Scheduling Revival

[Tom Butler]

In the Pastoral Ministries section, under the thread "Has this Ever Happened to You?", Jim1999 talked about the Welsh Revivals. They were unplanned and unscheduled.

In that same thread, several told of instances where a church service saw the outpouring of the Holy Spirit.

That raised a question about what we call Revivals. In my Baptist culture, churches "schedule" Revivals. In other evangelical denominations, the same.

To be sure, most churches, once the revival services are scheduled, begin to pray for the lost, pray for the evangelist, pray that God would manifest his presence among them.

What do you think about "planned" revivals, crusades, etc?
Is there something inconsistent about waiting until revival is scheduled go "gear up" for it?
Why do we expect the evangelist to bring revival in his suitcase, but don't expect it of our own pastor, next Sunday?
On the other hand, is it also inconsistent to just sit back and wait for something to happen?

 

[Pastor David]

Tom,

I think we should pray for revivial much in the same way we pray for the salvation of the lost (as in the other thread). Again, I think God moves much in the same way. We cannot dicate to the Spirit where or even when He should move. He listeth wheresoever He pleases. But we should be ready and grateful when He does.

Blessings,

 

[Jim1999]

In the USA, you speak of revivals as evangelistic services. We do not speak that way of revivals in Canada. A revival happens; an evangelistic service is preplanned.

I think revival is possible if only we learned to listen for God rather than speaking to God. Much as my statement beneath my name...We are so busy talking to God, then rush off before God speaks..........If we expect revival we need to wait on God.

How many times does the midweek prayer meeting become a "lecture" from the main members who offer the same prayer week after week and then the Bible study? When was the last time that the people sat silently for 30 minutes "waiting" on the Lord? It is something like the telly programs...they just get challenging when a commercial pops up.....

Cheers,

Jim

 

[Crabtownboy]

In the Pastoral Ministries section, under the thread "Has this Ever Happened to You?", Jim1999 talked about the Welsh Revivals. They were unplanned and unscheduled.

In that same thread, several told of instances where a church service saw the outpouring of the Holy Spirit.

That raised a question about what we call Revivals. In my Baptist culture, churches "schedule" Revivals. In other evangelical denominations, the same.

To be sure, most churches, once the revival services are scheduled, begin to pray for the lost, pray for the evangelist, pray that God would manifest his presence among them.

What do you think about "planned" revivals, crusades, etc?
Is there something inconsistent about waiting until revival is scheduled go "gear up" for it?
Why do we expect the evangelist to bring revival in his suitcase, but don't expect it of our own pastor, next Sunday?
On the other hand, is it also inconsistent to just sit back and wait for something to happen?

I believe the era of the planned revival being effective are over. The only people who attend revivals are those who are saved and attend whenever the church door is open. When I was a kid the village church I attended was packed with the saved and the unsaved where there was a revival. For some it was meaningful, for others it was entertainment.

I am not sure if the era of revivals, such as Billy Graham held, are over. My tendence is to believe they are. The world has changed and we must change with it.

This does not mean the message changes, but the methods of presenting the message must change to meet our 21st century world.

Jim is correct about Wednesday night prayer services. Most are just another sermon. I have gone to untold numbers of Wednesday night prayer services and very few had a lot to do with praying. Our Thursday night meditation time has more prayer in it than most church Wednesday night prayer services do in a year. This is not a criticiam, but an observation. The hour, minus a few minutes of asking for prayer, is devoted to both silent and spoken prayer.

 

[trustitl]

That raised a question about what we call Revivals. In my Baptist culture, churches "schedule" Revivals. In other evangelical denominations, the same.

To be sure, most churches, once the revival services are scheduled, begin to pray for the lost, pray for the evangelist, pray that God would manifest his presence among them.

What do you think about "planned" revivals, crusades, etc?
Is there something inconsistent about waiting until revival is scheduled go "gear up" for it?
Why do we expect the evangelist to bring revival in his suitcase, but don't expect it of our own pastor, next Sunday?
On the other hand, is it also inconsistent to just sit back and wait for something to happen?

Excellent questions that I think every individual and group needs to be asking. I like it when somebody asks something that I have thought for a long time.

I think America is so event oriented that we have lost the joy of plodding through life. Walking with God in the humdrum of life is enough for me.

By humdrum I mean being a husband to a women who has 6 children and 4 foster children, being a dad to these same children, working for people, being a neighbor, serving inmates at a jail that I will never see again, changing the oil in my van, paying the bills,...

We need to see that the scriptures are mostly about the multitudes. We tend to focus only on the big names and the events surrounding them. We get down too easily by being "nobodies" when that is what the Gospel is all about. Taking ordinary people and doing extraordinary things that most people never hear about. This is where the purest worship takes place IMHO. We seem to not be satisfied with that and want an experience over a relationship.

 

[thegospelgeek]

America has redefined the word revival to mean a bi-annual event to differentiate between the "Real" faithful from those who only "pretend".

I do wish we would call the Revival a meeting and pray that a real revival would break out.

 

[Tom Butler]

America has redefined the word revival to mean a bi-annual event to differentiate between the "Real" faithful from those who only "pretend".

I do wish we would call the Revival a meeting and pray that a real revival would break out.

I am old enough to remember that Revivals were scheduled for two weeks, with both morning and evening services. During the day, the pastor and the evangelist would visit and evangelize. I remember the evangelist witnessing to my father, who was on the roof doing some repair work at the time.

Today, most "revivals" are are Sunday through Wednesday, or Friday through Sunday. I've led the music in a lot of them. I haven't been in a revival in a long time. I'm like you, gospelgeek. Let's quit calling them revivals until there really is one.

That said, I do believe God blesses the preaching of the gospel whenever it's preached.

One other thought. Why do we not prepare just as diligently for next Sunday's worship services as we do a revival two months away?

 

[LeBuick]

RINO... Revival in Name Only.


I with Jim, most of our revivals are sent not on our schedule but they happen in many different ways. We might have a preacher come to town to visit a relative and the Lord says put him up. Those are the best ones to me. Miracles and true spiritual reviving seem to happen at Gods command as opposed to our request.