Little Mischief

Owen Cottom

In 1858, a young man returned to his homeland from a short time in the United States. His return was not just motivated by hiraeth. He came home with a burning passion for revival in his native Wales. During his time in New York, he had been caught up in a local awakening, and now the embers were alive in him. His name was Humphrey Jones. History reports that he was a fiery and fierce individual, passionate and bold, a Wesleyan Methodist in the image of John Wesley himself.

At the same time, at a small church in the village of Ysbyty Ystwyth, an older minister had undergone his own mini-awakening. Spurred on by the memory of God’s past reviving works (especially in his own Calvinistic Methodist denomination), he determined to call his own congregation to believe that it was possible again. Jesus was still alive, the Spirit was still at work, revival was possible … here, now.

Two men. One heart for God to move. But it wasn’t initially a straightforward partnership. If Humphrey Jones and David Morgan had tried to agree on a common definition of revival they probably would have entered a fierce debate. They were from different church backgrounds, different theological perspectives, different generations and different contexts.

At their meeting in Pontrhydygroes, where Humphrey Jones was preaching and David Morgan was in attendance, they could have exchanged pleasantries and gone their separate ways. But so convicted was Morgan by the evident passion that Jones possessed that he approached him and broached the idea of labouring together. Morgan was understandably nervous. But as Jones counselled this older saint, Morgan surrendered his fears and decided the potential benefit of working together outweighed the potential cost. His resignation, coupled with Joneses response, has become a little bit of a motto for me in recent days

Morgan: "There can be no harm in our attempting to rouse the churches of this region; I am willing to do my best. We can do little mischief by holding prayer meetings, though there should be no more than man in it all"

Jones: "You do that and I will guarantee that God will be with you very soon"

The rest is history. The ‘little mischief’ of these two men and others led to the 1859 revival, which swept across Wales with a beautiful display of churches awakened in prayer, believers united in the gospel and communities transformed by mass conversions. And what lay at the heart of it all? What was the spark that lit the spreading flame? Unity.

Scripture is crystal clear: God blesses unity (Psalm 133). So if we want the blessing of God in Wales today we must do all we can to labour and pray for unity in the gospel between our churches and within our churches. When we pray for unity we are joining in prayer with our Saviour Himself (John 17). When we pray for unity we are joining in prayer across the ages with heroes of the faith like Humphrey Jones and David Morgan.

So let’s pray for unity.

Pray for unity on a micro-level in church plants. The enemy loves to sow disunity among God’s people and this can be particularly evident in pioneering contexts. Pray for teams to experience a deep sense of being of ‘one mind and one heart’ (Philippians 2:1-2) and for congregations to be bound together in the love of Christ (Colossians 3:14).

Pray for unity on a macro-level across Wales. One of the most exciting things we have seen since launching this initiative is the renewed hunger to work together for the sake of the gospel. Pray that this desire would be sustained and fanned into flame. Pray for unity in your village, town or city. Pray that Jesus’ prayer would be answered in the Church across Wales today; that we would be one and that the world may glimpse our Saviour through our togetherness (John 17:21-24).

As we pray in this way, I guarantee that God will be with us very soon.