Participating in a Global Revival & Awakening.
Unlike the everyday use of a ‘concert’ as something you watch, like a musical performance, the word ‘concert’ has a broader meaning: Agreement, accordance, or harmony. Or To arrange (something) by mutual agreement or coordination.
Therefore, the ‘Global Concert of Prayer’ (GCOP) is a ‘concerted, jointly arranged, planned, or carried out effort in prayer’ expecting a Great Move of the Holy Spirit to ‘Advance His Kingdom.’
Historical Impact of Concerts of Prayer.
Dr A. T. Pierson once said, ‘There has never been a spiritual awakening in any country or locality that did not begin in united prayer.’
Dr. J. Edwin Orr was a leading scholar who published detailed books about such Revivals and Awakenings. In September, we share some of his accounts of what God has done through concerted, united, sustained prayer. We trust this will inspire and release faith and prayer as you prepare for the GCOP, anticipating an outpouring of the Spirit of God.
The State of the Nation:
The reports indicated that there was a moral slump in America. Drunkenness became an epidemic. Out of a population of five million, 300,000 were confirmed drunkards; they were burying fifteen thousand of them each year. Profanity was of the most shocking kind. For the first time in the history of the American settlement, women were afraid to go out at night for fear of assault. Bank robberies were a daily occurrence.
What about the churches? The Methodists were losing more members than they were gaining. The Baptists said that they had their most wintry season. The Presbyterians in the general assembly deplored the nation’s ungodliness. In a typical Congregational church, in sixteen years, not one young person had been taken into fellowship. The Lutherans were so languishing that they discussed uniting with Episcopalians who were even worse off. The Protestant Episcopal Bishop of New York quit functioning; he had confirmed no one for so long that he decided he was out of work, so he took up other employment.
The Chief Justice wrote to a Bishop that the Church ‘was too far gone ever to be redeemed.’ Critics and Philosophers echoed that ‘Christianity will be forgotten in thirty years.’
The liberal arts colleges at that time, in a poll taken at Harvard, had discovered not one believer in the whole student body. They took a poll at Princeton, a much more evangelical place, where they found only two believers in the student body and only five that did not belong to the filthy speech movement of that day. Students rioted. They held a mock communion at Williams College, and they put on anti-Christian plays at Dartmouth. They burned down the Nassau Hall at Princeton. They forced the resignation of the President of Harvard. They took a Bible from a local Presbyterian church in New Jersey and burnt it in a public bonfire. Christians were so few on campus that they had to meet in secret, like a communist cell, and kept their minutes in code so that no one would know.
When was this? This was the state before the First Great Awakening!
The State of the World.
Christianity was confined to European nations and North America. There were no known Evangelical Christians or Churches in many other parts of the World—not in Korea, Japan, or other countries in the Asia Pacific!
None in Africa and Latin American nations!
Mission work to other nations was not even thought of!
Can you relate this to some desperate conditions of our world today?
How did this situation change? Through a ‘Concert of Prayer.’
A Scottish Presbyterian Minister, Rev. John Erskine was an extraordinary man, having witnessed God’s power at the famous Cambuslang Revival in 1742.
He cast aside his career in law and trained for the ministry. He became passionate about prayer, revival, and world mission, to such an extent that other pastors would catch this enthusiasm, leading to a network of prayer groups all over Scotland called ‘Concerts of Prayer.’ Thousands began to pour out their hearts in agreement for God to revive Scotland’s church and awaken the nation back to him. He produced a small booklet called ‘Memorial,’ laying out the biblical principles of praying for revival and awakening.
A copy came into the hands of Revd Jonathan Edwards in New England, America, who, after he read this pamphlet, began to burn with more extraordinary passion for a nationwide breakthrough and produced a book with the lengthy title, ‘An Humble Attempt to Promote Explicit Agreement and Visible Union of God’s People in Extraordinary Prayer for the Revival of Religion and the Advancement of Christ’s Kingdom on Earth, Pursuant to Scripture Promises and Prophecies concerning the Last Time.’
This lengthy title captured what is missing in all our evangelistic efforts today: Explicit agreement, Visible unity, Unusual prayer, Advancing the Kingdom of God on Earth, and end-time Harvest!
It was these concerts of Prayer that brought a great Spiritual Awakening and Revival to Europe and America with an explosion of prayer, revival, and the conversion of many thousands of people.
Eventually, such prayer movements gave birth to ‘Advancing the Kingdom of God,’ which we know as the ‘Modern Missionary Movement’, which resulted in taking the Gospel to almost every nation on Earth!
Can We Pray for a Global Revival?
The GCOP is organized with such anticipation and faith. The World Assemblies of God Fellowship, with over 380,000 churches and 75 million members, can undoubtedly believe in faith for Revival as we pray in this ‘concerted’ effort of Prayer. We encourage each leader and Church to mobilize their members to join this prayer movement.
Biblical Basis for Prayer for Revival.
Although the word ‘Revival’ is not in the New Testament, Dr. Edwin Orr notes that the synonym for ‘revival’ in the NT must be the ‘Times of refreshing from the presence of the Lord’ (Acts 3:19) – a phrase that indicates divine origin and human object – the people of God.
In the Old Testament, the Psalmist cried: ’Will You not revive us again?” (Psalm 85:6), which designates God as the author of Revival and His people as the object.
The OT Hebrew words related to the hope or happening of revival are ‘chdash’ and ‘chaya’, meaning renew, ‘restore or repair’ in the first instance and ‘revive or bring back to life’ in the second.
Revivals and Awakenings.
There is a close relationship between Revivals and awakenings.
The 1904 Revival of the Welsh churches was also an Awakening of the People of Wales. Similarly, the word ‘Revival’ suggests a renewal of life among those already possessing it, and the sense of the word ‘Awakening’ suggests a coming alive to spirituality.
Revival is for Churches, and Awakenings are for communities and Nations!
This is when the Holy Spirit convicts the world of sin; hence, an outpouring of the Spirit follows an awakening among the lost people.
How much of this Spirit conviction is needed today amongst various religious groups, animists, atheists, and secular people?
Let us pray for a ‘Revival’ amongst the global WAGF constituency, resulting in a ‘Great Awakening’ globally and bringing in the ‘End-time Harvest’ for the Kingdom of God!
Prayer:
- Will you pray for all the AG Churches and leaders worldwide to join in the Global Concert of Prayer?
- Pray that every leader will mobilize their congregations to prayer from 16-18th September.
- Pray for all those involved in organizing and coordinating this event.
- Pray for all the technical and other support work needed for the GCOP.
- Pray: ‘Your Kingdom Come, You will be done on Earth as it is in Heaven.’
Please Note the Dates: September 16-18. Let all know about the GCOP.
For more information on the GCOP, Click Here.