2017 marks 100th anniversary of Oswald Chambers’ death
By Joanne Sloan
Oswald Chambers (1874–1917) was a Scottish Baptist preacher, evangelist, teacher and writer. He is best known for the devotional book, “My Utmost for His Highest.”
Born July 24, 1874, in Aberdeen, Scotland, to Clarence and Hannah Chambers, Oswald Chambers was converted under the preaching of Charles Spurgeon and was baptized by Spurgeon, as were his parents years earlier. He joined Rye Lane Baptist Chapel.
When Chambers was two years old, the family moved to Stoke-on-Trent, where his father became a home missions evangelist for North Staffordshire Baptist Association. From there they moved to Perth, Scotland, and his father returned to preaching. In 1889 the family settled in London where Chambers’ father worked for the Baptist Total Abstinence Association.
As a teenager, Chambers was known for his deep spirituality and love of art.
He studied at the National Art Training School in London from 1893 to 1895 and then at the University of Edinburgh. While at Edinburgh, he felt a call to the ministry.
He later studied at Dunoon College near Glasgow.
Richard Harris, founder of the Pentecostal League of Prayer, influenced Chambers. Through the League, he met Juji Nakada, a Japanese evangelist. In 1906, Nakada and Chambers went to America where Chambers spent a semester teaching in Cincinnati and then went to Japan.
In 1908 he sailed back to America and dated Gertrude Hobbs (whom Chambers affectionately called “Biddy”). They married in May 1910 and had their only child, Kathleen, in 1913. Biddy became his partner in ministry. She could take shorthand at 250 words per minute and transcribed and typed his sermons and lessons.
Chambers founded the Bible Training College in London in 1911. By July 1915, 49 of the 106 students were serving as missionaries. In 1916 during World War I, Chambers enlisted as a YMCA chaplain. Assigned to Cairo, Egypt, he and Biddy evangelized Australian and New Zealand troops. He met the soldiers’ spiritual and physical needs. He stressed having a personal relationship with Christ and completely abandoning oneself to Christ.
On Oct. 17, 1917, Chambers was stricken with appendicitis but resisted going to a hospital because wounded men would need the beds.
On Oct. 29 he had an emergency appendectomy and died Nov. 15 from a pulmonary hemorrhage. Biddy telegrammed family and friends in Britain saying, “Oswald in His presence.” He was buried with full military honors at the British Military Cemetery in Cairo.
Today his words live on because of his industrious widow. Biddy transcribed and published 30 books edited from her notes. “My Utmost for His Highest,” composed of 365 selections of his talks, has never been out of print, has sold millions of copies and has been translated into 39 languages.
EDITOR’S NOTE — Joanne Sloan, a member of First Baptist Church, Tuscaloosa, has been a published writer of articles and books for 30 years. She has a bachelor’s degree double majoring in history and English from East Texas State University (now Texas A&M–Commerce) and a master’s degree specializing in English from the University of Arkansas (1978).
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