Reviving the Church: Counting the Cost

Reviving the Church:

Foreword

A People of Faith

A People on Fire

A People at Prayer

Happy Birthday!

A People on Mission

A Call to the Church

Appendix: Fellowship for Revival

Reviving the Church:

Counting the Cost

Peter J Blackburn

Addresses at the Queen’s Birthday Weekend Conference of the Fellowship for Revival (Vic.), 8th to 11th June 1984, at the Camberwell and Buckley Park Uniting Churches.

Print copy originally published in 1984 with ISBN 0 9589661 0 9

© Peter J. Blackburn, 1984, 2013

Scripture quotations are from The New International Version © International Bible Society, 1984

Permission is given for the reproduction of material from this book, with due acknowledgement and for purposes which accord with the aims of the Fellowship for Revival.

Foreword

It was my privilege to be invited to speak at the Conference of the Fellowship for Revival (Victoria) over the weekend 8th to 11th June 1984.

The National Council of the Fellowship meeting at Croydon Park, Sydney, in November 1983 appointed me Executive Secretary of the National Fellowship. While I have for years believed in and prayed for revival, I found myself, within this new situation, reflecting on the needs of the Church throughout our nation and on the teaching of the Scriptures concerning revival. Two months' extended holiday soon after that meeting gave extended opportunity for both.

Then, as preparation for the Conference proceeded, I came to Melbourne to represent the South Moreton Presbytery at the Third National Conference on Evangelism, held at the M.L.C., Kew, from 7th to 12th May 1984. As part of that conference, we received input on stages of congregational life (and death), the factors that lead to growth and the absolute necessity for conversion growth. We were then divided into ten groups, each group to meet with about six members of a congregation to talk about these things. The evidence was right there before us – in teaching and in the reality of those visits – the Church needs revival! There was no sense that God is here at work among us!

I came home with a deep burden for revival. I believe this had a profound influence as I continued to prepare what I should say at this Conference.

These talks from the Conference are brought together here in the prayer that God may use them to help us be ready for the revival God desires to bring in the land of Australia.

If you have not already done so, please prayerfully consider signing your name to the the Covenant of Prayer and signify that you have done this to the Fellowship for Revival in your state, so that we can support and encourage one another in fulfilling this commitment before the Lord.

May the hand of the Lord be upon us all.

Peter J. Blackburn, June, 1984.

This material is now produced in eBook format in the conviction that it is still relevant to the Church of today. The Fellowship for Revival as such ceased to exist at the end of 2003 (see Appendix). Nevertheless I encourage you to assent to the Covenant of Prayer.

Peter J Blackburn, June 2013

A People of Faith

In Luke 14.25ff, Jesus called on his hearers to consider the cost of discipleship. He expected a priority of love (far above the dearest human relationships) and a priority of commitment (the carrying of a cross).

He went on to give two illustrations of what he meant. If you are building a tower, he says, you figure out the cost and check whether you have enough money to do the job. If a king is going out to war, he compares the strength of his army with that of his adversary and, if necessary, seeks peace. Jesus then said, “In the same way, any of you who does not give up everything he has cannot be my disciple” (v. 33).

This is a hard saying! What did Jesus mean? That discipleship is not simply a matter of receiving the benefits of God’s love, but a commitment and submission to his purposes. Sadly, when the Church and her members fail to count the cost of being the Lord’s people, we have also failed to claim the divine resources which God has made available to us by the Holy Spirit. As a result, we have too often failed to be the watchtower of the Lord and have made our truce with the forces of darkness about us. If we were completely submitted to him, we would have the resources we needed, but instead we settle for what we have the capacity to do!

We meet as a body of people who desire revival in the Church. But there can be no revival until we begin to count the cost of discipleship, and of what it means·to be a people of faith.

Faith and Truth

We look at this word “faith” in a number of different ways. Sometimes we talk about “the faith”. For example, Jude wrote to urge his readers to “contend for the faith that was once entrusted to the saints” (Jude 3). Here faith is the body of revealed truth. How important is “the faith” in our prayer and preparation for revival? More important than we realise. Our minds, too, need to be submitted to him!

On 15th May just past Dr Francis Schaeffer of L'Abri died. One of the deep concerns of his life was to relate the gospel to the thinking mind of today. At the Lausanne Conference on Evangelism in 1974, he stated that to be a Christian, a person has to bow metaphysically and bow morally. He was saying that a Christian has to be submitted to God’s truth.

Doubts about the reality of God the Creator and of his revelation in Word and history, questions about the Deity, Death, Resurrection and Coming Again of Christ, a weak doctrine of sin and of redemption – these have affected and infected the life of the Church. Revival is not merely a return to certain theological basics, yet the Church today has too often been crippled by theological doubt and not open to the revival God seeks to bring.

Counting on God

Faith, of course, is more than knowledge about God, beliefs about him. It is dependence on him, on what he has done for our redemption, on what he does with us now, on the future plans of his love.

While on holidays in Victoria in December last, we visited Mount Buffalo. The national hang-gliding championships were on. We watched with fascination as about twelve jumped off that thousand-foot cliff near the chalet. Each flyer was checked to see that his harness was safe, that he had his crash helmet, his altimeter, his CB radio, thermometer, map, compass, parachute… Then he was given the “clear” and in a few steps was carried aloft. I watched the gliders being assembled. Any one of them, I thought, would carry my weight. Yet none of them will – I have no intention of taking up the sport!

