Biography
Charles Elmer Cowman was born in 1868 in the American Midwest. He grew up on a farm and received a modest education. As a young man he went to work as a telegraph operator, a skilled trade at a time when the telegraph was the main way of sending news across the country. He worked for the railroad and for the telegraph company in Chicago. He was a hard worker and was known as a careful and honest man.
He was brought to Christ in his early life, and he joined a church in Chicago. He met a young woman, Lettie Burd, and they married in 1889. They were active in the life of the Chicago church and heard the preaching of D. L. Moody. They were both drawn to the cause of missions. In 1900 Charles met a man named Ernest Kilbourne, who shared his burden for the people of Japan. The two of them, with their wives, resolved to go to Tokyo as missionaries, without the backing of any mission board.
In 1901 the Cowmans and the Kilbournes arrived in Japan and began a work among the people of the capital. They called the new mission the Oriental Missionary Society. The plan was to preach the gospel and to train Japanese believers to carry it to their countrymen. They opened a small Bible school in Tokyo, and in the early years they lived in poverty. The first students were few, and the work was hard. They also met resistance from other missionaries who did not share their approach.
The work grew. Together with a Japanese evangelist named Juji Nakada, the Cowmans conducted great evangelistic campaigns in the cities and towns. They started a church that became known as the Japan Holiness Church, which expanded into a national body. The mission also began work in Korea, China and other lands. Charles was a gifted organizer and recruiter, and he had a talent for finding good coworkers. He trained Japanese workers and trusted them with leadership.
The cost was high. He suffered in health from the strain of travel and the demands of the work. In 1917 he suffered a heart attack, and he was never again fully well. He was forced to leave Japan, and he returned to the United States. He continued to promote the mission as he was able, even when confined to bed. His wife nursed him and served as his helper. He died on March 24, 1924, at the age of fifty-five.
He was a man of practical faith and quiet leadership. His life did not draw wide attention, and the credit often went to others. After his death, Lettie took over the leadership of the mission and also published a devotional book, Streams in the Desert, made from the notes she had kept while caring for him in his illness. The mission he founded has become OMS International, which works in many countries today. His story shows what can come from a man who works faithfully at the task in front of him and trusts God to multiply it.