This introduction to revival and his personal testimony, from atheist to revivalist, is an excerpt from Ian Hall’s book, Times of Renewal: A History and Theology of Revival and Spiritual Awakenings (Encourage Publishing, 2024).

Revival is a major topic of interest in the Christian world today. Newspaper and magazine articles, both religious and secular, sporadically feature reports from every inhabited continent bringing news of a revitalization of the spiritual life of the church. For some three years in the mid-nineties, an obscure Toronto Charismatic Church became the surprising venue for hundreds of thousands of visitors from virtually every country around the world, because Revival, or at least “a refreshing”, was reported to be occurring there. As interest waned a northwest Florida Pentecostal Church claimed the spotlight for some two years. Then in 2008 a central Florida church briefly seized the Christian world’s attention. Most recently in February 2023, has come the news of a fresh awakening at several Christian Colleges and Universities in the USA and in other countries. In 1996 the American Assemblies of God renamed its “Signs and Wonders” Conference in Springfield, Missouri, “Revival Now”. What does it all mean?

The Significance of Revival. For some, Revival is an arcane topic of interest only to religious zealots longing for the good old days of the Nineteenth Century. When our world is about to self-destruct in sociological and economic chaos, the study of Revival seems as helpful as meditating during an earthquake would be. Nevertheless, from very different theological perspectives William G. McLoughlin (1922–1992) and Timothy L. Smith (1924–1997) rooted historical revitalizations of society in religious revivals.¹

The Definition of Revival. In North America in particular, revival is used in two different ways. Webster’s Dictionary defines revival as “an awakening, in a church or community, of interest in and care for matters relating to personal religion; (and) a service or a series of services for the purpose of effecting a religious awakening.”⁴ We may therefore speak of a revival in the older and more widely used sense of a spiritual awakening affecting a whole community. We may also speak of a revival in the peculiarly American sense of a type of evangelistic crusade that is intended hopefully to revitalize the believers and to awaken the surrounding community.

This American usage of revival is usually traced back to the teaching of Charles G. Finney (1792–1875), the renowned nineteenth century revivalist. He asserted that:

“A revival is the result of the right use of the appropriate means. The means which God has enjoined for the production of a revival, doubtless have a natural tendency to produce a revival. … A revival is as naturally a result of the appropriate means as a crop is of the use of its appropriate means.”⁵

By linking revival to “the right use of the appropriate means” Finney taught that revival is the result of something that we do. He did, however, acknowledge that, of themselves “means will not produce a revival, we all know, without the blessing of God.”⁶ Nevertheless amongst his followers, revival came to be used for the means themselves, not solely for the intended result of those means.

If these variant usages are not clearly distinguished, we may encounter such confusing comments as: “We had a revival, but nobody was revived,” or, “We had a revival in our church, and, in the middle of it, God sent us a revival.” If our terms are not clear, our language confuses rather than communicates our meaning. Dr. J. Edwin Orr (1912–1987), the renowned revival scholar, told of passing a church in southern California that advertised: “Revival – every night except Monday.” At the same time a neighboring church was advertising: “Revival – every night except Friday.” Orr wondered why one could not have revival on a Monday and the other could not have revival on a Friday. Could the Lord be too busy to be present every night? Or, were the believers too busy with other things to be revived every night?

Although the term Revival may suggest a scheduled Revival Crusade to the American mind, our use is in the sense of a quickening or renewing by the Holy Spirit of the spiritual life of the believers, individually and as the Body of  Christ in a given community, which prompts a return to New Testament Christianity. Thus, Orr defined an Evangelical Awakening, his preferred term for an authentic revival, as:

“An Evangelical Awakening is a movement of the Holy Spirit bringing about a revival of New Testament Christianity in the Church of Christ and its related community. Such an awakening may change in a significant way an individual only; or it may affect a larger group of believers; or it may move a congregation, or the churches of a city or a district, or the whole body of believers throughout a country or a continent; or indeed the larger body of believers throughout the world.”⁷

Orr’s definition most precisely describes what has happened in the historical revivals of Christianity, and corresponds with my personal experience of the work of God.

