Rumors of the Quiet Revival

Walking under a London bridge near Waterloo, covered with artful graffiti, I spot a Bible reference verse amidst the vibrant urban colors. 

John 14:6 

No verse attached. Just the reference. For those who have eyes to see and hearts to explore, the reference is the famous claim and invitation of Jesus in John's gospel. 

"I am the way, the truth and the life. No-one comes to the Father except through me."

The quiet, yet unmistakable truth claim amidst the graffiti speaks of a deeper movement afoot across the UK and Europe. They are calling it The Quiet Revival. 

The UK Bible Society was the first to coin the phrase after ground breaking research data released a few months ago that church attendance in the UK was experiencing a drastic up-swing. 

Co-author of The Quiet Revival report, Dr Rhiannon McAleer writes, "The Quiet Revival shows that the most dramatic church growth is among young adults, particularly young men. In 2018, just 4 per cent of 18–24-year-olds said that they attended church at least monthly. Today, says The Quiet Revival, this has risen to 16 per cent, with young men increasing from 4 per cent to 21 per cent, and young women from 3 to 12 per cent.  

The report shows that what people believe about Church decline is no longer true. ‘These are striking findings that completely reverse the widely held assumption that the Church in England and Wales is in terminal decline. While some traditional denominations continue to face challenges, we’ve seen significant, broad-based growth among most expressions of Church – particularly in Roman Catholicism and Pentecostalism. There are now over 2 million more people attending church than there were six years ago." (the whole article here The Quiet Revival)

Here in the USA, at least in the circles that I run in, the rumors of the Quiet Revival abound. Some are skeptical. Many abound. I was curious to see what it felt like being on the ground as we visited the UK this past month. We spent 10 days investing in around 50 churches from 13 different UK and European nations. 

Here are 8 signs that the rumors are not an exaggeration.

1. I saw young men walking the streets of London carrying Bibles. I’ve never seen that before in the 30 years I’ve been visiting here. We know that Bible sales are on the up, but the boldness to carry a Bible publicly seems remarkable.

2. Every church we were with said that their Alpha courses (exploring Christianity) were better attended than ever and Christians were more bold in inviting people to church and sharing the gospel.

3. We witnessed a growing hunger for God in prayer, especially prayer between churches. In our Advance Movement family of churches 85 leaders from about 20 churches travelled from Wales, N. Ireland, Scotland and all over England for two days of prayer and fasting.

4. Regular testimonies of salvation and healing. We saw one lady at a @newgroundchurches conference arrive on crutches and leave carrying them. No smoke and mirrors. Her friends vouched for her. She had been healed by Jesus.

5. A significant increase in cultural diversity in churches and leaders from different cultures being raised up.

6.Churches were all leaning freshly into multiplication: of disciples, leaders, meetings & churches.

7. Churches taking big steps to serve their cities through compassion with favor from civic leaders

8. Worship was unpolished, passionate, participative, not performative. A genuine hunger for God’s presence.

May the quiet revival spread deeper and wider and spill over into the nations! 

Is your Church playing Broken Telephones?

Our Easter weekend was one for the books at Southlands Brea. From our Good Friday gathering through to our three Sunday services, I am grateful and amazed at the life that was found at the foot of Christ's blood stained cross and His empty tomb. The baptisms, the salvations, the army of joyful volunteers hosting the great throng of guests and the faithful so warmly. Thank you, sincerely, to all who served and all who attended. 

One conversation I had with a newly married couple from our church has lodged in my heart though. It is why I am writing this piece in reflection. They recently relocated to another city and church about an hour away because of work.  I was saddened to hear of this, but recommended a church I know  in the area they were moving to. They came back to worship with us on Good Friday, which was a joy, and the husband said to me, "We have had some concerns about the church you recommended to us." I probed further. He replied something to the effect of, "I think they are editing the gospel for the sake of reaching their culture." I asked for an example. He replied, "For instance, they have changed the lyrics of the song "'Christ Alone,' from "And on that cross as Jesus died, the wrath of God was satisfied,"  to "And on that cross as Jesus died, the love of God was magnified."" This lyric change was emblematic of larger concerns they had with lack of Biblical integrity in the church. 

Although disappointed to hear of this,  I actually felt really proud of this couple for their discernment. They were looking beyond the vibe, the excellence and the popularity (this church has all of these) to the substance. Let's be honest, this is rare.

In my Easter message, I preached from Paul's entreaty to the Corinthians to keep the gospel as 'the most important thing.' 

