This month, we are celebrating ten years at our Church. It is called Revival X. I was doing some research on revival and found a bunch of articles online that I wanted to share. I apologize for not being able to link the different articles I found.
The Difference Between Revival, Renewal, and Awakening
The Asbury revival has brought much attention to the fact that God desires humanity to experience His presence, power, and reality. In light of the above, we need to distinguish the difference between the concepts of revival, renewal, and awakening.
Revival is when God releases a special work of grace that reveals His power and presence amongst Christians. The word “revive” means to bring back to life. Hence, it cannot be talking about reaching the lost because they were never alive to begin with.
Renewal is when committed Christians are worn out from laboring in the Lord, and God sends a spirit of refreshment that restores them to vibrancy.
Awakening is when a revival spills over and begins affecting the surrounding communities.
Examples of revivals leading to awakenings:
18th century
The preaching of men like George Whitfield, John Wesley, and Jonathan Edwards resulted in masses of people coming to Christ in England and in the American colonies, which resulted in the first great awakening (1740-1743).
19th century
The preaching of Charles Finney (1820s -1860s) and others resulted in massive revivals in many churches in the northeast cities, which led to awakenings that revived Christianity in America.
The 1857 prayer awakening
In NYC, a businessman, Jonathan Lanphier, started a small prayer meeting, attended by a handful of men, on Wall Street in 1857. However, after the stock market collapsed, tens of thousands of business people started attending his weekly prayer meeting, resulting in about 500,000 conversions on the East Coast within one year. This prayer meeting revived Christian business leaders and resulted in multitudes coming to Christ.
Charles Finney, a prominent figure of the Second Great Awakening, led a powerful religious revival in Rochester, New York, from September 1830 to March 1831, which inspired other revivals across the Northeast and New England. The revivals influence spread throughout central and western New York State, uniting churches in their efforts to spread the message of Jesus. Finney was active as a revivalist from 1825 to 1835 in Jefferson County and for a few years in Manhattan. He also led revivals in Auburn, New York, in 1826, and in Rome, New York, in 1825-1826. The New York Evangelist reported that almost every town within 40-50 miles of Rochester was blessed with a special presence of the Lord. Finney quoted Lyman Beecher as having said: That was the greatest work of God, and the greatest revival of religion, that the world has ever seen in so short a time. One hundred thousand were reported as having connected themselves with churches as the result of that revival. This is unparalleled in the history of the church and of the progress of religion. Adding to Beecher’s quote, Finney added: Taking the whole of that time, or perhaps from 1830-1835, there could not have been fewer than 200,000 that were converted. The revival in Rochester did not end with a definitive date; it lingered in its effect for years. There were special outpourings of the Holy Spirit in 1832, 1833, 1834, and 1835. There was also another revival with the return of Finney to Rochester in 1842. This revival, which commenced at Saratoga Springs [New York], and spread into the surrounding region, resulted in the hopeful conversion of not less than two thousand souls. The term “Burned-Over District” was used by Charles Finney to describe the areas in New York that had experienced so many revivals that there were no more fuel or unconverted people left to evangelize. Though the revival in upstate New York was astounding in itself, it was typical of what was taking place throughout the nation at that time. This era is known as the Second Great Awakening (1790 – 1840).
20th century
From 1906 to 1915, there was a revival on Azusa Street in California, which led to a great Pentecostal outpouring that started the modern-day Pentecostal movement. Out of this great revival, many mission movements started, and the gospel went to the earth’s ends, awakening many nations.
The Welsh Revival led to an awakening
In Wales, in about 1904, a 19-year-old named Evan Roberts got up in a prayer meeting and merely said, “bend me oh, Lord.” That resulted in mass confessions of sin and a revival that swept across the country.
Hebrides Revival (1949-1953) with Duncan Cambell
In 1949, the Isle of Lewis, in the Hebrides, experienced a massive revival spreading throughout the island. It filled the church with young people, even reaching unchurched communities. This resulted in thousands of lost souls coming to Christ.
The Pensacola, Florida revival in the 1990s resulted in many backsliders giving their life to Christ. This was an example of a true revival that lasted 3-5 years. Although it did not necessarily result in the awakening of the surrounding community, thousands of people recommitted their life to Christ.
The 21st-century global awakening– Many revivals and awakenings are taking place in China, the Middle East, and Africa, too numerous to cite.
Biblical Examples of awakenings:
After Jesus ministered to the woman at the well, she spread the gospel, resulting in her whole town believing in Jesus (John 4:39). In Acts 8:4-9, Philip, the evangelist, went and preached Christ in Samaria. Many signs, wonders, and healings took place. The result was “there was much joy in that city.” In Acts 19:10, after Paul lectured in the hall of Tyrannus, the word of the Lord spread to that whole region of Asia Minor.
Biblical examples of renewals
In Joel 2:18-29, we see that God promises to respond to a solemn assembly by being jealous of His land and pouring out His spirit on all flesh.“Then the LORD became jealous for his land and had pity on his people. The LORD answered and said to his people,“Behold, I am sending to you grain, wine, and oil, and you will be satisfied; and I will no more make you a reproach among the nations…And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh; your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, and your young men shall see visions. Even on the male and female servants in those days I will pour out my Spirit.”
After the apostle Paul was converted and his violent persecution stopped, God sent a season of refreshing to the early church. Acts 9:31: “So the church throughout all Judea and Galilee and Samaria had peace and was being built up. And walking in the fear of the Lord and in the comfort of the Holy Spirit, it multiplied.”
The charismatic renewal
The movement is thought to have begun in 1967 in an episcopal church and spread to other mainstream protestant denominations, including Lutherans and Presbyterians. It eventually resulted in a massive Roman Catholic charismatic movement. Methodists also became involved in the charismatic movement in the 1970s. The charismatic movement was distinguished by Christians receiving “the second blessing,” often called the baptism of the Holy Spirit, with the evidence of speaking in tongues. This renewal spread to all mainline denominations. The movement was not at first received in evangelical circles. However, it eventually morphed in the 1980s into the “3rd Wave,” a phrase coined by Dr. Peter Wagner and John Wimber (the founder of the Vineyard movement). It resulted in numerous neo-charismatic organizations and churches that had some Pentecostal tendencies regarding embracing the gifts of the Spirit (1 Corinthians 12: 4-11).
Jesus Movement 1967-72
Originating in the late 1960s, the Jesus Movement sprang from a period of intense social and cultural upheaval. Young individuals, disillusioned with the societal norms and the established religious institutions of the time, sought a more authentic and direct experience of spirituality. The movement rapidly spread across the United States, with significant concentrations in California. Its followers, known as “Jesus People” or “Street Christians,” The Jesus Movement significantly influenced American Christianity, introducing contemporary worship music and informal worship styles into mainstream church practices. By 1977, an estimated 2 million new, born-again believers came into the Christian faith. That does not include those who came to Christ as the revival spread to Canada, South America, and Europe.
The “Toronto Blessing,” which began in January 1994 at the Toronto Airport Vineyard church, was called a renewal movement for pastors and leaders who went there to get times of refreshing and restoration.
In conclusion, “we pray that the revival in Asbury is a foretaste of another great awakening that will captivate the hearts of “Gen Z.” I also do not believe it is a coincidence that the movie “The Jesus Revolution,” which depicts the awakening in the 1960s and ’70s that brought thousands of young people to Christ, has just been released. May we see another Jesus revolution!”
In Christ’s love;
Brent and Linda Bushen
If this has blessed you in some way, please let us know and share with a friend.