A Personal Journey in Revival. I became a Christian believer through a life-transforming spiritual encounter with God in the city of Kingston-upon-Hull in England on Wednesday, November 27, 1957. A young man, David King, had been witnessing to me, a young atheist, about his Christian faith. In an attempt to demonstrate the falsity of his belief in the existence of God, I agreed to pray a simple prayer: “God, be merciful to me a sinner.”⁸ Although at first nothing happened, which is precisely what I expected, on the third time of repeating that prayer I suddenly became conscious of an unseen presence, whose overwhelming holiness exposed the sinfulness of my heart. The intensity of that experience humbled me in repentance and awakened me to the reality of God.

Shortly afterwards David recommended to me a book by a Scots revivalist, Duncan Campbell (1898–1972),⁹ which gave me a clearer perspective on my own experience, and also aroused in me a lifelong interest in Revival. In the summer of 1959, I read in a Christian paper an advertisement for a preaching convention in the nearby city of Sheffield, at which the main speaker would be the same Duncan Campbell. Although the convention was only a week away, I resolved to go and the pastor of the host church offered to accommodate me in his home. To my delight I discovered that Campbell was also staying in the same home. To sit across the kitchen table from this venerable Man of God after church each night until the early hours of the morning and to hear him describe the revivals in the Hebrides Islands in 1949 and 1957 was like heaven to me.

Although I entered the Christian ministry the next year with the full expectation that God would surely send another revival, it was not until August 4, 1974, that that expectation was realized in my experience. For the previous five years I, together with my wife, Sheila, had been pastoring a struggling Elim Pentecostal Church in Ryde, Isle of Wight, with modest success. Unexpectedly in the morning service a very refined older lady in the congregation spontaneously began to sing in the Spirit. Quickly the singing spread until the whole congregation had joined in this “song without words.” That marked the beginning of a remarkable thirteen months of spiritual awakening, which by the time it ended, had transformed virtually every congregation on the island, resulting in, among others, the proliferating of interdenominational prayer groups in every parish on the island and the doubling of church attendance.¹⁰

News of what had occurred on the Isle of Wight began to spread and as a result Edwin Orr invited me to teach in the “Oxford Reading and Research Conference on Revival” at Regents Park College, Oxford in July, 1977, so beginning an association that lasted until Orr’s death almost ten years later. Orr’s encouragement prompted me to turn my interest in Revival into an intense study and careful analysis of the whole subject, resulting in a series of lectures delivered each year at North Central Bible College (now North Central University), Minneapolis, Minnesota, throughout the 1980s, and in many churches, conferences, seminars, and other Bible Colleges in the U.S.A. and Europe. This present volume on the History and Theology of Revival and Spiritual Awakenings is based upon those lectures, augmented by additional research and further experiences of Revival, which occurred during my pastoral ministry in the London borough of Ilford, and in my ministry as a missionary-evangelist in Germany and Romania.

Although I have tried to be as accurate and comprehensive as possible, so much new material has recently been brought to my attention by the many friends who have provided encouragement and advice that I am increasingly aware that “the half has not been told.” My appreciation for all who have contributed news and views on this topic cannot be adequately expressed, especially to my wife, Sheila, and to our son, Jonathan. All errors and omissions are solely my own.

As the church enters its third millennium, there is apparent not only an increasing sense of apprehension and anticipation, but also a great hunger for personal and corporate revival in the Body of Christ worldwide. I pray that this volume in some small way will help inspire faith and expectancy for a fresh outpouring of the Holy Spirit in our day.

PR

This is an excerpt from Ian Hall, Times of Renewal: A History and Theology of Revival and Spiritual Awakenings (Encourage Publishing, 2024). Used with permission.

PneumaReview.com interview with Dr. Ian Hall about Times of Renewal

For the Table of Contents from Ian Hall, Times of Renewal, see this link.

Notes

1 W.G. McLoughlin: Revivals, Awakenings, and Reform: An Essay on Religion and Social Change in America, 1607 – 1977 (Chicago, IL: University of Chicago, 1978); T.L. Smith: Revivalism and Social Reform in Mid-Nineteenth Century America (New York, NY: Harper, 1957).