We are “saved by grace through:faith” (Ephesians 2.8). That saving faith is a dependence on what God has done for us in Christ. By faith the work of redemption becomes operative for us and in us. The Christian life is a life of faith. As Paul stated very strongly to the Galatians (3.1ff), life in the Spirit continues to be on the basis of faith, not works of the law.

Those who commit themselves to pray for and seek revival in the Church can only do so as people of faith, people who are expecting God to do something, trusting his promises, depending on his Word. Think of the teaching of Jesus in Matthew 21.22 “If you believe, you will receive whatever you ask for in prayer”! or again, “I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Son may bring glory to the Father. You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it". Or consider the teaching in James 5 on the prayer of faith, especially v. 16b – “The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective”.

These passages are emphasising, not just the importance of a right mental attitude of faith, but the prayer of the people of faith, the people who are his by faith, the people who depend on him, the people who are living in his name and can therefore come in his name.

Active Faith

Much of our talk about faith is unrelated to life, yet the New Testament sometimes joins faith and obedience together (as in Romans 16.26; 2 Thessalonians 1.8). It is important for us to realise that faith should not be expressed in inaction, passively waiting for God to do something! It is to be positively involved in response to his command, knowing that God will indeed act, both through and apart from our own actions.

I have sometimes wondered whether this is the background to the teaching of James 2 about faith and deeds. “I will show you my faith by what I do” (v. 18b).

I am not talking here about deeds done independently of God, but of what we do in response to God, what we do in faith,depending on God’s reality, God’s activity, God’s faithfulness.

And So…

We give ourselves to prayer for revival in the Church. But we do not pray in a vacuum! We come as a people of faith – come in confident faith to the God who has made himself known, as the people who are depending on his redemptive work and who, even now, are seeking, by the enabling Spirit, to live in response to his will.

Following the dedication of the temple, the Lord appeared to Solomon – “If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land" (2 Chronicles 7.14).

A People on Fire

The Uniting Church at Narooma is not large, but made striking by a large War Memorial tower. If you have been to or through Narooma, you will have seen it, at the top end of the town.

The minister had invited me to bring my camera and he would open the door to the tower and to the best vantage-point in town. Yes, it was worth it! What struck me, however, was the sign at the foot of the steps –”Persons climbing this tower are advised that they do so at their own risk”. It was a good solid structure! The sign no doubt had something to do with public risk insurance.

My mind ran to the words of the sign – what if churches put a sign at their front door, “Persons entering this building are advised that they do so at their own risk”? Well, it couldn’t be quite like that! And yet – shouldn’t there be some expectation that people’s lives will be changed because they meet with God?

The New Testament book of Acts holds fascination for the Bible student. No one questions that it was written by Luke, physician, companion of Paul in the “we” sections, author of the third gospel. Since he wasn’t an apostle, why would it be so universally claimed that he wrote it if he hadn’t?

The fascinating question is: Why did he write Luke/Acts? One interesting suggestion is that Theophilus was the counsel for Paul’s defence and that Luke/Acts was written as his brief to give him accurate information about the Way and Paul’s involvement in it. This gives a useful explanation of its abrupt ending.

That may well be so, but we must note that Luke sees Acts as a continuation of the ministry of Jesus through the apostles by the power of the Holy Spirit. Whatever the explanation for the ending, that ministry is still going on, it has not ended!

Waiting…

Acts opens with the apostles waiting. They had a commission but knew well they couldn’t fulfil it – it was quite beyond them!

Let’s see their situation. Jesus had died – that was total shock. Now they knew he is alive – that was great joy! But he has left them – his physical presence has gone, yet his commission weighs heavy upon them.

Listen – “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptising them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I will be with you always, to the very end of the age” (Matthew 28.18-20). Frightening! As Luke records it in his first volume – “repentance and forgiveness of sins will be preached in his name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things. I am going to send you what my Father has promised; but stay in the city until you have been clothed with power from on high” (Luke 24.47-49).

Something had to happen! Yes, they believed all right – He is risen, “my Lord and my God”, he had to suffer and enter into his glory… True! True! But he had set before them a very daunting task. They had no organisation, no funds, no special expertise – and, let’s face it, the people had just recently put Jesus himself to death!

They waited. Jesus had promised the Counsellor (Helper), the Spirit of truth to lead them into all truth and remind them of the his teachings. “But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you” (John 14.17). And – “you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you: and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth” (Acts 1.8) .

On Fire!

Then it happened! “When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them” (Acts 2.1-4).

Acts records a people on fire with the reality and power of God. Nothing could stop them!

Contrast with that picture the modern Church. We believe but don’t expect! God is over there and with our managerial, educational and psychological expertise we’re working on it! We need to live within the realisation of God’s presence and power! It is probing to ask – how much of our Church programme can continue without the work of the Holy Spirit? Apart from the Holy Spirit, they knew they couldn’t – but we’d give it a try!

