Spiritual revolution within the travelling community

Tom Lennie reviews ‘Longing for Revival: From Holy Discontent to Breakthrough Faith’ by James Choung and Ryan Pfeiffer (2020)

Prayer for a new Church for a new season

As we remember Rees Howells, we toast the courage of Welsh Christians

Clifford Denton reviews ‘Scotland Ablaze’ by Tom Lennie (Christian Focus Publications, 2018).

A resident of Orkney, Tom Lennie has carefully researched and written much on the history of Christian revivals, especially those in his native Scotland.

This, the latest in his series of books relating to Scotland’s spiritual heritage, covers the 22 years from 1858 to 1879, a dramatic period in which virtually every region of the country experienced a spiritual awakening.

Ebbs and Flows of Revival

Lennie proceeds chronologically, charting the origins of the 1859-61 revival and its ‘after-waves’ that continued through the next two decades. He then looks in depth at the ministries of many revivalists, including well-known names such as Dwight Moody and Ira Sankey.

For many of us, it will be a surprise to discover the ebbs and flows of the revival that occurred in Scotland, although it is not widely known, especially compared with the simultaneous moves of God’s Spirit from 1859-61 in Wales and some parts of England, as well as in other parts of the world.

This book should be considered a foundational document for anyone seeking to understand God’s work in Scotland in the 19^th Century.

In 595 pages of meticulous detail, supported by an extensive bibliography, Lennie seems to have left nothing out. Indeed, this weighty volume should be considered a foundational document for anyone seeking to understand God’s work in Scotland in the 19^th Century.

Timely Contribution

The book is especially timely considering the way in which humanism has penetrated every area of national life in the UK, and Scotland in particular is contributing much to our political turmoil.

Anyone interested in past revivals will benefit from having this book on their shelf, as well as those calling our nation to repentance in these difficult days, when remembrance of God’s deliverance in the past is of great importance and encouragement for the future.

‘Scotland Ablaze: The twenty-year fire of revival that swept Scotland 1859-79’ (paperback) is available from Amazon for £14.99. Previous books in this series include ‘Glory in the Glen’ and ‘Land of Many Revivals’.

Dr Clifford Denton offers some thoughts.

These days there is much talk about hopes for revival, but the term has become ambiguous, ranging from expectation for spiritual manifestations in Christian congregations to an entire nation being called to repentance.

Ambiguity on this issue can make us vulnerable and even imprecise in our prayers. This is especially so when people do not exercise discernment: they can believe that any significant spiritual manifestation is an act of God, and fail to test whether false spirits are finding a doorway into assemblies and individual lives.

The word revival is used to describe what Ezra sought from God in the Babylonian captivity to bring order back to Israel, God’s covenant people, and to restore them (Ezra 9:8). This link to restoration is also found in Psalm 85, where the psalmist yearns for Judah to be brought back to order under the hand of God.

The word revival in ordinary English usage implies waking up, consciously returning to a right order. In this sense our prayers for revival in Britain today are rightly focussed on the waking up of the Christian community to their New Covenant relationships with God and one another, and on their greater empowering for ministry within the Church and out to the world.

‘Revival’ is a necessary help from God through His Holy Spirit, at times when our spiritual lights are dimming and when the world encroaches upon us, so that we might be that light to the world again.

A similar idea comes from Peter's exhortation in Solomon's Portico (Acts 3:11-26). He called his hearers to repentance and faith in the Lord Jesus, and to waiting as a community for the Lord Jesus' return: “Heaven must receive him until the time comes for God to restore everything, as he promised long ago through his holy prophets” (Acts 3:21). In this period of earthly perseverance Peter spoke of times of refreshing coming from the presence of the Lord (Acts 3:19). Undoubtedly Peter saw ahead to times when believers would need this spiritual refreshment to keep them alert and to be the continuing light to the world that Jesus expected, fulfilling the Great Commission.

Tying these things together we surely see that revival, as we choose to call it, is a necessary help from God through His Holy Spirit, at times when our spiritual lights are dimming and when the world encroaches upon us, so that we might be that light to the world again.

There have been times when such re-awakening at the hand of the Lord has spilled over into the nation, resulting in law changes, a multiplication of Church membership, a greater sense of the awe of God and a growth in the influence of the Christian community in the country at large. This was certainly the case at one time in Britain, and may yet be a possibility in the future. But revival is first an act of God among the assemblies of his covenant people, typified by repentance, new waves of prayer and study of the Bible. The exercising of spiritual gifts in the discipline of the Holy Spirit follows, but for service and not self-indulgence.

This week we also publish the first in a two-part critical review of ‘The Turning’, an outreach programme being rolled out across the country in the hopes of stimulating revival. Read it here.

The first of a two-part critical analysis of the growing British ‘revival’.

