The story is told of a boy who left home, pockets filled with his father’s inheritance, ready to make his way in the world. Out from under the father’s watchful gaze, he tried just about every pleasure previously forbidden. For a while all seemed well, but as his pockets emptied so did his soul. By the time the economy of the land crumbled, his internal world had crumbled too. Now subjected to a minimum wage job feeding pigs, this previous heir lived a tired and hopeless life.
Then one day everything changed, though on the outside nothing had changed at all. He woke up in the same hovel, had the same bank balance, fed the same pigs, has the same empty tummy. Only one tiny, almost imperceptible mental shift, “He came to his senses” Luke 15:17.
The boy high-tails it home, not prompted by any outside intervention. One day he is settled in the pigpen, far from his father, and the next day he just wakes up and wants to go home.
This story was of course told by the greatest storyteller of all time, Jesus. And if I had to describe what I am seeing in the local Church at this time I would sum it up with this story.
For many months now, documentation has been building around what people have called, “The Quiet Revival.” Reports have been flooding in about mass baptisms in France, people queuing to get into prayer meetings in England, university campuses experiencing hundreds coming to faith in America, public figures talking about Jesus and leaving behind a previous life to come home to the Father. And yet no-one can really explain it.
These events were not prompted by excellent church strategy or charismatic communicators of the gospel. They were not preceded by a renewed intention to seek and find those wandering far from faith. Instead, it is as if many in the western world suddenly woke up one day, came to their senses, and started to make their way back home.
These are, it would seem, unprecedented times. If this is indeed the case, and I understand some of you may yet be sceptical, but if the western world is experiencing some kind of awakening to God, what should we as Christians do?
Prayer of availability
I think, if you, like me, ache for more, prayer is where we start. As news began to build of what the Lord was doing, I found myself on my knees saying over and over again, “Lord please do not pass us by. If you are doing something on the earth in these days, please do not pass us by.” That season of prayer marked me. I realised as I sought the Lord that some of the motivations of my heart needed to be purified so I could be filled with God’s deep longing for his children who were afar off. We start with prayers of availability. Here I am Lord, create in me a clean heart and then if you require anything, here I am send me. Do not pass us by.
Posture of availability
As some of my friends and I gave ourselves over to prayer, we began to see miraculous things happen, not on our newsfeeds, but in front of our very eyes. In our very ordinary, local church, without any strategy or planning, people started to come to faith. It started one Sunday evening when a young man stumbled through our doors and immediately began to weep. He had just woken up one day and wanted to come home to the Father. He had googled churches, found us, and there in the pre-service prayer meeting came back to Jesus. Since then, we have seen more people come to faith in a year than I have in my entire Christian ministry. Most of the stories are the same, “I woke up one morning and just knew God was real.” No invite, no strategy, they just came to their senses.
We are finding that people are coming to church to find out how to give their lives to God, not to be persuaded. They have already made their mind up and are simply seeking a Christian to show them how. In a climate like this we as Christians need a posture of availability, open and aware that those around us may just be waiting for a conversation about Jesus with someone who knows him.
Practices of availability
Many new believers need those who are willing to disciple them. Now is the time to step up and be personally available; to walk with those coming to faith and share our lives with them. This does not require a degree in theology but a simple hand outstretched to a new believer and the invitation… “Come follow Jesus WITH me.”
Perhaps you could invite a new believer around for dinner, introduce them to your church community, have a coffee, answer some questions, talk about your experience of following Jesus… Now is not the time to abdicate discipleship to “the professionals”. We are all needed!
Charlotte Curran is Pastor of Christian Fellowship Church at Strandtown, East Belfast.
Artwork: Return of the Prodigal by Merve Jones.
Please note that the statements and views expressed in this article of those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of Contemporary Christianity.
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