Note in both Matthew 28 and Luke 24 that they were told they couldn’t do it alone – without the presence of their Lord and the power of the Spirit. And people believed the message, people were saved, the number of believers increased dramatically and the geographical spread of the good news is notable. A people on fire!

Have you ever noticed the defensive way we look at the Church? For instance, we read that Jesus said of the Church that “the gates of hell will not prevail against it” (Matthew 16.18) and think of a fortress where we can be safe in a world of unbelief. The early Church advanced against the “gates of hell”! We think of the privilege of being part of the “body of Christ” (Ephesians 1.22,23), but don’t consider enough what the body is meant to be doing (4.1-16).

The Church has to live and tell the gospel. It can do neither without the indwelling Holy Spirit.

Praying for the Church

What should we be praying for when we think of the Church?

We cannot pray in isolation. We are part of the Church. It is weak and imperfect because it is made up of people like us! As we pray for revival, we must be prepared for the work to begin in us! The Church is Christ’s body, and just as the disease of one part can infect other parts, so as one part of the body becomes open to the enlivening and healing power of God, God’s wholeness will begin to spread to other parts of the body! Note Ephesians 4.16 -11 – “From (Christ) the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work”.

When you pray for revival, what are you expecting to happen? What sort of things do you pray for?

I think of a Church alive, on fire with God’s love, about the Master’s business!

In 2 Corinthians 5, Paul says that because Christ has died for all, he can no longer regard anyone from a human point of view – “If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!” (vv. 16,17).

Can we think that way about the Church too, seeing the Church with those new life possibilities that the Lord sees when he looks at us? praying with openness for the bridging of the gap between the now and the new, in us and in the rest of the body too?

Open to the reality, the presence, the power of God! A people on fire!

A People at Prayer

At 4.30 a.m. on 14th March 1977, it happened! Revival began among the aboriginal people in Arnhem Land – and it has spread!

Kevin Rrurrambu, school teacher from Elcho Island, had deep concern for the aboriginal people. A small number of them were in prayer. On the night in question, he was sitting outside his home with his wife and his wife’s sister. All night they continued in prayer. Then, at 4.30 a.m., it happened – they had a vivid experience of the presence and power of God. It was like Peter, James and John on Mount Hermon – a mist seemed to envelop them. It was nowhere else, just where they were. The Holy Spirit was poured out. People began gathering there each night to hear God’s Word and to pray. Numbers grew dramatically – 50, 150, 300 …

Some of us believe strongly that, in 1988, the Uniting Church should bring aboriginal preachers from the revival areas to share the gospel with our white Australian congregations.

Notice that revival began as people prayed. We may well ask – why hasn’t it happened in our congregations? Sometimes we suggest that it just isn’t God’s time. I wonder. Are we suggesting that God doesn’t mean us to live in the awareness of his presence and power? that we aren’t meant to be cleansed and available for his service? that we shouldn’t be a healed and healing fellowship? that he doesn’t mean the Gospel to be shared with such effectiveness and power that tens, hundreds and thousands of people are converted?

I believe that the barriers to not God! I believe that revival will come as we are open in persevering, prevailing prayer to God.

A New Testament Prayer Meeting

In Acts 4.23ff, we read about the prayer meeting which followed the threats to Peter and John before the Sanhedrin. The reaction of the believers was immediate – there was no thought of pulling back from the Lord’s mission. Instead, earnest prayer to the Lord.

“Sovereign Lord, you made the heaven and the earth and the sea, and everything in them. You spoke by the Holy Spirit through the mouth of your servant, our father David: ‘Why do the nations rage and the peoples plot in vain? The kings of the earth take their stand and the rulers gather together against the Lord and against his Anointed One’. Indeed Herod and Pontius Pilate met together with the Gentiles and the people of Israel in this city to conspire against your holy servant Jesus, whom you anointed. They did what your power and will had decided beforehand should happen. Now, Lord, consider their threats and enable your servants to speak your word with great boldness. Stretch out your hand to heal and perform miraculous signs and wonders through the name of your holy servant Jesus.”

They knew that what they had to do could only be done in the power of the Lord. They prayed with that expectation. “And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke the word of God boldly.”

Phases of Prayer

For many years we have thought of five major phases of prayer – adoration, thanksgiving, confession, intercession, petition. Sometimes the order has been different, or we have added other subdivisions, but that has become the major pattern. We have certainly regarded public worship as incomplete if it doesn’t include all these elements. They have also helped to guide our private prayers as well.

We have used this pattern sequentially – by this I mean that we start with adoration and move on through.

I want to suggest to you that we view these elements as interlocking and interrelated. Think of adoration and praise at the heart of our praying. Our thanksgiving, confession, intercession and petition ought not to be far from our adoration and praise – our acknowledgement of the reality, majesty, holiness, love and will of God. Our thanksgiving and confession are also related, as are confession and our intercession and petition, so too these latter two elements and thanksgiving.

Praying with this awareness is especially important as we prepare to pray for revival. Especially, let your prayers not be far from adoration and praise.

On Prayer

In Hebrews 11. 6 we are taught that “anyone who comes to (God) must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.” There is a God and we come as his believing people.

