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Longing for Revival: From Holy Discontent to Breakthrough Faith
Revival begins with God. But it's lived out through us. While we can't determine how God will act, we can be expectant and anticipate his work. And revivals are not just experienced--they can be led. James Choung and Ryan Pfeiffer have seen revival in their own ministries, with remarkable transformation in both individuals and communities. They unpack what revival looks like, how Christians can anticipate it, and how they can experience it in their own lives and in larger movements. They provide a model of revival leadership for Christians who want to facilitate and spread revival in their contexts, with implications for evangelism, mission, and growth. We all need a spiritual breakthrough. Discover what revival can look like for you and those around you.
240 pages, Paperback
First published January 14, 2020
31 people are currently reading
130 people want to read
About the author
James Choung
6 books33 followersJames Choung has been involved in campus ministries for over 23 years, empowering rising generations of Kingdom world-changers. He currently serves as InterVarsity's national director of evangelism, and also leads a house church called the Vineyard Underground. He has written True Story: A Christianity Worth Believing In and its follow-up, Real Life: A Christianity Worth Living Out, and he has taught at Bethel Seminary San Diego on leadership development and evangelism. He frequently speaks at campuses, churches, and conferences, and his work has been featured in many publications including Christianity Today and Leadership Journal.
James has also sat in too many classes, writing his D. Min. dissertation on postmodern leadership development at Fuller Theological Seminary, receiving his M. Div. from Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, and studying management science and marketing at MIT. He has previously served on the pastoral staff of a Boston-area urban church plant and of a megachurch in Seoul. He has also led worship at national conferences, and has been on boards for higher education and an overseas business startup. For fun, he likes to travel with his wife, tease his two sons, play board games with his buddies, hit jazzy chords on the keys, enjoy Los Angeles’ endless summer, and swing a racket in hopes of playing something like tennis. He blogs irregularly at www.jameschoung.net.
James has also sat in too many classes, writing his D. Min. dissertation on postmodern leadership development at Fuller Theological Seminary, receiving his M. Div. from Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, and studying management science and marketing at MIT. He has previously served on the pastoral staff of a Boston-area urban church plant and of a megachurch in Seoul. He has also led worship at national conferences, and has been on boards for higher education and an overseas business startup. For fun, he likes to travel with his wife, tease his two sons, play board games with his buddies, hit jazzy chords on the keys, enjoy Los Angeles’ endless summer, and swing a racket in hopes of playing something like tennis. He blogs irregularly at www.jameschoung.net.
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Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews
February 18, 2023
As prayers for revival are being answered, God has used this book to give me so much clarity on how to pray for revival, how he is calling me to be a part of it, and the work he is doing in me to prepare me for the work of the Spirit that is coming.
Whether a pastor, a college minister, or just an active participant in the church, this book has so much to say about what revival looks like and how God uses his people to bring about kingdom growth! There is a word of encouragement and a call for growth for people in almost any season of faith. This is definitely a book that has given me a lot to think about, helped shape the way I think about ministry and revival, and guided my prayers. It’s one that I look forward to coming back to and would recommend to anyone who has a desire to be an active participant in the kingdom of God!
Whether a pastor, a college minister, or just an active participant in the church, this book has so much to say about what revival looks like and how God uses his people to bring about kingdom growth! There is a word of encouragement and a call for growth for people in almost any season of faith. This is definitely a book that has given me a lot to think about, helped shape the way I think about ministry and revival, and guided my prayers. It’s one that I look forward to coming back to and would recommend to anyone who has a desire to be an active participant in the kingdom of God!
June 21, 2020
Summary: A practical work on revival that begins with defining what it is and why we ought hope for it; second, what it means to experience revival; and third, what it means to lead in a time of revival.
The word "revival" conjures up all sorts of associations from "revival meetings" to the "sawdust trail" of frontier revivals, to the experience and writing of Jonathan Edwards in New England. For me, it recalled the Jesus Movement, of which I was a part during my high school years. Spontaneously, throughout the U.S., there was a movement of God that resulted in a great turning to Christ of many in the youth culture of the day. Many of us are still following Christ fifty years later, and particularly, in this time of turmoil, and in this time of declining numbers in many churches and the exodus of many youth, we long to see something like this again. But dare we believe for such things?
