8-10 minutes read.

Welcome to the Revival Reality Blog — an honest exploration of Christian revival, spiritual awakening, and the lasting impact of historic moves of God. Beyond the hype, we’ll look at what revival really means, how awakenings have shaped church and society, and what these extraordinary moments can teach us about prayer, Christian discipleship, gospel renewal, mission, evangelism and revival, and everyday faith today.

Have you ever wondered about the difference between Christian revival and spiritual awakening, or whether we should be praying for revival in the Church or awakening across our communities? If so, this blog series is for you.

For over thirty years, we have read, reflected on, and been stirred by accounts of historic revivals and historic moves of God. We have also witnessed and experienced moves of God in Europe, Asia and Africa that have left a lasting mark on us — deepening our longing to see more of God at work in our own lives, church and community. And yet, for much of our lives, revival has not been our everyday reality. We have discovered that God often delights in working through the ordinary as well as the extraordinary.

Over the next few months, we’ll ask honest, searching questions about revival — what it is, what it does, and what impact it has:

• Is there a Biblical pattern for pursuing revival?
• How does revival shape the leaders who carry it?
• Is revival the destination — or the catalyst for something greater?
• Have past revivals renewed the gospel message, or reshaped it?
• Are revivals more effective than steady, ongoing evangelism?
• What lasting legacies do revivals have?
• Why are we so fascinated by the signs of revival?
• What can we learn from those who have questioned or critiqued revivals?

What Is a Move of God?

There are two key modern terms often used to describe a move of God throughout history: Christian revival and spiritual awakening.

• Revival. A time when interest in religion starts again in a stronger way than before, or a meeting or series of meetings organised to encourage this to happen. In Christian terms, revival often means church renewal, deeper prayer, renewed holiness, fresh love for God, personal revival, and increased evangelism.
• Awakening. A renewal of interest in religion, especially in a community. A spiritual awakening reaches beyond church life into wider society, stirring spiritual hunger, community awakening, community transformation, and a fresh awareness of the need for God.

The key difference is this: revival renews the spiritual life of churches, while awakening reaches far beyond church walls and stirs whole communities to recognise their need for God. In other words, revival vs awakening is not simply a matter of language; it is about the scope of impact. Revivals often lead to deeper faith, Christian discipleship, prayer, and increased conversions within churches; awakenings, by contrast, awaken people across wider society — many of whom had little or no previous connection with Christian faith.

A helpful example is what the UK press called the Toronto Blessing revival in the mid-1990s. This was a modern example of Christian revival: it deepened many believers’ awareness of God’s love, brought emotional healing, encouraged church renewal, and was marked by joy and laughter. Its direct impact on wider society was limited, but its indirect influence was significant, shaping evangelistic initiatives such as the Alpha Course, strengthening evangelism and revival, and echoing many features of earlier revival movements.

By contrast, the Chinese Christian awakening — estimated to have been unfolding for more than forty years — has reached far beyond church life and into society itself. During that time, the number of believers has reportedly grown from around 8 million to an estimated 100 million. Its wider impact has included grassroots advocacy for civil liberties, the empowerment of women in leadership, a growing commitment to public welfare, and signs of Christian social transformation.

Perhaps the most profound legacy of the Chinese awakening will be the vision to take the gospel to the Middle East. We first heard about this vision in the mid-1990s when we visited Hong Kong to smuggle Bibles into Asia. In our latest book, we describe meeting Chinese Christians who risked their lives to carry Bibles across their country. One of them had a face that shone with the glory of God [1]. In a future blog post, we will explore awakening and revival legacies.

Another example of a spiritual awakening is the 1970’s Jesus Movement, which was recounted in the 2023 movie Jesus Revolution. This movement was a major Christian awakening that emerged on the West Coast of the US in the late 1960’s. Disenchanted hippie counterculture youth embraced evangelical Christianity, adopting informal worship styles, rock music, communal living, and a renewed passion for the gospel.