What is our adoration? It is our honouring of the Lord (Isaiah 29.13).It is delight in the Lord (Psalm 37.4). It is submitting to the Lord (James 4.7).

In 1 John 1.5, we read, “God is light: in his there is no darkness at all.” This relates to our thanksgiving as well as to our confession. In prayer we acknowledge who God is and who we are in relation to God.

In John 14.12-14 Jesus emphasises that prayer should be asking in his name. “You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it.” The condition of course is “in my name” – as my people, as those living under my Lordship, seeking to know and do my will.

In 1 Timothy 2.1ff, Paul gives some specific prayer instructions – “I urge, then, first of all, that requests, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for everyone – for kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness. This is good, and pleases God our Saviour, who wants all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.” Notice the inclusion of “thanksgiving” with the requests and intercessions. See too how the circumstances of life can affect the coming of people to salvation and the knowledge of the truth.

Note Paul’s words in Ephesians 6.18ff – “And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the saints…” Prayer “in the Spirit” is strong and affirmative, led by the Spirit, the members of the Body communicating with the Head. The specific requests here are for others within the Body – including Paul himself.

Think also of 1 Thessalonians 5.16-18 – “Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.” Our lives, of course, involve us in concentrated attention to many things. But we must live in the constant awareness of God’s presence, and turn readily to him in specific prayer – with joy and thanks.

Let us come together and agree together in prayer as those whose lives are in constant communion with the Lord!

Happy Birthday!

(A Sermon for Pentecost)

Happy Birthday, Church!

But, someone says, it’s not our birthday, wrong time of year, not the anniversary of church union, either! You’ve made a mistake, got it all wrong!

Have I, really? I thought I read it in the calendar of the Christian Church and in the lectionary too! It said “Birthday Sunday” – well, not actually those words, though reading between the lines I was quite sure that was what it meant!

Look, sir, you’re clearly a foreigner in these parts and don’t understand. We’re a Uniting Church. That happened nearly seven years ago. But the story of this congregation goes back a lot further than that. We’ve got a great history, great names, great stories – we have our time of year to celebrate that, but not just now!

Now I am puzzled. When I came here I was sure this was the Church that was born nearly two thousand years ago. I hope I haven’t made a mistake! Please be patient with me while I figure this one out. I’m sure if we go back to the records of that time we will get a clue!

It nearly didn’t

Now let’s see.

The Church I’m looking for began after a very traumatic time. Jesus, their Teacher and Lord, has, been put to death on a cross – a very nasty Roman form of execution, reserved for offenders from the subject races. Traumatic, did I say? – and shattering! They had begun to build up hopes around him, thought he might be a special deliverer of their nation, knew him to be a matchless Teacher, a unique Person, felt the presence of God when they near him.

Yes, sir, we know about him too – we honour him and try to follow his teachings!

But, as I said, he died. It looked as if there never would be a Church – at least, not like he talked about it. Just as you were saying, some of them were probably resolving (for he had influenced them so powerfully) – some of them were probably resolving to honour him and to try to follow his teachings. This wasn’t actually his idea of things when he had talked about the Church. In fact, it’s doubtful we would have heard about it at all if it had been like that.

According to the record, he came alive and they saw him – yes, actually saw him with their eyes, he ate food in their presence, even invited a doubter to put a finger in the nail-prints in his hands. There wasn’t any doubt about it really – it’s just that it was such a shock, quite unusual and unexpected.

Look, sir, we don’t want to be difficult, but we really do believe in the living Jesus. We have a creed we say where we definitely affirm that! But we live in a scientific age, and we’re thinking people, we’ve come of age – dead people don’t come alive, not even if their name is Jesus! We’ve come to appreciate the culture of that time. We still accept the basic thing they were saying – that the Jesus idea is alive, that something of his personality lives on and that his teachings are still important.

Wait a minute! That’s not what they were saying.

One of them wrote that the whole Christian thing is nonsense if Jesus didn’t really come alive! You see, they had the benefit, not just of his teaching, but of his life and example. Could they follow that teaching? Could they live the way he did? No way! At the end, one of them betrayed him to the Jewish leaders, another disowned any connection with him (three times, in fact) and the rest of them ran off! If they’d had ideas about themselves before this, there was no question then. They couldn’t say, “We’ve been with Jesus, we’re the special ones, look at US!” Crushing failure stared them in the face.

No. They met him all right. He was there – fully alive, literally and visibly present. He spoke to them, explained to them from the Scriptures (what we call the Old Testament) that his dying on the cross was part of God’s plan. They came to understand his death in a new way too. They saw references to what had happened all over the place – “He was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities: the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed" (Isaiah 53.5). That was for them – and for everybody, for the whole world!

The Impossible Task

But they couldn’t take it to the whole world. Jesus had said to some of them, some three years or so before, “Follow me and I will make you fishers of men” (Matthew 4.19). That had been intriguing, a fascinating thought. But now he had given it global implications – ”Go and make disciples of all nations, baptising them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I will be with you always, to the very end of the age.”

Are you suggesting that this is what the Church should still be on about? that we should be going and making disciples? Actually, we’ve found it helpful to have a base these days – you know, set up a programme and get them to come to us! It doesn’t get everyone, of course, but it gets a few! This discipling bit is a bit old-fashioned, don’t you think? I mean to say – folk have to become themselves, creatively express their own personalities.