The two authors of this book, a current and a former campus staff minister with InterVarsity/USA (the organization in which I am also employed, in the interests of full disclosure), write about their own journeys of moving from a holy discontent with the status quo to a breakthrough faith that believes God and begins to experience revival, both personally, and by the power of God, in ministry. They begin with a definition of revival that has been accepted within InterVarsity circles as our working definition of what we mean by revival:
A season of breakthroughs
in word, deed, and power
that ushers in a new normal
of kingdom experience and fruitfulness
They then unpack this definition, noting the importance of "season," the significance of having word, deed, and power with love at the center, of new normals, for example, where it is the expected reality to see people regularly come to faith, and where the nearness of the kingdom, the presence and rule of Jesus is apparent. This is followed by several chapters tracing the breakthrough U curve: beginning with holy discontent, there is an initial descent to untested faith, then a descent into crucified hope, where our own dreams and expectations die, a crisis of faith where we hit bottom, the revival of hope, not in our own dreams but in God and his capacity to lead us into a new season, followed by breakthrough faith enabling one to minister in word, deed, and power in the confidence of who we know God to be.
The writers then lay out four steps in the experience of revival, exploring how we live in faithful expectancy, yet look for a work only God can do. They walk us through consecration, the setting of ourselves apart to God, to long for more of his presence in our lives; calling, using the example of Peter stepping out of the boat, hearing the Lord's invitation, obeying in faith, and experiencing the Lord lifting up, as we pursue something new and audacious; contending in prayer and fasting, not to earn something through our spiritual efforts but learning to persist and not give up until we see God act in power; and finally, character, particularly the humility that guards us by reminding us that it is not about us but about Christ, keeping us from being derailed personally, and in leadership.
Choung and Pfeiffer assume that many of those reading this will be leaders. They emphasize the importance that leaders don't keep the work of leading revival to themselves but have an "all play" mentality. Choung talks about an experience of speaking at a retreat where he desperately wanted to give a call to faith, but agreed to let student leaders do this in small groups, resulting in twenty-seven non-Christians out of thirty-one coming to faith and students who had never invited a student to believe seeing their friends respond. We often oppose planning and the mysterious powerful work of God. These writers explore how the two may walk hand in hand and enhance each other. They offer five questions to guide groups in communal discernment, crucial to groups moving together united in head, heart, and action:
Is it biblical?
What did you hear in prayer?
What if fear wasn't involved?
Does it produce the fruit of the Spirit?
What does the Christian community say about it?
Finally the authors cast a vision for a revival that is about kingdom building, not empire building. It is not about our organization or church, or national power. It is about the advance of the rule in Jesus moving out from ourselves to our community, our region, our nation, to the world.
Pardon some autobiography. After my experiences of the Jesus movement and my college years, I began working with InterVarsity. As I moved into leadership and to a new city in the early 1980's I became involved in the Concert of Prayer movement, an effort to seek God's reviving work. For a time it appeared to gain momentum until I saw many Christians (and perhaps myself) swept up in the Reagan revolution and the hopes of Christian influence in politics. Later, I found myself in a place of disillusion, both that God hadn't brought the revival for which I hoped and that instead, I witnessed a church increasingly captive to partisan politics rather than the kingdom of Jesus. For most of the time since, I think I opted for the "faithfulness" which settles for the subnormal rather than the new normal of revival. I invested in students and faculty, saw some come to faith, and built and led teams that planted new ministries. But I stopped believing in revival, even though I longed for it, all the more as I've witnessed the unraveling of the social and political fabric of our country, and the ravages not only on body but on spirit of this pandemic.
In early January, the national staff of InterVarsity gathered in Orlando, the title of this book serving as our theme (we all were given copies of it). During a day of prayer and fasting, I became aware of how I had surrendered to despairing of revival and made a decision to dare to believe again, to be a "watchman" in prayer waiting for the dawn. I felt God breaking the hard cynicism that had encrusted my heart over thirty-some years.
This book showed me that what happened back in the 1980's was the death of my own hopes. It gives me hope that God wants to do something new. It also challenges me to the expectant work of consecration, calling, contending, and character. I believe that the only hope for our campuses and our country and our world is not a vaccine, it is not electing or re-electing a president, but the revival of which these authors speak. If you share that conviction, I believe this book will both engender hope and offer practical direction to turn your holy content into breakthrough faith.
The word "revival" conjures up all sorts of associations from "revival meetings" to the "sawdust trail" of frontier revivals, to the experience and writing of Jonathan Edwards in New England. For me, it recalled the Jesus Movement, of which I was a part during my high school years. Spontaneously, throughout the U.S., there was a movement of God that resulted in a great turning to Christ of many in the youth culture of the day. Many of us are still following Christ fifty years later, and particularly, in this time of turmoil, and in this time of declining numbers in many churches and the exodus of many youth, we long to see something like this again. But dare we believe for such things?
