The Asbury revival has garnered the attention of many. As a result, some  pastors and young leaders are  looking at this phenomenon as the norm and primary goal of their ministry. However, we must look at revival as a means to an end, not the end itself.

Historically, charismatics have been “all in” on revival. To them, this term is an all-encompassing word that means a mighty move of God in the church that spills over into the community and wins the lost. However, we should distinguish between a revival, which has to do with bringing life back to a dead church, and an awakening, which has to do with a massive movement of winning the lost in the surrounding communities of churches. 

Of course, we should all believe in revivals leading to significant awakenings of sinners. However, there are many churches and pastors who have no strategy except to wait for a revival. When I read the New Testament, this differs from the apostles’ focus. The word “revival” is not used once in the New Testament, even though the need for it in the context of bringing life back to a dead church is implied in several places. (In the book of Revelation, Jesus told the church of Ephesus to come back to their first love. He tells the church of Sardis to wake up and strengthen the things that remain that are about to die.  He rebuked the Laodicea church for being lukewarm and admonished them to let Him back in the church (Revelation 2:1-7; 3:1-2; 3:14-20)). 

The following are six reasons why we should not put all our focus on revival.

1. Praying for revival implies your church is dead.

The focus in the New Testament is not on revival, but on building healthy churches that nurture sheep that reproduce other sheep. Congregations like this continue to grow and expand organically without a revival. Consequently, a pastor whose primary focus is praying for revival in their church is implying that their congregation is dead or dying (which may be the case in many churches).

However, if their church is healthy, praying for a revival in their congregation would be like calling 911 for an EMT person to come and conduct CPR to bring someone back to life whose heart and health are fully functional. Healthy churches should focus on continuing to nurture the flock to present every member complete in Christ (Colossians 1:28).

2. God cannot bring more people into your church beyond your capacity to Shepherd them.

In Deuteronomy 7:22, God told Moses that he could not give the children of Israel all of the promised lands at once lest the wild animals become unmanageable. Hence, the principle is God will never give you more than you can manage. If God answered most prayers for revival and awakening, it would possibly wreak havoc in many churches that cannot shepherd the needs of these newly saved people.

3. A primary focus of the New Testament is on making disciples, not on revival.

Both Jesus and the apostle Paul put their primary focus on disciple making (Matthew 28:19-20, Acts 14:21-28). Many pastors focus on revival but fail to create an infrastructure conducive to making disciples. So what would happen if many people came into their church, but there was no process to mature these new converts?

The unfortunate result would be a lot of spiritual babies being born again who would not be properly disciplined, resulting in many of them falling away.

4. A primary focus in the New Testament is building strong families.

According to the guidelines of the apostle Paul, a person is not qualified to be a spiritual leader unless they can manage their household (1 Timothy 3:5). The reason for this is that the church is a family of families, which is why Paul referred to her as the household of faith (1 Timothy 3:15). Thus, the true gauge of influential congregations is not merely the size of the church, but how strong the marriages and families are in the congregation.

5. A primary focus of the Scriptures is to live productive lives that benefit others. 

Some pastors and believers get discouraged because they’ve never experienced what they deem to be a great revival. This causes them to think that they failed or believe that the favor of God is not upon them. Thus, they only see God in the miraculous, not the mundane. However, the church’s goal should be to nurture economically productive Christians that love their fellow Christians and become a blessing to the unchurched community (Galatians 6:10; 1 Thessalonians 4:9-12; Titus 2:14; Titus 3:9). This is one legitimate measure of success.

6. Great outpourings of the Spirit are expressed differently based on the context.

Our church has seen incredible outpourings of the Spirit throughout the years (including a great move of the Spirit that started several weeks before Asbury). However, we have people with children, waiting for them in our Sunday school, who have extensive work and family obligations. We must dismiss our services at a certain point, even amid a great outpouring. We could not go on for weeks the way the students in a seminary like Asbury could (who likely are single, with no other significant family obligations in life, which enables them to linger in the presence of God for days at a time).

This doesn’t mean that the outpouring in our church is any less intense than in Asbury. It just means that the Spirit expects people to bring what they receive in the church to their homes and impart it to their children, friends, neighbors, and co-workers. For this reason, it is probably God who often initiates Spiritual outpourings leading to awakenings amongst single people in colleges. As a result, they can impact other college campuses so that revival and awakening can spread like wildfire to the nation and beyond! 

We are beginning a major Jesus revolution that will sweep in this Gen Z demographic.

Please check out the latest book from Joseph Mattera here!

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.

20th century 

From 1906 -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 leads 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). 

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, I 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!

Please check out the latest book from Joseph Mattera here!