One week after this report came out, spiritual revival broke out at Asbury University in Wilmore, Kentucky.

The revival was characterized by young college students who stayed after a chapel for continued prayer and worship. It persisted in a spontaneous outbreak of confession, worship, and prayer that lasted for several weeks and drew in people from around the world.

Revival at Asbury University (Photo courtesy of OneWay Ministries)

Regular chapel schedules resumed at Asbury yesterday. However, other universities and churches across America are opening their doors as more people — particularly youth — seek the Lord through prayer, confession, and worship. There are even stories and online videos surfacing of worship gatherings in other countries inspired by the movement at Asbury.

Stan Key, Minister at Large for OneWay Ministries, describes America at a spiritual crossroads.

“Oh, my goodness, the world we live in. I think I’ve despaired for our nation. The nation that you’re going to grow up in, your generation, and particularly your children, it’s not going to be a pleasant place to be. So this gives me hope,” Key says. “Lord, can you revive our nation? Can you revive the Church?”

Many Christians have been greatly encouraged by testimonies of repentance and humility out of Asbury University and other related worship gatherings. But other believers are cautious to get excited about the so-called revival. Responses range from curious and questioning to skeptical and even outright critical.

Biblical discernment is important in all things, and especially in any movement that would claim the name of Jesus.

Key says this desire for biblical wisdom in the wake of the Asbury revival is important!

“In terms of discerning what is going on,…I don’t think we should just criticize all those who want to be cautious. I’m a skeptic at heart myself. I need some proof.”

(Photo courtesy of OneWay Ministries)

Was this emotional sensationalism? A bandwagon effect? Did lack of one centralized leader mean it was a spiritually-hyped free-for-all?

Many of the critics simply are curious to see what kind of lasting spiritual effect this revival could have on individual lives and American culture. “I think there’s two kinds of critiques of a move of the Spirit like this,” Key says. “One is the legitimate sort. ‘What is going on? And how should I respond?’…. Most of the critique is quite respectful. It’s like, ‘Well, we’ll see.’ Okay, that’s fair.”

However, Key cautions, “There is a critique in which I sense arrogance and condescension.’”

So what is the spiritual fruit that has come out of Asbury?

Key’s father-in-law, Dr. Dennis Kinlaw, was the president of Asbury College (now Asbury University) during the 1970 revival on campus.

As someone who is familiar with conversations surrounding faithful Christian revivals, Key says, “The word that, to me, always marks the authentic presence of the sanctifying Spirit is the word humility. Jesus began the Sermon on the Mount by saying, ‘Blessed are the poor in spirit, for they get the Kingdom.’”

Another litmus test is the five characteristics of a work of the Holy Spirit, as outlined by Jonathan Edwards in the First Great Awakening.

Key explains, “If it’s those marks that Jonathan Edwards said — if Jesus is exalted, sin is exposed, the Bible is lifted up, sound doctrine is preached, and it’s about love — where’s my can of gasoline? That’s about as good as it gets.

“If this is of God,…all I want to do is bring my can of gasoline and pour gas on what God is doing.”

(Photo courtesy of Jon Tyson via Unsplash)

More and more stories have come out of Asbury about students and young people repenting of sin, coming to the altar broken and crying out for Jesus, praying for one another and restoring relationships with one another.

Far from sensationalist reports, those who were there speak of peaceful worship and biblical conviction.

“I did hear the president of Asbury and his team in a prayer meeting with about 500 alumni last weekend,” Key says. “They were responding to questions. But he said something to the effect of they’ve had quite a number of Christian celebrities show up and…a number of them said, ‘If you like, I’ll address the crowd or I’ll be a part of this in some way.’ To a number of them, they’ve said no.”

Students and young people, travelers and townies were not there to see celebrities and political pundits.

This generation is open to — and even hungry for — spiritual truth. Truth that can only be found in Jesus Christ.

The Asbury revival may be over, at the official campus capacity level. But if the Holy Spirit has kindled a fire for the Kingdom of Heaven in the hearts of young people in America, may our prayers fan the flames.

May this be a generation that seeks the face of the Lord.

Header photo courtesy of Kelly Sikkema via Unsplash.

Sometimes it takes a crisis to awaken the Church to this Kingdom mindset. For Lebanon, that crisis was the Syrian war. Now, for most churches in Lebanon, living out their faith is less about keeping to themselves and more about serving and loving others.

(Photo courtesy of Wikimedia Commons)

There was a time before the Syrian refugee crisis when churches in Lebanon kept to themselves. President of Arab Baptist Theological Seminary (ABTS) Elie Haddad says, “One aspect is if we look at the sociological models ‘bounded-set’ versus the ‘centered-set’; our churches had always been a bounded-set.”

