REV DUNCAN CAMPBELL (1898-1972)

Balintore And The Lewis Revival

Duncan Campbell was born on 13 February 1898 in Benderloch, the fifth of ten children. His parents were converted in 1901 at Faith Mission evangelistic meetings.

His own conversion occurred in December 1913 when, in the middle of playing his bagpipes at a social function, he suddenly became aware of the emptiness of his life. On arriving home, he went into the barn and prayed in Gaelic, "Lord, I know not what to do, I know not how to come, but if you'll take me as I am, I'm coming now." His life was immediately turned around, and when he was demobilised from the army in 1918, as a result of serious wounds, he returned home to Black Crofts, impatient to launch into evangelism. He undertook a nine-month Faith Mission course as preparation for mission work and was assigned first to Northern Ireland and then to the "Highlands and Islands". A three-month mission from Mull to Argyll, Iona, Fort William, and Oban was greatly blessed.

While attending the Keswick Convention, Duncan met Shona Gray again, whom he had led to the Lord over ten years before. She had been working with the Algiers Mission Band, and the following year they were married in Glasgow. Duncan resigned from the Faith Mission and took charge of the United Free Church at Advasar on the Isle of Skye.

In 1929, when the United Free Church and the Church of Scotland merged, Duncan accepted a call to lead a group of Christians at Balintore. Most of this congregation had been converted during Faith Mission meetings in 1921 and now belonged to the United Free Church of Scotland (Continuing). There was a strong response to Duncan's faithful ministry, and his work amongst the young people was particularly blessed during the ten years he spent there. He left behind a strong and well-established church when he moved to Falkirk United Free Church, where two years later, he was ordained as a minister of the United Free Church.

In January 1949, Duncan, Shona, and their five children moved to Edinburgh, which became his base for mission work—a passion that would remain for the rest of his life. His mission to Barvas on the Isle of Lewis led to a widespread revival, but he also conducted missions outside Scotland, in Canada, America, and South Africa.

In 1958, however, he returned to Scotland to take charge of the Training Home and Bible College of the Faith Mission, a position he held until 1966, when he went on to lecture at Duncan Cunningham's school for evangelism in Lausanne. In 1971, shortly after returning to Lausanne from his annual mission to Stornoway, Duncan collapsed and died.

There are still a few people in Balintore United Free Church who remember with great fondness and gratitude the ministry Duncan Campbell exercised there. His family is now scattered abroad, but his daughter and son have revisited Balintore in recent years.

Aaron's Failure by Duncan Campbell

Topic: Failure

Scripture(s): Exodus 32:7-10      

Description: Campbell compares Aaron's golden calf with modern evangelistic models that compromise with the world to make the Gospel more palatable to the world. But separation from the world "is necessary to the success the church's evangelistic endeavor." To rescue the lost from the morass of sin, we must be standing on solid ground ourselves.

 Action And Obedience by Duncan Campbell

Topic: Obedience

Scripture(s): Matthew 21:1-7      

Description: Duncan Campbell speaks very plainly and directly towards the root causes of what hinder revival, namely not obeying the voice of the Lord and holding on to secret sins. God desires to 'open the floodgates of glory' but obedience is a fundamental truth for blessing. Campbell appeals to the simple yielding of oneself to Christ and like the donkey being serviceable for Him to meet the need.

And the Country was Filled with Water by Duncan Campbell

Topic: Revival

Scripture(s): 2 Kings 3:10-20      

Description: Duncan Campbell preached this strong word on the baptism in the Holy Spirit at a camp meeting in America in the 1960's. "You can't work up revival, but you can do the digging"--a breaking through the dry crust of our hearts and removing the 'stones', anything that would hinder a consecrated life to God. The sermon is alive with vivid revival accounts, as with its sister sermon, "Lacking One Thing".

Building the Walls by Duncan Campbell

Topic: Prayer Life

Scripture(s): Nehemiah 6:1-4      

Description: Duncan Campbell draws principles from the life of Nehemiah to illustrate the qualities of a man who is diligent in prayer, labor and vision, yet is able to let God do the rest. He closes with sober call to those who have left the work of God in compromise to let God 'restore the year of the locust'. 

Can Two Walk Together Except They Be Agreed by Duncan Campbell

Topic: Walking With God

Scripture(s): Amos 3:3      

Description: "Is there anything in my life," asks Duncan Campbell, "in disagreement with God?" He shares four major principles (like the sister sermon, "Walking With God") that we must be in agreement with God for revival. There is a price to pay for revival--absolute yieldedness to God. "Are your souls thirsty that you're prepared for an absolute surrender in every department of your life?" 

