Urgent Appeal

The Gathering

A Nationwide Call

Introduction

Seasons of God

Definitions of Revival

An Apologetic for Revival

Clarifications

Cautions

Hope of Revival

Questions and Answers

Gospel of Jesus Christ

Declaration of Intent

This response means reconstituting our daily walk both with Christ and with fellow Christian leaders so that everything we do is compatible with our hope of renewal. It means getting back to the cross, getting clean before Christ, being broken before God, repenting of everything that entangles us. As leaders, whatever we sense God needs to do to salvage our churches and ministries, we must be willing for Him to do within our own lives first . . . no matter what the cost. We must"consecrate ourselves" (Joshua 3:5). Consensus and collaboration for corporate revival will come no other way.

Fundamentally, this means recommitting ourselves not simply to do more but to seek more. As we look out over the wasteland of our culture and of the American church today, we might be tempted to ask, "Do we have a prayer?" The answer, in one sense, is: "Yes. In fact, all we have is a prayer!" In other words, prayer is the most strategic response any of us can give to our needs for an extraordinary move of God in corporate revival. As Isaiah puts it: "All of you who call on the name of the Lord, take no rest and give God no rest until . . ." (Isaiah 62:6-7). Yet, our prayers must not stand alone.

The breadth of our response to this vision, particularly on a corporate level, might best be expressed a number of ways (including prayer). These are not sequential steps. Rather, they are dimensions of ongoing preparations (and even collaborations) for corporate revival:

PERCEIVE— The first phase of every spiritual awakening comes as God's Spirit awakens believers to acknowledge not only that revival is urgently needed but that the promise of revival is for them. Subsequently, such Heaven-given perception quickens the rest of our obedience.

PRIORITIZE— Next, we must be willing to say: "A primary hope for my generation is revival in the church. Therefore, out of my commitment to the preeminence of Christ, I will give revival high priority. With a sense of urgency I will pray and labor to that end, in every facet of my role as a Christian leader."

PURIFY— In our own lives, as well as those we lead, repentance must have precedence. Everything that grieves the Holy Spirit--every sin, activity, or relationship that is incompatible with revival; every hindrance or obstacle to revival--must be confessed to God and put away. Holiness should become a shared passion. As long as we fail to repent of that which quenches, resists, or disobeys the Spirit, revival—which is preeminently an extraordinary work of the Spirit—will not be receivable. Repentance has always been a hallmark of a generation that experiences a corporate Christ-awakening. Corporate repentance, therefore, remains an evidence of a church moving toward godliness, preparing together for revival.

PRAY— The time has come for spiritual leaders to fully embrace the unprecedented prayer movement raised up by God already in many churches and communities across our nation--to strengthen it and become much more active leaders in it. The "Nationwide Call to Prayer to the Church in America" (see Preface) goes on to recommend a four-fold National Prayer Accord that encourages unified revival praying on daily, weekly, quarterly, and annual bases.

PROCLAIM— Since "faith comes by hearing," any biblical revival must be a Word-anchored revival. Therefore, as leaders, we must become "messengers of hope" to the Body of Christ. We must promote the biblical promises for corporate revival (of which there are hundreds of passages); give reports of what God has done in the past and is doing today in revival around the world; and help God's people envision what a revival in our generation might look like, both inside and outside the church. This message must be a predominant theme wherever and however we minister the Word of God.

PREPARE— Though biblical revival is preeminently a corporate experience, individually each one of us must be willing and ready to become the starting point for a fresh work of God in His church. Personally and collectively, we need to live out a discipleship that is anticipatory. We should "act as if" we expect God to grant us this work of His Spirit. Our obedience to a significant degree should equip and prepare us for greater manifestations of Christ in the future. This outlook will impact our discipleship programs, our worship, our social endeavors, and our labors toward theological precision, as well as ministry partnerships among spiritual leaders.

PARTNER— We have now come full circle in a document that appeals for "consensus and collaboration." The hope of impending revival requires a new era of spiritual leadership--whether among local pastors, leaders of prayer movements, urban missionaries, denominational leaders, or others. The primary initiative, of course, should come from leaders of local churches in a given community. But there also needs to be--and increasingly are--national networks and coalitions holding forth this high priority, sharing their consensus across traditions, generations, and ethnicities. Currently, such coalitions include Mission America, Christian Community Development Association, America's National Prayer Committee, National Association of Evangelicals, National Revival Network, Denominational Prayer Leaders Network, National Pastors Prayer Initiative, National Network of Youth Ministries, National Association of Local Church Prayer Leaders, National Religious Broadcasters, and others.

In Conclusion:

In the end, all the above responses represent different ways to heed Christ's revival call to the church in Laodicea (Revelation 3:20-21). Basically, the Spirit said to them: "Open wide the doors to Christ." As Christian leaders we must earnestly heed this call in our day.

Open wide! To Christ! Together! Freely! In hope! Let's get ready for His manifest presence. Let's welcome God's gracious gift of a fresh Christ-awakening for our generation.

To that end, let us continue, under Christ, to pursue consensus and collaboration. It will take nothing less to bring the church to the threshold of personal, local, regional, and even national revival. And such joint action must be sustained in order to shepherd the church during the seasons of corporate revival that, by God's grace, surely are not far off.*