Revivalism - Blessing or Blunder?

[illinoisguy]

I Still Have My Fundamentalist Card - Churches Without Chests

It's funny how wedded we Christians are to groups, tribes and movements. I suppose it is how most people make sense of their Christian identity in a broadly secular culture: by aligning with a movement, a denomination, or a group. So I guess I shouldn't be surprised that when I…

churcheswithoutchests.net

"Fundamentalism as a movement, like any movement, has the good, the bad, and the ugly. Most people know only the bad and the ugly: rabid King-James Onlyism, obscure taboos, insular tribalism, pugnacity, and anti-intellectualism. But I’ll venture to say that the bad and the ugly in fundamentalism were largely the fault of revivalism. . . .

[Finney] "believed that given the right circumstances, right atmosphere, and right techniques, anyone could be brought to repentance or experience revival. Therefore, he set about to create circumstances that would, in his words, ‘produce religious excitements.' Finney’s standard for judging if something were appropriate to use in this regard was very simple: its effectiveness.

"Finney was wildly successful. Hundreds of thousands were ‘converted,' and his meetings were considered mass revivals. Historians doubt how permanent the conversions of Finney’s revivals were . . .

"Revivalism increasingly looked to the world for its methods – using the music, songs, emotional manipulation and sensual stimulation that unbelieving marketers had successfully used for decades. Put simply, churches that embraced revivalism shifted gears from biblical worship to worldly amusement, from biblical ministry to worldly marketing.

"Revivalism is steeped in hyper-Arminianism. As a doctrine, method, and ministry philosophy, everyone should reject revivalism."

 

[Baptist Renegade]

I Still Have My Fundamentalist Card - Churches Without Chests

It's funny how wedded we Christians are to groups, tribes and movements. I suppose it is how most people make sense of their Christian identity in a broadly secular culture: by aligning with a movement, a denomination, or a group. So I guess I shouldn't be surprised that when I…

churcheswithoutchests.net

"Fundamentalism as a movement, like any movement, has the good, the bad, and the ugly. Most people know only the bad and the ugly: rabid King-James Onlyism, obscure taboos, insular tribalism, pugnacity, and anti-intellectualism. But I’ll venture to say that the bad and the ugly in fundamentalism were largely the fault of revivalism. . . .

[Finney] "believed that given the right circumstances, right atmosphere, and right techniques, anyone could be brought to repentance or experience revival. Therefore, he set about to create circumstances that would, in his words, ‘produce religious excitements.' Finney’s standard for judging if something were appropriate to use in this regard was very simple: its effectiveness.

"Finney was wildly successful. Hundreds of thousands were ‘converted,' and his meetings were considered mass revivals. Historians doubt how permanent the conversions of Finney’s revivals were . . .

"Revivalism increasingly looked to the world for its methods – using the music, songs, emotional manipulation and sensual stimulation that unbelieving marketers had successfully used for decades. Put simply, churches that embraced revivalism shifted gears from biblical worship to worldly amusement, from biblical ministry to worldly marketing.

"Revivalism is steeped in hyper-Arminianism. As a doctrine, method, and ministry philosophy, everyone should reject revivalism."

Manufactured revivalism? Definitely! Holy Ghost revival? We should definitely pray for it to happen as it is our only hope!

1 Peter 4:17 For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God: and if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God?

1 Corinthians 11:31 For if we would judge ourselves, we should not be judged.

 

[Ekklesian]

Holy Ghost revival?

What would that look like?