A Message of Hope in the Time of Need – Eastern Europe, 1937-1939
Last month, we learned about the message of faith and hope which spread through Latvia, Estonia, Eastern Poland, and Czechoslovakia from 1934 to 1936. If you missed that post and would like to read it, here’s the link: A Pre-WWII Great Awakening in Eastern Europe.
Today we continue the story in Czechoslovakia in late 1937.
Prior to WWII, Czechoslovakia consisted of four regions – Bohemia, Moravia, Slovakia, and Sub-Carpathian Ruthenia. Young Scottish evangelist James Stewart, invited and backed by the Czech Brethren, held revival meetings in Bohemia and Moravia in western Czechoslovakia.
Following the great revivals seen in the cities of Kutna Hora and Kolin (see the story “A Pre-WWII Great Awakening in Europe”), people from all walks of life filled large rented halls in the nearby capital city of Prague, Bohemia, to hear the gospel preached. Many surrendered their hearts to Christ as a result of these meetings.
Next, Stewart was invited to hold meetings in a large rented hall in the city of Brno, Moravia. Members of a Brno church were greatly concerned for the state of their congregation. The church was dying as a result of differences of opinion, hard feelings among the members, and a generation gap. Stewart challenged the believers to trust God for revival, for the salvation of their own children, and for the salvation of hundreds more.
Before the meetings began . . .
Round the clock prayer meetings were organized – each volunteer prayed for an hour.
Believers made sure their hearts were right with each other. They righted wrongs.
And the results . . .
God worked and the church experienced:
Love among the believers
A warm atmosphere
Life among the young people
Many souls won to Jesus Christ
A prodigal son in the church gave his heart to Christ, his behavior completely changed, and he became the leader of the young people, who willingly followed him.
From 1936 to 1939, Stewart held nine campaigns in large halls in Brno for two to three weeks at a time. He was only 26-years-old, preached simple messages, was of plain appearance and dress, but was joyful, earnest, enthusiastic, and spent hours in prayer each day.
In March of 1938, Hitler annexed Bohemia and Moravia and sent thousands of German soldiers and government workers to set up and maintain the new order. Despite the fact that every fifth person in and around Brno was German, the young people who were reached through the revival campaigns . . .
Held gospel services in hospitals, nursing homes, and prisons
Held gospel meetings and Bible studies in the nearby villages where many accepted Christ
Forty years later, Ruth Stewart, the widowed wife of James Stewart, traveled to Czechoslovakia and visited with some of these former young people, who were then in their 50‘s and 60’s. They had survived the war and their faith was strong in spite of having lived under communism for many years. Over and over again the former young people told her, “‘God knew what was coming to us of sorrow and suffering, and He brought revival into our midst to prepare us for standing strong in the faith in those difficult times.’”
Source:
Stewart, Ruth. James Stewart Missionary, A Biography. Revival Literature, 1977.