'Revivals are not quiet'

The Quiet Revival is no more; YouGov has retracted its conclusions, and the data has been debunked [see en explainer here]. A full apology was sent to the Bible Society.

Owing to the blessing we have received in recent years at Noddfa Church in the Welsh valleys, I have had the opportunity to speak and comment on several podcasts, media outlets and at many conferences about this alleged phenomenon.

I have said the same thing at every interview: “Revivals are not quiet." They are loud and messy as broken people are pulled away from their old, sinful lives and learn how to start again in a new community of grace.

Revivals come at a huge cost to the church as we face head-on rebellion and the world's hostility. The pictures of our chapel filled with young people look great; they encourage many, but each soul comes with baggage that we have to work through. This is time-consuming with lots of ups and downs.

As the Word is preached, the people who gather are painfully purged from their pasts as their hearts cry in repentance.

This is what we have experienced as the holiness of God clashes with a post-Christian culture. It is a loud and messy work.

I hoped the Quiet Revival was true, but I had my concerns. The Quiet Revival seemed too convenient for the church. It is the revival that we all wanted. Young, well-behaved professionals, coming in their ones and twos, who can simply fit in “quietly” and put some money in the pot to keep us going. What a dream that would have been.

It is fair to say that in Wales, we suffer from revivalism. We constantly look back to 1904 [the 1904-1905 Welsh "revival" is often described as the "largest Christian revival in Wales in the 20th century"]. But I fear that this has made the church complacent and ineffective in our witness - restricting ourselves until the Lord moves again.

What does Jesus say?

Jesus said to the man waiting for the pool to be stirred at Bethesda, “Pick up your mat and walk,” (John 5v8). Jesus calls for us to pray for workers, for the harvest is plentiful.

Jesus then sends those praying to do the work: “Go, I am sending you as lambs among wolves,” (Luke 10v3). If you are praying for revival, the Lord is calling you to be the revival. We must pick up our mats and walk. We must stop looking back to the “good old days” when the pool was stirred, and look at the many opportunities Christ has given us today for the gospel.

We thank God for the many expressions of growth around the UK, and there is no doubt that Gen Z is more spiritually open. My concern surrounding the euphoria in the church about a "Quiet Revival" is that it played into our complacency; it was a revival of convenience. Which is why, to our shame, we liked the sound of it.

Personally, I want a loud revival that comes at a great cost, with real transformation and millions of lives changed across our nation.

Will you join me in praying for a loud revival?