A MODERN-DAY REVIVAL

 

During my graduate studies, we learned that there was a revival at Wheaton College, some 40 miles away from my campus. It began on a Sunday evening in March 1995. Two students from another university had just shared about a revival at their Texas campus. After they spoke, the moderator began to make a personal confession of his pride. He did so calmly and briefly, but sincerely. For about five days, non-stop, other students began to confess. Some wept about their hatred, sexual immorality, materialism, racism and self-destructive behaviours.

That 1995 experience in a Chicago suburb is what Christians call a revival. Revival is a term used to refer to a spiritual awakening in the lives of Christians. It is a corporate experience that results in a renewed passion for God. Although revivals differ in duration and intensity, there are some common features with all revivals. Primarily, there is a sense of God’s presence. That sense of God’s presence is on display at the revival taking place at Asbury University, a Wesleyan-Holiness institution in Wilmore, Kentucky.  

During a routine Wednesday morning chapel session on February 08, something beyond the regular happened. Students did not want to leave the auditorium. They were struck by what seemed to be a quiet, but powerful sense of God’s presence. They stayed and continued to worship. They are still there, twelve days later.

In a recent Christianity Today article, Asbury Professor, Dr Tom McCall, described it this way: “I teach theology across the street at Asbury Theological Seminary, and when I heard of what was happening, I immediately decided to go to the chapel to see for myself. When I arrived, I saw hundreds of students singing quietly. They were praising and praying earnestly for themselves and their neighbours and our world—expressing repentance and contrition for sin and interceding for healing, wholeness, peace, and justice.”

The professor recalls that “some were reading and reciting Scripture. Others were standing with arms raised. Several were clustered in small groups praying together. A few were kneeling at the altar rail in the front of the auditorium. Some were lying prostrate, while others were talking to one another, their faces bright with joy. They were still worshiping when I left in the late afternoon and when I came back in the evening. They were still worshiping when I arrived early Thursday morning—and by midmorning hundreds were filling the auditorium again. I have seen multiple students running toward the chapel each day.”

 

Professor McCall admits that he is weary of hype and very wary of manipulation. “I come from a background (in a particularly revivalist segment of the Methodist-holiness tradition) where I’ve seen efforts to manufacture “revivals” and “movements of the Spirit” that were sometimes not only hollow but also harmful. I do not want anything to do with that. And truth be told, this is nothing like that. There is no pressure or hype. There is no manipulation. There is no high-pitched emotional fervour. To the contrary, it has so far been mostly calm and serene. The mix of hope and joy and peace is indescribably strong and indeed almost palpable—a vivid and incredibly powerful sense of shalom. The ministry of the Holy Spirit is undeniably powerful but also so gentle.”

 

But when and how would this revival come to an end? The school’s president, Dr Kevin Brown, said he is trying to balance the incredible moment happening at the school and the needs of its students and their academic experience. He went on to say they will increase security, prayer and ministry support and event management. The "revival" has attracted people from all over the world, leaving long lines to get in. From this week, the school administration will allow services to be held only in the afternoon and evenings with a priority for high schoolers and people 25 or younger.

 

Like with the Wheaton revival in 1995, the Asbury revival was an unplanned, non-denominational, spontaneous movement of God. Time will tell the true impact of this movement of God. We have already heard of stories of conversion, confession, healing, renewal and reconciliation.

 

This God-designed revival was well-timed. At a time when many people of faith are concerned, because of declining church attendance, increasing secularism and public anti-Christian sentiments, we needed a reminder that our faith is still relevant and necessary. The public toxic rhetoric needs to be diluted. A spirit of forgiveness, compassion and grace needs to be returned to the market-place. Honestly, we all need to experience a renewed sense of God’s presence in our personal and corporate lives. Like the Psalmist, we need to ask, “… will you not revive us again, that your people may rejoice in You” (Psalm 85:6)?