Yes, I am sure that going and making disciples is what Jesus meant the Church to be doing. While we insist so strongly on people coming to us, the message will never get to most people. The Church l’ve been looking for certainly went out fearlessly to where people were and – yes – they made disciples. Disciples of Jesus, mind you – not moulding people after themselves.

But – you’re drawing me on there. They were as cautious as you seem to be about this whole business. Well, “cautious” may not be the word for it – uncertain, tentative, perhaps. No, that’s not quite it either. I suppose they could have put up a little sign outside one of their houses in Jerusalem and said, “Come in here if you want to learn about Jesus.” And on this discipling bit they had problems too – none of them had a rabbi’s qualifications. Not that Jesus had the formal qualifications, of course, but then that was different. But that wasn’t the strategy they had been given. They had to go where people were, carrying a message of good news. He had said, “Repentance and forgiveness of sins will be preached in his name to all nations… you are witnesses of these things.”

“Preach”, you say! But that’s one-way stuff! A bit confrontational, don’t you think? We should dialogue with people, I guess. And this witness bit – that’s one of those old-fashioned ideas. I mean – we only use the word today when we are thinking about a trial!

Is that such a bad idea? In a very real sense, Jesus is on trial. People need to come to a verdict about him – Who is he? What’s he here for? What’s it got to do with me? In a sense they were to give the evidence that would lead to a correct verdict – which is pretty important because the time is coming when the situation will be reversed. Jesus will be seen in all his truth and glory – he will be their Judge!

But look, now we’re really getting ahead of things – well and truly – to the end of time, in fact, though I guess it all helps to realise why they felt the way they did before the Church was born.

A lady is dying of cancer. Time is short and she says to her husband, '”Mary has lots of musical ability. I know it’s a bit awkward but I really would like her to go to such-and-such a school next year.” A day or two and she is gone. And next year? Mary goes to that school! A bit of inconvenince is involved, but she goes.

These followers of Jesus had received solemn instructions from the Lord himself, and then – he was gone! They knew he was alive. They knew he had promised to be with them. But as task was laid on them to do, and they couldn’t do it! So they didn’t set out on some alternative plan as we might have done, some pale second-best. No, they waited. Jesus had said, “I am going to send you what my Father has promised; but stay in the city until you have been clothed with power from on high,” and “You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”

So Jesus had given them an impossible task, but promised that they would receive power through the Holy Spirit, God present and active within them. Up till then, only special persons had received this Holy Spirit power. With the birth of the Church, a new era would begin – the Holy Spirit would be given to all believers. People would be “born again”, born of the Spirit as Jesus had told Nicodemus one night.

The Church is born

Anyway, it did happen – just as Jesus had promised. It was the Jewish feast of Pentecost, just seven weeks after Jesus had come alive after his awful death. Striking that it should have happened at that feast, really. It was a kind of harvest festival. The Jews also celebrated the giving of the Law to Moses on Mount Sinai then too. They had a belief – not in the Bible, mind you – that when God gave the Law to Moses, everyone throughout the world heard it in his own language. That’s a bit striking when you think of what happened when the Church was born!

That day, they were all together in one place – while they waited, they would do this – gather together and pray. Suddenly there was this sound. We might have described it as the rumble of a Jumbo going over – except that it wasn’t outside, just sort of filling the house where they were sitting. Then there was something else – they described it as like tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them.

Hey, that’s a bit odd. We don’t go for that sort of weird stuff here!

I’m just telling you how the Church was born. In fact, I don’t know of any times when exactly that has happened again. Some people really get hung up on that, want to insist on that as an authentic pattern that must happen over and over. But it doesn’t – not even for them! You see, the Church had been born - that bit of history can’t be repeated! Most important,they were filled with the Holy Spirit and powerfully and effectively began to share the message. Before the end of that day there were another 3000 believers. Soon the number had swelled to 5000.

Then the opposition got tough and killed one of them by the name of Stephen. But did that stop them? Not at all. Instead it sent them everywhere, carrying this same good news of Jesus with them.

Say, you stir my memory! I think I have heard about it all before. Perhaps you haven’t come to the wrong place, sir. Yes, that was the beginning of things, all right. It’s just that we’ve got a bit sidetracked along the way. Now – what was the beginning bit again?

Therefore let all the Church be assured of this: God has made this Jesus, whom you ignored both Lord and Christ.

Now I get it – Lord – and – Christ! Yes – I see! And this discipleship bit, what did they say about that?

“Repent and be baptised, everyone of you, in the name of Jesus Christ so that your sins may be forgiven. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. The promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off – for all whom the Lord our God will call.”

Yes – I remember now – that was the call all right – repent and be baptised… And what was Church life like in those days then?

“They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer.”

Yes, that was it! Thank you, sir! I think we may have wandered from the way a little. Ah, what a birth – and what a birthday! Lord, you haven’t forgotten us – thank you!

A People on Mission

It was Boxing Day last year and we were in Melbourne. In the corner of a park in Caulfield, we saw three boys climbing poles while a fourth boy looked on. A mother was sitting on a low wall with her son. Not far away, near the street, stood a newsboy with a sheaf of papers under his arm.

