The following is a Facebook post from a friend of a friend.
I’m hesitant to post my thoughts on what’s happening in Wilmore. A few of you may have heard about the “Revival” at Asbury University. I attended the gatherings from the first day til now. A chapel service that didn't stop but continued spontaneously for 8 days now. It was an intimate space for students but it is now the focus of global intrigue, mass pilgrimage, and digital evaluation. I am aware that not everyone has a paradigm for this form of spirituality but I want to be honest to my own understanding.
I come from a spiritual background that has left me weary of hype in a culture of spectacle. I’ve grown tired of disintegrous representations of divine work but it is clear God is moving in a surprising and transformative way. However, when you think of “revival”, what comes to mind might not be what’s happening.
To quote Professor McCall, a theology professor at Asbury Seminary, “what we are experiencing now—this inexpressibly deep sense of peace, wholeness, holiness, belonging, and love—is only the smallest of windows into the life for which we are made.”
The movements of the spirit in western evangelicalism always exist in the middle of a cultural moment. A generous interpretation of these movements reveals unique traits for each one. For example, fervor for the great commission at the Mt. Hermon Conference, overwhelming joy in Toronto Outpouring, zeal for the lost in Brownsville Revival, acts of healing at the Kansas City awakening, and manifestation of tongues at the Azusa Street revival. In each move of the spirit, God clearly manifests in a specific way for that generation. I find it interesting that God would mark this outpouring with:
A tangible sense of peace for an generation with unprecedented anxiety.
A restorative sense of belonging for a generation amidst an epidemic of loneliness
An authentic hope for a generation marked by depression.
A leadership emphasizing protective humility in relationship with power for a generation deeply hurt by the abuse of religious power.
A focus on participatory adoration for an age of digital distraction.
It feels as if God is personally meeting young adults in ways meaningful to them. My generation was formed differently then previous generations and so the traits of this revival are different then revivals of old. The new outpouring is not the signs and wonders nor zealous intercession nor spontaneous tongues nor charismatic physicalities nor the visceral travail. It is marked by a tangible feeling of holistic peace, a restorative sense of belonging, a non-anxious presence through felt safety, repentance driven by experienced kindness, humble stewardship of power, and holiness through treasuring adoration.
It is important to reflect on the words of Jesus ”no one pours new wine into old wineskins. Otherwise, the new wine will burst the skins; the wine will run out and the wineskins will be ruined. No, new wine must be poured into new wineskins.”
I don’t want to make the mistake of trying to fit this new work into old paradigms. The new wine cannot be understood with the old expectations of revival.
As the revival has grown, people attempt to evaluate and participate from their old expectations. You cannot keep new wine in the old wineskin; or it may cause disappointment, disillusionment and divisiveness. In humility, we must receive the new wine with an open hand without trying to force this spiritual movement into our well intended but old expectations of renewal. We must strive to humbly participate, appreciatively celebrate, and intentional respond to this surprising work of the spirit with openness and hunger.
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