The short answer is that you can’t start one. I picked up a copy of Revival and Revivalism by Iain Murray and have been working my way through it. One of the chapters started out painfully slow with all the statistics of congregational growth among the denominations in the early 1800’s but then the author started to reflect on what brought about revival. I thought his discoveries were very helpful and could be of benefit to the church today. Here are a few thoughts:
“ Thus what characterizes a revival is not the employment of unusual or special means but rather the extraordinary degree of blessing attending the normal means of grace. There were no unusual evangelistic meetings, no special arrangements, no announcements of pending revivals. Pastors were simply continuing in the services they had conducted for many years when the great change began.
( Page 129 Revival and Revivalism Iain Murray)
Later he talks about prayer and I thought this was very interesting:
“ As with the truth that is preached, prayer has no power inherent in itself. On the contrary, true prayer is bound up with a persuasion of our inability and our complete dependence on God. Prayer, considered as a human activity, whether offered by few or by many, can guarantee no results. But prayer that throws believers in heartfelt need on God, with true concern for the salvation of sinners, will not go unanswered. Prayer of this kind precedes blessing, not because of any necessary cause and effect, but because such prayer secures an acknowledgment of the true Author of the blessing. And where such a spirit of prayer exists it is a sign that God is already intervening to advance His cause. One thing that can be said with certainty about the 1790’s, before any general indications of a new era were to be seen, is that there was a growing concern among Christians to pray. “ ( page 129 ibid )