Now there may seem to be nothing particularly unusual about that, but I have reason to believe that they are still there -as they have been since 1980!

You see, they are sculpted in bronze – very aesthetic, and among a number of thoughtful features we saw in this park.

We appreciated them – lifelike and almost life-size, yet cold and silent.

Some folk seem to think it’s good to have a prominent church building, well-marked – there’s always a witness to God in the community. But What’s the use if the witness is cold and silent, always there but never communicative!

We can’t avoid the use of buildings and need wisdom in planning and using them. But in the New Testament, the word “church” is always used to refer to people, God’s people, his living witnesses.

When we pray for revival in the Church, our desire is for the Church to become what the Lord of the Church has always intended – a people of faith (believing him, depending on him, acting in response to him), a people on fire (indwelt by, empowered by, directed by the Holy Spirit), a people at prayer (always living and acting with reference to and in relationship to him) and – a people on mission!

Church and Mission

What is the Church? We have already noted that the Church is people, God’s people. Beyond that, if we attempt a definition, we must think of relationship (to the Lord) or of mission (his task). In our praying these two needs go hand in hand. We pray for a renewed faith in God and experience of his presence and power. We pray for a Church renewed in mission.

We have already given some thought to the Great Commission of Christ to his Church as recorded in Matthew 28.18-20 – “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptising them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I will be with you always, to the very end of the age.” And also in Luke 24.46-49 – “this is what is written: The Christ will suffer and rise from the dead on the third day, and repentance and forgiveness of sins will be preached in his name, beginning at Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things. I am going to send you what my Father has promised: but stay in Jerusalem until you have been clothed with power from on high.”

Here it is important for us to note the great priority tasks that Jesus has given us to do. In the Greek of Matthew 28.19-20, we find one imperative and three participles – literally, “going… make disciples… baptising… teaching…” We are to “make disciples” – that is the overall task. We are to do this by sharing the good news – as we preach the message about repentance and forgiveness of sins in the name of Jesus. People are to be drawn to faith, brought in to be nurtured – taught to obey the Lord’s teaching, coming into deeper fellowship. Notice that Jesus told them to “go”. He also insisted that they couldn’t do it alone. They needed his presence, they needed his promise (the Holy Spirit).

But what is the Church doing?

When I have the opportunity to meet at length with members of a congregation, we study together the Great Commission, then take a sheet of paper. Across the top, we list the priorities of Jesus for the Church as we have discovered them together. Then, down the left side, we list all the activities of our local congregation weekly, monthly, less frequently. We then try to see how what we are doing relates to the Commission. To some, of course this kind of activity can be very threatening – it has to be done with sensitivity. And how often, in every congregation, we have activities begun with faith and vision and continued without either!

How we need to remember that the Lord doesn’t command us without providing the means of obeying him. We have too often either – (a) set up our own alternative programme to depend on our own abilities and expertise; or (b) felt frustrated and guilty by our own powerlessness to do what we believe we ought to do.

Sometimes we have looked at Luke 24 and assumed that we have to wait for something first. Yet, “the promise is for you and your children, and for all who are far off “(Acts 2.39) – salvation and the Holy Spirit. We need the Holy Spirit released within us – “do not put out the Spirit’s fire” (1 Thessalonians 5.19), “do not grieve the Holy Spirit” (Ephesians 4.30).

Another Look at the Church’s Mission

A couple of years ago in Balmoral Parish, Brisbane, we undertook a consultation on our Parish youth and children’s ministry. This led us into a deeper look at the Church IS mission. After much prayerful consideration we came to a visual presentation of the Church’s mission which we have found very stimulating.

The overall mission of the Church is “making disciples”, yet at the heart of the Church’s life is worship of God – Father, Son and Holy Spirit. While the strategy of the Church is to “go”, we do so because Jesus invites them to “come” (Matthew 11.28-30). Part of the coming is evangelising, sharing the good news, bringing people to faith. Those who receive the good news have to be nurtured and brought into the worshipping community. But all whom God calls to himself he also sends. They need, of course, to be equipped for their ministry (service) within the Body and to the world.

Note that there is no direct reference to Christian education, for instance. Consider also the relationships. Nurturing and equipping are related functions within the coming and the going. Also, evangelising and serving are closely related to one another – in a way in which we have been unaccustomed to think of them.

The Life of the Body

The Church’s mission can only be fulfilled as each member functions properly within the Body – God can begin this with you –wherever you are within the life of the Church – preacher or pew-dweller.

We have tended to look at the Church for security or privilege. You know – “Things look pretty grim. Our numbers are getting down. But let’s remember how Jesus said the gates of hell would never prevail against the Church!” Here we are – locked in our fortress, safe and sound! But, as I read Acts, I notice that they seemed to think the gates of hell were out there somewhere – and nothing could stop them!

Or again – “The Church is the Body of Christ. Isn’t that marvellous? What a fantastic privilege – part of Christ’s Body!” Yet – what does the Head direct us to do today?

In a number of passages we are taught that we are inter-dependent within the Body. The Body can only fulfil its commissioned task as all members accept and exercise their spiritual gifts. Yet somehow we have the idea that all the gifts are tied up in the person “up-front”.

