I suppose this might trigger some negative responses, but I want to make the point that numerical growth is not a sign of revival.
I was part of a church that over the course of ten years, baptized in Jesus name and/or saw infillings of the Holy Spirit upwards of several hundred at least.
That church runs about 30 adults plus kids.
It's not revival if there is no survival of those "revived" (i.e. brought back to life through the Gospel).
Filled pews don't mean much. I don't mean to discount anything, or what God has done or is doing. It's exciting to see babies reborn into the Kingdom. But it's also VERY discouraging to see those "babies" fall away because there wasn't the right structure? ministry? implementation of vision? to keep them.
I know a former missionary to Papua New Guinea who witnessed 7,000 people receive the Holy Spirit at once, only to see almost all of them leave the Apostolic church because there was no way to disciple and fellowship them all.
The 3,000 that were added to the church on Pentecost remained in the church because they "abided in the teachings of the Apostles" (
Acts 2:42).
Unless we can get the numbers of people God is adding to us into the apostle's doctrine, all we're ever going to see is waves of people crashing on the shore, only to be taken out again with the tide.
Numbers are an important part of the Bible, but God's never needed numbers to prove Himself to the world.
One saint that gets a deeper revelation and understanding of the Father, who becomes more intimate and transparent with the Lord, and grows thereby, and abides ever more faithfully in the Word, until death takes him or her, is a/the revival that matters.
Hybrid Mode
