Recently, I was speaking in a part of the country known for its antagonism to the gospel. Church planting there is hard work. The small number of confessionally strong churches are making headway, but slowly. I admire these pastors, evangelists, and church planters more than I can say; it’s a pleasure and a privilege to spend time with them.
In the course of a meal with several of them, one pastor said, “I know full well I may serve all my years working in the teeth of strenuous opposition that may get worse before it gets better. But suppose genuine revival breaks out, whether in one church or in a larger region. What should my priorities be?”
‘Suppose genuine revival breaks out. What should my priorities be?’
Great question—not least because this brother wasn’t awash in pessimism. While working faithfully in a day of small things, he retained confidence the Lord’s arm isn’t shortened such that he couldn’t save. The pastor has a pretty good idea of what godly ministry looks like when the opposition is intense, but he wondered how his priorities should change if the Lord in his mercy visited him with the blessings of reformation and revival.
I’ve been on the edge of such visitations a couple of times. In 1970–71, when the so-called Canadian Revival swept through parts of Western Canada—sparked by ministry led by the Sutera twins—I was serving as pastor of a church in British Columbia. I witnessed the unprecedented (for Quebec) multiplication of about 35 French-speaking churches to just under 500, in eight years (1972–80).
More importantly, I’ve tried to read some of the histories of revivals in various corners of the world, partly to think through what’s genuinely of God and what isn’t. Based on my experiences, reading, and understanding of Scripture, here’s my list of dos and don’ts when revival comes.
1. Read serious literature about real and fraudulent revival.
You can’t do better than to begin with A Faithful Narrative of the Surprising Work of God and A Treatise Concerning the Religious Affections, both, of course, by Jonathan Edwards. While Edwards is remarkably open to various displays, the real test is never the display but rather God-centered righteousness and gospel-fueled integrity.
About a century after Edwards, some “revivals” in Kentucky and elsewhere produced a disproportionate number of illegitimate births nine months later. One can guess why: emotional intensity often combines with human intimacy which, if not of God, is more likely to produce babies than produce righteousness. Knowledge of abuses easily breeds a supercilious cynicism, while infatuation with revival easily breeds naïveté. Don’t be cynical; don’t be gullible; be discerning.
2. Examine your own heart.
Keep watch on your heart and fan the flames of personal devotion to Christ. Abundantly use the ordinary means of grace. Instead of relying on the intensity of the revival, turn again and again to Bible reading, prayer, self-examination and confession, death to self-interest, a joyful focus on the cross, faithful evangelism, service, and eager anticipation of the glories yet to come.
If instead you rely for your sustenance on the sweeping movement of the revival, ignoring the ordinary means of grace, you’re likely to burn out in a frenzied pursuit of what’s instantly gratifying but not very nourishing.
3. Direct people’s energy toward Jesus.
When revival comes, large numbers of people display boundless energy for the things of God. In your role as a minister of the gospel, direct that overflowing energy toward Bible study and prayer, toward corporate worship that’s full of the Word—not toward revival experiences but toward Jesus himself. Times of revival are clarion calls for increased commitment to anointed expository preaching, not an excuse for informal chats studded with pious clichés.
Don’t be cynical; don’t be gullible; be discerning.
One of the great things that happened in connection with the Quebec movement was the far-sighted establishment of SEMBEQ (Séminaire Baptiste Évangélique du Québec), which became a conduit for the theological and pastoral training of that generation and the next. It’s easy to think of genuine movements of God that petered out in silliness and warm nostalgia because the energy released was never directed toward training.
4. Keep out the press.
Transparently, that’s usually not possible and not even strictly advisable—but work toward that end. If in God’s mercy, you’re serving in a time of great blessing, don’t announce it, “puff” it, or promote it. By all means, work to expand the ministry, but by service and teaching and preaching rather than by gimmicks.
Eventually, of course, the press will find you. Then you must answer questions with self-deprecation, with lots of emphasis on the matchless grace of God, and with a steadfast refusal to promote “stars” and “celebrities.” Do everything you can to avoid the “experts” who arrive en masse, trying to analyze the revival and “catch” the revival to carry it somewhere else.
