Reformation or Revival?

Does the church in our Western
world need a revival or a reformation?

When we look realistically at the
state of the church, we have to recognize
a serious problem. Consider how
the church’s influence has greatly
waned in Europe. In the United Kingdom,
church attendance has dwindled,
and many church buildings have
been abandoned and turned into secular
facilities.

Careful research that Answers in
Genesis commissioned through America’s
Research Group documents that
the church in America is in trouble. The
results have been published in three
major books: Already Gone, Already
Compromised, and Ready to Return.
Research on Millennials has confirmed
around two-thirds of young people are
leaving the church by college age, with
few returning. Most Millennials who
still regularly attend church are very
secularized. Forty percent declare they
are not born again, 65% believe being
good will get them to heaven, and 40%
openly support gay marriage.

Also, from my years of experience
interacting with churches and church
leaders, and reading research conducted
on Christian institutions, a
spirit of compromising God’s Word
in Genesis with evolutionary ideas
(in biology, geology, astronomy, and
anthropology) permeates the church.

Secular thinking has permeated
Western cultures, and there’s been
a generational change in worldview
within the church. In America, Christian
symbols have been by and large
removed from the culture, and prayer,
Bible, and creation have been all but
eliminated from the government education
system.

Many of those who remember how
Christianized the West used to be call
for a revival in our churches. Along
with the psalmist, they cry: “Will you
not revive us again, that your people
may rejoice in you?” (Psalm 85:6).

What is the difference between
reformation and revival?

In the 1866 Sword and Trowel, C. H.
Spurgeon defined revival: “The word
revive . . . may be interpreted thus—to
live again, to receive again a life which
has almost expired; to rekindle into a
flame the vital spark which was nearly
extinguished.”

Notice the condition for revival. You
can only revive something that was
once healthy. While I agree that we
need a new revival in our churches to
sweep the land, something needs to
come first.

Much decay
has occurred
as generations
(and many
church leaders)
have been
abandoning
the authority
of God’s Word.

I suggest the church body has a cancer
that is attacking its life, and this
needs to be dealt with, so the body can
be revived. In this era, compromise on
the historical truths of Genesis, which
leads to further compromise throughout
Scripture, is a cancer. Much decay
has occurred as generations (and many
church leaders) have been abandoning
the authority of God’s Word. This has
opened the door for secular thinking
to permeate the church, including
antibiblical views of marriage.

It is my contention that for God to
bring a revival to the church, there
needs to be a new reformation. Reformation
is a call of the church back
to honoring the absolute authority of
the Word of God, from the very first
verse in Genesis. We need a new reformation
today—a reformation where
God’s people, and particularly Christian
leaders, repent of compromising
God’s Word.

I’m reminded of the words of the
prophet Jeremiah addressing the people
of his day: “‘But you have played
the harlot with many lovers; yet return
to Me,’ says the Lord” (Jeremiah 3:1).
Also, the words of the prophet Zechariah:
“‘Return to Me,’ says the Lord of
hosts, ‘and I will return to you’”
(Zechariah 1:3).

I would love to see God bring a
revival in our churches. But how can
this happen if God’s people, and particularly
many of its leaders, are not
honoring God’s Word as they should?
“Come, and let us return to the Lord”
(Hosea 6:1).

I love how the great expositional
teacher of the twentieth century, Martin
Lloyd Jones, put it:

“The Church, after all, is the Church
of God. . . . We are a people for God’s
own peculiar possession. And why
has he called us out of darkness into
his own marvelous light? Surely it is
that we may show forth his praises,
his excellencies, his virtues. And,
therefore, we should be concerned
about this matter [of revival] primarily
because of the name, and the glory,
the honor of God himself. Whether we
like it or not, it is a fact that the world
judges God himself, and the Lord Jesus
Christ, and the whole of the Christian
faith, by what it sees in us. We are his
representatives, we are the people who
take his name upon us, . . . and the man
outside the Church regards the Church
as the representative of God.”

At this point in time, the world sees
much of the church accepting secular
thinking and compromising God’s
Word with the pagan religion of evolution,
which the world uses to justify
rejecting God. How can the church
impact the world when church members
dishonor God by treating His
Word so glibly?

To impact the world, we need a new
reformation in our churches. Pray that
when such reformation occurs, God
will then bring revival in the land, and
we will see people fall on their knees
before a holy God, recognizing their
sinfulness and need for repentance
and salvation.

Ken Ham is the founder
and president of Answers
in Genesis–US. He has
edited and authored
many books about
the authority of God’s
Word and the impact of
evolutionary thinking
on our culture, including
Already Compromised
and The Lie.

SourceThis article originally appeared on answersingenesis.org

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