Haddad goes on to explain how a bounded-set community defines itself by the boundaries it draws. Bounded-set communities often have religious norms for outsiders to conform to before they can become a deeper part of the community. However, Haddad says the Syrian refugee crisis has shattered this paradigm in Lebanon.

“It’s interesting that the whole mission world has been praying for the 10/40 window for the longest time; that people will come to faith. That’s starting to happen. But we don’t like it because it doesn’t look like something that we’re familiar with, something comfortable to us. It’s shattering our paradigms [and] it’s changing things. It’s shaking our own communities,” says Haddad.

Kingdom Mindedness in Lebanon

The humanitarian crisis in Lebanon has pushed churches to lean into God and respond with open arms. Haddad says many churches are more centered-set because of it. Haddad defines centered-set as “a community that defines itself by the center — that Jesus [is] at the center. Our job is to draw people to the center no matter how close or far [away] they are.”

(Photo/caption courtesy of EU Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid Operations via Flickr)

Once this mindset takes root, personal ministry barriers are often dismantled and doors open, because the goal is not self, but to draw people to the one true hope — Jesus.

“The Kingdom mindset is now we want to invite people to have a relationship with God. [It] doesn’t matter if they come to my church or if they stay in their own church and be light within that church so that they help other people draw closer to God,” says Haddad.

Furthermore, a Kingdom mindset supports training and equipping people to go out and do ministry. Haddad says because of the refugee crisis, churches are reaching out to meet the physical and spiritual needs of strangers in their country. Through this selfless act of love, they introduce people to Jesus.

“I’m sure we have a long way to go as a Church in Lebanon. But having that Kingdom mindset in front of our churches is extremely important…. This is the mission of the mindset that we’ve been working on for a long time at ABTS as well. It’s not about how many chairs we fill in our building on Sunday morning. It’s how many people were released for ministry, and what are we doing to equip them to be released for ministry,” Haddad explains.

“The job of the Kingdom mind [and] missional mindset is to just release people for ministry.”

The genuine love which flows from a centered-set mindset is evident to refugees, immigrants, and newcomers. Haddad says these people recognize when others treat them as a project.

“Especially people coming from our own culture. If no one has come into their home, if they have not been invited to other people’s homes, then they don’t feel that they’re being cared for. So, it’s when these relationships take place and they grow…then I think that’s when they feel that, yes, we are living Christ among them. It’s not just a task…. It’s the person that’s important. It’s the relationship.”

A Shared Lesson

Churches beyond Lebanon also need to give their fears to God before they can impact their communities. Haddad says there is a lot Christians can learn from one another across the globe. Each community has different contexts, different histories, and different journeys to share.

“There was a time when Jesus came to our part of the world, but we had to hear the Gospel message from Western missionaries. I think now the role needs to be flipped a little bit,” says Haddad.

Haddad believes ministry in the West may be more difficult than in the Middle East because the mindset is different.

“Over there, the enemy is inside the Church and no one even notices — materialism, consumerism, and careerism, and [inappropriate forms of] patriotism and nationalism…. That’s much tougher to deal with,” says Haddad.

“How do you take comfortable people out of their comfort intentionally and put them out in the world? So yeah, you want revival? Pray for [a] crisis.”

Ask God to equip the Church in Lebanon for the ministry work before them. Pray for their encouragement and perseverance in the face of hardship.

Also, pray for the global Church to become more centered-set and for Jesus to use us to draw the hurting and marginalized to Him.

Learn more about ABTS’s work here.

Header photo courtesy of Ramy Kabalan via Unsplash.

A Definite Shift

Santoso, a speaker hosted by InterVarsity, is a Christian from Indonesia. Over the last two years he has seen a definite shift in Christian-Muslim dynamics in his country.

“Indonesia is like 250 million people, like Christians [are] 10-15% [and] so like 80% is Muslims. But Indonesia is different with Malaysia and the Brunei. So, Indonesia is not an Islamic State, not doing Islamic law, like the Sharia law. So we are very open, very democratic.

“But in the last two years, we are now seeing that Islam, it’s getting more radical and they try to make the politics combine with the religion. So they try to make their agenda. Like before they had [in] their agenda that in 2020 Indonesia [would be] becoming an Islamic country. But it’s not happening, but they are still trying and getting bigger now, the Islamic radicalization in Indonesia.”

Simple things, like the ability to say Merry Christmas, are becoming increasingly difficult. Fifteen years ago Santoso shares that saying “Merry Christmas” was common between Christians and Muslims. However, now many imams and other Islamic leaders in Indonesia discourage Muslims from acknowledging the holiday even in speech.

