On Revival and Repentance

Photo by Daniel McCullough on Unsplash

Earlier this month Pew Research Center published projections for future population-shares of religious groups in the US. The results of the study estimate the number of Christians in the US could fall as low as 35% of the U.S. population by 2070, and may only represent around 50% of the population by 2045. Whether church leaders are aware of the Pew study or not, no doubt many are painfully aware of the momentum driving these projections as many congregations continue to struggle with post-pandemic absence. 

A recent article from Christianity Today discussing the study begins, “Pew Research isn’t ruling out a religious revival in America. But given the country’s steady trends away from faith affiliation, experts don’t know what it would look like.” The article goes on to quote Pew senior researcher Stephanie Kramer who says, “We’ve never seen it, and we don’t have the data to model a religious reversal… There are some who say that revival never happens in an advanced economy. After secularization, you can’t put toothpaste back in the tube. But we don’t know that. We just don’t have the data.” If you imagine the remainder of the CT article is an exhortation to engage a more simplified existence, free from distractions, in pursuit of greater intimacy with God the Father, God the Son Jesus Christ, and God the Holy Spirit, that would be very optimistic of you. Revival is a loaded religious word so it’s hard to say exactly what the Pew researcher and the author of the CT article mean when they say they “don’t rule out religious revival in America.” However in the context of the rest of the essay, and indeed the landscape of endlessly published data related to the decline of Christianity and churches in America, it’s difficult to read those statements as anything more than a halfhearted bone thrown in the midst of a terminal diagnosis.

Reverend Duncan Campbell, the evangelist connected to the Hebrides Awakening said of the desire for religious revival: “If you want revival, get right with God. If you are not prepared to bring the ‘last piece,’ for God's sake stop talking about revival your talking and praying is but the laughing-stock of devils. It is about time we got into the grips of reality. Are we thirsty?” (The Price and Power of Revival)  In my work, there is rarely a conversation that takes place with church leaders these days that does not explicitly or implicitly articulate a desire for God to move in extraordinary ways among the people of the church. Many western Christians have rightly come to the conclusion that the only true solution to what ails American Christians is God’s very power and presence manifest among us. In Ezekiel 37:37 the prophet names God’s desire to make his dwelling place with us, to be our God, and for us to be his people. This is the language of God’s covenant found in scripture from beginning to end, and it is at the heart of why God renews his people.

Sensing the presence of God often incites a physical response within human beings. Many notable revivals of history describe moving scenes of repentance and weeping, as well as unusual phenomena like large crowds of people suddenly falling to the ground with uncontrollable shaking, or spontaneous fits of laughter as people are overcome with holy joy. And long before Pentecost, John Wesley’s experiences at Aldersgate or Fetter Lane, Azusa Street, or John Wimber, the writer of 2 Chronicles described the effects of God’s presence in the temple on the attending priests during praise and worship: “[W]hen the song was raised, with trumpets and cymbals and other musical instruments, in praise to the Lord, ‘For he is good, for his steadfast love endures forever,’ the house, the house of the Lord, was filled with a cloud, so that the priests could not stand to minister because of the cloud; for the glory of the Lord filled the house of God.” (5:13-14, NRSV)

Western Christianity is often spiritually immature. We pant after the physical manifestations of God’s power as if supernatural experiences are evidence of our spiritual excellence and favor in God’s eyes, even though scripture cautions us to test every spirit and teaches that Satan himself can masquerade as an angel of light. Supernatural phenomena are not necessarily evidence of anything except the fact that the supernatural realm is real. The test of God’s presence and power at work within and upon us appears in Galatians 5: 22-23, which names the fruit of the Spirit: love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. The fruit of the Spirit indeed consists of supernatural wonders otherwise impossible without God’s intervening grace and power. These are the spiritual qualities that safeguard our hearts from wandering in idolatrous ways. It is ultimately the sin of idolatry which results in the terrible conviction of guilt people experience when they encounter God’s presence. I cannot think of a revival among God’s people, or a mass conversion, that does not begin with a profound revelation of our sin and spiritual poverty. Acts 2:37 describes those listening to Peter’s sermon about Jesus as being, “cut to the heart.” They cry out to the disciples asking, “What shall we do?” Peter responds, “Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is for you and for your children and for all who are far off, everyone whom the Lord our God calls to himself” (2:38, ESV).

All moves of God among groups of people begin with individuals. When Christ raised Lazarus, or one could say, revived Lazarus from death to life, Jesus called Lazarus to himself. Each one of us is being called like Lazarus, from death to life in Jesus. Truly revival is the first gift the Father gives us when we come to salvation in his Son. The Father gives us his renewing power the moment we respond to Christ’s call to come out from our graves of sin. Many times across the ages, God has breathed new life into the church. He has called us to come out of our tomb, to live again in obedience to our commission. We can bring nothing except a contrite heart, a yieldedness to God’s will, a desperation for his mercy. As long as we labor under the misconception that revival is somehow our work, God will not call us out. But when we finally reach the point where we have learned again that our work is simply one of obedience to the Holy Spirit, to follow humbly in his steps, we will hear his voice. “Come out,” he will say. And we will feel that power of new life coursing through us. 

When revival comes– and it is coming, and already happening– it will not be because God is sick and tired of staring at our empty churches from heaven. And it won’t be because he doesn’t know what else to do about the sin-sick and lost among us. It will not be because we have finally found the right leader, the right programming, or the right aesthetic for worship. And it will absolutely not be because he’s concerned about the results of a research poll. He will come in manifest power among people as a sign of his love, to deliver and comfort the cries of children who call out in utter and complete desperation knowing their need for him, and him alone. Can our earthly circumstances be impacted in positive ways by the fruit of revival? Yes. Is the mass cessation of activity that separates us from God like, gambling, intemperate drinking, crime, lust and even cursing, part-and-parcel of moves of God? Of course, yes. But first, before any of these things we must be thirsty, and that thirst must drive us to pursue nothing but living water.

Maggie Ulmer is Resource Director for Spirit & Truth, Managing Editor of Firebrand, and one of the hosts of Plain Truth: A Holy-Spirited Podcast.