The Good News and Charles Cowman (Part 2)

God’s Good News caught Charles Cowman by surprise the second time, but he seized it for good in 1892.

His wife Lettie’s determination to follow God might have been the catalyst, but Cowman quickly caught up.

If he knew nothing else, he knew the gospel needed to be shared.

Charles Cowman went right to work.

Literally.

Sharing the Good News at Western Union

The first morning after Cowman gave his life, for good, to Christ, he told his colleague Ernest A. Kilbourne about his decision.

Kilbourne listened to Cowman’s story, nodded, and didn’t say anything else.

Crestfallen, Cowman went home to Lettie to describe his failure.

However, the next morning, Kilbourne reported he’d thought, prayed, and decided he, too, needed to apply Jesus’ good news to his life.

Kilbourne became a Christian–and eventually joined the Cowmans and Juji Nakada in founding the Oriental Missionary Society.

The two fast friends prayed together and began sharing with the telegraphers in their office. Within six months, Cowman led 75 fellow workers to the Lord.

There were some 500 men working in the office and he [Cowman] tried to see and talk with everyone of them about his soul’s welfare. He was always buying up opportunities, redeeming the time. He was a good salesman who did not leave the case with closed doors, but always with a way to return and talk about it some more.”

No Guarantee But God p. 5

Cowman rented a room in a nearby hotel on Sunday afternoons for an hour so telegraphers could attend service. They called the group, “the Telegraphers Mission Band.”

Soon, their ministry spread down the telegraph lines and similar bands grew up in other cities.

“Little Hell” and the Good News.

Cowman didn’t remain solely with his peers. One Sunday afternoon, he scouted a vile area called “Little Hell,” to observe ministry there.

When he stopped to visit one small chapel, the person in charge assumed Cowman had come to preach.

He began a week later, often staying late into the night ministering to local denizens.

“That was my missionary training college,” Cowman later told a friend.

Eventually, Cowman rented a storeroom with a basement, outfitted it with benches and beds, and “invited drunks and gamblers to spend the night there on the condition they attend his preaching service.”

His technique seemed to work.

Training

While Cowman learned many of his techniques from trial and error, he also recognized he needed to study the Bible to be effective.

According to his wife Lettie,

He followed a unique method of Bible study. He would read through one book of the Bible at a sitting.

The next day, he would reread it. This was often continued for a week at a time, or longer, until the contents were thoroughly mastered.

He likened this method to that of a landscape painter who first draws an outline, then adds a tree, a flower, and a brook.”

Missionary Warrier condensed, p. 37

The disciplined man poured over his Bible, took some courses at a Bible school, and spent some time (though how long is not clear) at the Moody Bible Institute.

When asked about his credentials, he told one woman his “college of missions had been the telegraph office in Chicago and his credentials–all that he possessed–were found in 2 Corinthians 6:4-10.”

(Verse 7: “By the word of truth, by the power of God, by the armor of righteousness on the right hand and on the left.” KJV)

He read a great deal in his free time. When opportunities arose, Charles and Lettie attended conferences by learned men. They befriended A. M. Hills, Dwight L Moody, A. B. Simpson, and Arthur T. Pierson, along with denizens of the Holiness Movement.

The Life of David Brainerd left him yearning for more opportunities to share the good news.

Beyond Chicago

Part of the Holiness Movement’s theology incorporated a desire to share the good news with everyone. They believed Jesus would return soon and evangelism should reach everyone.

Despite his busy job as a Western Union manager and his hours spent in ministry, Cowman found time to pray.

“A world map became a sort of prayer book of intercession,” Lettie wrote.

It wasn’t too long before the world beckoned. Within eight years, Charles and Lettie traveled to Japan to share the good news.

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Sharing the good news in the 1890s Chicago. Click to Tweet

When God gets hold of a man, he must share the good news–with everyone! Click to Tweet