One of the great advantages enjoyed by those involved in the work in Quebec between 1972 and 1980 was the language barrier: most American press voices didn’t know enough French to find out what was going on. Today, of course, the quickest forms of distribution of information (and of vicious attacks too) are not tied to the organs traditionally labeled “the press” but to social media—and they’re much more difficult to avoid.
But among the leaders where you have influence, encourage the right focus: foster restraint, a refusal to get caught up in every outraged blog, and a quiet perseverance in faithful ministry while remaining highly suspicious of the siren call of renown, especially your own.
5. Eschew manipulation.
During the Canadian revival, I recall the spontaneous testimony of a man who had been minding his own business, a happy secularist oblivious to the rising movement, when suddenly he felt compelled to enter the church building in Saskatchewan where the revival began. There, he was crushed by the convicting work of the Spirit upon hearing the gospel and was dramatically saved and transformed. His testimony was captivating, compelling, powerful—a tool God used to bring others to repentance and faith.
If you rely for your sustenance on the sweeping movement of the revival, ignoring the ordinary means of grace, you’re likely to burn out.
Sadly, a pastor (not from that church) caught up with the man and persuaded him to embark on a speaking tour in which he would “share his testimony” at major venues across Canada. I heard it in Vancouver. The words were the same, the story was the same, but the whole thing had become canned.
What was a spontaneous and Spirit-anointed testimony became a bit of manipulation in an effort to spread the revival elsewhere. Christian leaders who should have known better were relying on moving testimonies that were no longer spontaneous and irrepressible outpourings of God’s grace but rather were substitutes for preaching Christ and the cross. It’d be easy to provide many examples where the line between zeal and manipulation was breached.
6. Never imagine that this movement from the Spirit of God depends on you.
Why is it that during the 20th century, South Korea witnessed spectacular growth in converts and theological maturity while Japan struggled with minimal numbers? Are we to conclude the leaders in South Korea were much more capable or gifted than those in Japan? Why is it that a Josiah presides over national revival, while a Jeremiah devotes his life to tears, discouragement, and judgment?
If God gives you the privilege to participate in a time of great renewal, thank him for the opportunity, give yourself to being a faithful conduit of God’s blessings, but do not presume—even for a moment—that God is lucky to have you. Cultivate humility.
7. Beware the dangers that attend a movement’s popularity.
Many pundits have observed that today in many parts of North America, the number of nominal Christians is falling rather rapidly. This development is fueled by rising social and cultural forces that are marginalizing and opposing Christians and Christianity. Where opposition abounds, the numbers of nominal Christians decline. It’s getting easier and easier to discern who’s a genuine Christian.
Conversely, however, a movement faces a new set of dangers when it becomes popular. Not infrequently, a reforming and revivifying movement is initially opposed, but once it becomes popular, a lot of people want to clamber on board. And that means leaders need to ask God for discernment.
8. Restrain from offering purely naturalistic explanations.
During a movement of genuine revival, and certainly in its aftermath, many people will ask what the circumstances were that precipitated it. Usually, it’s easy to make a list: a praying circle of brothers and sisters, a time of spiritual declension that made some people eager for renewal, cultural unrest and upheaval (in Quebec, it was “the Quiet Revolution”), and more. It’s entirely reasonable to look at such phenomena and see God’s providential hand in them.
A movement faces a new set of dangers when it becomes popular.
Nevertheless, there’s an unhealthy way of reporting these phenomena—a way that gives the impression these things were sufficient in themselves to bring about revival, a way that implies if you could duplicate these phenomena elsewhere you could bring in revival there too.
A little reflection, however, suggests all those accompanying cultural phenomena could take place without revival. No one predicted the onset of revival on the basis of such phenomena. God will not be tamed. Detailed analyses may serve no end other than our own self-promotion. The analyses tend to give the impression we control the movement, though of course we’d never be so crass as to say so.
By all means, ponder the enormously complex intertwinings of history and culture. By all means, discern the providential hand of God in them. But leave plenty of space for simply confessing, “This is the Lord’s doing, and it is marvelous in our eyes.”
The Gospel Coalition