Beyond
Revival?
JOEL
EDWARDS
Something
dramatic is going on in the life of the Christian Church.
At the very moment in our history when the headlines and statistics are
pointing towards falling numbers and discredited Christianity a growing number
of churches are sounding more gung ho than ever before.
And it's not all reckless triumphalism.
It seems that the only way we can
square this circle is to recognise that two things are taking place
simultaneously. If Christian
Research is correct, their report The Tide
is Running Out offers us a very dismal view of the future. The figures tell
us that our historic churches - such as the Roman Catholics, Church of England,
Methodists and URC - are closing down. But it also indicates that over the past
20 years the numbers attending the "new churches" have levelled off.
Far fewer people attend churches now than ever before - in fact just over
11.5% of the population. And the really depressing news is that only something
like 5% of children in the UK now have any live link with the Church.
Those of us who have been holding out
for revival are being creative about our definition of the phenomenon.
And many of us have been, and remain hungry for revival - a move of God
which touches our churches and spills over into our society so powerfully that
it sweeps thousands or millions into the kingdom. This longing for something
more has been inspired by what God did in the early moments of the 20th
Century and the Charismatic renewal in the latter part of this century.
Along the way many people have fanned
the flames of hope for revival.
In 1954, for example, Billy Graham forecast “a spiritual awakening
such as you have not seen since the days of Wesley.”
It was due to take place within five years. Whether the Charismatic renewal was the fulfilment of
this hope remains a moot point.
Having said that, there is no denying
the amazing developments going on in recent years. Personally, I have never heard so many Christian talking
about prayer as I have over the past decade. I have some astute friends who
raise questions as to whether we are just talking
about it rather than doing it, but
even so we are at least discussing it. There
are more "big ideas" in the Christian world than we can cope with and
more optimism about engaging than we could have imagined in the
come-ye-out-from-among-them days of the 1960's and 70’s.
When the Home Secretary addressed the Churches Main Committee on the
issue in June, there was a silent awareness that it was welcome - but old hat.
Today churches are thinking in big
mega-church terms and creatively about cell church discipleship. Within a
decade, Alpha has become a household name for creative evangelism touching
millions of lives across the world.
All of this is a sort of reviving - if
not revival itself. It's not quite
what any of us had in mind when we started talking about God "moving in the
nation". And it's also true
that most of these things happen to be the preoccupation of our evangelical
subculture rather than a shared awareness of God in our culture. While we have become busier and more optimistic our culture
continues to paint over us as a haze in the background.
Many of us have moved on from an individualistic piety which cuts us off
from the real world. We have embraced the need to "get our hands
dirty", but the world has not yet noticed our growing passion.
We
are all looking for something which has not yet arrived.
With hindsight it was not the visit of the Kansas City Prophets in the
1980's. It was not the
"Toronto Blessing", Pensacola or the vogue in gold fillings.
In their own peculiar way each has added to our encouragement or despair. We are still looking out for something else and we all tend
to call it revival.
When it comes it may well surprise us.
In the first place, it may not be a carbon copy of our expectations.
And like the baby in the manger it may come from some unexpected part of
the Church: an eccentric youth culture or the Iranian Church perhaps?
When it comes we should brace ourselves for that great "in-gathering"
we have been singing about for so long. But we should also prepare ourselves
for an awful lot of hassle. For any
revival instigated by the Holy Spirit is likely to have Jesus at its centre and
in a culture which increasingly worships at the twin shrines of pluralism and
tolerance this is likely to be welcomed by the few and rejected by the many.
In the absence of a Christian consensus, no one should be in any doubt
that revival will be very hard work.
Revival has never been the hallmark of
a perfect society. The testimonies
of Scripture and Church history makes it abundantly clear that it seldom lasts
for more than a generation. Indeed
it tends to instigate difficulties both within and outside the Church.
Nehemiah’s great reforms and renewal barely lasted to the end of his
own account (Neh. 13:15-20); within days of overthrowing the prophets of
Baal, Elijah was suicidal, Jezebel was more arrogant than ever and it was
business as usual
(I Kings 19). Neither the 19th Century Welsh revival nor the
global impact of the Azusa Street revival in the early 20th Century
stopped the steady march of secular humanism.
But they were genuine moves of God.
We desperately need revival, but revival is little more than a kind of
periodical restraining order on evil which God carries out in the Church and
society.
Some years ago whilst preaching at a
Christian conference a man leapt out at me from the crowd.
Do you remember me? “ he asked.
I didn’t. “No. I’m
sorry.” I answered nervously for fear that I really should!
“I’m that man you met while you
were on tour. I was sick and you prayed for me and…” (I had racing scenes of
a story of healing emerging) “…and
I had to go to the hospital!” he concluded.
That was bad enough for my ego.
But it got worse when a few days later he saw me again – this time with
a small group from his local church. He
introduced me to them.
“This is Joel.”
He waved in my direction. “I
was sick and he prayed for me and I ended up in the hospital!”
They all giggled. It was
beyond endurance.
“Look, Pal,” I rejoined, “you
were sick, I prayed for you and you ended up in the hospital.
Can you think what would have happened if I didn’t
pray for you? You would be a dead man!”
We all laughed and parted company.
More often than not revival stops a bad
situation from getting worse, but it is seldom the long term answer to
society’s ailments.
Revivals are probably God's pump
priming for more long-term work which needs our strategic involvement.
The real agenda must be a movement which transforms people and society.
When we pray for revival, we should hold in mind much more than full
churches and people leaving the pubs early. We should envisage a more profoundly
durable work than the healing of the sick.
It must be for a work of God so thorough that it starts with the
transformation of people lives, touched by forgiveness and made new in the life
of Christ. It should be a vision
for multitudes who will forsake lifestyles which damage them and hurt our
communities. It should definitely be about changed churches set free from our
moribund institutional shackles and open to the fresh impetus of the Spirit. It should mean church leadership with Biblical integrity.
But it should be more.
More people should know about Jesus - even if it costs more from
Christians. The Church should be loved and
ridiculed more often. Fewer youngsters should die of drug overdoses and abuse. Our programmes for prison expansion should slow down.
Communities should be nicer places and we should all feel safer.
Our homes should be safer places for our children. People in education
should keep glancing across to see how Christians do it.
Amongst the clatter of sounds, a Christian view of things should be heard
more often. They will even have things to say about some of the awkward
questions, such as bio-engineering. Politicians
and TV personalities. Then those
who shape society will pay more
attention to these curious, troublesome Christians who back up their words with
good deeds.
It
won't be a perfect society, but when revival comes we will know it because
'outsiders' will tell us.