This month ‘s Evangelicals Now carries an article by Bill James with more comment on the so called Quiet Revival. He asks if the reports reflect “True Revival”.
I don’t want to really debate that question because I’m unconvinced it is helpful. There seems to be an obsession at the moment from both sides of the question seeking to argue over the technicalities of whether events meet the criteria for true revival. Yet, both the concept of revival and various attempts to define it are not Biblical terms and so I don’t think there is a Biblical criteria for determining it.
Fat more helpful surely is to recognise and enjoy the good things God is doing, to lament wherever see resistance to the Gospel and to keep working tirelessly for the Gospel ourselves.
The second thing I do want to pick up on is that Bill says that “revival” or moves of God start with the Church. That is I think a fair expectation. In the light of that we should surely pay attention to what has happened in the church. In 2020, we saw people gathering daily with the help of online technology to pray, read Scripture, worship and hear God’s word proclaimed and taught. I suspect if this had happened in those numbers at any other time and not online it would have looked similar to what people have referred to as revival. That it has not been recognised as such may say more about people’s views on Covid and regulations.
Thirdly, a related point is that often by the time a phenomenal has been picked up on we are often moving towards or past the end of it. Noting that if we want to talk about a quiet revival then I suspect it’s epicentre was five years ago, we may need to recognise that it may have passed it’s peak. I am not sure how helpful it is therefore to be attempting to use analysis in the hope that we can catch hold and get in on the act. In fact, if you want to learn anything, it is probably more about what to do in the aftermath of revival.
In terms of what I think the answer to point 3 is, I would suggest that it is exactly the same as our first response, enjoy what God is doing, lament resistance to him, keep spreading the Gospel and making disciples.
Faithroots 