What was the Great Village Campaign?

Have you ever heard of the Great Village Campaign?

You’re not alone if not.

The idea astonished me when I first heard about it. I started asking people if they’d heard of it.

Only one had heard of it in my two years of querying friends.

It’s not a secret.

The whole project, undertaken between 1913 and 1918–not the Great War–was incredible!

Great Village Campaign–a startling idea

Conceived, proposed, and organized by Charles Cowman, the Great Village Campaign (GVC) meant personally visiting every household in Japan.

Once there, they spoke with the resident and/or left information about becoming a Christian and what it meant.

Sponsored by the Oriental Missionary Society (OMS, now called One Mission Society), the GVC information was written in Japanese.

Two western missionaries took up the task the first year: Karl Aurell (who spoke Japanese) and Fred Briggs.

Numerous Japanese evangelists who had graduated from Tokyo’s Bible Training Institute joined them to preach and translate. The men diligently walked through the first few provinces, bags on their shoulders stuffed with tracts.

They carried two Japanese language tracts, both printed on the OMS Tokyo printing press. 32-page “The Gift of God,” written by Charles Cowman, included a selection of Scriptures telling the Gospel story using only Bible verses.

The final page explained if they wanted to find Jesus as their Savior, they should write to the Tokyo office.

Ernest Kilbourne wrote the second, shorter, tract, “The God You Should Worship.”

The Visionary Behind Streams in the Desert (unpublished)

But where did the idea come from?

Well, God, of course.

But it worked its way through Lettie and Charles Cowman’s minds and souls probably starting from a deputation tour to England about 1907.

While Lettie Cowman gave a talk about the need for evangelism, a British woman asked how much it would cost OMS to evangelize an entire village.

Former businessman Charles Cowman went right to work and ciphered out an answer before Lettie finished her talk.

“About $5.”

(Or, $148.50 in 2022).

His brain wouldn’t let the idea rest.

Several years later, Cowman stayed up all night calculating.

In 1910, Japan had an approximate population of 58 million people living in 10,320,000 homes. Charles proposed sending trained evangelists to visit every household and leave information about Christianity.

He knew the OMS printing press in Tokyo could produce a Scripture portion and a Gospel tract for about a penny each (29¢ in 2022). Charles estimated $5 ($148 in 2022) would cover the Gospel needs of an entire village.

Charles forecast the total cost at about $100,000 ($2.9 million in 2022) for materials and personnel living costs.

It would take about five years to blanket the entire mountainous country of forty-seven provinces (also called prefectures, basically a county) spread over 430 inhabited islands.

The Visionary Behind Streams in the Desert (unpublished)

Or, did the Great Village Campaign grow in Cowman’s heart?

Another story comes from a colleague, Mr. Wu. (Story adapted slightly)

One evening Mr. Cowman and his wife climbed up a mountain near a large Japanese city.

They sat on a bench and sat quietly.

In every direction, they could see villages and towns. In their hearts, they knew that in none of these was a Christian witness.

Then suddenly it seemed to Charles Cowman that Christ himself was standing beside him. He heard him say, “I gave my life for these villages, too. Won’t you go and tell them for me that I want to be their Savior?”

Cowman immediately answered, “Yes, Lord. I will go.”

OMS Archives Great Village Campaign informatoin

How?

A westerner and several Japanese men set out, walking from village to village. They scaled mountains, forded rivers, traveled on ferries, and handed out tracts everywhere.

The westerner assured curious villagers would gather and take a tract. In the early decades of the 20th century, tall, well-fed, men and women dressed in western clothes always attracted attention.

95% of the Japanese could read in 1914, according to records. Charles Cowman knew God’s Word would not return void, especially since it was written in Japanese.

The assignment was grueling. Charles and Lettie went out, as well. As Cowman wrote to a friend:

“Wife and I were out with an itinerating party to some villages and did not arrive home until after midnight. The rain came down in torrents and we had five miles to walk to the nearest railway station, so you can imagine what a sight we were on our arrival home.”

Missionary Warrior by Lettie Cowman, page 209

Of course, after three months and several million tracts handed out, they ran out of money.

The full story is told in Young Men of the Cross.

How did it end?

Part 2, The Great Village Campaign–GVC–Ending is here.

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