Smith Wigglesworth, who lived from 1859-1947, was a British evangelist, Pentecostal preacher and healer. He was one the leading figures of the Pentecostal revival movement at the beginning half of the twentieth century.
Wigglesworth preached God’s grace, and thousands came to faith in Christ at his meetings. Many testified to being healed of serious diseases and illnesses. As he ministered to others, he became known for pursuing a deep intimacy with God and his unwavering faith in God’s Word.
Key Events in Smith Wigglesworth’s Life
Wigglesworth was born into poverty in Yorkshire, England. His father was employed for a time as a ditch digger. As a young kid, he labored in the fields picking vegetables and worked in the factories to help pay his family’s bills. He worked 12-hour days and wore clothes his mother sewed from old garments. Since formal education was not compulsory, he never attended school and was illiterate.
Wigglesworth’s grandmother was a devout Christian. While his parents did not know God, they still took him to Anglican and Methodist church services. He became a Christian at age eight, was baptized, and given Biblical teaching at a Plymouth Brethren church.
As a young Christian, he longed for God and often sought him in prayer throughout his day. He frequently shared his faith with others and converted his mother to Christianity at age nine. By age thirteen, he was selected by his church to preach at a meeting and spoke with zeal and a strong desire for people to know Christ. He shared the Good News of Jesus with other boys his age but usually was rejected. At age sixteen, he started ministering with the Salvation Army - preaching, praying all night with others, and helping the downtrodden. He spent most of his salary as a plumber helping the poor and saw hundreds come to faith.
As a young man, Wigglesworth apprenticed as a plumber. In 1882, he married Mary Jane “Polly” Featherstone, a Salvation Army preacher. Together, they had five children (one girl and four boys). Polly taught Wigglesworth to read and also how to read the Bible. He claimed it was the only book he ever read and banned newspapers from his home, saying his family didn’t need to read anything but the Bible.
Eventually, Wigglesworth left the plumbing trade to pursue preaching and traveling full-time. At a revival in 1907, Wigglesworth experienced baptism with the Holy Spirit and spoke in tongues for the first time. Soon after, he started speaking at Assemblies of God events around England. In 1914, a year after his wife passed away, he also began speaking in the United States.
Various miracles were reported during Wigglesworth’s ministry—including raising 14 people from the dead. Some of the people who came to hear him speak were known as ‘holy rollers’ for their literal rolling on the ground in spiritual ecstasy.
Despite not learning to read until he became an adult, Wigglesworth wrote numerous sermons, and three books—Ever Increasing Faith, Like Precious Faith, and Faith that Prevails.
Inspiring Smith Wigglesworth Quotes on Faith
“These are the days when we need to have our faith strengthened, when we need to know God. God has designed that the just shall live by faith. Any man can be changed by faith, no matter how he may be fettered.” — Ever Increasing Faith
“God would have us come to Him by His own way. That is through the open door of grace. A way has been made. It is a beautiful way, and all His saints can enter in by this way and find rest.” — Faith that Prevails
“There is nothing that our God cannot do. He will do everything if you will dare to believe.” — Ever Increasing Faith
“The blood of Jesus Christ and His mighty name are an antidote to all the subtle seeds of unbelief that Satan would sow in your minds.” — Ever Increasing Faith
“I believe that there is only one way to all the treasures of God, and that is the way of faith. By faith and faith alone do we enter into a knowledge of the attributes and become partakers of the beatitudes, and participate in the glories of our ascended Lord. All His promises are Yea and Amen to them that believe.” — Faith That Prevails
“I want you to see that he that speaketh in an unknown tongue edifieth himself or builds himself up. We must be edified before we can edify the church. I cannot estimate what I, personally, owe to the Holy Ghost method of spiritual edification. I am here before you as one of the biggest conundrums in the world. There never was a weaker man on the platform. Language? None. Inability–full of it. All natural things in my life point exactly opposite to my being able to stand on the platform and preach the gospel. The secret is that the Holy Ghost came and brought this wonderful edification of the Spirit. I had been reading this Word continually as well as I could, but the Holy Ghost came and took hold of it, for the Holy Ghost is the breath of it, and He illuminated it to me.” — Ever Increasing Faith
What Can We Learn from Smith Wigglesworth?
Wigglesworth believed faith is the agent for healing. He practiced this in his preaching, using whatever methods and opportunities he had. He laid hands on people, anointed folks with oil, or handed out prayer handkerchiefs. He sometimes employed more violent attempts—like punching, hitting, and slapping the areas afflicting a person’s body. He often blamed poor health on the work of Satan and his demons. He evaded all medical treatment, despite enduring kidney stones. He abstained from any surgery and said no knife would ever touch his body. He lived to be 87.
While some would claim he was too focused or extreme. While Christians can debate whether to follow all his methods, his zeal for healing others and their cause of sickness gives a lesson for all Christians, especially in the West, to be more open to God’s miraculous work and recognize the spiritual can affect the physical. While some Pentecostal preachers today, like certain televangelists, manipulate and use fake healing to encourage donations or draw newcomers to their ministry, God is still in the business of healing the afflictions of his people - whether that be physically, spiritually, or mentally.
Wigglesworth saw the Pentecostal movement as an opportunity for renewal, which all Christians should be open to.
One common story about Wigglesworth is that when he died in 1947, doctors found parts of his kneecaps missing. His family and friends found two grooves, a foot apart, on the wooden floor in the prayer room of his house. If true, he was definitely a man of prayer, something everyone can aspire to.
We can learn from Wigglesworth’s simple message of God’s grace. He reiterated in his sermons he believes God loves him and died for him. He knew that he had been given a new life from God. Christ had made him a new creation. He said that God pursues us and that all people have to do is believe. He didn’t waver in his salvation experience and knew others could have it too.
10 Smith Wigglesworth Books
These books include collections of Wigglesworth’s writings and several books about his life and ministry.
1. The Faith Collection: Three Books In One by Smith Wigglesworth
2. Smith Wigglesworth: The Complete Collection of His Life Teachings by Roberts Liardon
3. Smith Wigglesworth Devotional by Smith Wigglesworth
4. Smith Wigglesworth: A Man Who Walked With God by George Stormont
5. 100 Miracle Stories from Smith Wigglesworth compiled by Alan Crookham
6. Smith Wigglesworth on Manifesting the Power of God by Smith Wigglesworth
7. Smith Wigglesworth: A Life Ablaze With the Power of God by Willie Hacking
8. Smith Wigglesworth on Spirit-Filled Living by Smith Wigglesworth
9. Smith Wigglesworth: Secret of His Power by Albert Hibbert
10. Smith Wigglesworth on Prayer, Power, and Miracles compiled by Roberts Liardon
Photo Credit: Getty Images/BrianAJackson
Nate Van Noord is from Detroit, MI, a graduate of Calvin University, and has taught high school history for many years. He loves to bike, run, and play pickleball, has been to about 30 countries, and is a three time winner of NPR's Moth Detroit StorySlam competitions.
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