The revival's immediate beginnings are usually traced[according to whom?] to the religious conversion of Howell Harris at Talgarth church in 1735. While listening to the Rev. Pryce Davies preaching on the necessity of partaking of Holy Communion, Harris came to the conviction that he had received mercy through the blood of Christ. He began to tell others about this and to hold meetings at his home at Trefeca for these followers.
Many[who?] consider Griffith Jones (1684–1761), the rector of Llanddowror, Carmarthenshire to have been a forerunner of the Methodist movement in Wales. Through his circulating schools he taught thousands in Wales to read the Bible and created a generation of people which would be receptive to Methodist ideas. He also preached in the open air as later Methodist leaders would do. In fact, the newly converted Harris visited him for spiritual guidance and direction, and it was through his preaching that Daniel Rowland was converted and began to preach Methodist ideas.
The other major leader of the early revival was William Williams, Pantycelyn. He was converted in 1737 as he listened to Harris preaching in Talgarth churchyard.
Jumpers
Following the Llangeitho revival of 1762 members of the revival were often known as Jumpers on account of their habit of jumping for joy. This nickname particularly stuck after William Pantycelyn wrote Llythyr Martha Philopur at y Parchedig Philo Evangelius eu hathro (Martha Philopur's letter to the Reverend Philo Evangelius her teacher) followed by Atteb Philo-Evangelius i Martha Philopur (Philo-Evangelius's reply to Martha Philopur). These texts attempted to teach and defend the practices of the revival including that of jumping. The nickname juxtaposed them with Quakers (who 'quaked') and Shakers (who 'shook').
A movement
Rowland and Harris had been at work for eighteen months before they met at Defynnogchurch in 1737. This led to a friendship that lasted, with a ten-year break in fellowship, until Harris's death in 1773.
Methodist leaders met regularly to organise their work and to agree on matters of common interest.
Harris and Williams undertook major preaching journeys, starting in South Wales but later venturing north. As they preached they made converts, whom they then gathered together into organised groups of fellowships (known as seiadau (societies) in Welsh). As more converts were made, more evangelists were also created, and by 1750 there were over 400 such fellowship groups in Wales.[citation needed] These groups were supervised by the leaders and were built into a powerful network within the Church of England.
Rowland concentrated his efforts on Llangeitho which became a centre for the movement. On Communion Sundays thousands of the members of the seiadau would travel there to receive the sacrament.
A Calvinist movement
The Welsh Methodist revival differed from the Methodist revival in England in that its theology was Calvinist rather than Arminian. At the beginning the leaders worked with John Wesley, but gradually they parted company from Wesley and became associated with George Whitfield and his patron, Selina, Countess of Huntingdon.
Welsh Methodists and other denominations
The Methodist revival began within the Church of England in Wales and at the beginning remained as a group within it. But its success meant that Methodists gradually built their own networks, structures, and even meeting houses (or chapels), which led eventually to the secession of 1811 and the formal establishment of the Calvinistic Methodist Presbyterian Church of Wales in 1823.
The Welsh Methodist revival also had an influence on the older nonconformist churches, or dissenters—the Baptists and the Congregationalists—who in turn also experienced growth and renewal. As a result, by the middle of the nineteenth century, Wales was predominantly a nonconformist country.
James, E. Wyn, 'Lewis Evan, Richard Tibbott and the Methodist Revival', Cylchgrawn Hanes (Journal of the Historical Society of the Presbyterian Church of Wales), 44 (2020), pp. 29–52. ISSN0141-5255.
Howell Harris was a Calvinistic Methodist evangelist. He was one of the main leaders of the Welsh Methodist revival in the 18th century, along with Daniel Rowland and William Williams Pantycelyn.
William Williams, Pantycelyn, also known as William Williams, Williams Pantycelyn, and Pantycelyn, was generally seen as Wales's premier hymnist. He is also rated among the great literary figures of Wales, as a writer of poetry and prose. In religion he was among the leaders of the 18th-century Welsh Methodist revival, along with the evangelists Howell Harris and Daniel Rowland.
