The Nation’s Gospel: Spreading the Christian Faith in Britain since the Reformation - Volume 3

Jeremy Thomas

Revival to Reports (1900-1945) is the third in the four-volume The Nation’s Gospel series, the first and second volumes having covered Reformation to Revolution (1516-1791) and Revolution to Revival (1791-1900) respectively.

Revival to Reports is a detailed and accessible account of the Church in Britain during the years 1900 to 1945, including the way in which it allowed itself to be moulded by the culture around it. Referring to the spiritual state of the nation, evangelist Thomas Waugh sadly observed that, “instead of the church evangelising the world, the world has had considerable success in secularising the church.” Liberalism and ritualism had divided Christians and weakened confidence in Biblical orthodoxy and, as Jesus said, a house divided will fall.

Consequently, secular philosophy, psychology, anthropology, socialism and atheistic literature had, as the author reveals, a devastating impact on the churches. Once a world power, Britain’s confidence in Protestantism – once widely seen as underpinning its national greatness – subsided. This was despite the fact that at the dawn of the century, there had been a rich heritage of evangelistic methodologies, institutions and resources to evangelise the nation. Indeed, it was felt that since the first 50 years of the Christian era there had not been so many consecrated men and women toiling for the salvation of others.

There were times of revival, such as during the Welsh Revival that was, alas, followed by the First World War, which left in its wake human devastation and economic weakness. The damaging influence of Britain’s intellectual elite such as Shaw, Wells, Russell and Woolf in undermining Christianity cannot be overstated. Although afterwards, and by today’s standards, Christian activity abounded, the loss of confidence in the atonement took away the power from the gospel message. Meanwhile, some placed organisational unity above the gospel.

It was an increasingly depressing period spiritually, but there were rays of light as small groups of evangelicals recovered the gospel and established new patterns of ministry that bore fruit towards the end of the Second World War. Readers are introduced to some of the methods the church employed to share God’s immeasurably good news.

The chapters are divided into discrete and concise subsections. There is a treasure trove of rich detail here to fuel reflection, mission and prayer.