By 1971, the movement had become impossible to ignore. Time magazine put it on the national stage with a major cover story titled “The Jesus Revolution,” complete with a bright, psychedelic image of Jesus. The moment was striking: only five years earlier, Time had provoked national debate with its stark “Is God Dead?” cover. Now the magazine was reporting that Jesus was very much alive in the songs, testimonies, and radical hope of America’s youth[2].

Perhaps the most unforgettable scenes were the mass baptisms as tens of thousands of young people embraced the Christian faith in full public view. At Pirate’s Cove in Corona del Mar, California, hundreds and sometimes thousands of people were baptized in the ocean in exuberant, festival-like ceremonies. It transformed worship from traditional hymns to rock, folk, and acoustic guitar-driven songs.

Its legacy can still be felt in the ministries, churches, and communities that grew out of it. But perhaps its most powerful contribution was the way it challenged the cultural story of its time. In an era when secular media often dismissed faith as outdated or irrelevant, this movement offered a striking counter-narrative: faith could be vibrant, youthful, creative, and spiritually hungry.

It stood apart from both the formality of traditional establishment churches and the excesses of “free love” and drug culture. Just as importantly, it helped many young people find a way back into mainstream society, while offering practical support through rehabilitation work and care for the homeless and vulnerable[3].

What Kind of Move of God Are We Praying For?

To state the obvious, what God begins amongst Christians should never be seen as something intended to remain contained within the walls of the Church. When God moves among his people, the fruit of that movement should naturally flow outward, touching homes, workplaces, schools, neighbourhoods, and eventually the wider society around us. A Christian revival is a beautiful and necessary work of God in the hearts of believers, renewing love, faith, holiness, prayer, and hunger for his presence.

Yet a spiritual awakening reaches further still, because it does not stop with the renewal of Christians; it begins to affect people who may not yet know God, shaping the moral, spiritual, and even cultural atmosphere of a community. In that sense, awakening is greater than revival because of the breadth of its impact. It is not only about Christians being refreshed, but about society being stirred, challenged, healed, and drawn towards God through community awakening and Christian social transformation.

It is easy, and very understandable, for us to spend much of our prayer life focused on our own needs, our own struggles, our own churches, and our own desire for personal renewal. These things do matter, and God invites us to bring them before him. However, if our vision becomes too small, we may end up praying only for blessing within the Christian community while giving less attention to the deep needs of the society in which God has placed us.

Our neighbourhoods, towns and cities are full of people carrying loneliness, fear, confusion, injustice, broken relationships, addiction, anxiety, and spiritual emptiness. If the move of God we long for is truly from him, surely it should lead us to pray not only for ourselves, but also for our neighbours, our streets, our schools, our leaders, and those who would never yet think to enter a church building.

So the question is not simply whether we want more of God, but why we want more of God. Do we pray for his presence mainly so that we can feel personally revived, encouraged, and spiritually satisfied, or do we ask him to move in such a way that our neighbourhood, city and nation experience a genuine awakening?

Of course, personal revival is important, because God often begins his work by renewing his people first. But if that renewal is authentic, it should enlarge our hearts and stretch our prayers beyond ourselves. We should begin to long for a move of God that changes the atmosphere around us, awakens spiritual hunger in those who are distant from him, restores compassion in the Church, strengthens Christian mission, and brings visible hope to the place where we live.

Are we praying and positioning our lives for personal revival, church renewal, or a wider spiritual awakening?

Questions for reflection:

1. Where do you most need personal revival in your own walk with God?

2. How could church renewal in your local Christian community lead to deeper prayer, discipleship, and evangelism?

3. What would a genuine spiritual awakening or community awakening look like in your neighbourhood, town, or city — and how might it strengthen Christian mission?

Let us know what you think of this blog. Please leave a comment or question and we will get back to you.

[1] Exodus 34:29-35, Matthew 17:2 & Acts 6:15.

[2] https://time.com/collections/a-century-of-impact/6291376/jesus-revolution-time-magazine-cover/

[3] https://www.christianitytoday.com/2025/07/jesus-people-vibe-shift-zoomer-men-conservative-theology-church/