The two authors of this book, a current and a former campus staff minister with InterVarsity/USA (the organization in which I am also employed, in the interests of full disclosure), write about their own journeys of moving from a holy discontent with the status quo to a breakthrough faith that believes God and begins to experience revival, both personally, and by the power of God, in ministry. They begin with a definition of revival that has been accepted within InterVarsity circles as our working definition of what we mean by revival:
A season of breakthroughs
in word, deed, and power
that ushers in a new normal
of kingdom experience and fruitfulness
They then unpack this definition, noting the importance of "season," the significance of having word, deed, and power with love at the center, of new normals, for example, where it is the expected reality to see people regularly come to faith, and where the nearness of the kingdom, the presence and rule of Jesus is apparent. This is followed by several chapters tracing the breakthrough U curve: beginning with holy discontent, there is an initial descent to untested faith, then a descent into crucified hope, where our own dreams and expectations die, a crisis of faith where we hit bottom, the revival of hope, not in our own dreams but in God and his capacity to lead us into a new season, followed by breakthrough faith enabling one to minister in word, deed, and power in the confidence of who we know God to be.
The writers then lay out four steps in the experience of revival, exploring how we live in faithful expectancy, yet look for a work only God can do. They walk us through consecration, the setting of ourselves apart to God, to long for more of his presence in our lives; calling, using the example of Peter stepping out of the boat, hearing the Lord's invitation, obeying in faith, and experiencing the Lord lifting up, as we pursue something new and audacious; contending in prayer and fasting, not to earn something through our spiritual efforts but learning to persist and not give up until we see God act in power; and finally, character, particularly the humility that guards us by reminding us that it is not about us but about Christ, keeping us from being derailed personally, and in leadership.
Choung and Pfeiffer assume that many of those reading this will be leaders. They emphasize the importance that leaders don't keep the work of leading revival to themselves but have an "all play" mentality. Choung talks about an experience of speaking at a retreat where he desperately wanted to give a call to faith, but agreed to let student leaders do this in small groups, resulting in twenty-seven non-Christians out of thirty-one coming to faith and students who had never invited a student to believe seeing their friends respond. We often oppose planning and the mysterious powerful work of God. These writers explore how the two may walk hand in hand and enhance each other. They offer five questions to guide groups in communal discernment, crucial to groups moving together united in head, heart, and action:
Is it biblical?
What did you hear in prayer?
What if fear wasn't involved?
Does it produce the fruit of the Spirit?
What does the Christian community say about it?
Finally the authors cast a vision for a revival that is about kingdom building, not empire building. It is not about our organization or church, or national power. It is about the advance of the rule in Jesus moving out from ourselves to our community, our region, our nation, to the world.
Pardon some autobiography. After my experiences of the Jesus movement and my college years, I began working with InterVarsity. As I moved into leadership and to a new city in the early 1980's I became involved in the Concert of Prayer movement, an effort to seek God's reviving work. For a time it appeared to gain momentum until I saw many Christians (and perhaps myself) swept up in the Reagan revolution and the hopes of Christian influence in politics. Later, I found myself in a place of disillusion, both that God hadn't brought the revival for which I hoped and that instead, I witnessed a church increasingly captive to partisan politics rather than the kingdom of Jesus. For most of the time since, I think I opted for the "faithfulness" which settles for the subnormal rather than the new normal of revival. I invested in students and faculty, saw some come to faith, and built and led teams that planted new ministries. But I stopped believing in revival, even though I longed for it, all the more as I've witnessed the unraveling of the social and political fabric of our country, and the ravages not only on body but on spirit of this pandemic.
In early January, the national staff of InterVarsity gathered in Orlando, the title of this book serving as our theme (we all were given copies of it). During a day of prayer and fasting, I became aware of how I had surrendered to despairing of revival and made a decision to dare to believe again, to be a "watchman" in prayer waiting for the dawn. I felt God breaking the hard cynicism that had encrusted my heart over thirty-some years.
This book showed me that what happened back in the 1980's was the death of my own hopes. It gives me hope that God wants to do something new. It also challenges me to the expectant work of consecration, calling, contending, and character. I believe that the only hope for our campuses and our country and our world is not a vaccine, it is not electing or re-electing a president, but the revival of which these authors speak. If you share that conviction, I believe this book will both engender hope and offer practical direction to turn your holy content into breakthrough faith.
February 19, 2025
Important. Timely. Thankful I got a free audio version with my Audible subscription. One of those books I want to gift every person I know
May 10, 2023
I read this book, my second authored or co-authored by Dr. Choung, to prepare to teach a cohort of our new leaders on campus about praying for God to move in a big way in our fellowship. I wound up using a good bit of his discussion about Nehemiah and the importance of prayer and fasting being wedded to planning and action in my discussion. I am very thankful that God used this book to point out in my heart a good portion if disillusionment and cynicism about God's movement in history and what this would look like today. I'm hoping to cultivate more of a child-like faith and expectancy for modern moves of the Spirit to move in our society and context. I found the authors' emphasis on ministry leaders character and personal renewal coming before corporate renewal to be convicting and helpful!