Note the emphasis in Ephesians 4.7-16. “To each one of us grace has been given as Christ apportioned it… It was he who gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, and some to be pastors and teachers (here we are inclined to heave a sigh of relief as our thoughts drift to others within the Church, but keep with it!), to prepare God’s people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fulness of Christ.”

The whole purpose of the “special gifts” mentioned is so that we may all be helped to use the gifts within us that are essential for the healthy working of the Body. From Christ “the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work”.

Is that the way our Synod and Presbytery operate? More pertinently, is that a picture of your Parish, your congregation?

It ought to be part of what we are “praying towards” as we pray for the reviving of the Church. When a person has the affliction in which the limbs seem not to coordinate with the commands of the head, he has many great problems in daily living. It is a serious matter when the arms, legs, eyes, ears, mouths, heart… of Christ’s Body seem to be uncoordinated and unresponsive to the commands of the Head.

Provival?

During a visit to Australia a couple of years ago, Dr. George Morris of U.S.A. Methodism suggested that we shouldn’t talk of REvival but PROvival. I confess that I shudder at the word! Sounds like some kind of breakfast cereal! Yet I believe that we must be aware of the concern he was expressing.

Our Fellowship does have an interest in the record of great spiritual awakenings. We can easily become backward-looking, history-bound, open only to the past, seeking a repetition of what happened formerly, of what God did in in an earlier age.

But we need above all to be open to God, to his reality and power. His Word and purposes do not change – but notably he hasn’t set the Church a detailed programme. “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and for ever” (Hebrews 13.8)! That doesn’t make him static, but alive and powerful! We can trust God to lead us forward into his mission to our present age!

A Call to the Church

In mid-December '83, we were travelling south along the Princes Highway. We had our sights set on Orbost where we planned to fill our tank with cheaper Victorian petrol. The helpful road markers encouraged us every five kilometres with this kind of information – “O 140”.

But then there was a change. It was not a conspicuous sign by the road which said, “Victorian State Border”, but the information suddenly changed – “M 510”. Looking on the back of the sign, we saw exactly the same information. Whatever the immediate destination, it is assumed that the ultimate destination must be Melbourne. It is the distance from that destination that counts.

In states larger than Victoria, such a system of road-marking would be impractical – so to non-Victorians it seems rather odd!

Still, it focusses an important question for us.

God has a purpose, a destination for us individually and as a Church. How far are we from his destination? Are we getting closer to it, or further away?

What is the Spirit saying?

In November 1983, representatives of nearly all state Fellowships for Revival within the Uniting Church met at Croydon Park, Sydney, to consider the work of the Fellowship at national level. All states had been asked to consider and bring with them a statement of what they believed the Spirit of God is saying to the Uniting Church.

The National Council received reports of various state activities, and gave careful consideration to what should be done at national level to encourage and help one another in furthering the work of revival. Then we received and listened to the statements that had come.

We believe the Spirit was speaking and those six statements were drawn together in a call to the Church –

The Council of the National Fellowship for Revival in the Uniting Church in Australia, meeting in Sydney in November, 1983, affirms the mission of the Uniting Church, within which the Fellowship has its place.

We are thankful for every evidence of the movement of the Spirit of God within his Church, for an increasing openness to evangelism, for an evident searching for deeper spirituality, and for the genuine social concern within the Church. We are conscious that everything positive within the Church has come from the presence and activity of God.

We acknowledge that for us personally, and unitedly as a Church, there is much more to attain. We must be more open to God’s presence and activity, more dependent on him in prayer, more aware of the limitations of human endeavours against the mighty power of God’s Spirit at work.

In the Spirit’s call to the Church at Sardis, we hear the call of the Spirit to the Uniting Church in Australia: “Awake, and strengthen what remains” (Revelation 3.2). Within our Church life, and in our witness, we are called back to the recognition of the sinfulness of sin, and to the basics of repentance, faith, conversion, and the filling by the Spirit. Too often, we have brought people into the Church, or into Service, rather than into Christ by repentance and faith. Such second-storey Christianity is without foundation, and leads to disaster.

We affirm the reality of God the Creator, whose loving purpose is toward his creatures, who has spoken in Word and history, and has acted for the redemption of sinful mankind.

God calls us to renew our own relationship to him, laying open our lives to his Word, and to the discipline of prayer, then going in obedience to the Great Commission to preach the Gospel as we find it in the New Testament. Here is the only way Australia can be positively changed. God is waiting to break into history today in Australia with a great outpouring of his Spirit on his Church and on our nation.

We need Christ-centred preaching from our pulpits – his Deity, his Death, his Resurrection, and his Coming Again. This must be accompanied by an open call to repent, to receive Jesus Christ by personal faith, to become Christ’s person, and so part of his Body.

The local Body of Christ must be built up in love and kept pure. This is the fertile soil for the growth of New Life. Members and adherents must be called to make Jesus LORD. They need to be available to the Holy Spirit – to be filled, and to keep on being filled daily by him, to be called to grow to maturity and live a holy life.

