Why I Still Have Revivals in the Church I Pastor.

It's true. I schedule times during the year when I have a guest preacher, called the evangelist, to come in and preach a series of services (beyond Sunday morning and evening). The emphasis is on the relationship of the individual to Christ beginning and growing. It is also a corporate (or community) act in which the whole congregation focuses on growing in Christ together. A lot of people claim it is old fashioned or out-of-date-methodology or even ineffective, but let me share why I still hold revival meetings in my local church.

1. My congregation needs to hear Truth from someone besides me. The Holy Spirit speaks through each individual in a distinct way. Neither the message nor the God spoken of changes, but there are distinct, unique ways in which God uses every messenger. If the local congregation that I pastor only ever hears from me, they are done an injustice by not hearing Truth from other 'vessels.'

2. I need personal revival! As one who is weekly seeking God for the message my local congregation needs to hear, a preacher can become somewhat starved. It is easy for a pastor to get so immersed in the daily routine and weighed down by the hurts and pains of the local church that they too need the encouragement of being revived. Pastors need revival too.

3. As a community of believers, our local church needs time focused on getting closer to God and becoming more like Christ. Of course we always want to grow closer to God and become more like Him, but sometimes that becomes secondary or tertiary to the function of the church. We can get so busy doing good things for God that we forget why we are doing those good things to begin with. We need a time to gather together and focus on Jesus! We need corporate spiritual renewal!

4. Attention to an evangelistic emphasis is necessary. Any church can be program based instead of Gospel based. It's easy to slip into. But seeking the lost is why Jesus came and why His body, the church, needs to still be sharing the Good News of salvation. Again, the church can become inwardly focused and comfort oriented, we need to be reminded that our focus is ultimately to see people come to Christ. There is a task at hand and we need the empowerment of the Holy Spirit to accomplish just that.

5. The denomination I am currently part of, started in revival and cannot exist without it. The evangelistic and revivalist fervor of the Church of the Nazarene is in our spiritual DNA because it is traced back to our beginnings. We would not exist were it not for the revivals, camp meetings, evangelistic crusades, and tent meetings that have long defined us. Certainly we cannot and should not seek to re-orchestrate these past moves of God. The truth is they were never orchestrated in the beginning, but God's people spent time doing nothing more than seeking the presence of Jesus and He was faithful to show up!

6. It becomes a time when the church can "agree in prayer". The church can become a busy place and people. Children's ministry, youth ministry, food banks, family life, finances, jobs, and so much more can keep us from intentionally aligning on some important things. We are all going in different directions. When we conduct revival services in our local church, everything else stops. These are moments in which we share with the early church an "all together in one place" moment so that we might also experience "the sound of a mighty rushing wind."

7. Determine the relationship. Decision time. Joshua, from the Old Testament toward the end of his life, stood before the people of Israel and challenged them to "choose today who you will serve." A clear, concise decision needs to be made. King Josiah, in the Old Testament, after finding and having the Law of Moses read to him, called the people together so that they would commit together as a people to repent and choose to honor the covenant with God. Many people can slip into a state of casual indifference that leads them away from the "Ebenezer" places of firm and clear commitment in their relationship to God. Revival is a good time to evaluate and clearly discern where we stand with God. I choose Jesus!

8. Churches need to change/repent. The impotence of the church today is not a result of lack of finances, technology, talent, buildings, or resources. Although we are often consumed by such things. The problem of the church today is it's lack of Divine transformative power. While we are busy installing our strobe lights and fog machines the prayer closets go unused. While some are fighting to preserve their favorite traditions and hymn books the upper room remains vacant. Sometimes not only do individuals need to repent, but churches, or even whole denominations can find themselves in need of a repentance.

9. Revival is a time of God moments at work in the church. Where once many churches debated about entire sanctification being a moment vs a process, the line has now been re-drawn over whether justification (new birth) is a moment vs a process. We have made conversion a process that now must include "belong" to the church fellowship before "believing" in Jesus. Much like sanctification the shift, in reality, is a move from God's divine act to our works that do more to make us feel spiritual than to be Spirit filled! The reality is that a call for "belong" before "believing" redefines what it means to be part of the family of God (Can you be part of this family apart from knowing Jesus?), requires sinners to be in relationship with us before Jesus, and emphasizes human organization over divine encounter. There are some things only God can do in our lives: forgiveness of sins, purification of the heart, etc.

10. Revival can expose some hidden things. When you first walk into a room that has a funny smell you recognize it immediately. Interestingly, after a bit of time spent in the room the smell seems to disappear. The reality is that the smell is still present, but we have become accustomed to it. Revival services present a good time to recognize odious things in our lives that we may have inadvertently grown accustomed to. While it can be uncomfortable, God's exposure of hidden things always leads toward reconciliation and redemption!

So what about you? Why do you have revivals in your church? Or why not?

Also check out the following...

I Fired Jesus.

Why I Don't Play the Lottery.

Get a Back Bone

I Sin Every Day