David Savage (1830–1893) was an English-born Methodist minister who served as a pastor and evangelist in Upper Canada for many years. In the 1880s, he used methods from the Salvation Army to train groups of young men and women to help with his religious services. Many of them later became evangelists themselves.

Life

David Savage was born in London, England, in 1830. His family was part of the Congregationalist religious group. He moved with his family to Montreal, Canada, in 1841. He later joined the Methodist faith. In 1850, he was accepted for trial work at the Welland Canal. He became a minister in the Methodist New Connexion in 1851. Savage served in various locations, including Toronto, London, Hamilton, Cavan, Aurora, Nassagaweya/Ellis Church, Puslinch, and Wellington County. He also held leadership roles as president of the Conference in 1862 and 1874, and as District chairman from 1868 to 1869.

The Evangelical Witness, a newspaper for the Methodist New Connexion Church, was started in 1865 by J. H. Robinson as a monthly publication. Robinson was the English representative and Missionary Superintendent for the church. The paper later became semi-monthly, then weekly. William Cocker took over as editor and Missionary Superintendent in 1872. Savage became the third and final editor of the paper that year.

In 1874, the New Connexion Methodist Society merged with the Wesleyan Methodist Society to form the Methodist Church of Canada. The Evangelical Witness was combined with The Christian Guardian. Savage remained an associate editor of the merged publication for a time. He and Egerton Ryerson represented Canada at the 1876 Methodist Conference in England. In June 1876, the New Connexion building in Galt was officially added to the Methodist Church of Canada. Soon after, Savage was appointed as the new minister in Galt, but the congregation disagreed and formed a Congregationalist church instead.

In 1885, Savage retired from regular church work. For the next eight years until his death in 1893, he focused on revival services across Canada. He was known for his strong commitment to evangelism and was a highly successful preacher. His obituary noted that he promoted the doctrine of holiness "as taught by the Methodist Church, without any unusual or extreme additions."

Evangelistic bands

David Savage was one of the Methodists who felt uneasy about the attention-grabbing ways The Salvation Army used to bring in new members. However, he also felt worried that The Salvation Army was successfully gaining followers in places where Methodists had not been able to. While working as a minister in Petrolia, Savage organized groups of young Methodist men and women to help with religious revivals. These groups were seen as trustworthy because they were led by a minister, and the young people were learning how to become preachers themselves. Savage’s ability to organize made his groups an example for others to follow.

Sometimes, Savage would lead a group to a revival, and other times, he would send them with a leader who was second in charge. As his members gained experience, he sent teams of two to four people to areas where a local group could support the more experienced workers. This helped increase the number of people in the groups. In 1887, The Christian Guardian published a message stating, “Rev. David Savage writes that several young women who are qualified for evangelistic work, and for whom he can confirm their abilities and kindness, will be available for work in Ontario around the end of August. Requests for their help should be sent to him.”

Lydia Elizabeth Hall, who later became a well-known preacher, decided to commit her life to religion after attending a revival led by Savage in April 1885 at the Norfolk Street Methodist Church in Guelph. Savage brought twelve young men with him to these services, people he had recruited and trained earlier. In the fall of 1886, Savage began using smaller teams and took Hall and a male preacher as assistants on a trip to the Eastern Townships of Quebec. Soon after, Hall and her younger sister, Annie, started leading revivals on their own. When Samuel Dwight Chown, who later became a leader in the Canadian Methodist Church, was a pastor in Sydenham, he was helped by a group organized by Savage. More than 200 people attended the church’s inquiry room there, and Chown believed about 150 were truly converted.