Wednesday, January 30, 2002
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Wednesday, January 30, 2002 |
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What will it take for true spiritual revival? By REV JOHN HATCHER George Barna, specialist on church polling and growth, has concluded a survey of religious fervor three months after Sept. 11. It appears that attendance, which nationwide increased by perhaps 25 percent immediately after the 9/11 attack, is back at normal levels. Many in the faith community were praying and hoping that 9/11 would be the catalyst for revival in America. Why, after 9/11, we saw spontaneous prayer meetings on the streets of New York City where previously the police wouldn't permit such activities. We saw mighty U.S. Senators and Representatives huddled in prayer. Where are we now? Church attendance down to levels before 9/11. Senators and Representatives in political huddles to block the President's programs and nominees. The faith factor has fizzled. I've said in this column not too many weeks ago that until tragedy and trauma touch every home in America, we will be un-disturbed. We are an isolated, self-absorbed people. Until it touches me and my four, it could have as well as happened in Timbuktu. Then, how on earth do we experience a new wave of spirituality in America? How can we have revival? Since great evangelism and great loss can't generate a revival, what will? Revival with its attendant new spirituality will only come when God's people and that means the church houses across America, humble themselves, pray, seek God's face, and turn from their wicked ways (2 Chronicles 7:14). Humbling, praying, seeking the face of God, and turning from wicked ways can all take place without a single terrorist attack, without a single student being shot down on a school campus, and without tragedy touching your family. God's people seem to be more resistant to revival than the devil's gang. Seriously. The Gospel, with its appeal to repentance and faith, gets a better hearing in the gang-infested, drug-infested neighborhoods of East Los Angeles than it does in the proper worship services in Fayette County. The unbent knee fortifies revival resistance. To expect some Christians in Fayette and Clayton Counties and I am sure even further to kneel and pray, confessing sins, would be much like asking a man to slap his mother. That much resistance. Rest assured the word has already been spoken: that one day, every knee will bow and every tongue will confess Jesus Christ as Lord. But to get Christians to do it now, why, what would others think: that I had become a Holy Roller. God forbid!
The Rev. Dr. John Hatcher is pastor of River's Edge Community Church in Fayetteville.
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