Revival. It is a word that has been on the lips and minds of many over the last couple of years. Claims of a ‘quiet revival’ of Christianity taking place in Britain have appeared in the Christian and secular press. There is some evidence that young men in particular appear to be more curious and receptive to the teachings of the church, in contrast to the entrenched apathy that we have wearily come to expect. Perhaps some of us have first-hand experience of this phenomenon in our own settings.
Yet revival, in a biblical sense, is not a mere resurgence of interest in religion, nor an increase in intellectual curiosity, encouraging as these things might be. It is essential that spiritual transformation on a personal and collective level remains central to any thinking about true revival of religion—it is this that has defined revivals of the past, and will mark out any true movement of the Spirit in our own and future days.
It may be that you are experiencing very little of revival, quiet or otherwise. It continues to be ‘a day of small things’ (Zech. 4:10). The pulpit seems to have lost its former power, congregations are lacklustre and apathetic, and there are many signs that society at large continues to decay. Therefore, whether for our own Christian lives, or for the churches and nations where we serve, we need to take up again the psalmist’s prayer, ‘Will you not revive us again, that your people may rejoice in you?’ (Psa. 85:6).
This year’s Ministers’ Conference will call us to revisit God’s promises to revive his people, to remember his mighty works of revival in previous generations, and to renew our longing for the sovereign God to again pour out his Holy Spirit in extraordinary measure upon the ordinary means of grace he has called us to administer.
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