Is This Revival?

Last night I heard that some people in our church were visiting meetings in Dudley with a guest speaker from the States hotfoot from a mini-revival. Yes, there are rumours of revival going on again in the States particularly this time in Lakeland Florida. Names that I am hearing include Todd Bentley and John Crowther. I am so glad when people truly experience God yet I think we also need discernment. Some of these people’s ideas and practices appear pretty whacky to say the least. Visions and angelic visitations abound. People are not just drunk in the Spirit as they were back in the days of the Toronto Blessing but are ‘sloshed’ and even ‘high’ in the Spirit. BTW thanks to Robbymac for the artwork.

This appears to be something more than just another series of meetings as there are many claims of supernatural healings. But I think people need to be careful about putting these things on a par with some of the great moves of God in the past. There are now meetings being broadcast daily on God TV and plenty of clips available on YouTube. I don’t doubt for a minute that the Holy Spirit is actually working in these gatherings and that some of these healings are actually real. I think it is sad that some Christians are not even to open to things like this happening today. But I am also concerned that media can easily hype things.

Personally I don’t get too excited about appeals in meetings with ministers walking down the lines laying hands on people expecting them to fall over and even less so when it comes to gold dust falling or milk dripping from walls. Perhaps not trickery - as these people do appear honest – but there could be a lot of Derren Brown like suggestion going on. But here is one case of a little girl being healed of a broken elbow that includes the X-rays. Now that would be pretty powerful suggestion! I would be interested in some more objective research into these healings and I think that more medical verification would actually give more credibility to what is happening.

So is this revival? I trust that my comments are balanced. What are your thoughts? I would really appreciate it if people could help me on this one and post their perspective on this, in the comments section. Thanks.

Global Day Of Prayer

Our church is taking part in a massive joint meeting this Sunday to which all the churches in Birmingham have been invited as part of hope 08. This is our part in the Global Day of Prayer on Pentecost Sunday. Our homegroup is having lunch together and then we are meeting up at our church premises in the afternoon to walk into Birmingham for an open air gathering in the grounds of Birmingham Cathedral. Like many churches we are taking this as an opportunity to pray for our city as we walk down aswell as joining with the rest of the Birmingham Church when we get there. Read more about this event here.

Glastonbury

We’ve just got back from a weekend at Glastonbury where we went for the arts festival in our circle of churches. As we did last year, we braved the bank holiday traffic, climbed Glastonbury Tor – this time the easy way, visited the mediation gardens and the Abbey as well as dipping into Glastonbury’s Café culture. For Nettes the high spot was seeing Lynne Robertson Hay’s one woman show, for me it was hearing Bosch at the barbeque on Monday.

The Future Of Christian Music

I found this article by Charlie Peacock about the future of Christian music. Mike Rimmer who had just got back from the States said it was causing quite a stir. I think what Charlie Peacock says in this article makes a lot sense. Christian music does appear to be aimed too much at youth and so many people grow out of it. I wonder if Christian music not designed to be used by the church would be better off side by side with other music of its own genre rather than being marketed just to Christians. That is the way he sees it going anyway. Any thoughts?