When Can a Revival Be Called a Revival

I would never pretend to judge what is happening at Asbury Seminary and around the country. It is not my place to pronounce whether the outpouring of the Spirit there is a legitimate revival. So, I don’t intend to reach a conclusion on whether what is happening at Asbury can be called a revival. Instead, I want to suggest that it is too soon for anyone to determine if a revival has broken out and certainly way too early to compare this movement of the Spirit with the great awakenings of the past. But for the sake of argument let us assume this is the start of a revival that will lead to a great awakening. If that is the case what will, in the end, allow us to call it that?

I want to suggest first that revivals are not determined by the length of time that the worship lingers, how full chapels are, or how many people are waiting in line to get in the door. Revivals are determined by how the Spirit moves those impacted out of the chapel and into the streets with the Gospel and Love of Jesus Christ. The Spirit in reviving the believer and calling the unrepentant propels them to action. The Spirit draws us to the deep love of God and the corresponding deep love of neighbor. The nature of revivals is that they cannot be contained within the walls of the Church or even within Christian communities. True revivals impact the world in the name of Jesus. Evangelicalism in its modern form has lost this understanding of revival because it has equated it with evangelistic crusades. In this way ot thinking revival is something that happens in the context of a worship service or crusade venue without reference to its affects beyond the worship event itself. That is not to disparage evangelistic crusades only to make the case that the one does not necessarily equal the other.

But why would I say that revivals are judged by what happens once the meetings end? I want to rest that argument on three deeply theological issues.

First, the work of the Spirit is to draw the believer to God in Jesus Christ. The Spirit in its work does not seek to draw attention to itself but the Godhead generally and the person of Christ specifically. The longer the movement remains fixed in perpetual organized worship the more likely it is that spectacle has overcome the intent of the Spirit. The Spirit moves so that the church might be mobilized in witness and care for the world.

Second, the Spirit’s work is to transform the life of the believer so that every part of it is lived in obedience and righteousness before God. The Spirit empowers the believer to live a Christ like life 24/7 in the home, at work, and in worship. The intent of the Spirit is that we be empowered to live into Christ every minute of every day. That we might express our worship spontaneously in all of our lives. That the power of God might be evident in us wherever and whenever we are. The Spirit does not center the power of God on any particular geographical location or architectural space. The work of the Spirit is that Christ might be known in the highways and byways.

Finally, the Spirit’s work imparts the love of God to the believer that they might be able both to love God and to love neighbor. This love is a compelling love that forces the believer out of the pew and into the street where they meet Christ as clearly as they do in the liturgy, the sermon or praise hymn. The measure of a true awakening is that believers compelled by the love of the God through the Spirit leave the church and prayer closet to witness to the saving love of Christ and to bear evidence of God’s love as they love their neighbor because Christ first loved them. Awakenings saw the homeless housed, the orphan and the widow cared for, crime dissipate, and love abound not just in the church but in the community at large. True revival so inflames our love for humanity that we cannot sit still while the world languishes around us. We cannot strum praise and worship hymns while the world burns.

Again, I hope that all these signs are true of what is happening at Asbury. I hope we will look back at the impact on our world made by those stirred by the Spirit in that place and proclaim that truly a great awakening has come in our time. The problem is for that to happen the outward signs of prolonged worship will have to give way in favor of witness and ministry. When that happens, we will be quick to bemoan the fleeting nature of revival and miss the fact that the true work of revival is only begun in the chapel, the church and the prayer closet. The true work of revival must move from inspiration to action. The meetings after all are only the rallying speech before the battle which means nothing if we never charge the enemy.

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