The Revivalist and Oswald Chambers

Oswald Chambers first published articles in The Revivalist and Bible Advocate magazine in 1907.

The magazine, which is still in print, ran a special edition about Oswald Chambers in January-February 2017.

It’s packed with beautiful photos and information.

You can read it here.

Why an American magazine?

Oswald first met editors of The Revivalist magazine during his first visit to America in winter 1906-1907.

He’d come to God’s Bible School in Cincinnati, Ohio at the urging of his Japanese evangelist friend Juji Nakada.

While Nakada went off on a preaching trip around the US, Oswald remained to teach a course on Biblical Theology.

(I’ll write more about Oswald Chambers in America in July)

Like many Christian preachers, he was keen to write as well as teach.

His own mentor, Reader Harris of the League of Prayer, used to say, “The most lasting of all preaching is with the pen.”

(See page 15 of The Revivalist for more on Reader Harris, here).

It only made sense he’d meet the editors and arrange to write articles.

What did he write about?

The subjects on which he spoke were the focus of some of his articles: Jesus, the Bible, how to live as a Christian.

After the camp meetings in the summers, he wrote about those.

As Oswald was extremely busy, writing articles became easier when he married the super-stenographer Biddy.

She took down his messages, typed them up, corrected spelling and syntax and mailed them to The Revivalist.

The linked 2017 magazine includes excerpts and reprints from those first 1907 articles.

During World War I, the messages Oswald spoke at Zeitoun YMCA camp served to spark a type of revival among the ANZAC troops.

Many of those lectures appeared in The Revivalist–almost every month.

Oswald’s work also appeared regularly in the League of Prayer’s magazine Tongues of Fire (later known as Spiritual Life).

Through the magazines and prayer letters sent by Biddy, they kept their supporters on events at Zeitoun during the war.

When Biddy toured League of Prayer centers in 1919, many people she met were familiar with and asked about the YMCA ministry in Egypt.

God’s Bible School, which produces The Revivalist, is pleased to have been part of Oswald’s ministry 110 years ago, as well as today.

Tweetables

Honoring Oswald Chambers and his first published works. Click to Tweet

The Revivalist Magazine and Oswald Chambers’ first articles. Click to Tweet

A terrific overview with photos of Oswald Chambers in The Revivalist. Click to Tweet

 

Those interested in Oswald and Biddy Chambers might enjoy short monthly stories about God’s leading in writing Mrs. Oswald Chambers (to be released in October 2017 by Baker Books).

February’s appropriate story: “In which Oswald Chambers presents an opportunity to write a romance novel.”

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