Before we left China in 1948, after the Communists had overrun nearly all of our part of the country, we had a memorial service at Ching-do … for fifty-one of our Baptist leaders who had been killed because they refused to give up their faith in God, take a course in communist doctrines, and then help the Communists establish their ungodly, atheistic regime. Some of those who died had been our personal co-workers. All of them were twentieth-century martyrs. I doubt that we would have seen or heard of many martyrs if this testing time had [come] before the great revival. …

[In 1930] I had been in China over ten years already as missionary. Fruit? Yes. There had been some. Many had come into the churches. Some were really saved but it seemed the majority had no life. We saw little difference in their everyday living. Very few people who, before they confessed Christ, seemed to have any conviction for sin. And then after being converted, or professed to be converted, very little joy. Many went to church Sunday morning and to fields or other work in the afternoon. Often an unannounced visit into the homes would find the old fatten god on the table in the living room, the pot of burning incense in front, and down on the floor, bowing to the god, a member of the church. They had not destroyed their family gods.

When we preached on the importance of witnessing to the lost and urged Chinese to go out after the lost there was little interest. Some even seemed ashamed to have friends know they had accepted this ‘Jesus Way’. …

All classes were affected by the revival. There was no respect of persons. Educated university professors, medical doctors, students, along with farmers, factory workers, merchants, and many other groups in the areas where the revival came were brought under conviction for sin, and all who were willing to confess, forsake and believe were saved.

In Shantung Christian University, near our home, a doctor, who was a professor, a very humble man, became deeply aware that he was only a nominal Christian, living on the edge of what God had provided for him in a spiritual way. The burden of several thousand unsaved students at the University was laid on his heart. He and his wife became members of a prayer group of missionaries and Chinese who were meeting regularly in our home. I remember one night he came and said he wanted to remain and pray until the Lord blessed him. We prayed all night. He and his wife were both cleansed and blessed. He went back to his classes and the students soon saw he was a different man. Before long he had led over one hundred students in the medical school to the Lord. These, in turn, were on fire for the Lord, going among their fellows and witnessing to the mighty power of God.

… [In Ching-dow] … Mr. Chauda Sangh … was a civil engineer. He was one of the brightest pupils our early schools ever knew, who had spent his life in government service, building railroads and motor roads. And in his sixtieth year, after forty years in the wilderness, he confessed and put away his sins. He then began visiting cities where he had worked and sinned, testifying to the saving power of Christ. And upon receiving Christ as Lord, he had put away his concubine — giving her support to be educated in the school, and had made confession and restitution as far as possible in other details of his busy and varied life. He then became concerned about the souls of his immediate family and old friends in business and had begun a series of travels up and down the railroads to find his old companions in sin that he might do direct personal work—win them to Christ. …

… Dr. Maddry, then Executive Secretary of the Foreign Mission Board, decided to go to China and see for himself what was happening. He went, visiting all of our main stations. Wherever he went he saw overflowing congregations, people filled with zeal for the Lord and the lost around them. …

… In Shang-hi, when he and Mrs. Maddry were waiting for their ship to sail back to America …, at a meeting of missionaries on the campus of Shanghi Baptist University, Dr. Maddry made a speech. He talked about the Shantung Revival mostly, some of which was beginning to reach that great city of Shanghi. At the close he said, “I came. I saw. I have been conquered.”

This is only a very brief story and testimony of the Shantung Revival. Eternity alone will reveal the total number who have come to a saving knowledge of the Lord and Savior as a result of [this] unusual experience. May God lead many of you into this deeper walk with Him.

Excerpted from “The Shantung Revival“ by John Arch Abernathy.