Laying pipe

MRT Community,

This post is pretty long. So, don't spend more than 5 minutes on it... unless you get really interested. :-)

As a member of the House2House Board of Directors ( http://house2house.com/ ), I spent last weekend with about 12 others at Tony and Felicity Dale's home in Austin, TX. In addition to some good "hang out" time with these friends, we spent time listening to the Lord about His mission for House2House at this point in history.

What we heard is that "something big is coming and it's coming soon. And, now is the time to prepare." Two people independently heard that we needed to be "laying pipe". "Pipe" in this context seemed to mean leaders. That is, spiritual moms and dads who will be able birth a multitude of "vibrant families of Jesus" where the new believers will be cared for and equipped. Many of these leaders will have come out of traditional churches and have been healed and rehabbed from the wounds received there.

Here's how Tony summarized the message: "One of the pictures through which the Lord spoke to us over these past 48 hours was that of laying the pipe-work/irrigation system, through which the water of His Spirit can flow. What matters is the water. But if there is no irrigation system, much of the water will get wasted. It was pointed out in discussion that historically the United States has seen a major move of God that is transformational to society around every 60 to 70 years. We are currently long overdue!

What if what is now happening in the church landscape is a part of God’s preparation for a sweeping move of God beyond anything any of us have seen in our lifetimes... (There have been smaller movements of the Spirit and) ...these have all been impactful, but society as a whole has continued to be largely untouched by the Christian message. What if God is preparing us all for something that can change society at a grass-roots level, literally house by house."

I (John) woke yesterday with the sense that I should send to the H2H Board some information about the last great awakening which took place in 1905-1907. I've copied it below for you. My motivation was to show the huge scope of this movement of the Spirit in the US (many more around the world) in a two year period. What if God were to do this today? And, how much "pipe" needs to be laid in order to be ready?

Love to hear your thoughts about how we "lay pipe" in preparation for something like this. What are the implications for our MRT Community?

John

PS. I've also included a video at the very bottom by Dr. J. Edwin Orr on the 1905 Awakening. He was considered a world class expert on revivals.


From The Cure of All Ills by Mark Relfe.

"Antecedents. Spiritual decadence pervaded society in the late 1890's. Corruption, immorality, drunkenness, cults, gambling and agnosticism rose in proportion to the Church's ineptness. By the turn of the 20th century, the glory had departed, the saints had defected, the salt had lost its savour, the world had lost its light and deep moral darkness prevailed. The flag-waving, sin-hating, mercy-loving believers of the 1860's had been replaced by inert, invisible and immovable - "in name only" - Christians of the 1890's." p. 65.

(The Spirit began to break out in a number of places. Here's one of the early ones. "In October, 1904 Evan Roberts (age 26) received a Word of the Lord for his generation. (The summary statement was "Bend the Church and save the world".) The Holy Spirit bade him speak it first at his home church (in Loughor, Wales) to a group of 17 people. All 17 responded! The Holy Spirit fell in awesome power! ... Within weeks every church building in Wales was packed with hundreds standing outside unable to get in! The nation's atmosphere was suddenly electrified by the presence of God..." p. 78

A few weeks later, George Davis, from New York wrote this. "I have just returned from a two days' visit to the storm center of the great Welsh revival which is sweeping over Wales like a cyclone, lifting people into an ecstasy of spiritual fervor. Already over 34,000 converts have been made, and the great awakening shows no signs of waning... It is sweeping over hundreds of hamlets and cities, emptying saloons, theaters and dance-halls and filling the churches night after night with praying multitudes. The policemen are almost idle; in many cases the magistrates have few trials on hand; debts are being paid; and the character of entire communities is being transformed almost in a day." p. 79

"For weeks past, meetings have been going on in various parts of the country, and in numerous instances, have been protracted into the small hours of the morning. The extraordinary thing about these meetings is their unconventional character. There is no organization, no program, no presentor, no presiding elder! Everything is left to the direction of the Holy Spirit. Preaching, in the usual acceptation of the word, has, for the time being, been entirely discarded and is superseded by singing, prayer and general testimony." p. 81

Another report: "Truly God has visited His people in Wales. It is not a question of one town being awakened, but of the whole principality being on fire - profanity silenced, taverns deserted, theaters closed, betting books burned, football teams disbanded, police courts idle, family feuds pacified, and old-standing debts paid, sectarianism submerged, the family altar re-erected and Bible study a passion. This is the finger of God!" p. 86

(The revival spread around the world. In England 1,000,000 conversions from outside the church. Europe, Africa, India, Korea, etc. Here are some comments about the impact on America.) "Dr. J. Edwin Orr assessed that in excess of 2,000,000 outsiders were enrolled in the seven major Protestant churches between 1905-1907 in the United States. He admitted this figure did not include any of the increases in the Holiness or Pentecostal groups which experienced an even greater rate of growth (JW: probably about 5 million). Dr. Orr estimated that another 2,000,000 were genuinely saved within the churches. Dr. Orr indicated that more than 5,000,000 (outside the church) were drawn to Christ in this two year period. p. 100-101.

(Wikipedia: "A feature of this revival that was not seen in any other revival prior to 1904 was the role of the media.")


JW: The language of the above passage is a bit unclear. I think that what Dr. Orr is saying is that between 1905 and 1907, 5 million were converted from within existing churches and another 5 million outside of existing church were converted and became church members. The population of the US in this period was about 85 million. So, almost 12% of the population became Christians.

Current population of the US is about 309 million. If something similar to 1905 were to occur now, that would mean 37 million new Christians (12%). In a city like Denver (2.5 million), this would mean 300,000 new believers (half current church goers and half not) in a two year period. Current number of church goers in Denver is estimated at 150,000.

Gives new meaning to the word "urgent", doesn't it!

Clearly, current "infrastructure" would be completely inadequate to handle this kind of harvest. Perhaps that is why the Lord is urging us to "beseech the Lord of the Harvest for workers" in preparation for this next season. If there were 300,000 new believers in Denver and if we assume an average of 15 people in a house church, we will need 20,000 new house churches. Hmm...

Video of Dr. J. Edwin Orr on the 1905 Awakening.