Duncan Campbell (1898 - 1972)

Used of God in the Hebrides revival in Scotland in the 1950's where the presence of God was manifest in a powerful way. In this later years he became the principal of the Faith Mission Bible College.

His burden was for revival in the Church and also holiness in daily Christian experience. He clearly shared the burden of the Lord for His body to be purified in the last days. He preached the true baptism of the Spirit that makes men holy in light of a Holy God.

Recommends these books by Duncan Campbell:
Revival in the Hebrides by Duncan Campbell
The Price and Power of Revival by Duncan Campbell
The Lewis Awakening by Duncan Campbell

Duncan Campbell was a fiery Scottish preacher, whose main claim to fame is that he was a leader in the Lewis Awakening or Hebrides Revival, a mid-20th century religious revival in the Scottish Hebrides.

Campbell was outspoken about two aspects of the work of the Holy Spirit. The first was that, in his view, a true revival was a move of God that affected, not only church members, but the surrounding community in a way that was visible to all parties concerned (work stopping, bars closing, crime ceasing, etc). The second was the definite and profound experience of the baptism of the Holy Ghost subsequent to conversion.

His practice in evangelistic meetings was not to make the usual altar call, but to invite people to come to another room to pray and seek God. In his ministry in Lewis, he sought to transcend denominational boundaries, but this was at times difficult.

Duncan Campbell was, before everything else, a man of prayer and almost invariably started the day with a period of prayer and study of the Bible.

      The minister at Barvas, the Rev James Murray Mackay, had been led to write to Duncan through the prayers of his congregation, and in particular two elderly sisters named Peggy and Christine Smith who had received the God-given assurance that Duncan would be the instrument that God would use to fulfil His purposes on the island.

      Duncan was quite unaware of these things and he intended to stay in Lewis for just ten days and then take a rest from his mission work. However, despite his tiredness, he immediately recognised the feeling of spiritual expectation amongst the people who had invited him to Barvas, and after the preaching service on the second evening he was there, the congregation lingered outside the church and were joined by others who had not attended the meeting. At that moment, the voice of a young man was heard praying aloud inside the church, and many were moved to join him as a sense of deep conviction came over the crowd. The church was soon filled with people calling upon God for mercy and praising Him for His goodness, and even when they separated in the early hours of the morning, small groups went on praying in various parts of the village.

      The powerful awakening which swept through Barvas in the following days was not an isolated event, and although Duncan Campbell's preaching was similarly blessed when services were hastily arranged in villages such as Tarbert, Leurbost and Arnol, the revival was felt throughout the whole of Lewis, to such as extent that he later described it as "a community saturated with God".