A man of great faith, he sold everything from his prosperous life in Chicago in 1902 and headed with his wife and two children to Japan. He had $5 in his pocket when the family arrived in the island nation.
Since none of the Kilbournes (his wife Julia, and children Ila, 13, and son Edwin, 11. A third child was born in 1904.) spoke Japanese, the first order of business was learning the language.
He did not want to begin his ministry in Tokyo immediately, so the family chose to live in a Japanese home in a small town outside the big city.
This choice mystified the neighbors and made them curious as to why the Americans chose to live like them.
Tall, angular, fair-skinned, the Kilbournes stood out and continued to confuse the neighbors when they announced that anyone was welcome to visit!
They asked questions and, for the first time, learned about Jesus Christ.
The Kilbourne ministry began!
Words for the Far East
He’d wanted to be a writer. Ernest had no idea God would turn that desire into a word-based ministry that reached readers around the world.
God put him right to work.
Once the Kilbourne family moved to Tokyo, Kilbourne joined Lettie Cowman in the office. He oversaw the ministry’s work and quickly joined Lettie to put out the Electric Telegraph newsletter.
The Electric Telegraph went out monthly to supporters in the United States, England, and other nations.
Lettie also wrote a regular column for God’s Revivalistand Bible Advocate monthly newsletter. (For a few years, her column was called Streams in the Desert!)
Evangelist and Asbury College President H. C. Morrison wrote, “The writings of Ernest A. Kilbourne have stirred my soul more than any writings next to the Bible itself.”
Kilbourne wrote a short book, The Story of a Mission in Japan, and another in 1913, The Great Commission.
Ernest and Charles Cowman traveled to Korea to set up a Bible Training College in Seoul. John Thomas of Wales arrived in 1911 as the school’s first principal, accompanied by his wife, Emily, and children.
The school was small, fifteen people in each class, but it was a beginning.
In 1925, Ernest and his adult son, Edwin, traveled to Shanghai, where they opened a Bible Training School.
OMS headquarters opened there by then of the year.
Ernest’s prophetic dream all those years ago, while he lived in Chicago, had come true.
Ernest Kilbourne “prayed daily; he prayed continuously. He also prayed creatively. Knowing well the human tendency when on one’s knees to succumb to weariness and sleep . . . he discovered that walking would effectively prevent drowsiness while at prayer.
“In Korea, after lunch, he could be observed walking back and forth on the large front porch. Missionaries and nationals came to know that this was a signal that Kilbourne was praying.”
Prayer was the lifeblood of OMS.
Ernest Kilbourne came to the OMS headquarters in Los Angeles and spent the remaining weeks of Charles Cowman’s life meeting and praying with his friend.
By the time Charles Cowman died in 1924, Ernest had already been effectively running the ministry.
He assumed the role of OMS president in 1924.
Kilbourne’s presidency and final years.
By the time Ernest Kilbourne became OMS president, his own son Edwin was an OMS missionary in his own right. Edwin moved to the Far East, and Ernest traveled there, but lived in the United States.
They began the ministry in China.
Ernest continued to pray but suffered a cerebral hemorrhage and died on April 13, 1928.
Lettie Cowman succeeded him as president of the Oriental Missionary Society.
Many of the Japanese Holiness Church were converted as a result of Ernest Kilbourne’s ministry.
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