Welcome to visit my Site.
Allan Svensson, Sweden

Why does the revival tarry? It is because God’s
people tarry to obey the powerful command of
the Lord in Rev. 18:4. This is the most powerful
revival message of the Lord to his people in our time.
http://www.algonet.se/~allan-sv/INDEX.HTM

The coming revival, a nameless revival
http://www.algonet.se/~allan-sv/POWERFUL.HTM

Why was the Pentecostal Revival stopped?
http://www.algonet.se/~allan-sv/CRISIS.HTM

As in the days of Lot, it is now. Lot was not interested
to leave Sodom. God sent two angels to rescue him.
One of the angels said to him: “Flee for your life sake …”
Just like as Lot, God’s people are not interested to leave
the great Babylon, but finally they must flee for
their life from there.
http://www.algonet.se/~allan-sv/PAGE88.HTM

I guess I’d say that for me, God can move but if the people in the midst of the move don’t change and affect others around them, I wouldn’t call it revival.

That being said, I was down in Lakeland for a week, and it was amazing.

The atmosphere was charged with the presence of God, and the focus was completely on the Lord when I was there. Every service started with about 2 hours of worship, where oftentimes the crowd would worship the Lord spontaneously. Some people would even get healed in their seats during this time. No one would pray for them, they would just get healed, and you’d see that section of the stadium erupt as the person began praising the Lord and testifying right there of what He’d just done.

How did I know that people were getting healed without anyone praying for them? Good question. A fair question, even. Becase I was standing right beside one woman who had this happen.

Good for you – for praying for revival and contributing to what is going on there today!

However, I don’t think we can write off these episodes of revival, including the various things that have happened in Lakeland, Pensacola, Toronto, etc. as having nothing good to offer. There are major issues. Major problems. But there is work of the Spirit that has happened in all of them.

In any case, the great point that the above comment makes is that we need reformation. Massively. Our way of seeking the Spirit needs to be deconstructed, because to a large extent it doesn’t work.

Meanwhile, quietly, a reformation is taking place in Ukraine. An evangelical church had tremendous influence on the Orange Revolution of 2004 and is now having impact in all spheres of the Ukrainian society. No, they do not have North American style revival meetings. Why, because they are not effective. Some information about this can be found at Churchshift

I think it depends on how you define “revival” and “renewal.” Some people use them synonymously, and some do not. Graham Cooke, who I quoted in the post, sees it something like this:

1. Renewal – renewing the church’s passion for God
2. Revival – renewing the church’s passion for people – inclusive of sharing Jesus with those who do not know him, social justice, etc.
3. Reformation – subversive transformation of society by the kingdom of God and the power of the Spirit – i.e. Charles Finney, in the 19th century, would walk into factories and people would fall on their knees and turn to Jesus (after which, they would probably join the abolitionist movement).

I find a compelling argument in his definitions, but certainly they are open to interpretation. What do you think?

Thanks for commenting, by the way. I appreciate the question.