The Faith Once Delivered: Nantlais Williams. Two. Flames of Revival

The newly-converted Minister of Bethany, Ammanford had no time to rest. The Church found itself in the centre of the revival in Carmarthenshire. Rather than following Evan Roberts (pictured) in itinerating, Nantlais decided to remain in his church to disciple the new converts. In the words of R. Tudur Jones, his intention was '[...] to turn the initial emotionalism into spiritual discipline.' [Faith and the Crisis of a Nation, p.308] Although a new convert himself, Nantlais found that the Holy Spirit equipped him for this task. The result was a congregation equipped to weather the storms that were coming.

From this point on, Nantlais ended his association with Welsh literary competitions and writing poetry for its own sake. His works were hymns and religious prose. He was concerned to live for God, not for self. The Holy Spirit had taken the literary Minister, concerned for his own reputation had become an officer in the army of King Jesus.

The result of the Revival for Nantlais was new life, a revived ministry in Ammanford, and a wider ministry as editor of the Welsh-Language magazine Yr Efengylydd (The Evangelist) from 1916, the only evangelical publication in Welsh for much of the first half of the twentith century. As a result of this, Nantlais was to become drawn into the inter-war struggle for the soul of the Calvinistic Methodist Church.