European Evangelism and Lettie Cowman

Lettie Cowman led a European evangelism effort in the years leading up to World War II.

It appears to have been the last effort to share the Gospel before the Iron Curtain came down in 1949.

The story of how and why she became involved, spearheaded, participated in, and prayed for European evangelism happened in a surprising way.

It wasn’t even her idea.

Or, at least, not at first.

You can read in previous posts how God spoke to her, at the encouragement of Rees Howells of the Bible College of Wales: Part 1: “How to Wait on God.”

A New Mission, a Storm, and Glory is here in Part 2.

European Evangelism effort in Estonia

After Lettie spent several glorious months traveling through Finland, she was ready to head home.

Except, God wasn’t done with her yet.

Estonians invited her to visit their country across the Gulf of Finland.

Lettie had never met an Estonian before her wild voyage to Finland on the SS Kadir.

As one of the few people not overwhelmed by seasickness, she spent time in the kitchen. There, she befriended the Estonian cook and shared the gospel.

When an invitation came to visit the cook’s homeland, Lettie prayed and agreed to go.

As it turned out, Lettie met church members delighted to meet her. They believed God sent her in answer to years of prayer for revival.

She may not have understood the Estonian language, but Lettie recognized a thirst and hunger for the word of God in the eyes of the people she met.

The only answer was to order 100,000 copies of the gospel of John printed in Estonian.

And then given away.

As Lettie wrote later:

Old men and women, tears streaming down their faces, took my hand in theirs and kissed it saying, ‘You have come to bring Jesus to us.’ I became theirs for the moment—an American Estonian.

Where to next?

Once Lettie began, how could she stop?

God called her to the nations, to speak to Every Creature.

While in Estonia, she traveled east to the border with the Soviet Union.

There, Lettie met 80,000 Russian natives who fled to Estonia to escape Communism.

Thousands died along the way from starvation.

Once again, Lettie shared a salvation message–and listened to weeping fill the hall.

With winter bearing down, Lettie made plans to provide the Gospel of John in Russian to the people she met in Estonia.

And then a large church in Stockholm invited her to speak.

Requests followed from Christians in Latvia, Poland, Romania, and Czechoslovakia.

Scriptures for European Evangelism

Where did Lettie find a publisher who could publish even a small portion of the Bible in so many different languages?

She turned to the Scripture Gift Mission in London.

(Now called Lifewords, the nonprofit organization was founded in 1888 and has produced Bible portions in over 1000 languages.)

After Lettie described her experience, the mission agreed to help. As one member said,

I see the hand of God outstretched to the Baltic States. You have been definitely sent there by Him. It sounds like the Acts of the Apostles.

The Vision Lives p. 160

A Baltic States Committee formed around her work. The Bible College of Wales assigned her a student secretary to take dictation, and Lettie embraced this new ministry.

While war clouds formed over East Asia and Hitler’s troops began to march, Lettie scurried to share the gospel.

Before she finally returned to the United States, Lettie Cowman instigated European evangelism efforts across the continent.

Several, like the Greek crusade, didn’t take place until after World War II.

But it all began . . . and this was only a beginning. . . from a God-inspired invitation from extraordinary intercessor Rees Howells.

Tweetables

A gospel distribution campaign in the Baltic states right ahead of Hitler. Click to Tweet

What motivated missionary Lettie Cowman in Europe prior to WWII? Click to Tweet