"When I came to you I preached the gospel to you  as the most important thing. For I passed on to you what I received," that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried and was raised ion the third day, according to the scriptures." (1 Corinthians 15:3-4) 

Paul then goes on to say that he has heard that some of them have stopped believing that Christ was bodily raised from the dead. He is horrified that they have changed the message that he had passed on to them. without the resurrection, the gospel bears little resemblance to the original message, Paul contends. He is emphatic that if there is no empty tomb at the center of the Corinthian's,  their gospel is empty. "If Christ has not been raised, we are false teachers, your faith is futile, you are still in your sins, and in fact, you are to be more pitied than anyone!"(v 17-19) Understandably strong words by Paul.

Andrew Wilson, in his commentary on this chapter, sums up Paul's warning as follows: "Christianity is nothing without the risen Christ. If the corpse of Jesus had been found in the Middle East, it would not just mean that the walls of Christianity needed repainting , it would mean that the whole house had come crashing down. If Jesus is still dead, then sins have not been forgiven. If Jesus is still dead then we are all lost, hopeless liars. If Jesus is still dead then we are not just mistaken, we are to be most pitied. Christianity cannot survive a dead Savior.'

It's as if the Corinthians had been playing a game of broken telephones, in which one person whispers a message to the next and each time the message is passed on, it changes, leaving the final message with no resemblance to the original. Paul will not tolerate the 'lost in translation' message, and clearly restores the miscommunication back to the original integrity of the message with this emphatic affirmation:"But as it is,  Christ has indeed, been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep." (v 20) Jesus' resurrection guarantees our resurrection, and that changes everything! This is at the heart of the gospel message.

Why were the Corinthians changing the original message? In short, their culture was generally gnostic. They had allow view of the metal world and a high view off the spiritual world. This meant that they believed in the immortality of the soul but not the body. That sounded implausible Perhaps, too Jewish. They edited their message to suit their culture. And we are prone to do the same. Which is why a church would feel tempted to play broken telephones with a concept like wrath. It is not the material world we struggle with like the Greeks, it is the idea of a God who punishes sin that were struggle with. It seems so judgmental and unkind. And yet, if we look at the cross, we must admit that Jesus the Lamb of God, was experiencing God's wrath on our behalf. he was taking our punishment as a substitute, absorbing God's righteous anger against our sin,  to give us peace. "We considered him stricken and afflicted by God, yet it was the Lord's will to cause him to suffer. The punishment that brought us peace was upon Him, and by his stripes we have been healed."( Isaiah 53) This is not being pedantic. If you remove substitutionary atonement from the gospel, you have lost the gospel. 

I want to ask you whether your church has been playing broken telephones, editing out the hard parts of the gospel for the sake of so-called cultural relevance? Cultural relevance at the expense of Biblical faithfulness, is a fool's errand. 

Instead, I commend two antidotes to Biblical Broken Telephones. 

First, the Creeds. I want to Make Creeds Great Again! This year is the 1700th anniversary of the Nicene Creed. This confession is what the Church has agreed upon throughout the ages, that defines Christian Orthodoxy. Protestants, Catholics, Greek and Russian Orthodox Christians agree upon this confession. Hold your church up against this creed, for a start. If it does not affirm it, it is not a Christian church, period. I have found this to be so helpful,  particularly when contending with progressive Christians who have an issue with our stance on sexuality, gender, the sanctity of marriage or life. The first thing I ask is, "Do you affirm the Nicene Creed before we have a discussion?" Very often I find that they cannot. "They say something like, "I do not see God as father. Or I do not believe that Christ died for sins, or that Jesus is the only God. It is then that I realize, we are not agreeing about the fruit of Christianity because we have different roots. Theirs is a version of Christianity that falls outside the bounds of historic Christian Orthodoxy,  which means they are coming to different conclusions about the fruit of their faith. If they do affirm the Creeds, then I am more than happy to have  discussion about the fruit of our faith. 

Second, I commend to you Tim Keller's concept of Middleware from his book, Center Church: doing balanced gospel ministry. he describes how churches tend to grow. The first is through what he calls 'hardware', which he describes as Biblical faithfulness.Hardware churches are courageous.  The second way is through 'software,' which he describes as 'cultural relevance.' Software churches are creative. But he proposes that the best way for a church to grow, is 'middleware,' which he describes as the point at which Biblical faithfulness is bright to bear on a changing culture in such a way as they can and want to receive it. Middleware avoid playing broken telephones through courageous faithfulness, but they also pass the message on effectively through creativity and winsomeness. Lord, help us as we trust in the power of Your gospel.

