Categories: uncategorized
Date: 10 May 2008 08:49:21
So what would happen if we had another Pentecost or God really did let us, in England, have the type of revival that we so often pray for? Well, I don't know, but I've been reading Acts 2 and thinking it may be an ickle like this.....
Imagine if you will a bunch of Christian leaders heading up a prayer meeting for revival in a standard suburban town. Suddenly they hear the sound something which resembles a hurricane approaching and the sound of the storm engulfs the whole building. Then they start seeing divided tounges, looking like fire, resting on each other. At this point there is a mixture of fear and exhileration going on; some realise this really is God but others are fearful that it's the repurcussions of a long forgotten period of experimenting with acid.
Then stuff gets really wierd, they start talking in languages they don't even know. Their rational, post-enlightenment minds would be freaked by this. Anyway they make their way outside, unsure of the safety of the building after the sound like a hurricane engulfing it. To their surprise they find a huge crowd, who have heard the sound coming from the building and are scared about what's going on - is this another terrorist attack?
In the mist of the confusion some are saying "what does this mean?", whilst others are accusing them of being drunk or junkies. One of the leaders, who kinda gets what's going on stands up and begins to explain that it's a God thing, a fulfilment of prophecy. At this point several thousand people decide they want a piece of whatever this is aswell.
So practically what would this mean?
The authorities would move in using public order legislation. This would not be a licenced gathering and there would be all sorts of public safety fears. Just like Peter the leaders would be arrested and have to explain, only thing different is this time they would be charged with arranging an illegal gathering.
Due to the public outcry it is likely that the religious leader would be offered a caution aslong as he ensured there would be no repetition and all future gatherings would be properly licenced. Seeing as this is a God thing, though, no sure reassurances can be offered.
The next day, (because these types of prayer meeting tend to happen on a Saturday),churches would all be inundated with "new recruits" but the new "mega churches" wouldn't be able to bus in experienced workers from smaller, failing churches who wanted to move to a more vibrant churches. This would give major problems not least because there would be massive numbers of kids wanting to go out to Sunday school and not enough adults who'd had CRB checks to supervise.
The average vicar / pastor/ minister would be excited but completely out of their depth and over-run with things to do. They would have to make a strategic decision about what to do, either directing operations by computer out of the church office or just being out there somehow trying to control the chaos. Their already overstreched church members would soon be suffering exhaustion and burn out caught up in the buzz but unable to do everything which is required in terms of follow up, etc. The discussions about what gay people could and couldn't do in churches would momentarily be forgotten as it needed to be all hands to the pump.
New forms of church would emerge, not in a forced way coming from the frustrations of the middle classes, but rather new forms of church would be born out of necessity. Christians would find that their friends and neighbours who knew that they were believers would be knocking on their doors. Unable to get what they wanted from the churches these new Christians would go to their friends to find out what they were supposed to be doing. On this basis house churches would be formed because your average existing Christian would probably say "I'm not quite sure, praying, reading the bible and communion are important, oh and we have to have some music. Hang on, I'll put the kettle and a CD on and then we can have a chat." As the door bell went a few more times mini-congregations would spontaneously be formed. The mini-congregations would all differ in the way they did things, because they would largely be making it up as they went along (with an ickle help from the over-stretched clergy, the internet and God TV).
There would be a huge demand to hear those who were in the room when it all kicked off and people would flock to their churches, probably from all over the world as well as all over the country. There would be banks of media professionals trying to get a bit of the action aswell. It would be complete chaos and there would be yet more public order offences being committed, due to the numbers of people involved. Basically we would end up with a Christian Castle Morton.
Because there would be so many Christians who didn't know "the rules" they would be praying outrageous prayers which God would honour and there would be signs and wonders. Also they would be reading the bible as written and some would probably do things like give a way all they owned and share everything.
As the "professionals" became stretched there would be grumblings from the rural churches who felt they were being overlooked as resources went to the urban masses who could more easily be reached. There would be concerns that the needs of some of the vunerable, with no church connection prior to the revival, weren't being properly met as churches sought to use their resources to help those known to them first.
In the mist of this religious fevour there would be false prophets rising up to try and make a quick buck and it would all be very messy, trying to work out who was sound and who wasn't.
There would also be a strong bank of opposition from a range of directions. There would politicians, fearful of the apparent breakdown in public order as these mass religious gatherings continued, some licenced others not. Some businessmen would be fearful of the effects of the sudden move to ethical consumerism and others would just be unhappy and fearful about the rise of religion. The net result would be a range of moral entreprenurs would start rumours, and false charges would be made. Religious leaders would find themselves in court facing false charges supported by corrupt "witnesses" who had lied in their statements.
In reality not much would have changed in 2000 years, except the laws which would be used to prosecute the leaders. So are we really ready for another Pentecost? Yes we want the conversions, yes we want to experience the Spirit of God moving in ways we can't imagine but are we ready for the chaos, corruption and confusion which would also be unleashed if God answered our prayers and serious spiritual warfare was engaged in?