The Turning is an evangelistic campaign that was begun in Reading, UK in 2016 by the local Gate Church.

Following a prescribed method of street outreach imported from the States, a total of 1,850 people accepted the invitation to pray to accept Christ over a four-week period in the Berkshire town. It was seen as a miraculous response.

Based on these results, The Turning has become a national initiative, with churches and mission groups in over 230 towns and cities reportedly requesting to become involved.¹

The Turning has support from the World Prayer Centre and accompanying resources have been produced in conjunction with the Bible Society. The London Mission Collective is looking to roll out The Turning across the capital. In Scotland, The Turning website boasts the support of “national leaders of: The Baptist Union of Scotland, Assemblies of God, Apostolic Church, Destiny Church, Scottish Network Churches, [and the] Redeemed Christian Church of God”.²

There are a number of positive aspects to The Turning. It challenges believers to step beyond the safety of their cosy fellowships and reach out to a world that is spiritually dying. It is firing believers with enthusiasm to share with those who know nothing of Christ. And it inspires churches of differing streams to come together, working as a team.

However, while I totally applaud the heart-desire behind The Turning, I have concerns about its roots and methodology. Does it represent a true revival, a widespread ‘turning’ back to God? Read on and make your own mind up!

The Roots

The Turning was brought to the UK by American ‘revivalist’ Tommie Zito, whose website boasts an international ministry of ‘awakening’ countries, ‘hallmarked’ by “the heavy Glory of God, unique signs and wonders and an unprecedented anointing to mobilize and equip the [Body] to win souls.”³ These are substantial claims – but do they bear out in reality?

Zito was hosted by Reading’s Gate Church, led by Pastor Yinka Oyekan. Much of the information in this article has been gleaned from Oyekan’s personal 2017 report on the outreach.

While I applaud the heart-desire behind The Turning, I have concerns about its roots and methodology.

‘The Turning’ uses a formula of evening meetings for believers, followed by morning outreach on the street aided by a simple script. It encourages believers of all ages and backgrounds to engage in mission. I applaud Oyekan’s concern that church not be a spectator sport and understand his frustration at fellowships not being geared towards large-scale outreach. However, in justifying his own approach, he also disparages virtually all traditional methods of evangelism and accuses Reading churches of hitherto squandering God’s grace.

Broad Street, Reading. See Photo Credits.

Oyekan claims that God has for some time been looking “to release this evangelistic grace” but has “not found an Apostolic or denominational outlet to land in”⁴ – until the Gate Church started The Turning. Again, these are significant claims about his own ministry and about other churches that warrant further exploration.

Worryingly, Oyekan’s report implies strongly that the success of the ‘outpouring’ depends to some extent on believers and churches embracing practices associated with the ‘NAR’.⁵ Oyekan claims that the Reading churches that welcomed The Turning were made more receptive by their previous embrace of ‘soaking’, a practice associated with the Toronto Blessing. Oyekan praises Christians who “have stood in the fire of the outpouring”⁶ (i.e. participated in each evening’s ‘soaking’ session). He himself is a self-confessed disciple of Bill Johnson,⁷ founder and leader of Bethel Church in Redding, California, which has received criticism for its New Age overtones.

All this implies that churches participating in The Turning are not just buying into an outreach campaign, they are buying into a particular stream of charismatic Christianity – a stream that many Christians find to be at least partly, if not totally, heretical. Those who express concern are branded ‘resistant’ to the things of God.

It remains to be seen how these roots impact The Turning’s practical, on-street encounters. However, they are signs that should prompt further, prayerful investigation, not acceptance of the campaign at face value.

The Method

Oyekan dedicates several pages of his report to discussing the pros and cons of using a script as a basis for outreach. He admits openly that The Turning’s script is “virtually identical to the one formulated by Dr Rodney Howard Brown [sic] in his book “The Great Awakening, Power Evangelism Manual””, and that “The evangelist we invited, Tommie Zito, was a disciple of Dr Rodney Howard Brown [sic]”.⁸ It is unclear exactly why Oyekan believes Howard-Browne to be a worthy source of inspiration, but the fact that he does is another warning sign.⁹

The script takes the form of a short introduction, followed by three short Scripture verses quoted in succession. A prayer is offered, during which the subject is invited to repeat a version of the ‘sinner’s prayer’. Emphasis is placed throughout on being quick; the entire process can be over in a few minutes. The subject continues on his/her way – now apparently a new creature in Christ - and another ‘response’ (‘decision’) is recorded.

Churches participating in The Turning are not just buying into an outreach campaign, they are buying into a particular stream of charismatic Christianity.

Those who take issue with the script are casually dismissed: Oyekan admits that “one pastor was in tears as he felt it was deficient in its gospel proclamation. Emotionally, the script touches on everyone’s pride…”.¹⁰ In other words, those who are humble accept The Turning; those who dare to criticise it must have a prideful heart.

