Photo cred: Matt Bennett
Written by: David Hood
In my last post, I shared that despite the many challenges we’re facing in these times, I am optimistic that there is brightness to the future. I have seen amongst leaders in my city a greater humility and vulnerability, a holy discontent and desperation, and a renewed hunger for and dependency on God that is resulting in fresh devotion to Jesus, holiness, worship, prayer, collaboration, and mission. There is hope. A palpable sense that God is up to something; that we are in a moment.
Now I want to be careful. I’m not saying we’re on the precipice of nationwide revival; millions discovering and surrendering to Jesus. I’m not saying that the upside-down Kingdom of Jesus will come to be represented in the laws of our nation and the values of our culture. I’m not saying we’ll resurrect Christendom (and I’m not convinced we should). And I’m not saying the future will not be without significant challenges for discipleship and mission, or that there won’t be increasing persecution, marginalization, and loss.
I certainly hope and pray for revival, for His Kingdom to come, and for His will to be done in Canada as it is in heaven. But those might be further off. Something else is necessary first. What I feel we are starting to taste and see is a renewal of the Canadian church. We are being humbled and brought to a place where we actually get that we are nothing without Jesus. There is a growing desire to know Him, to experience His power and presence, to surrender our methods and strategies to Him and see Him move, to preach Him and only Him, to exalt Him above our churches, networks, and denominations, to obey Him unreservedly and unashamedly, to be satisfied with Him alone, and to repent of the worldly pursuits that have distracted us from Him and caused great harm (the American dream, wealth, fame, celebrity, empire, success, comfort, relevancy, power).
I hear a lot of people talking about and praying for revival and the transformation of our nation (and there is certainly nothing wrong with that!), but I think what’s needed first is a renewal of the church; a re-Christening of our faith, and expressions of faith. The transformation has to start with the house of the Lord. It is when we are filled up, that rivers of living water will flow out of us (John 7:38).
I think this is the moment we’re in; a moment of potential renewal. We could miss it, but if we lean into this stirring of God in our hearts to return to our first love, there is no telling what He could do in our time; in our generation.
In a recent essay on the decline and renewal of the American church, Tim Keller cast a beautiful vision for what a renewal of the North American church could look like and what it could lead to in the wider society. Keller states, Our vision cannot be simply for a restoration of churches and Christian institutions to their former states of strength. That is to mistake means for ends. Our vision should be that the astonishing biblical possibilities for the church as the community of the Spirit would be realized in (North American) society in ways it never has before.
What are those possibilities?
Here is just some of what he wrote (I have obviously substituted Canada for the US):
1. Cities become filled with flourishing neighbourhoods that point to the churches within them as a crucial source of their life and strength.
2. Every Canadian community is honeycombed with home fellowship groups and house churches that build up the Christians within them, welcome non-believers, and serve their neighbours.
3. New churches are being planted twice as fast as churches are closing, and 2/3 of the people in the new churches are formerly unchurched and non-believers.
4. The Protestant church which holds to the historic, orthodox faith, begins to grow faster than the Canadian population.
5. Large percentages of Christians become able to speak about their faith in their daily relationships in ways that are not perceived by most of the recipients as offensive or even awkward, but instead are received as helpful and positive.
6. The movement of the young out of the churches would be completely reversed. Children and youth in the church are equipped to see not only the beauty of the historic faith, but the deeply inadequate alternative identities, narratives, and answers provided by the culture.
7. Christians would become famous for being the ones who show up in force first to help victims whenever there is any disaster.
8. Christian churches would be known as the most racially and culturally diverse institutions in society. The ‘face’ of the renewed Christian church toward society—its leading voices—are highly diverse ethnically, and the Canadian church is tightly connected to the global church.
9. The Protestant gospel of salvation by grace alone through faith alone is lifted up prominently and beautifully across many denominations, escaping the creeping moralism endemic to the church over the ages, yet is done so in a way that encourages deep life change into Christ-like holiness.
10. Many denominations and traditions flourish, each grateful and confident in its distinctiveness, and yet highly cooperative and collaborative across denominational lines, without doctrinal dilution or compromise.
11. The church would become publicly recognized as a refuge for sufferers, known for its ability to help people through grief, pain, and loss.
Yes and Amen!
At this point, it is important to make two observations. 1) Renewal usually follows a period of decline, loss, and pain. I think we’re seeing some of that and there may very well be more on the way. This refining is hard and uncomfortable, but the kind of humility, vulnerability, and need for God I’ve seen and experienced could not come about without a felt sense of powerlessness and helplessness born of suffering. 2) I feel the need to say that God is good, His promises are true, His gospel is glorious and powerful, and Jesus is worth following all the way to death even if none of these things happen in our lifetime. Mixed with our prayers for revival, we need to pray for strength, perseverance, faithfulness, and contentment.
But don’t you want to see these things happen? Don’t you want to believe these things could happen? If God is potentially renewing the Canadian church for our good and for the good of our world, don’t you want to lean into this?
I believe we are in a moment. God is doing something. Let’s not miss this. Let’s stay sensitive to this. And let’s prioritize prayer for the increased presence and power of God, and for us to increase in love, surrender, devotion, holiness, repentance, obedience, and missional vision and courage in our lives, in our churches, and collaboratively with others across denominational lines, and let’s take whatever steps of faith we need to.
Unfortunately, for a lot of people, there is a built-in skepticism that anything good could happen in our post-Christian society. Many Christians believe we are too far gone. We are in the last days. But is this true? Is it too late? I will explore these questions in my next post.