A Wake-Up Call

Santoso explains that while this is challenging, it isn’t all bad. “We are getting more difficult [responses when we try] to start a conversation because many people they think something, that we have a motive behind what we are doing. But the other thing is that it is good for the Christian. Because Christians in the last 10 years, we are so comfortable. Because of the things that happen, we are saying always, because of the persecution of Christianity we are more awake. So this is like the good things for the Christian because the Christians are more awake.”

(Photo courtesy of John Ragai on Flickr https://goo.gl/HVMTRr. Header photo courtesy of Prayitno on Flikr https://goo.gl/pJKgSD)

Like He has throughout time in many different circumstances, God may grow the Indonesian church through the persecution. However, that growth does not come without pain. Persecution can be devastating if the Christian is not solidly planted on the Word of God and His truth.

Bold and Outward-Focused

So, Santoso asks for prayers for boldness. He asks that people pray for Indonesians to be confident in their faith and bold in sharing, that they would build bridges and share with their neighbors about their hope in Christ.

“The second things is, please pray for all the majority of Christians because they are still in a comfortable position. They are just relaxing about their faith, just having a dream about themselves. [Pray that they would] start to thinking [about] others, not just thinking about themselves. Because many churches, many Christians in Indonesia are very self-centered, but because of these things we are praying that they are more outward focused.”

Pray for the Church in Indonesia as it comes under fire from radical Islamist groups. If you would like to learn about other ways to pray for Indonesian Christians, click here.

"We're one of many campus ministries on campus, but we want to have the ability to draw in any and all students."

They do that through special meetings, small groups, and more. Draper says for Christians, their goal is development. "That's going to take place in the form of prayer meetings, discipleship, leadership in our internship program, and finally we want to launch them to lead someplace else."

Draper says 200 have gone into full-time missions in the last 10 years. While this is tangible, it isn't always that way. "There are also students that we'll never know the impact that we had. Sometimes it's us sowing the seed."

Draper is asking you pray that the Holy Spirit will go before their staff, that they'll be fruitful, and that the university and the city of Augusta will be awakened.

InterVarsity Christian Fellowship evangelist York Moore says these are all misconceptions about what revival truly is. That's a problem when, Moore believes, the United States could be on the brink of real revival.

Understanding revival takes some study. Essentially, Moore says, "Throughout church history, there are these unique events that are just punctuated works of intense spiritual activity where God supernaturally infuses the church with a new sense of direction, and power, and energy, and that spills over into society."

Moore says revival is more than just mass amounts of people coming to faith, although that's often a result. "Revival, if it's of God, will move out into culture to revitalize and renew the institutions of society."

This appears to be in the works in university life.

Students are not only at the forefront for potential of what Moore calls the seven major institutions of society (law, commerce, sports and entertainment, government, medicine, family and academia), but this generation in particular seems ready for change.

Staff and students from within and outside of InterVarsity have begun praying for revival–a preliminary hallmark to nationwide revival in years past, Moore says.

"When people begin to pray for revival, when they begin to seek revival, when they become dissatisfied with where they are, those are all hallmark indicators both of historic as well as biblical revivals."

The interesting thing is: no one seems to be telling all these groups to pray for revival. They're all just burning for change independently.

"When we begin to see women and men praying for a greater work of God, when we begin to see them desiring a greater work of God, when we begin to see them seeking a greater work of God, those are indicators that God is at work in a unique and powerful way," explains Moore. "And what I'm seeing around the country are quite independent events that are mirroring each other."

The generation of college students that InterVarsity works with now has one more vital piece to what's been an historic piece to the revival puzzle: "a strong desire to change culture, to change society."

This "Justice Generation" doesn't just want to see lives changed — they want to change the world.

"They're not merely interested in their own world, they want to change the world. They want to do good in the world, and they want to become the good that they long to see in the world…. Because of that, the motivation to change the world also makes them extremely ripe for God to use as Kingdom vessels to move into culture and to begin to transform the world they're in."

With so many factors in place, coupled with the exponential growth that InterVarsity has seen in the number of committed relationships between students and Jesus Christ, Moore believes the U.S. could be in for a massive change. Start praying that God would radically shake up the church, and eventually society, with passionate college students leading the way.

Moore reminds us, "[Revival] is something that God longs to give us."

For more resources, listen to the full interview between York Moore and MNN's Elisa Talmage here. For even further study on revival and awakening, Moore suggests looking into the books Global Awakening by Mark Shaw, and Richard Lovelace's Dynamics of Spiritual Life.