This lack of self-reflection is concerning, but Oyekan goes further, suggesting that local leaders surrender their authority and get on board with The Turning without dissent: “it is strongly advisable that the leaders humble themselves and acknowledge that their need of a grace from Christ is no less necessary than that of their flocks”.¹¹

Oyekan then takes aim at traditional evangelistic tracts which, in his view, focus too much on explaining people’s need for salvation, appealing “primarily to the intellect” rather than to the heart.¹² What is needed instead are touchy-feely, emotional ‘encounters’ of God’s love. Somewhat confusingly, however, Oyekan later admits that The Turning script needs more scriptural content and that it has been revised since the Reading outreach in 2016.

Obsession with ‘Decisions’

One of my main operational concerns with The Turning is its near obsession with clocking up ‘decisions’ (or ‘responses’ as Oyekan prefers to term them). Each day of the campaign in Edinburgh, Oyekan inserted in huge bold type on his Facebook page the number of decisions recorded. Scores of his followers exulted enthusiastically over such an amazing move of the Spirit – signs of a great spiritual awakening.

I, on the other hand, could in no way rejoice over such statistics. What ‘decision’ did the individuals make? Were they presented with the true Gospel? Do we really expect hundreds of people to truly be spiritually regenerated within a few short minutes of being approached?

I think we need to be wary of instant decisions. Christ calls for a deeper response – one which may not be so easily ascertainable. It’s not that a decision is in itself wrong, but it cannot be taken as synonymous with a true conversion.

I think we need to be wary of instant decisions. Christ calls for a deeper response – one which may not be so easily ascertainable.

Oyekan actually admits that Tommie Zito was happy to let the outreach happen without any follow-up whatsoever. However, Oyekan rightly disagrees with this and states that since the goal is to make disciples, not converts, follow-up is vital. Though Gate Church had “no credible follow-up plan” in 2016,¹³ an emphasis on follow-up is now much more visible on The Turning website, so one hopes that this aspect of the outreach is now receiving proper investment.

Click here to read part 2 of this analysis.

About the author: Tom Lennie has a long-standing interest in revival and has authored a trilogy of historical studies on Scottish revivals: ‘Land of Many Revivals’ (1527-1857), ‘Glory in the Glen’ (1880-1940) and the newly-published, ‘Scotland Ablaze: The Twenty-Year Fire of Revival That Swept Scotland 1858-79’ (December 2018). His interest in The Turning was sparked by reports of the Reading ‘outpouring’ and fuelled further by its arrival in Edinburgh, his home city, as well as by the involvement of several acquaintances.

References

1 The Story of The Turning, World Prayer Centre, 1 February 2017.

2 The Turning, Scotland.

3 See Zito's website, here.

4 Oyekan, Y. The Turning Learning Review: ‘The Outpouring’, p7. All further quotes and page references are from this document, which is also available at http://theturning.eu/learning-review/.

5 p6. ‘NAR’ stands for ‘New Apostolic Reformation’, a short-hand term for a group of ministries that promote teachings from the 1940s Latter Rain Movement.

6 p10, p20.

7 p26.

8 p12.

9 For more information on this, see Blessing the Church?, chapter 4: ‘From North Battleford to Toronto’.

10 p13.

11 p7.

12 p14.

13 pp18-19.

A new message of hope for Britain.

Something quite amazing happened to me last month – in my quiet times I began hearing a new message – a message of hope!

For the past 30 years I’ve been carrying much the same message. Older readers who remember the early days of the printed magazine Prophecy Today, back in the 1980s, will confirm that we were constantly warning about the consequences of the changes that were taking place as the nation abandoned its biblical heritage and embraced secular humanism. We were always calling for repentance and turning – especially in the Church.

The message we gave in those days was in stark contrast to the joyful messages of popular charismatic preachers promising imminent revival. Of course, we were not the only ones giving these warnings. But so many Christians and churches were embracing the teachings of false prophets, that it was not easy to go against the popular tide.

Bible-believing Christians who could see what was happening in the nation were often voices crying in the wilderness and they frequently had to endure vilification. There were strong pressures upon church leaders and others to go with the crowd and give a popular message.

It is quite rare today to hear such upbeat messages. But last month I began hearing God speaking about revival! For me, this was the first time in 30 years and I’ve been holding onto it for nearly two months seeking confirmation before daring to say anything in public.

A Virgin Mission Field

Let me explain what I began hearing. I believe the Lord is saying that the possibilities of spiritual revival, or re-awakening, are now coming onto the horizon. I am certainly not believing that this is imminent, but the first little signs are already to be seen of a change of mood among some young people.

