Revival Fatigue—a Cold Take
“REVIVAL IS COMING!” the poster trumpeted. Next month at [insert church name] featuring revivalist [insert revivalist name]. This would be a “city-wide” event. Come and join the “movement” we were encouraged.
I quickly scrolled on and then opened my email.
“National Day of Prayer!” was at the top of my inbox. “Save the date!” was the exhortation. “Pray that God would revive our land.” There it was again.
A few emails down, “Join us in prayer!” I was invited to gather at the courthouse to “pray for revival!” I sighed audibly.
I’ll quote John Coffey (like the drink only not spelled the same), “I’m tired boss.”
About Asbury
On February 8th, 2023, after a regularly scheduled chapel service at Asbury University in Kentucky, the students stayed behind in Hughes Auditorium to worship. Asbury President Kevin Brown sent out an email, “There’s worship happening in Hughes. You’re welcome to join.”
What followed was revival, for lack of a better word, a weeks-long worship service. Word spread like wildfire across social media. By February 18th, the hashtag “asburyrevival” had 63 million views on Tik Tok. People began to flock to Asbury to worship, to see, to be a part of what was happening. At some point, similar events began to occur at Samford University, Cedarville University, and University of the Cumberlands. Visitors spoke of worship, miracles, and healing, and lauded the hospitality of the school and the local community.
The gathering continued for 14 days with the auditorium frequently overflowing. Thousands of visitors flocked to the campus. Then, on February 24th, 16 days after starting, it was over, just like that.
The university canceled the revival.
Local law enforcement agencies and government, expressing concern over accommodating the sheer volume of visitors, pressed the university and the university responded. School administrators agreed to continue the revival online.
My First Revival
As a new convert in 2005, my wife and I poured ourselves and our family into the church. We were there literally every time the doors were open and sometimes when they weren’t. You can imagine our excitement when we saw that revival was coming.
Our church scheduled a revival.
For three or four weeknights, our church scheduled a worship service, to revive us, and you can bet we were there. I’m not sure if revival happened.
For starters, you’re talking three to four weeknights, for people with jobs, who might be worn out, whose kids have athletic events, or maybe who just want to chill and watch some Netflix. Our church was a large church, but to say that the revival was not well-attended was an understatement. It was summertime in Tennessee, hot and humid in the evenings. The air conditioners struggled to keep up. It was very tough to get too excited with my sweaty underwear steadily creeping up into my nether regions. I recall the desperate attempts of the worship leader and the impassioned appeals of the speaker to revive us, to amp us up, to get us going.
I don’t know if it worked or not.
Should this be something we pursue?
Revivalism and Emotionalism
Listen, I want God to stir up our hearts.
Sometimes, when preaching, I gaze out at the stoic faces of the people and wonder incredulously, “Did you people hear what I just said?” How can they not be overcome with joy and emotion at the amazing truths of the Gospel message? I do pray that God would stir up the hearts of His people.
Yet, what of this incessant call to revival, this desperate pursuit of revival? What about being gleefully poised for revival to “break out”?
Revival is steeped into the fabric of American Christianity. The First and Second Great Awakenings color our expectations. Images of crowded tent revivals—let’s abandon the church building and the stodgy traditions of men why don’t we—replete with mass salvations and overt emotional responses fascinate us. Maybe the problem is traditional Christianity, read boring. Maybe we need to “get back to” real Christianity. If only the Spirit would revive us.
We see some calls for revival in Scripture. The Psalmist declares, “Will you not revive us again, that your people may rejoice in you?” (Psalm 85:6) Throughout the Old Testament the theme of a return, the restoration of a remnant persists. God desires “to revive the spirit of the lowly, and to revive the heart of the contrite.” (Isaiah 57:15)
Revivalists often cite 2 Chronicles 7:14, “if my people who are called by my name humble themselves, and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land.” It’s that simple. Humble yourselves, pray, seek God’s face, and turn from your wicked ways, and He will forgive your sin and heal the land. That is, He will revive it!
The problem is that this verse is a promise made to Solomon in a dream about the nation of Israel, God’s old covenant people. Because we are Christians, we know that we cannot just pluck a verse directly from the Old Testament about Israel and apply it directly to today, to the church, or even to America. This verse is many things, but it is not a prescription for how to foment revival.
The New Testament offers little to no commentary on anything resembling revival. In the Epistles, God’s instructions to the church, we find no direction for the church to seek revival, to pursue revival. Now, if God desires to revive His church—and at some point, I’m not even sure what that means—then I will certainly rejoice over any move of the Spirit in the hearts of the people. What I’m talking about is not revival, but revivalism, that is, the incessant pursuit of revival whereby anything other than this is somehow deemed lesser.
Revivalism frequently couples with emotionalism, a dangerous pairing for the church. It becomes about generating fervor and excitement, things that are unsustainable. The burden is this, if you don’t feel a certain way, if you don’t get excited, if we don’t generate a certain intensity of emotion or passion, then we must be doing something wrong. The outward response matters. Are you singing loudly? Are you raising your hands? Did you come forward at an invitation? Did you cry? Etc.
The image of a hard-working husband and wife faithfully attending and serving a local church, quietly raising their children in the wisdom and instruction of the Lord, gently evangelizing their neighbors over the years just doesn’t generate the same level of excitement, does it?
I wonder about the aftermath of Asbury. Did anything of consequence, anything enduring come of it? Or, is it almost as if it never happened?
Ordinary Means, God’s Prescription
I’ve become an ordinary means man.
God has given us his prescription for revival, the Ordinary Means of Grace: the fellowship of the body, the ministry of the word, and the administration of the ordinances (baptism and communion) over time. This is God’s revealed plan for His people to be conformed into the image of Christ, to be transformed by the renewing of our minds, for lasting revival.
He tells us how to stir up the hearts of the people:
1. The Fellowship of the Body. “And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some.” (Hebrews 10:24-25a) This is the fellowship of the body, believers meeting together to stir up one another’s hearts, to encourage one another to love and good works. Revival.
2. The Ministry of the Word. “I think it right, as long as I am in this body, to stir you up by way of reminder,” Peter writes to discouraged Christians. (2 Peter 1:13) It is the ministry of the word that reminds us of who we are in Christ, who He made us to be, that encourages us in our walk. The Psalmist writes, “The law of the LORD is perfect, reviving the soul,” and “give me life [revive me] according to your word!” (Psalm 19:7, 119:25b) Revival.
3. Over time. “And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another,” Paul encourages us. (2 Corinthians 3:18a) Beholding Christ through these ordinary means assuredly transforms us into His image, one degree at a time, day by day. This is a precious and very great promise of God. Revival.
This issue is, it’s not dramatic, normally not sudden, not overtly emotional.
So, pray for revival as you feel led and maybe God will grant revival. However, let us also pray that the men and women of God live the Ordinary Means of Grace over time. This has always been God’s prescription for the church.
