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What Is Revival?
Revival is a term commonly used within the Christian Church to describe an infusion of spiritual life into those who believe. They are brought closer to God in their experience and their lifestyle, and they witness the faith to the world more powerfully. Revival also includes the awakening to spiritual things of those who don't believe. The contact between enlivened believers and awakened unbelievers leads to many conversions and substantial growth within the church.
Although the word revival does not appear in the New Testament, the phenomena is present in the Acts of the Apostles and called an "outpouring of the Holy Spirit" (Acts 2:17-18). It is believed that Jonathan Edwards was the first person to popularise the word "revival" when he described an outpouring of the Spirit in Northampton Massachusetts as a "revival of religion" (Edwards, 1965 [1736], p.17). The word is used slightly differently by some other authors. |
| Barvas Parish church on the Isle of Lewis, Outer Hebrides, Scotland. It was here that Duncan Campbell started his mission in 1949, at the beginning of the Hebridean revival. Duncan Campbell described revival as "a community saturated with God" |
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It is believed by many Christians that the growth of the church occurs primarily through such outpourings of the Spirit which happen with different intensities. Thus, although the Christian church grows using human means, preaching, witnessing, word of mouth contact, etc. the conversion only occurs as a result of Holy Spirit's work. The sets apart the growth of the Christian church as a different phenomena from that of any other organisation. Church growth when it involves true believers, is a supernatural phenomena.
Revival Resources
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