Teaching sixth grade literature was one of my favorites. One book we read stands out as the kids’ and my best loved, Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry by Mildred Taylor, a deeply touching story about an African-American family in the south during the Jim Crow era. A scene in the book tells of the annual revival held at the church. It was described a joyous gathering of families from all over the county where they enjoyed powerful preaching and a picnic afterwards. Whenever we arrived at that chapter, all of the sixth graders had a picnic out on the school lawn, and it was always a highlight of the year as it did the families in the book. Some kids had a sense of what the book’s revival was about; others had no clue, and so defining it while keeping it context of literature was a challenge.
Defining revival is not a simple matter even in church circles. For some it has come to mean special church services where invited speakers encourage the congregation to grow in faith. For others, it has broader meaning. The word revive literally means to make alive again from something that appears to be lifeless; to recover; to stimulate; to breathe life into that which seems dead. In religious context, revival has been defined as the restoration of the power of God in His people and recovery of His purposes on earth to save, heal, and set captives free. Still others see revival as the recommitment of believers who have become complacent and have compromised in holiness. It is the re-igniting of the fire in congregations who have allowed the passion of their first love to diminish. All of these have validity in light of history.
Words like renewal and awakenings are often used synonymously with revival further complicating the matter. For the sake of clarity, I will make an attempt to differentiate renewals from awakenings. Renewals tend to be visitations of God within an existing church community, either large or small. Awakenings are broader, having impact of society. It is when the sparks of revival transforms whole communities and cultures; when Kingdom realities so transform individuals that they effect how they live in their families, how they do business, how they do entertainment, how they do education, how they do politics. Revival, then, is a sovereign move of God that results in either renewal or awakenings.
Historically, we can point to some conditions that seem to precede revivals.
- Moral decline in society: No clear standards of living. The defining of what is right and wrong becomes vague. Wrong is seen as right and right as wrong. Christian beliefs are seen as hostile.
- Moral decline in the church: Acceptance of sin as merely poor decisions. Church is a good place where one can learn ethical behavior and engage in traditions. Devaluing of the supernatural as natural phenomenon.
- Hunger among God’s people who cry out for visitation and transformation.
- Prophetic utterance among true prophets: “Surely the Lord God does nothing, unless He reveals His secret to His servants the prophets” (Amos 3:7).
William Seymour and Charles Parham prophesied about a coming massive revival that will occur about a hundred years after the Azusa outpouring. Smith Wigglesworth prophesied about a huge worldwide revival as one never seen before. Bill Bright (founder of Campus Crusade for Christ) prophesied about a coming billion-soul revival. Many prophets of recent years have declared that a soon coming revival will bring in a billion souls into the Kingdom. If they are right, it means that if we consider 1 pastor to every 100 new souls (not to mention ones that already exist), we will need 10 million new pastors to care for these new souls. It roughly amounts to 15% of the world’s population. Are we prepared to take care of so many new souls? Are you getting the impact of these numbers?
Many today are prophesying about revival—repentance and transformation, both the individual and society. It is not just about physical manifestations when touched by God, but about deep transformation of individuals, both backsliders and new believers, and even more so, about the transformation of communities – how we live and every other areas of life including how we engage in media, arts, entertainment, education, government, and business, infusing them with Kingdom principles and realities.
Read more in Part 2.
Copyright 2015 by Eva Benevento. All rights reserved.