2 Matthew 28:19, 20; Mark 16:15.

3 K.S. Latourette: A History of the Expansion of Christianity (Exeter, U.K.: Paternoster, 1971 edn.) 7 volumes.

4 New Webster’s Dictionary of the English Language (New York, NY: Delair Publishing, 1981), 822.

5 C.G. Finney: Revivals of Religion (London, U.K.: Morgan and Scott, 1913, second edition), 5 (emphasis original).

6 Ibid.

7 J.E. Orr: The Eager Feet: Evangelical Awakenings, 1790 – 1830 (Chicago, IL: Moody, 1975), vii.

8 Luke 18:13.

9 D. Campbell: The Price and Power of Revival (London, UK: Parry Jackman, 1957).

10 Minutes of the Ryde Ministerial Fraternal, July 17, 1975.

Table of Contents

Introduction The Dynamics of Revival

Chapter 1 Understanding Revival

Chapter 2 Biblical Revivals – Old Testament

Chapter 3 Biblical Revivals – New Testament

Chapter 4 Historical Revivals – Early Church

Chapter 5 Historical Revivals – Imperial Church

Chapter 6 Historical Revivals – The Late Imperial Church

Chapter 7 Historical Revivals – Early Medieval Period

Chapter 8 Historical Revivals – Medieval Period

Chapter 9 Historical Revivals – The Renaissance Period

Chapter 10 Evangelical Awakenings – The Reformation Period

Chapter 11 Evangelical Awakenings – Puritan Awakenings

Chapter 12 Evangelical Awakenings – The Great Awakening

Chapter 13 Evangelical Awakenings – The Second Great Awakening

Chapter 14 Evangelical Awakenings – Adventist Awakenings

Chapter 15 Evangelical Awakenings – Mid 19th Century Awakening

Chapter 16 Evangelical Awakenings – The Gospel Mission Awakening

Chapter 17 Evangelical Awakenings – Early 20th Century

Chapter 18 Evangelical Awakenings – Post World War II

Chapter 19 Evangelical Awakenings – Charismatic Renewal

Chapter 20 Evangelical Awakenings – Late 20th and Early 21st Century Stirrings

Chapter 21 Theology of Revival

Conclusion Prospects of Revival

Bibliography

This is an excerpt from Ian Hall, Times of Renewal: A History and Theology of Revival and Spiritual Awakenings (Encourage Publishing, 2024). Used with permission.

Read the PneumaReview.com interview with Dr. Ian Hall about Times of Renewal

An excerpt from Michael L. Brown’s latest book: Seize the Moment: How to Fuel the Fires of Revival.

Revival is God’s work. It comes from the heavenly throne, not from human effort, and it comes with intensity. That is the very essence of revival: it is sovereign (in that we cannot schedule it or make it happen), and it is intense (in that it comes with force and power in order to bring about radical change). Just as the fire alarm is meant to wake people up and stir them to action, revival is meant to awaken sleeping believers, to alert the lost to their condition, and to fill the hungry and thirsty in dramatic and lasting ways.

If it’s not intense, it’s not revival. If it’s not overwhelming at times, it’s not a real outpouring. And if it doesn’t test your faith in God and your trust in the Spirit’s leadership, it’s not a real visitation.

This is not spiritual rocket science. It’s Revival 101. But this is where we often fail, wanting to conform the revival to our sensibilities, wanting to avoid the reproach of the unusual, wanting to avoid the fear of the unknown, wanting to keep things under our own control.

So, mark this down and never forget it: the moment you try to tame the revival, you end the revival. The moment you decide to quench the Spirit, the fire will go out. It may not happen at that very instant, but soon enough, there will be no doubt at all. You have put out the flames, and you cannot start them again. You have tried to take control and harness the Spirit. You have ended the move of God in your midst. We must be very careful here!

This chapter, “Never Try to Control the Spirit’s Work,” is an excerpt from Michael L. Brown, Seize the Moment: How to Fuel the Fires of Revival (Charisma House, 2024).

If you want an outpouring that you can turn on and turn off, then you don’t want a real outpouring. If you want a visitation that fits conveniently in your schedule, then you don’t want a real visitation. If you want a lovely home-and-garden type of revival, then you really don’t want revival at all.

