Scotland Revival and Missions

Revival and Missions

“Repent, then, and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out, that times of refreshing may come from the Lord…” Acts 3:19


“Religious fervor is not a constant. When it flames most brightly, it transforms not only individuals but history; yet among the same people it may die down into smoldering ashes that give no heat to personal life nor any energy to national life.” This was a description of what historian James Leyburn made of the of the religious life of the Scottish people in book on the Scotch-Irish.

I wonder what was the mysterious work of God that emblazed hundreds of Scottish men and women to become missionaries? Why did so many from one small country go into uncivilized lands to suffer hardship and loss of life during the 19th Century? What was it about the land of thistles and heather that was different? How did Scotland from its pagan history come to be won by Christ through the preaching of St. Columba on the isle of Iona and send out missionaries that converted the Angles and perhaps much of Europe? In the ages of smoldering ashes when the gospel light was dim, once again God sent a revival through the preaching of John Knox and other preachers that resulted in a national transformation that still impacts our lives as Presbyterians.

Consider all the great missionary servants whose legacies now stand in the halls of Christian fame. In one decade alone from 1850’s to the 1870’s we find great missionaries like Mary Slessor go as a pioneer missionary in Africa and become known as the White Queen of Africa. She came from a poor working class family in Scotland, never married, but became a woman greatly loved by her converts and orphan children in what is now Nigeria.

We also read about James Gilmore, who in this same period left Scotland for Mongolia to preach the Gospel and never looked upon his homeland ever again. Also, John Paton sailed for the cannibal islands of New Hebrides, another Scot sailed for the Cook Islands. James Chalmers preached Christ to the islanders and eventually traveled to New Guinea and there he was killed by cannibal tribesman in 1901.

We cannot forget Alexander Mackay who like Moffat and Livingston before him, took the Gospel of our Lord into Africa with the watchword “Africa for Christ.” He never took his hands off the plow, nor looked back to his home. He spent his years in Uganda in a time of great persecution and killing of Christians. He would die of malaria in 1890, but the Church would live on.

What was it about these men and women that captured their souls and hearts with such unmitigated devotion? What do they possess that I do not have? Why cannot we experience that same visitation of holy devotion that rained upon Scotland in their days? Might the Spirit of God blow upon the smoldering ambers of our hearts for true revival? How I long for such a reality to happen in our day.