The great Welsh preacher
By Thomas Ray
Christmas Evans has been described as a man who labored like the Apostle Paul, who possessed the imagination of Bunyan, the eloquence of Whitfield, and is considered by many to be the greatest preacher ever produced in Great Britain. However, in his youth, he gave no hint of his future greatness — in fact, just the opposite.
He was born Christmas Day, 1766, thus his name. His childhood was marked by extreme poverty and tragically, when he was only nine years old, his father died. His mother, unable to support her children, sent young Christmas to live with an uncle who proved to be a cruel and sadistic drunkard.
Christmas Evans’ childhood can only be described as a living nightmare. After six brutal years, 15-year-old Christmas left his uncle’s farm to escape his cruelty. However, his future looked hopeless. He had not received one day of formal education, and as a result he could neither read nor write. No one who knew Christmas Evans as a young man would ever have believed this illiterate and uncouth youth would become Wales’ greatest preacher. But God had great plans for this illiterate Welshman.
Christmas Evans was converted when he was 18 years old during a revival in a Presbyterian church. His life was transformed, and his thirst for knowledge was unquenchable. Within a month he taught himself to read his Welsh Bible. “His intense thirst for knowledge led him to borrow every book that the scant libraries of the neighborhood afforded.”
Desiring to increase his knowledge of the Scriptures, he amazingly taught himself Hebrew, Greek, and English. Christmas became a Baptist as a result of a discussion he had with a Baptist friend on the subject of baptism. Determined to prove that infant baptism was scriptural, he diligently studied the New Testament. He left us this account of his study, “Having read the New Testament through, I found not a single verse in favor of infant sprinkling, while about 40 pas¬sages seem to testify clearly for baptism on a profession of faith.”
In 1788, Christmas Evans was immersed by the Rev. Timothy Thomas and united with the Baptists. His first sermon was well received but he had not yet developed the style of preaching that would make him famous. His first pastorate was in Lleyn in Caernarron where hundreds were converted, and he began to develop his preaching skills. After two years of labor in Lleyn, he was called to the Isle of Anglesey in 1791. Anglesey was a land covered with a black cloud of spiritual darkness. But the ministry of Christmas Evans would produce a life-changing transformation. When he arrived in Anglesey there were only two chapels and eight preaching stations. When he left in 1826 the preaching stations had multiplied and 28 preachers were actively preaching the gospel.
However, his fame as a great preacher was not derived from his pastoral successes. In 1794, at an associational meeting, he was asked to speak as a last-minute substitute. For the next three hours, the audience was spellbound by his sermon. From that one sermon, his fame as a preacher was established. He wrote 20 books, made over 40 evangelistic tours which lasted from six to eight weeks, and preached 163 times before Baptist associations.
Any time it was announced that Christmas Evans would be preaching, all labor would cease and great crowds would gather to hear his message. Multitudes were converted and churches were established, sometimes as a result of just one sermon. On July 19, 1838, in his 72nd year, the old warrior, worn out from his years of labor, laid down his sword. His last words were “Wheel about, Coachman, drive on!”