From Consumers to Partners: in praise of church membership

After three years pastoring at Southlands Brea, I was asked to take the helm of the team that led this intrepid and depleted church in 2010. We’d navigated an economic recession, fought a lawsuit over the sale of our church building, and led through the purchase, remodeling and move to our new premises in a new county. It was the perfect storm.  To add to the doldrums, the church had planted 12 times in 14 years prior to this. We were the little church that would. We were willing and eager, but closer to breaking point than we were willing to admit. 

I’ve written extensively about how we pushed pause on planting for three years in the hopes of winning home games, not just away games. This was a key move in our long term health and sustainability. It occurred to me yesterday though, after our 15th annual members meeting, that I’ve never written about our decision around that time to institute formal church membership. 

I know, this is a controversial topic. Images of pastors campaigning for popularity, contentious voting and power plays by deacon boards, most likely make you want to scroll on rapidly. But before you do, let me say that our church membership doesn't practice congregational voting, although we do make decisions collaboratively.  We are elder governed rather than congregationally governed. When I talk about church membership, I am really talking about people who have committed to becoming partners in the gospel.  And to be honest, when I look back at 15 years of church membership practice, I think it has saved our church from consumerism,  passivity and perhaps even implosion. Besides prayer,  I would venture to say that church membership is the single most important practice that makes our church vital and viable. It has moved the crowd towards community, expanded the core towards the fringe, and shifted consumers to becoming invested partners. 

So, what are the Biblical reasons for it? 

1. Accountability After Pentecost there were 3000 people saved and added to the church. (Acts 2:41) Added.  The new believers voted with their feet. They said, "You can count me in and you can count on me!" Those that were added were devoted to their church community. (Acts 2:42) That's what members do. They make themselves available and accountable. 

2. Health The apostle Paul's teaching on the Church as the Body of Christ describes a heathy body as one whose members are both connected and active. (1 Corinthians 12: 1-8) While baptism makes us members of the universal Body of Christ, we see in the Bible that individual believers walked that out in local churches under local pastors. A healthy body member, according to Paul then, is both connected and active. 

3. Safety When the apostle Paul's tells the Corinthians to put the immoral brother among them out of the church until such time as he repents, he is implying that he was a part of them. You cannot put someone out unless they were first in. This is not a vindictive act. It is an act of love and protection towards the flock. We have had two do this on a few occasions with abusive people, vindictive people and heretic people, who are doing harm to God's people. It is never a pleasant task. But it is necessary for the safety of the flock. (1 Cor 5:11-13)

4. Sanity If, as the apostle Peter writes, shepherds are to give an account to Jesus, the Chief Shepherd,  for how they cared for the flock, surely they need to know who is in their flock? I can love and feed anyone, but I can only shepherd those who have placed themselves under my care. It is those for whom I will give an account. So, membership is for the safety of the flock and the sanity of the shepherds. (1 Peter 5:1-3)

 How practically do we implement it?

1. Stick 6 (Courtesy of Vintage Church) We encourage visitors to stick around for 6 weeks before they decide to join us or not. During that time they will have 3 opportunities to meet pastors and hear about the church and make a decision: a newcomers lunch, a potential membership class and a one-on-one membership interview with an elder. 

2. 3 practices We call all our members to commit to 3 practices involving their time, talents and treasure. ( not original , I know, but memorable) we ask them to commit to a community group, to tithing, and  to serving in a volunteer team once a month.  We welcome new members in publicly every two months. 

3. Celebration We have an annual membership celebration where we tell stories of God's grace and growth, have a quality meal, give detailed feedback about finances, and talk through new decisions, new leaders, or new vision. We receive feedback from members. Members are first to hear and first to give feedback.

4. Non mandatory We have just under 400 members at Southlands Brea (there are more in our other Southlands churches) and this is about half of our average Sunday adult attendance. (which means, I'd guess,  about 1/3 of everyone who calls Southlands home) So we serve many who are not members. we do not force people to become members. Many of these people do serve and give. But we are working towards it becoming a majority culture.

Finally, membership has been a a culture we've had to contend for, because in Southern California, the largest church groups do not practice it. (Calvary Chapel, Vineyard, Friends, independent mega churches) People are fearful that it will be weaponized to control them, or suspicious that we will be legalistic. Basically, there is a fundamental fear around commitment in our casual Christian culture.  But membership has been worth contending for, because it runs so counter to this culture, moving consumers towards being more committed gospel partners. If you lead a church I would commend it to you as a vital discipleship practice for a more vital church and mission.