Revival in Australia, Part Four
By Jason Harris

This brief series on revival in Australia has not been an overview, but merely a few brief windows into the rich spiritual heritage of our nation. We could yet talk of the great evangelistic works of Lionel B. Fletcher and John G. Ridley, of Chapman and Alexander in 1912, of the great evangelistic work of Billy Graham in 1959 (his Melbourne campaign attendance of 130,000 still holds the record for the largest crowd ever at the MCG). But I trust we have already seen enough to widen our perspective and waken our hearts to the work that God can and will yet do in Australia.

There was a time in Australia, that when the evangelist came to town—even Sydney town—the civil leaders Read the rest of this entry »

Revival in Australia, Part Three
By Jason Harris

The glowing evangelistic days of Torrey and Alexander’s Melbourne mission in 1902 were not one-off events. There were many campaigns held around the country. One of the most notable was held in 1909 when Charles Alexander returned to Australia, this time with J. Wilbur Chapman. Chapman was one of the most well known evangelists in America at this point. He is also notable for having been a significant influence in the early ministry of Billy Sunday (Billy Sunday and the Redemption of Urban America, 49ff). The Chapman-Alexander Campaign included a month each in Melbourne and Sydney, two weeks in Brisbane, and ten days in Adelaide, as well as shorter visits to Albury, Ballarat, Bendigo, Castlemaine, Moss Vale, and Townsville (A Romance of Soul Winning and Song, 152, 162).

Again in Melbourne, Alexander led his choir of over 1,200 voices. On the afternoon of his first choir rehearsal, the rain was pouring down in true Melbourne fashion. Three men sat questioning whether anyone would Read the rest of this entry »

Revival in Australia, Part Two
By Jason Harris

It was in April of 1902 that R. A. Torrey, the well known Bible teacher and successor to D. L. Moody in Chicago, held his great Melbourne Mission. The churches of Melbourne had been a long time in preparing for the meetings. Their organisation was so strong and their preparation so thorough that every house in Melbourne had been visited twice! The city was divided into fifty sections, each division having it’s own meeting place set up with an Australian evangelist assigned to preach in that meeting. The main meetings downtown were held at first in the Melbourne Town Hall, but after a short time were moved to the great Exhibition Building which could seat 7,000 people.

The schedule was intense with up to four meetings a day being held at the main Exhibition Building throughout the campaign. Charles Alexander, who was personally selected by Dr. Torrey to organise the music for the campaign, led a choir of over 1,200 voices each evening. Alexander would sometimes arrive at the Exhibition Building two hours before the evening service only to find Read the rest of this entry »

Revival in Australia, Part One
By Jason Harris

When I was in Bible college, I lived in a suburb of Wollongong nestled on the heights leading up to Mount Kembla. Every time I walked out the front door, there she was, that mountain peak just begging me to climb her. So one day I did. Well, almost. I didn’t really have time to do it just as a hike so I decided to combine it with my running routine. It didn’t take me long to find the small country lane that led up it’s slopes. On the mornings when I’d run, I could make it two-thirds of the way up the mountain in fifteen minutes, but then I’d have to turn around and head home in order to keep my routine to a half an hour. My goal was to get to where I could run all the way to the top and back in a half hour.

Kembla is a quiet mountain. There’s not much that happens up there on the South side of the mountain these days. There are a few homes close to the top, and if you go past those, you’ll come to some old shacks that have fallen to the decay of time. I’m told if you cross over to the back of the mountain, you can visit the town that used to be a thriving mining village. I’ve spoken to a man who used to work in the mines on Mt. Kembla. He told me of the “pit ponies” that would carry the carts in and out of the mines. Evidently Mt. Kembla was one of the last mines to switch over to modern mining techniques. The older miners who just didn’t want to learn the new equipment would be sent there to work using all the older mining methods.

Of course you’re probably wondering what in the world this has to do with revival in Australia. Well, I’ve been Read the rest of this entry »

By Jason Harris

It has been said that the blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church. Most Christians are familiar with the great British and American missionary martyrs of previous centuries, but perhaps less familiar are the martyrs of Australian missions. The first Australian missionaries to plant their blood in the seedbed of the mission field were two sisters, Topsy and Nellie Saunders, and another young lady, Annie Gordon.

It was 1895 and the anti-foreigner sentiment in China that would eventually break out in the Boxer Rebellion was gathering momentum. On 1 August of that year, the “Vegetarian” rebels carried out an attack on a mission station where the Saunders sisters and Miss Gordon were working (Welch, Missionaries, Murder and Diplomacy in Late 19th Century China: A Case Study, 16).

Nellie and Topsy were woken by three men with trident spears who tipped their beds over and dragged them out. Nellie was stabbed immediately and collapsed at the door. Topsy was marched outside and surrounded by several more men. “Walk! Walk!” they shouted at her, “tell us where you have hidden gold!” “We have no gold,” she replied: “there is money in the bedroom. Go and take it.” Angry, one of the braves dug a spear into her. (Gittings, link)

Eleven missionaries were martyred that day. Among them, the three Australian missionaries.

The next Australian martyrdom occurred three years later. Tensions continued to mount in China as the anti-foreigner sentiment, which would culminate in the Boxer Rebellion just two years later, continued to simmer. In November of 1898, missionary William Fleming, who had been saved through the ministry of Read the rest of this entry »