The Casual Christian

Revival - What is That?

There hasn’t been a national revival since the Great Revival, over 150 years ago. The major impediment has been reliance on the methods and means of man. Professionalism, performance and an over-emphasis on human leadership and achievement have supplanted reliance on the Holy Spirit and the unadulterated Word of God. Religious leaders stand in the way of revival because  of their reluctance to endorse a movement which they cannot control and which would tarnish their accomplishments. The solution is to empower believers to minister to one another, replace spiritual hierarchies with consensual governance, make the locus of ministry the body of believers rather than a church program or building, involve the entire church community in incarnational witness, and rely upon the Holy Spirit to lead the church by answered prayer. These were all hallmarks of previous revivals.

That is not to say we gin up our PR machines and invite in the marquee religious leaders to kick off a campaign. Revivals are grassroots movements led by the Holy Spirit, not some big name Christian pastor or author.

 The Asbury Revival

I  attended a small Christian College in the Midwest back in the early 1970s. Between semesters it was our custom to invite a guest speaker to give a series of Bible messages. We called this week of meetings “spiritual emphasis week.” That was back in the day when cynicism reigned on college campuses. The Viet Nam war was in full swing and protesters were rioting around the nation. It was an intimidating environment for anyone who had to present a Bible message before a large crowd of young people.  The students held their newspapers in front of their faces while the speaker tried in vain to get his message across.

Somehow in the winter of 1970 the Spirit of God managed to break through this wall of cynicism and reach into the hearts of our students. During one of the chapel services, young people began to stream to the front of the auditorium to confess their sins and pledge their lives in service to Jesus Christ. At the end of the service, there was still a long line waiting to come forward. So the service was extended. It continued around the clock as students listening to the radio in their rooms felt the urge to make their way to the chapel and get in line.

The speakers that week were a group of students from Asbury College in Wilmore, Kentucky. They had experienced the same seismic phenomenon just weeks before. The academic dean of their school was leading chapel in the absence of the president who was traveling. He had not prepared a message. There was no program. Instead, he asked students to come forward and share their experiences of faith. Students began to stream forward. The chapel service was extended to accommodate the throngs of people still waiting to speak. It did not end for 185 hours of nonstop personal sharing.

The revival eventually spread to over 130 colleges and scores of churches from coast to coast and as far south as South America. The hallmark of these revivals was confession of sin, repentance and forgiveness, a renewed commitment to serve Christ, boldness to speak up for Him, and prayer. This was the most recent revival. But it had little to no long term effect on the church or society.

The Third Great Awakening

The last revival to have a lasting influence on the life of the church and a redeeming impact on society was the Third Great Awakening. In September of 1857 a man named Jeremiah Lanphier began passing out tracts in the middle of the business district in New York City. These were an invitation to prayer at the nearby North Dutch Church during the noon hour. Lanphier was the only one to attend the first meeting, but six months later after the collapse of the market, attendance reached ten thousand. By mid‑February, the meeting occupied all three floors of the church. The March 20 issue of the New York Times reported, “Churches are crowded; bank directors’ rooms have become oratories; school houses are turned into chapels; converts are numbered by the scores of thousands. In this city, we have beheld a sight which not the most enthusiastic fanatic for church observances could ever have hoped to look upon; we have seen in a business quarter of the city, in the busiest hours, assemblies of merchants, clerks and working men, to the number of some 5,000, gathered day after day for a simple and solemn worship.”

Can you imagine reading this in the New York Times today?

By the time the Third Great Awakening had run its course, it had spread from coast to coast producing over 50,000 converts per week and a total of over one million new believers. Nationwide the population of the churches had been increased by ten percent. The Civil War ended the revival, but the prayer meeting in the North Dutch Church continues to this very day.  There was a return to public morality as taverns were closed and businessmen paid off their debts. Charities and volunteers multiplied as faith found expression in humanitarian work.

The Third Great Awakening was the last revival that swept the entire nation. It has been over 150 years since the church in this land has witnessed the working of the Holy Spirit on such a massive scale.  Charles G. Finney, famous evangelist, said of the revival, “There is such a general confidence in the prevalence of prayer, that the people very extensively seemed to prefer meeting for prayer to meeting for preaching. The general impression seemed to be, ‘We have had instruction until we are hardened; it is time for us to pray.’” Could we honestly say this describes today’s church?

So What Would Revival Look Like?

Here are some suggestions.

1. Everyone would engage in evangelism just like the early church when Stephen, who was responsible for hospitality, was stoned for proclaiming the gospel and Philip ran down the Ethiopian Eunuch's chariot to lead him to Christ.
2. Christians would change their focus from this world to the next by investing their time and money in things that have eternal value and gearing up for the return of Christ.
3. The word 'church' would once again come to mean the people of God rather than a building or a program.
4. Christians would begin to genuinely care for one another in practical ways, not just giving lip service to the 'one anothers' of scripture, but practicing them.
5. Others would once again be drawn to Christ by the love of Christians instead of being repelled by their hypocrisy.
6. Christians would begin to realize that to embrace a Godless lie like evolution just because it is conventional wisdom or to vote for politicians who support infanticide or condone sexual perversion is to deny the One who died on their behalf.
7. Faith would become the guiding principle of life rather than just some intellectual construct.
8. Believers would begin to take the Bible seriously whether they like the teaching or not and commit themselves to obedience despite the cost.
9. Christians would begin to give  to the church (meaning the body of believers whether part of an institution or not) sacrificially.
10.Religious leaders would humbly subject themselves to open and honest evaluation, just like the leaders of any other institution.

When these things begin to happen, then we can say that the church has risen to life again.

The Causal Christian pp. 11-12