Whether or not the pandemic was the catalyst for what seems
to be an increasingly likely ‘quiet revival’ remains a moot point.
2021 (From my diary)
‘Is there a revival now?
It’s supposed to be defined in history as having common elements - people becoming believers, even the occasional miracle. Crime decreasing etc... What has happened before can happen again (for good as well as bad). Many believers seem to hope for a worldwide revival - but that has never happened before. It isn't impossible, I suppose. But all of the many books written about revival are lacking, because not a single person knows how to actually start one. Usually revivals start with the preachers, the Christian leaders. Just a few of them. Some say that before any genuine revival, things get really bad. The consensus is that prayer is hugely important. Then everyone has to decide whether they will help or hinder it.
If this, now, is a revival, I'm thinking we have been hugely
fobbed off. But it is in God's gift and timing. How can people repent without a
revival? And how is there a revival without people repenting? It is Catch 22.
It is entirely in God's hands. The only thing we can do is cry out to him. To
soften our hard hearts.’
Notably, if a revival happens, afterwards, many of the leaders are then neglected, after being used. Like Oskar Schindler was after saving many people. Evan Roberts, a significant leader of the Welsh revival also received the same treatment; despite everything he did. He was left to stew (or perhaps marinate) in his old age.
Similarly, when a revival happens there is almost always
opposition from both outside and inside the church. In Birmingham, The Church
of England drowned out the preaching of the Wesleys on the streets with church
bells. That is illustrative of the entire antagonism which is ongoing towards
any kind of awakening, even within the Church.
But the benefits of a revival are true enough. Historically it’s said that the entire atmosphere changes. There are huge numbers of people who begin to support charities and causes which have not received help or support before. In that sense it is the cause of causes - if a revival happens then more people support existing causes. It is said that people become more loving. There is not usually a push for governmental power. It isn't about that kind of power. It’s the power of God. Domestic violence, violent crime, drug use, all of these things historically decrease in revivals (before Government takes credit for that). There’s a positive aspect because people are said to be more conscientious and more loving. But the crime rates are not currently decreasing according to the stats. The pandemic didn’t result in a worldwide revival.
The worst of all worlds.
The only thing that can reach us after all this time is
God’s love. It’s a cliché but true love never goes out of fashion. In an AI age
where so many of us who are (slightly) older can feel left behind, let that be
a comfort.
Revivalists do have a vision. It is not quite the same as the vision of the politicians, which tends to be about maintaining the status quo. The vision of revivalists is that this country will act as a resource to other countries and that the people within it will thrive rather than simply survive. And that the people within this country will live life to the full and prepare things for the future. That there would be hope for all of us and for the children.
The trouble is that opponents of awakenings often take their stances because of miscommunication and misunderstanding. But also, sometimes out of spite and fears of resulting losses in trade and employment.
At the start of Autumn in 2021 I saw the small-town street preachers again. They hadn’t changed. They prayed in the middle of the street. They carried boards reading ‘Thou shalt not commit adultery’ and ‘Babies are murdered here’. Whenever anyone approached them, people were sent away shaking their heads. The last I heard from them was when they were packing up and the particularly nasty street preacher said ‘Get away from us.’ They hadn’t changed at all. I did not confront them this time, I just witnessed.
August 15th August 2022. (Diary. Heaven knows what day of lockdown.)
‘Still no sign of the promised revival. Not that God had
made the promise, but you would think that hundreds of thousands of believers
in the UK praying for the same thing might persuade him a little. ‘Ask and you
shall receive’ and all that.’
I spoke with my ex-parish vicar, Richard, on what he thought about revival.
“What do you mean,” he asked back, “about historical revival or revival now?”
“Either.” I replied.
He went on to talk about some of the historic revivals in the past.
“So, it could happen again?”
He seemed to agree and talked about how he believed that any modern-day revival would be different to the revivals of the past. I asked him if the Church of England was prepared for such an event. He skirted around the issue, but didn’t say ‘no’.
He spoke about how many Christians were already active in
areas such as climate change.
And then I asked: “Do you think there is a way of uniting liberal and conservative Christians?”
“Yes,” he replied. “Because there is common ground between the two.”
“Like the creed?”
“Yes.”
Up and down the country there are an array of perspectives among Christian leaders, even within denominations. But it was refreshing to hear from one who seemed reasonably open minded to the possibility, even if it could mean a lot more work for him.
But at this point in time, the divisions between liberal and
conservative Christians showed no sign of abating, even though we largely lost
the freedom to go to physical churches. If believers are united in the
communion service and affirming the creed (the common statement of faith shared
by all denominations) together, we still show no sign of that unity when it
comes to online communication. The UK church may have largely been learning
online skills because of the pandemic, but we were still as divided as ever.
And isolated. 'Close every door to me (and let’s have a flame war).'
Some even found the fringe issues more important than the core issues of the
creed and the command to love. This was not just about views on LGBT+ issues.
It encompassed views on climate change and even political preferences. Many
wanted to make these core issues. Shibboleths. But the fact was that within
both the Church of England and other denominations in Britain and worldwide,
these were only core issues insomuch that those with opinions on either side
wanted to make them core issues. I was to encounter a few believers who
wouldn’t even accept the creed. They said that this was an added document and
was extra-Biblical, but those with this view were very much in the minority.
Although the subject of revival, I had to admit, was also not in the creed. It
was an issue which an individual could have any kind of view on, even though it
encompassed the words of the Lord’s prayer – namely, ‘Your Kingdom come…’ There
was no mention of believing in revival in the Nicene or Apostles Creed. What
there was mention of was believing in God and believing that Jesus had been
crucified and resurrected, as the gospels relate. And in believing in invisible
things.
I simply had to accept the fact that the most adamant, vocal
opponents of revival, if they were Christian, could not be said to be
non-Christian, because the creed only hinted at the idea of revival. And the
same with the most conservative right-wing believers. But revival, by
necessity, is entirely concerned with the gospel. You couldn’t really have a
revival which didn’t focus on the basic gospel message of God being loving and
giving his only son for you and I and anyone else who believes. The only
condition being that of belief in Jesus according to the gospels. But maybe, I
too, was trying to make all this a core issue?
And how could I continue to make something so interesting, so incredibly boring
and religious, especially when there was effectively a plague?
The pandemic ended and we did get the worst of all worlds. One pandemic. A lot
of death. And no revival. Good news was hard to find. And partly because of the
mainstream media agenda setting. I remember asking one editor just how he knew
where to place a story in news emphasis. He replied: “You just get a feel for
it.” But maybe he should have said something like: “You just copy what all the
other broadcasters and newspapers are doing.”
That’s slightly disingenuous, but
not that far from the truth.
