t is wonderful when God, by His Spirit, touches a church that has been dry and lukewarm and it leaps to spiritual life. Worship is energized, and there is an air of faith and expectancy; Gifts of the Holy Spirit operate; pews are filled; believers repent and their lifestyles change. But there is another sign that is necessary to validate any move of God. Turning unbelievers into believers is what revival is all about.

How should this happen? Should we await a dynamic move of God that is great when it happens, but that is not the Biblical norm? There is nothing more valuable than a human soul. Jesus called people personally to ‘Follow me’. It doesn’t take a professional minister to evangelize. In fact, most lay people can be more effective at evangelism than their pastors. Unbelievers are more likely to listen to them as we pray. Don’t ignore what we can do now. Some revivals begin years before they are noticed when some faithful Christian, little known of, leads a person to Christ, who later is used by God to spark off a revival. Such was the case of Sunday School teacher, Edward Kimball, who stopped by at a shoe shop in Boston and led a young clerk to the Lord. We know little of Kimball; few even recognize His name. But Church history abounds with information about the young man, D L Moody, one of the greatest evangelists in the North American continent and beyond. When revival comes it may seem sudden but it really brings to fruition seeds that have been planted, watered and cultivated years before. In a shop on the site where Moody’s shoe shop once stood there is a plaque which reads, ‘D L Moody was converted here in 1855’. It could well have said ‘In a shop on this site Edward Kimball started a revival.’ Not many can be another Moody but most of us can be another Kimball.

Closer to home, many will have heard of the Welsh revival, led by Evan Roberts. Scripture teaches us that ‘Where there is no vision the people perish.’ Evan Roberts had no such lack of vision. Born in poverty, Roberts worked from the age of 12 in the coal mines of Wales. At the age of 11 he had a passion for revival, a passion that was quietly cultivated in prayer until as an adult he became known as the revivalist who brought an entire nation to its knees. The revival started one hundred years ago last year, when Roberts went to hear the evangelist Seth Joshua. Joshua called people to the altar including Evan Roberts and prayed (Lord bend us). Roberts cried out, “Lord, bend me”, and the revival had begun. That same year, 1904, a Baptist pastor from America visited Wales and saw what was happening. In Azua Street, Los Angeles they had been reading the Acts of the Apostles and praying for the same experience. The Holy Spirit came and revival fire was burning in both sides of the Atlantic.

Key to revival is repentance and humility. Revival is the overflow and out flow of the Holy Spirit. God is pouring out His Spirit around the world. That which was prophesied in Joel 2:28 is coming to pass before our eyes. The Lord will pour out His spirit on all flesh. A new day is dawning for West church, a Church of the Word and the Spirit, of worship and praise, and the Lord will add to the fellowship those who come to faith.

Bill Foster

The author

Bill Foster was a pastor in America (for Assemblies of God) for many years before returning to Northern Ireland and joining West Church. He has a passionate interest in the Bible's prophecies about Israel and the end times and is often invited to speak at various events at West Church.

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