is a particular kind of awakening. But many awakenings occur where a large nominally Christian population already exists. An awakening will often result in a percentage of the people being truly converted, but many others may only be affected superficially. Some of their previous religious and social customs and mores may change radically. Revival. This term applies to a deepening and resurgence of the quality of spiritual life, and vitality of the Spirit, and effectiveness of witnessing, amongst Christians. It normally arises only after much earnest prayer for this new vitality.. It involves much heart-searching, much conviction of sin which may be very powerful, and deep repentance. It involves new depths of experiencing the reality of the Holy Spirit in personal lives. It usually results in a new impact on the surrounding society, and an awakening amongst unconverted people. It usually also results in renewed efforts not only to win the lost for Christ, and to help the poor and needy, but to improve the moral tone of society as a whole, by renewed expressions of the fruit of the Holy Spirit in individuals, and often by concerted actions. Revivalism is a more modern term which will be used to apply to organised efforts at mass evangelism, often in the hope that real revival will accompany or follow these efforts. In this usage, "revivalism" and "mass evangelism" really mean the same thing. The ordinary word "evangelism" applies to any human efforts to win others to Christ, including mass evangelism. But, many other activities are forms of evangelism, as well, including any personal contact which has the evangelistic aim. Many of the scholars have used the word "revivalism" in other ways. For example, Dr. J. Edwin Orr wanted to use the words "revivalism" and "revivalist" in another way. He wanted to use the word "revivalism" in the way that it was first used nearly 200 years ago. That meaning was that "revivalism" applied to activities which were actually part of real revivals. In the same way, the word "revivalist" would apply to someone who was involved in an actual revival. (1.) This was done by Dr. Orr in an effort to make the usage of these words both more consistent, and more Scriptural. However, recent wide usage of the word "revivalism" to apply to all sorts of things has made it hard to adhere to the usage that he suggested. Some academic historians used the word to apply to revival, evangelism, and anything which looked even remotely like either of them. Some of these historians and journalists had very little understanding or sympathetic feeling for evangelical religion. In some cases, the word "revivalism" has been made to apply to any activity which used to be seen in revivals in the past (especially the more spectacular and emotional kind), and which caught the imagination of people widely. The association of these activities with an actual revival had made them popular, and caused evangelists to copy them, in the hope that some of the effectiveness of the revival would continue to rub off onto their evangelistic work. So, these activities had then been used widely by evangelists, or by ministers, or by ordinary church members, in their meetings long after the real revival had gone.
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