A recent survey of attitudes showed that 52% of the British public now say that they have no religion.¹ This is an indication of the rapid cultural change that has taken place in the space of a single lifetime. In 1960 some 90% of the population would have said that they were Christians. Since then, other religions have flooded into Britain, leading to the construction of all sorts of mosques and temples. But it is important to note that although the native British population have largely abandoned their Judeo-Christian heritage, they have not turned to these other religions in significant numbers – they have simply turned away from all religious belief.

I believe the Lord is saying that the possibilities of spiritual revival, or re-awakening, are now coming onto the horizon.

What we now have is virtually a virgin mission field, which is good news for those who are evangelists and are eager to share their faith with others. But while it presents an amazing opportunity, a spiritual vacuum is also dangerous! As Jesus said, when one devil is cast out, its place can easily be taken by seven others, even more evil. I think it was GK Chesterton said that when we stop believing in God, we do not believe nothing, we believe anything! This may be true today.

Disaster Bringing Opportunity

I think that most Bible-believing Christians would agree that Britain is a nation that has been under judgment for some time – at least since we passed the same-sex marriage act in defiance of the God of Creation. We have had the truth and rejected it, putting ourselves outside God’s protection. This is the situation not only in Britain, but in most Western nations.

Moses described the classic signs of judgment that would follow the rejection of the word of God. He said, “The Lord will afflict you with madness, blindness and confusion of mind” (Deut 28:28). This is a good description of our politicians struggling to deal with Brexit. I know this was said to Israel, a nation in a covenant relationship with God, but the spiritual principle can be applied to those who have had the word of God and deliberately turned away, as the promises in Jeremiah 18 testify.

Anata, the West Bank village thought to be on the site of the biblical Anathoth, where Jeremiah bought his field.

I certainly believe that some kind of calamity will come upon our nation in the not-too-distant future, but I also believe that this will produce a new openness to the truth and provide new opportunity for the Gospel. This is what I began hearing last month, in much the same way as Jeremiah was given the revelation of the New Covenant at the very time when the Babylonians were about to break down the walls of Jerusalem and bring tragedy upon the nation.

Jeremiah was imprisoned in the guardhouse, but in faith he bought a piece of land that was already in enemy-occupied territory, as a sign that he was looking forward to the restoration of Israel after the disaster (Jer 32).

The native British population have largely abandoned their Judeo-Christian heritage, but they have not turned to other religions – they have simply turned away from religion altogether.

Generation Sensible

I am certainly not comparing myself to Jeremiah – but in much the same way, I believe that ‘times of refreshing’ will come. As a little sign of confirmation, I heard last week that in some universities in Britain, the usual intoxicated hijinks associated with ‘Freshers Week’ are being scrapped. But they have not been cancelled by university authorities - they have been stopped by a ‘lack of demand’ from students!

Young people are turning away from the kind of society that has been produced by their parents, in what The Times has dubbed ‘Generation Sensible’.² They are looking for changes in the culture away from the corrupt and unhealthy practices of the previous generation. Maybe this is the reason why Jordan Peterson is so popular with young people.

In Hull University, it is reported, one campus bar has been transformed into an ice-cream parlour and nightclub hours have been reduced. Other universities are holding plant-potting workshops and setting aside quiet rooms for meditation. On the London Underground, there are adverts on the boards up and down the escalators calling for October to be an alcohol-free month and surveys indicate that many young people are drinking far less than their parents’ generation.

The Turning of the Tide

All these things are part of a popular backlash against the kind of libertarian culture of excess that has been produced by postmodernism and its driving forces – Marxism, Darwinism, secular humanism – behind which lie what I can only describe as the forces of darkness. These ‘postmodern’ forms of rebellion against God are nothing new, but go back to the days of the Tower of Babel. They simply re-affirm the timeless fact that once you reject the basis of truth in the God of Creation, as the Apostle Paul describes in Romans 1, processes of decay automatically follow.

I certainly believe some kind of calamity will come upon our nation in the not-too-distant future, but that this will produce a new openness to the truth and new opportunity for the Gospel.

But for those who are called to be watchmen for the Lord and have eyes to see, I believe there are already little signs of a turning of the tide. Remember that when the tide turns far out in the main, it is a very long time before the first waves start rippling up the beach for everyone to see.

The hope for the future is that Bible-believing Christians will seize the opportunity of filling the spiritual vacuum among young people with the truth of the Gospel, praying in the turning of the tide: that God may breathe his life-giving Spirit upon a new generation revolting against the culture of their parents, but not yet knowing where else to turn for truth in an age of fake news. What a great opportunity for the Gospel!!!

References

1 Church of England numbers at record low. NatCen, 7 September 2018.

2 Narwan, G and Woolcock, N. Freshers week thirst for alcohol is drying up. The Times, 15 September 2018.

The real reason for leaving the EU – come what may.

It’s time to take back territory from the enemy