How Do We Revitalize America?

HOW TO HEAD TOWARDS REVIVAL

I hear quite a lot of Christians talk about the need for revival in America today, but have you ever wondered what it would take for revival to come? Generally, revival is defined as the restoration of the church itself to a vital and fervent relationship with God, typically after a period of moral decline or disobedience. Sounds like what we need, right? But what does it take for revival to come? Well, this is certainly not an exhaustive list, but here are a few quick thoughts:

1. We have to believe we need it. This requires us to be awake and sober minded.
2. We need to believe that it’s possible. This requires some faith on our part. Some people don’t believe that anything can change.
3. We have to believe that God can do it. He is the source of revival, plain and simple. This requires trust on our part and obedience.
4. We have to commit to prayer, as prayer is the conduit by which revival will come, as seen in 2 Chronicles 7:14.
5. We must put ourselves in a position of obedience so that we can receive revival from God. This means that we must repent of our sin. You see, sin is the barrier to revival. When we talk about sin and repentance, we typically think about sins of commission, or the sins we commit. Perhaps one of our greatest sins in the United States church over the past 30 years has been the sin of omission with regard to the Great Commission. 

LOST IN AMERICA

Did you know, according to Barna’s research on “Spiritual Conversations in a Digital Age”, Millennials (65%) and Gen X (67%) are more likely than Boomers (60%) to agree sharing one’s faith is every Christian’s responsibility?

However, Barna found that only 1 in 4 Christians had 10 or more conversations about faith (27%) and that 3 out of 4 Christians had fewer than 10 spiritual conversations (74%) within a year. And this, my friends, does not show how many were able to share the Gospel, lead someone in placing their trust in Jesus, or discipling them in their new faith. But if we aren’t even starting conversations on spiritual things, how would we naturally start sharing the Gospel too?

Do you want the truth? We have ceased to obey Christ and go into the highways and the byways of life, sharing the Good News with a dying world. So if revival is going to come to the church in America, we need to repent of our sin of omission. We need to go to our friends, families, work associates, neighbors, and strangers that we meet, and share the Gospel of Jesus Christ unapologetically.

The main reason we don’t go is that we don’t know how.

HOW DO WE WITNESS?

This is why we, at EE, have been hosting Equip America events across the nation. It’s a one-day training event meant to be a kick-start to our churches, causing us to get into the harvest field and obey Christ! Before the event, we train and inspire a group of prayer warriors to intercede for the city. At the event, we spend time learning the Gospel, and then we go out and share it, in a friendly, fun way. And we see God work! Mostly, we prove that the church actually can share the Gospel today in a meaningful way.

And, I can tell you that the churches that have become involved so far testify that they feel revived—excited about joining God in His mission of taking the Gospel to this generation! If you want more information, or want to sign up for an Equip America yourself, visit equipamerica.org.

For further resources on how to pray for those around you, go to my previous blog post, “Praying for the Lost”.

Sources:
Spiritual Conversations in a Digital Age, Barna Research, 2018.