Elsewhere in this book, I talk about the dangers of overwork (chapter 18) and about the importance of being conscious of the condition of your flock (chapter 17). I also warn about the dangers of getting caught up in weird doctrines and practices (chapter 7). It is important to find a sustainable pace if you’re experiencing a multimonth (or, even more, multiyear) revival. It is important to be wise stewards of the revival and to shepherd the move of God (see chapter 11). Demonic activity should not be tolerated. Fleshly responses should be gently corrected. Spiritual oversight is needed.

But all that is very different from trying to control or harness the Spirit. All that is very different from quenching the holy fires. Instead, we must wholeheartedly embrace what God is doing, no matter how challenging that may be (see chapter 19). We must fall on our faces and say, “Let God be God!” We must submit our programs and plans to the Lord’s programs and plans, in many cases scrapping our own entirely. More than ever, we must say, “Your will be done!”

Again, like everything else in this book, this is easier said than done, more easily theorized than realized. It’s like looking at an obstacle course thinking, “I can do this easily,” only to fall into the water after the very first hurdle. There’s a reason others fell into the water too.

Most of us who love the Holy Spirit would say, “Of course I would embrace everything He does.” But when He comes with suddenness (at the wrong time, in fact!), when He comes with intensity (this is a bit much!), and when He comes for a while (we’re ready to go home now!), that’s when the rubber meets the road. It’s one thing to pray and fast for revival. It’s another thing to welcome revival when it comes.

John Kilpatrick would be the first to tell you that he was somewhat of a control freak before the revival came. And although his church was technically Pentecostal, belonging to the Assemblies of God, he said you would not have known that if not for the sign in front of the building. Everything was under control.

But when revival came suddenly on Father’s Day 1995, Pastor Kilpatrick welcomed it, publicly and openly. He recognized that a holy river had swept into the building (he literally felt it and heard it), and he announced to his people, right there on Sunday morning, not in a back room at a midnight prayer service, “This is it. Revival’s here. Get in!”

This was a total shock to the congregation since he had never done anything like that before. He was always at the helm in total control. Yet now, he was flattened by the Spirit, lying there motionless, and this further sparked the faith of his people. They knew it was real!

Reflecting on what had happened, a perceptive leader said to me, “Pastor Kilpatrick’s desire for the glory of God overrode his desire to be in control.”

Exactly! It was more important to Pastor Kilpatrick to let God move and to experience the Spirit than to exert his fleshly control over what was happening, even if it took him out of his comfort zone. (Note this, too: If you’re not willing to be taken out of your comfort zone, don’t even bother praying for revival. Pray for yourself first!)

To be sure, in the years that followed, Pastor Kilpatrick became an excellent steward of revival and of his congregation. But, to repeat, we always knew that when God broke out in power and in unusual ways, he would get out of the way, as would Steve Hill, Lindell Cooley, and any others among us who were helping to lead.

In fact, some nights, right in the midst of joyful celebration, Lindell, the worship leader, would make a sudden turn, dramatically changing the direction of the meeting. Under normal circumstances, you would think to yourself, “That guy just quenched the Spirit!” But we knew Lindell too well. Instead, he was riding the wave of the Spirit, sensing the Lord had other plans. I remember we would turn to each other and say, “Let’s see where this goes.” And suddenly, the Lord would break out powerfully, with glorious, lasting results. To say it again, let God be God!

It is absolutely true that “the spirits of the prophets are subject to the prophets” (1 Cor. 14:32, NKJV), meaning you can decide to wait to deliver a prophetic message you have received, allowing someone else to speak first. It’s also true that everything must “be done decently and in order” (1 Cor. 14:26–33, 40, NKJV), meaning that when we gather together (say, in a house meeting), one person speaks in tongues, another interprets, another leads in a song, another prophesies.

But when the Spirit took over and changed our order, we went with the Spirit. When the Spirit’s plans were different from our own, we went with the Spirit—even if that meant skipping the offering that night (which was needed to pay the weekly bills) or shortening the message or eliminating planned testimonies or keeping us on our faces for protracted periods of time. All of us knew, to the core of our being, that revival was a sovereign work of the Spirit. In the holy fear of God, we knew that we could not get in the Spirit’s way.

PR

This chapter, “Never Try to Control the Spirit’s Work,” is an excerpt from Michael L. Brown, Seize the Moment: How to Fuel the Fires of Revival (Charisma House, 2024).