LIFE ON THE ALTAR

This article is from Issue 8, Called to be Witnesses

1921 Revival in East Anglia and the Scottish Fishing Community        

If you bottle up your faith in Christ, say nothing about it, you will soon find it all evaporate. ‘If thou shalt believe in thine heart, confess with thy mouth.’ The two things go together.

News of the Welsh revival in 1904 spread  all over the country, and indeed the world, and sparked the desires and hopes of the saints that God could do the same in their own home town.

One such town was the large fishing port in Suffolk, Lowestoft, where there was little spiritual interest besides among the youth at the Fisherman’s Bethel and the Baptist Church, and it was the pastor of this church, Hugh Ferguson, that began in earnest to pray for a mighty move of God. This desire turned into a weekly prayer meeting which was well attended, and after two years of collective prayer, the answer gloriously came in 1921 through two men from opposite ends of the country that God had been preparing.

Douglas Brown
the Awakening at Lowestoft

Settled in his ministry with no thoughts of change, Douglas Brown had ministered for fifteen years as Pastor and anointed preacher to his flourishing full church in London. One night after a meeting, great unrest and trouble came upon him as he came under conviction that he was not fully surrendered. God was calling him to full time mission work, something that he resisted as he loved his flock and wanted to stay with them, but after four months of intense wrestling, he finally broke and fully yielded, and wrote his resignation. To his surprise, on doing so, the relief came, and a wave of power and joy flooded his being.

Four days later, March 7th  1921, he left London for Lowestoft, through Hugh’s invitation, to hold what initially had been planned as a week of evangelistic services; by God’s planning however, it was to be the beginning of a revival that would reach the fishing ports of Scotland.

At the first week of meetings, The Holy Spirit was so wonderfully known at the twice daily services that many were convicted and either reconsecrated themselves, or came for the first time to Christ. The church that held 750 became packed as news spread of the anointing in the meetings, and people came from different towns to be part of what God was doing.

It was clear that this was a sovereign work of God, and that it was just the beginning. For the next seven months Douglas continued to hold evangelistic services, preaching not only in church, but also in barns, and in the open air, travelling to villages and different towns. With the help of Hugh and others, he preached the message of the cross at Ipswich, Great Yarmouth and Norwich, with hundreds believing and turning to the Lord Jesus.

Jock Troup the Herring Fishers

It was to this atmosphere of revival, that in October that year, around seven hundred small fishing boats from all over Scotland arrived at Great Yarmouth for herring, as they did each year. For several months the port town would lodge up to ten thousand fisherfolk, including the fisher-women who gutted and packed the fish into barrels.

Among them was a man sent from God, a barrel maker in his mid-twenties from Wick named Jock Troup. He came to Christ while working in the Navy in the First World War, and immediately told of his conversion to his fellow sailors. He returned to barrel making after the war, and the year before revival came to Suffolk, in a fisherman’s mission in Aberdeen, Jock experienced the baptism of the Holy Spirit that anointed him for preaching the gospel; which he took every opportunity to do.

Jock arrived at  Great Yarmouth to a town already experiencing revival. At the end of his working day he stood to preach in the market place to the mass of fellow seamen mulling around, and the anointing brought many strong fishermen to the ground crying out to God for mercy; it was a scene described as a battlefield with men strewn everywhere. Conviction and Godly fear came upon the Scottish folk.

Every night Jock held an open-air meeting, his booming voice could be heard up to a mile away as he preached the message of the cross and of the risen Saviour. His arrival was of great blessing to Douglas and Hugh who received him as one sent for such a time as this, and they worked together in ministering to the hundreds who responded to the work of God.

CONVERSIONS

It had been a terrible year for fishing, the weather was completely contrary to grant success, but it was a great year for souls. Despite the howling gale and torrential rain, one open air meeting went on until midnight and saw twenty-two men brought to Christ on their knees.

Some were saved while out fishing, with whole boat crews having their eyes opened and the hearts softened, coming back to the harbour as brothers. Some were saved while gutting the fish, being overwhelmed as the truth of the gospel pierced their hearts and minds. Such was the response that Jock was permanently relieved of his barrel making duties so that he could minister to those who were in agony of soul.

On one small trawler, the skipper had two sons working with him. The younger attempted suicide by jumping overboard but was saved by a rope that was flung to him. The next evening this younger son heard singing coming from one of the churches, and when he went inside he saw his father and brother were there. At the end of the service all three were brought to saving faith in Christ, and by the end of the week his whole crew were saved.

Douglas Brown said this of a particular prayer meeting that was so packed, many stood in the aisles and sat on windowsills.

“We started at six o’clock and went on until eleven. No one was asked to pray but it was all prayer. The power of God was so terrific that we ministers on the platform could do nothing as those dear Scottish fellows prayed. I shall never forget the scene, nor recover from the sense of God’s presence at that meeting. The fisher-lads prayed for their brothers, the fisher-girls prayed for the other girls lodging in the same house. Singing, sobs and prayer prevailed in all parts of the building. After a while we thought it would be good to have testimonies.

When Jesus is really in a place and there is a sense of sin and a vision of Calvary, the atmosphere is so gentle, so pure, that a few soft words only were needed to ask for testimonies.

I will shut my eyes and picture the scene. Up gets a man from Stornoway and says in his Scottish accent, “Let’s have number 46.” In a moment the Scots girls had taken up the old metre and the place was ringing with “He drew me out of the horrible pit.”

It was as those lasses sang and the strong hefty fishermen joined in, many of them sank down on their knees. I tell you frankly, if a man could pass through a meeting like that without breaking his heart with joy, he must be made of granite”

SCOTLAND

It was at a meeting in November in Great Yarmouth while ministering with Douglas, that Jock had a vision from The Lord. In it he saw a man from Fraserburgh, several miles north of Aberdeen, praying for God to send Jock to them for evangelism. Despite the pleas from others for him to stay, he was obedient to the vision and made haste, leaving for Scotland the next day.

As soon as he arrived in Fraserburgh, he started preaching in the market place, and as the crowd gathered it was suggested they continue the meeting at the Baptist Church, where the church leaders just happened to have finished a meeting where they had decided to invite Jock to come and preach.

Among them was the man that Jock had seen in his vision praying for him to come. Together they held a service for the crowd that had come from the market place, and the Spirit of God moved upon the people convicting of their condition and need for salvation. Many were weeping and were cut to the heart, backsliders repented and doubters believed on the finished work of the cross.

In late winter, the boatloads of converted fishing crew came back to their home ports in the power of the Holy Spirit, and the Lord raised up preachers and evangelists from among them to bring forth a harvest of souls from the fishing communities all over Scotland. Revival touched Wick, Eyemouth, Peterhead, Fife, ports on the Firth of Forth, and even Lewis and Shetland.

Up to fifty percent of some village populations made confessions of faith as new believers in Christ. Jock Troup travelled all over Scotland as a full-time evangelist and never returned to his former trade.

Taken from Life on the Altar Publication
Issue 8 Spring 2023