Great Commission Resurgence - some personal thoughts and comments

I have begun to see and hear these words more often - "we need a Great Commission Resurgence." In reading many of the articles on this call, I have come to the conclusion that this is really a call for revival, especially within the Southern Baptist Convention. The fact that growth has stagnated and reaching and retaining young adults has become problematic, church leaders are looking for a solution. With regard to that solution, let me offer the following observations.

1. Talk of the need for a “Great Commission Resurgence” is basically a recognition and admission that the evangelical church in the United States, including the SBC, desperately needs an old-fashioned, Holy Spirit revival.

2. Trying to define and orchestrate a revival of the church under a banner such as the Great Commission Resurgence makes that effort just another program of the organized evangelical church. As a program, it has little hope of being any more successful in reviving the church than any of the other programs have been.

3. As a movement, the evangelical church, especially as it has found a manifestation in the “mega church” phenomenon, is becoming spiritually lifeless. Speculation about the demise of the evangelical movement may be an admission that it has become ineffective in making disciples of Jesus Christ.

4. God is much more interested in redeeming the lost souls of men that any of His disciples are or could be. The fact that many evangelical churches are not effectively reaching the lost is an indication that God is not at work among them or that His work is being hindered in their midst.

5. True revival is totally the work of God that He performs in the hearts of believers by drawing them to spiritual maturity and Christ-likeness. The Christ-likeness of believers – their deliberate Christianity – is then used of God to draw the lost to faith in Christ. The salvation of the lost is the manifestation of the true revival that has already occurred among the believers.

6. The men and women whom God chooses to REVIVE are the ones who are sold out to His will regardless of the personal cost or consequences – even if that eliminates them from any personal recognition. Reluctance to accept this renunciation of personal recognition is what keeps many believers and church leaders from experiencing God’s revival.

7. When revival comes, some of the necessary components will be:

• Revival will be the work of the Holy Spirit in such a way that no man or group of men will be able rightfully to glory in the accomplishment of the work.
• Revival will begin and grow in places and ways that will not be anticipated.
• When it comes, revival will be well established before the institutional church recognized that it has happened. The Holy Spirit comes unseen, but His work is unmistakable (John 3:8).
• The Holy Spirit will use men and women who are concerned about doing the work for which God called them seeking only the glory of Jesus Christ. They will have no thought or concern for personal name recognition since the advancement of the Kingdom is their goal.