What Revival?

Americans Christians love the idea of 'revival.' We like to imagine one is just around the corner and as soon as it gets here it will fix our crumbling spirituality and get the church back on track. Worse, our hope causes us to see revival mirages when there is nothing but desert before us. Nevertheless, expecting a revival is a popular American's pastime. It fits our optimistic outlook. Many say we are right now in a great revival.

Are we? Is a revival happening right under our noses? What about the Promise Keepers? Aren't these gatherings a sign of revival? Or, what about the quadrillion Super Churches we now have sprawling about at the edges of every city? Or, how about all the emphasis on church planting? Aren't these signs of revival? What about the scores of preachers on TV? And that doesn't even mention Dobson, Christian bookstores, the Church Growth movement, contemporary Christian music, holy laughter, Amway and the 700 club. What more can I say? Certainly we must be right on the edge of the "Coming world revival," right?

Sorry. If this is revival, then something's out of whack. What? If we're in a revival, how come it's not affecting church attendance. Consider Barna's latest findings. Only 37% of Americans say they've attended a religious service in the past week -- down from 49% just five years ago. You read that right... a 12% decline since 1991! This is what the church growth experts call a 'significant negative-growth rate.' If it was happening in your church, you might be looking for another church. But when it happens across a whole nation, you say, 'the bottom's dropping out.'

This is revival? If we were having a real revival, wouldn't you think people would go to religious services more, not less? What kind of 'revival' makes you attend church less? What we've had isn't real revival, but 'revival hype.' It is 'virtual revival' - all the sensations of revival without any of the risk or the