Daniel Rowland served as an Evangelist and early on as an Anglican curate. He was one of the foremost figures in the Welsh Calvinistic Methodist revival, along with the evangelist Howell Harris and the hymnist William Williams. For 55 years Daniel Rowland was one of the leading evangelists in Wales.
Llangeitho is a village and community on the upper River Aeron in Ceredigion, Wales, about four miles west of Tregaron and 11 kilometres (7 mi) north of Lampeter. Its population of 874 in 2001 fell to 819 at the 2011 census.
The Presbyterian Church of Wales, also known as the Calvinistic Methodist Church, is a denomination of Protestant Christianity based in Wales.
Trefeca, located between Talgarth and Llangorse Lake in what is now south Powys in Wales, was the birthplace and home of the 18th-century Methodist leader Howell Harris (1714–1773),. It was also the site of two Calvinistic Methodist colleges at different times; the first sponsored by Selina, Countess of Huntingdon, in the late-18th century; the second supported by the Welsh Calvinistic Methodist Church in the later 19th century.
Ann Griffiths was a Welsh poet and writer of Methodist Christian hymns in the Welsh language. Her poetry reflects her fervent Christian faith and thorough scriptural knowledge.
Lewis Edwards was a Welsh educator and Nonconformist minister.
Religion in Wales has become increasingly diverse over the years. Christianity was the religion of virtually all of the Welsh population until the late 20th century, but it rapidly declined throughout the early 21st century. Today, a plurality (46.5%) of people in Wales follow no religion at all.
John Jones, Talysarn, was a Welsh Calvinistic Methodist minister, regarded as one of the greatest preachers in the history of Wales. Because the name "John Jones" was one of the most common in Wales at the time, he is usually differentiated by others of the same name by the use of the suffix "Talysarn", denoting the village where he lived.
Christopher Bassett was a Welsh Methodist cleric.
Representing 43.6% of the Welsh population in 2021, Christianity is the largest religion in Wales. Wales has a strong tradition of nonconformism, particularly Methodism. From 1534 until 1920 the established church was the Church of England, but this was disestablished in Wales in 1920, becoming the still Anglican but self-governing Church in Wales.
Nonconformity was a major religious movement in Wales from the 18th to the 20th centuries. The Welsh Methodist revival of the 18th century was one of the most significant religious and social movements in the modern history of Wales. The revival began within the Church of England in Wales, partly as a reaction to the neglect generally felt in Wales at the hands of absentee bishops and clergy. For two generations from the 1730s onwards the main Methodist leaders such as Howell Harris, Daniel Rowland and William Williams Pantycelyn remained within the Church of England, but the Welsh revival differed from the Methodist revival in England in that its theology was Calvinist rather than Arminian. Methodists in Wales gradually built up their own networks, structures, and meeting houses, which led, at the instigation of Thomas Charles, to the secession of 1811 and the formal establishment of the Calvinistic Methodist denomination in 1823.
Peter Williams was a prominent leader of Welsh Calvinistic Methodism in the eighteenth century, best known for publishing Welsh-language bibles and bible commentary.
Eifion Evans was a Welsh pastor and church historian.
Howel Davies was a Welsh Methodist minister. Little is known about his early life, but by 1737 he is known to have been a schoolmaster at Talgarth. There he was converted by Howel Harris, and on Harris's advice he went to Llanddowror to study under Griffith Jones. In 1739 he was ordained deacon, and then a priest in 1740. He served initially at the church in Llandeilo Abercywyn, before moving in 1741 to Llys y Fran, Pembrokeshire. Along with Harris and Jones, he made a major contribution to the spread of Calvinistic Methodism in Pembrokeshire, so much so that he became known as "the Apostle of Pembrokeshire".
Edward Matthews was a Welsh Calvinistic Methodist minister and author.
Bethany was a Calvinistic Methodist/ Presbyterian Church of Wales chapel in Ammanford, Carmarthenshire, Wales, from 1881 to 2023.
The early modern period in Wales is the period in the history of Wales from 1500 to 1800.
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