Dry Valleys Filled With Water by Duncan Campbell

Topic: Spirit Of God    

Description: nil

Duncan Campbell's Testimony by Duncan Campbell

Topic: Testimony    

Description: nil

God Indwelling Us by Duncan Campbell

Topic: Christ In Us    

Description: nil

God's Answer to the cry of Unbelief by Duncan Campbell

Topic: Unbelief

Scripture(s): Exodus 17:5-14      

Description: The answer to our cry of unbelief is getting the rod of God into our hands, which Campbell explains is our need of the supernatural and heaven's anointing. Are we men of vision, on the top of the hill like Moses, above the world and its ways? "The hand that holds the rod must be a clean hand," as well as empty and outstretched, Campbell teaches, if we will be rid of unreality in our Christian experience and be a transmitter of God's presence to others.

Heart preparation for revival by Duncan Campbell

Topic: Revival

Scripture(s): 1 John 1      

Description: "Revival begins in His heart, and He operates through my life." God's operation through His people as "agents of revival" though must have a gripping desire for reality. "A God-sent revival," he said, "must ever be related to holiness and separation." The three conditions of this preparation are getting into the light (heart-searching prayer), acknowledging what the light reveals (repentance), and walking in the light (obedience). Campbell seriously challenges those who would see revival (not just dream about it) to be unsparingly honest about themselves.

His Testimony And Conversion by Duncan Campbell

Topic: Testimony

Scripture(s): Psalm 66:8-20      

Description: A very powerful testimony of conversion not by a man but by God who wrought a wonderful work of regeneration in mr. campbells soul. He recieved the baptism with the Holy Spirit and was used powerfully in the revival of 1921. Then he went through a barren wilderness for 17 years in the ministry. But again God revived his heart and he experienced the outpouring of the Holy Spirit in the famous Hebrides Revival. The summation of this testimony is very powerful where he asks the listener if God could do this for him why not us? are we willing to 'go through with God' at any cost?

Is the Lord among us by Duncan Campbell

Topic: Consecration

Scripture(s): Exodus 17:5-16      

Description: "We all have our Amalek," Campbell says, but how do we react to hell's engagement? Starting with a personal testimony seeing first hand the warfare of the devil in a crowded farmhouse packed with sinners seeking salvation, he segues into the vital necessity of character before God--clean hands and a pure heart. Campbell repeatedly warns against the overemphasis of man in modern evangelism, hymns and even one's own consecration, pleading for God to be all in all.

Lacking One Thing by Duncan Campbell

Topic: Consecration

Scripture(s): 2 Kings 3:14-20      

Description: Campbell extracts principles for revival from 2 Kings 3 where the lack of water refers to the one thing that would ensure victory: the power of the Holy Ghost. The three main points were 1) the futility of mere human effort, 2) faith that wins through, and 3) the fulness that met the need. Brother Duncan powerfully illustrates a spirit of inquiry and an acknowledgement of need in the Arnol revival "when the farmhouse shook". "The digging may involve a cost," he challenged, a self-denial of forgetting oneself "in a desire to prepare the way for God."

Lewis Land of Revival (Revival Testimonies) by Duncan Campbell

Topic: Revival History    

Description: Here are the testimonies from those who were touched by God in this extraordinary movement on the island of Lewis. There is so much preaching and teaching on revival in our day but hear from eye-witnesses God moving in revival power!

Meeting a Need by Duncan Campbell

Topic: Obedience    

Description: God wants to meet our need. In this sermon, Duncan explains that there is no moral virtue in obedience unless there is recognition of a higher authority that calls for that obedience. What does that type of obedience look like? That means you have to hand Jesus the keys to every room in your life. Do you still hold on to a key?

Principles That Govern Spiritual Awakenings - Part 1 by Duncan Campbell

Topic: Spiritual Awakening

Scripture(s): Psalm 85      

Description: An exposition of the "Revival Psalm" that emphasizes the sovereignty of God in Revival and in salvation. "Human faith" cannot save the soul; faith unto salvation is a gift from God. Revival cannot be produced by human endeavor; only God Himself can do that. The Lord initiates Revival; but man must respond. But Campbell, a Highland Calvinist, warns against extreme doctrines of sovereignty that deny human responsibility.