I marvel at the plan of God. God’s plan for His church to experience is revival glorious. I know some don’t appreciate the term revival because they feel that it’s only relevant when they are dead (which, yes the term revive does mean to bring something back). However, I think if we look at the outpouring of the Holy Spirit in the early church and what is possible in church history then we might need to admit that we actually need to be revived.

calvin klein one perfume box — Photo by Hello Revival on Unsplash

As I wrote recently, when my wife Grace and I attended an event called the Finding, we experienced the power of God in a way that has changed our lives and ministry significantly. What was so powerful for me that night was not only the way the power of God jolted my body and made my hands shake uncontrollably, marking me with his power, but what was taught.

Randy Clark started his message out on that Friday night saying that He was going to preach on impartation. He started but half way through (before returning eventually to his stated topic) his message took a hard turn and started to focus on the only way to sustain revival which was all about making disciples and building community through small groups or home groups.

I don’t know if anyone else noticed or cared that he veered off his stated topic. Even though he (and I) believe in the power of God, the power of God and impartation of the Holy Spirit are not enough to sustain what God wants to do in revival. The perfectly curated guest experience at church and even powerful worship gatherings are not enough. We need to marry the power of God with the Word of God in revival. We need to learn to gather around His presence as well as scatter into community and living the life of love and devotion that we talk about.

As Randy taught on revival that night I will not forget, he reminded us of the example of John Wesley and the church in the global south that adopted this marriage of power with practice. God was confirming our path with an exclamation mark that night! The church is not only an institution it is to be a movement that cannot be contained to a building or a gathering. Oh, we need more power, more mass repentance, more glory in our meetings, but we need to adopt a life that accompanies the encounters with God that we experience.

When the first church was born on the day of Pentecost and had experienced the power of the Holy Spirit the DNA of their first way of life together is found here:

“And they continued steadfastly in the apostles’ doctrine and fellowship, in the breaking of bread, and in prayers. Then fear came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were done through the apostles. Now all who believed were together, and had all things in common, and sold their possessions and goods, and divided them among all, as anyone had need. So continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, they ate their food with gladness and simplicity of heart, praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to the church daily those who were being saved.”
‭‭Acts‬ ‭2:42-47‬ ‭NKJV‬‬

I see 8 elements that are present in this passage:

Apostles doctrine: they started developing the Kerygma (gospel proclamation) and the didache (the teaching). This would take shape as what Christians should believe and how they should live.
Fellowship: they had community and built family together. They met in homes and core to the church was healthy relationships in marriage, family, business, community and friendship.
Communion: central to their fellowship was their taking communion together around a meal. They had a high Christology where Christ and the gospel were proclaimed at every meal through the receiving of His body and blood.
Prayer: they were a spiritually powerful people who cried out to God. They were hungry for God and prioritized their lives around the Lord Jesus.
Power: they saw healing and miracles, signs and wonders regularly through the apostles.
Radical Generosity: they lived with joyful simplicity and gave sacrificially for the sake of taking care of one another.
Daily Gathering and Scattering: They met all together in large gatherings and they scattered house to house in little Jesus communities (small groups or house churches).
Multiplication of the Harvest: The Lord game them favor with the people and this way of life with the power of God and their strong community caused people to be added daily to the church.

To sustain a move of God, we need to continue to cultivate prayer in our churches, a strong sense of God’s presence through ministering to the Lord in worship and also to couple that with a strong development of discipleship through community. Revival God’s way encompasses God’s movement of relationship towards us in His presence and power as well as our movement towards one another. We need both/and not either/or.

From my observation and participation in the American church, to see this happen we need to move from…

Observation to participation.
Consumership to discipleship.
Curiosity to desperation.
Natural to supernatural.
Celebrity to Christ.

May we learn from history and from the example of our Lord’s first apostles who through the Holy Spirit started something that has lasted and spread across the world despite war, oppression and great loss. May we move to be all-in for revival. This is why we are starting leadership development at my home church Sonrise Christian Center to train leaders in the way of Christ and the apostles, the way that sustains revival. May our churches embrace the ancient paths that cause the glorious work of the church to advance in our generation and bring glory to our great God and Savior Jesus Christ.

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Revival God’s Way