Prayer Leader Column

How to Grow a Vision for Revival

By Bob Bakke

My friend, Byron Paulus of Life Action Ministries, describes revival this way: “When God comes in revival, He accomplishes in a brief time what would normally take many years. Revival is the intensifying, accelerating, multiplying, and magnifying work of God.”

I like this. Given the social, political, and ethical chaos today, combined with the weakness of the Church, many believers are hungry for such an intense season of unrestrained grace against which the human heart and society is defenseless.

Confidence in the efficacy of revival assumes a confidence in God to accomplish what He wills—in the power of His Spirit, for the glory of His Son, in answer to the prayers of His people. But the hope of revival also assumes that God is willing to send revival in answer to our cries.

Revival Hindrances

How do we grow this vision within the local church? First, we acknowledge that we’re prone to believe these myths:

  • that our problems are unique
  • that the Church and the world have never faced problems like ours
  • that God is either disinterested or too disgusted to help.

We also forget that such weary seasons in the Church and troubled times in culture have appeared time and time again since Adam. When we face the need for revival, our forgetfulness can lead to panic, hysterics, paralysis, or despair—as if our problems have left us alone and adrift in unknown waters without a compass.

We need to repent of this forgetfulness. It is a product of pride. When it comes to growing a vision for revival, the remedies don’t change, even though our historical context evolves. The remedies are essentially consistent and quite simple. They aren’t easy, just simple.

Revival Forerunners

A case in point is Arnold Dallimore’s remarkable biography of George Whitefield and the history of The Great Awakening in the 1730s and ’40s. Whitefield was characterized by his contemporaries as a comet across the sky of history. Countless people were transformed in his wake. But God began laying the foundations for this so-called “Great Awakening” some 60 years before.

Dallimore records the story of Dr. Anthony Horneck of London who was a leader in the Church of England. In 1673, Horneck was alarmed at the listless and sinful church in London. So, he “preached a number of what he called ‘awakening sermons.’ As a result, several young men began to meet together weekly in order to build up one another in the Christian faith. They gathered in small groups at certain fixed locations and their places of meeting became known as Society rooms. In these gatherings they read the Bible . . . and prayed; they also went out among the poor to relieve want at their own expense and to show kindness to all. . . . The work grew so that by 1730 nearly one hundred of these [Prayer] Societies existed in London, and others—perhaps another hundred—were to be found in cities and towns throughout England. The Societies movement became, in many senses, the cradle of the Revival.”1

Does the pattern ring a bell?

  1. Someone with the conviction and power of God’s Spirit urgently reminds the people of God about the primacy of God, His Word, and His Savior, Jesus Christ.
  2. Small groups respond with united and ongoing prayer and intentionally disperse into the streets of the city.
  3. The Lord adds to the number of those who are saved.
  4. Ultimately, history is transformed.

Simple Remedies

We know from the Bible and Church history the fundamental ingredients to grow a vision for revival in your congregation:

  • Pray for a spirit of prayer to fall upon your church. Pray especially that your senior pastor will be known as the leader of such praying.
  • Remind people of the Bible stories of the Spirit’s transforming work in the history of Israel and the Church. You can find these stories on sites such as onecry.com and revivalstories.org.
  • Tell current stories of ways the Spirit is reviving and awakening today. You can find these accounts at cbn.com, for example.
  • Start small groups for prayer, praying specifically for revival.

Remember, it may take 60 years before the flood comes. But be encouraged and confident in two things: God will answer, and you are the first part of His answer.

1George Whitefield. The Life and Times of the Great Evangelist of the Eighteenth-Century Revival. Vol. 2. (Westchester, IL: Cornerstone Books, 1979), 29.

BOB BAKKE is senior teaching pastor of Hillside Church of Bloomington, MN. He is also on the executive leadership team of OneCry and a member of America’s National Prayer Committee.