We need a stronger emphasis on the Bible as the Word of God, the Church as the Body of Christ, our bodies as Temples of the Holy Spirit, and the world as our mission field. We need again to see that those who do not come to Christ are lost! We need a greater emphasis on Heaven and Hell.

The Spirit is calling the Church back to its first love, its first priorities. As the Church submits wholeheartedly to the Lordship of Christ, as our nation heeds Christ’s call to repentance, we will see God express his will in answer to our fervent prayer for national revival.

To this end, we commit ourselves, and call on our brothers and sisters within all of Christ’s Church to join in commitment to prayer, that we may discern God’s will, and be empowered by his Spirit to live, work and witness to his glory.

This statement has been circulated to every minister, deaconess and lay pastor within the Uniting Church throughout Australia. On our two month’s leave at the beginning of the year, I spoke to a number of ministers about it. Yes, it had been received – in most cases with obvious appreciation.

That statement has in fact been before us in substance throughout this weekend. Please read it carefully, note its affirmation, its thanks, the needs it recognises and its commitment to prayer.

Yet as we have proceeded through this conference, it is this last point that I find laid upon me. We are a fellowship who believe in prayer and desire to see Revival in the Church. However, membership is not in itself a commitment to prayer. More than teaching about prayer, we need to pray. More than teaching about revival, we need to lay ourselves open to God.

Our theme has been – “Reviving the Church: Counting the Cost”. Therefore, I have prayerfully considered and now lay before you a “Covenant of Prayer”. I challenge you to attach your signature to it and, in so doing, to covenant together to pray for, expect and work for the Revival that is, I believe, God’s will for our Church.

Covenant of Prayer

God has spoken. We have his Word in the Scriptures.

We confess that too often we have allowed differences concerning the Scriptures to make them a battle-ground in the Church instead of a launching-pad for faithful obedience to His mission in the world.

God has spoken – spoken in His Son, Jesus Christ. We confess that too often we have contended for His Deity and for His redemptive work, but been slow to acknowledge Him as Lord.

God has spoken – spoken in power through His Spirit poured out at the first Christian Pentecost. God has never withdrawn that gift from the Church and never failed to give him to all who truly believe, but we confess that we have limited him, frustrated him, disappointed him.

We seek revival, acknowledging our need to be a people of faith, a people on fire, a people at prayer, a people on mission! We desire revival in the Uniting Church in our State – a revival embracing every aspect of the life of the Church, a deeper spirituality, a keener awareness of the reality and power of God through the Holy Spirit, a total submission to the Word of God and commitment to his will.

To this end, we covenant

(a) to seek to understand God’s purposes for us and for the Church by diligent and prayerful study of the Scriptures;

(b) to submit ourselves to the Lord for his cleansing and renewing within us and for his enlivening and healing Holy Spirit;

(c) to seek to know and to exercise the gifts the Spirit has given us for building up his Body, the Church;

(d) to pray regularly for revival in the Church – for its ministers, elders and people, for Presbytery officers, for the Moderator and the staff of the various Synod departments, for the Theological Hall staff and all in training for the ministry, for the President and Secretary of Assembly and all Assembly officers;

(e) to seek, in the power of the Spirit, to be Christ’s witnesses to those presently outside the life of the Church and to pray for and expect the conversion of at least one person or family this year;

(f) to prayerfully support and encourage others who join with us in this covenant of prayer.

We make this covenant, humbly trusting in God and seeking his glory. We call on our Christian brothers and sisters who are of like mind to join us in this covenant. May the hand of the Lord be upon us all!

I commit myself to this covenant of prayer.

Signed…………………….. Date…………………….

Appendix: Fellowship for Revival

During the twelve years 1960-1972 in New South Wales, Victoria, Queensland, South Australia and Tasmania there spontaneously came into existence a number of unofficial Evangelical Fellowships within the Methodist Church with the common objective of seeking a renewal of the spiritual life of that Church.

These groups were known as the Aldersgate Fellowship in New South Wales and Queensland, the Fellowship for Revival in Victoria and Tasmania and the Aldersgate Fellowship for Revival in South Australia. A National Conference of these fellowships, held at Camberwell Methodist Church, Melbourne, on 4th and 5th August 1972, resolved to constitute a National Fellowship for Revival (NFFR) linking these state fellowships.

After the incorporation of the Methodist Church into the Uniting Church in Australia on 22nd June 1977, the National Council met at Camberwell on 4th and 5th November 1977 and confirmed an earlier decision to continue the function of the NFFR as an independent organisation with the goodwill of, and within the life of, the Uniting Church in Australia.

At the end of 2003, the Fellowship ceased to exist as such, having chosen to merge with EMU (Evangelical Members within the Uniting Church inn Australia). EMU became part of The Reforming Alliance (RA) within the Uniting Church in Australia, a new coalition of concern that emerged from the Evangelical Summit held 22-24 September 2003 in Newtown, Sydney. RA is now absorbed into the Assembly of Confessing Congregations (http://www.confessingcongregations.com/).

My article, The National Fellowship for Revival, was published by AFES Graduates Fellowship, Sydney, 1986 in Interchange 40. It contains some of the material from the present series and is available on my website at http://peterjblackburn.net/revival/nffr.htm.

Peter J Blackburn, Allingham, Qld, 2013