That being said, I had several struggles with this book. First, there isn't much clarity on what the good news of Jesus' kingdom is or about what biblical conversion is-- and I believe it is a studied ambiguity. I read Dr. Choung's True Story; the good news he summarizes there felt much heavier on "join the Jesus revolution to change the world" and much lighter on "Christ was crucified to reconcile sinners to a holy God." I think Tim Keller is spot on when he wrote "Times of revival almost always have some sense in which the gospel is recovered." Lamentably, this isn't that. The authors also repeatedly appeal to 4,000+ college students beginning to follow Jesus in San Diego during their work as staff workers there. Lord may this have been a true movement of Your Spirit! But I've seen far too often how college students "respond" to invitations like these. I've also seen (sometimes in the same organization that these authors are in) where "conversion" numbers are published and celebrated without any clarity around who responded and what their understanding of salvation is. Unrelated, Franklin Graham just came through my community and gave a similar invitation where "thousands" made a profession of faith, most of whom being local church leaders and members.
Second, I found this book much too wedded to a charismatic doctrine of the Holy Spirit and of revelation. They advocate for innovative practices like "listening prayer," exclude revivals that don't have Holy Spirit "acts of power," criticize the ongoing necessity for ordained ministry, elevate one new word from God heard in prayer above "a thousand sermons," and dismiss theologies that hold to a ceasing of sign gifts. I'm not quite as closed off to these doctrines as some in my tradition, but the centering of these ideas made the book much less helpful. I have much to learn from the charismatic tradition, but I don't think revival is one of those areas where their contribution is much of a step forward.
That being said, I had several struggles with this book. First, there isn't much clarity on what the good news of Jesus' kingdom is or about what biblical conversion is-- and I believe it is a studied ambiguity. I read Dr. Choung's True Story; the good news he summarizes there felt much heavier on "join the Jesus revolution to change the world" and much lighter on "Christ was crucified to reconcile sinners to a holy God." I think Tim Keller is spot on when he wrote "Times of revival almost always have some sense in which the gospel is recovered." Lamentably, this isn't that. The authors also repeatedly appeal to 4,000+ college students beginning to follow Jesus in San Diego during their work as staff workers there. Lord may this have been a true movement of Your Spirit! But I've seen far too often how college students "respond" to invitations like these. I've also seen (sometimes in the same organization that these authors are in) where "conversion" numbers are published and celebrated without any clarity around who responded and what their understanding of salvation is. Unrelated, Franklin Graham just came through my community and gave a similar invitation where "thousands" made a profession of faith, most of whom being local church leaders and members.
Second, I found this book much too wedded to a charismatic doctrine of the Holy Spirit and of revelation. They advocate for innovative practices like "listening prayer," exclude revivals that don't have Holy Spirit "acts of power," criticize the ongoing necessity for ordained ministry, elevate one new word from God heard in prayer above "a thousand sermons," and dismiss theologies that hold to a ceasing of sign gifts. I'm not quite as closed off to these doctrines as some in my tradition, but the centering of these ideas made the book much less helpful. I have much to learn from the charismatic tradition, but I don't think revival is one of those areas where their contribution is much of a step forward.
August 25, 2020
I was surprised by how much this book impacted me. At a time when most of my reading and thinking is grappling with the realities of systemic and racial injustice in our country (and in the church) James Choung and Ryan Pfeiffer's book was a needed invitation to consecrate myself and contend with God in prayer.
Our church prayer team read this together and discussed it. The authors write this book based off of their own experiences with revival as well as study of revivals from around the world. In the first section they give a helpful definition as well as sign posts for revival. It was telling that most revival happens after a group of people has pushed through crisis and has had their desires refined by God. The second section is about preparing yourself and asking God for revival (this section was the part I found most convicting). In it they offer the disciplines of consecration, calling, contending and character. The final section was on leadership in the midst of revival.
When I first opened the book I was skeptical I would find it relevant, but in actuality it spoke to a longing in my soul for true revival, an awakening, to come to the church. An awakening such that justice would flow like mighty waters and righteousness like ever flowing streams. One where the gifts of God would be manifest and the Holy Spirit would lift up those on the margins and exalt the lowly. It is something worth contending with God for!
Our church prayer team read this together and discussed it. The authors write this book based off of their own experiences with revival as well as study of revivals from around the world. In the first section they give a helpful definition as well as sign posts for revival. It was telling that most revival happens after a group of people has pushed through crisis and has had their desires refined by God. The second section is about preparing yourself and asking God for revival (this section was the part I found most convicting). In it they offer the disciplines of consecration, calling, contending and character. The final section was on leadership in the midst of revival.
When I first opened the book I was skeptical I would find it relevant, but in actuality it spoke to a longing in my soul for true revival, an awakening, to come to the church. An awakening such that justice would flow like mighty waters and righteousness like ever flowing streams. One where the gifts of God would be manifest and the Holy Spirit would lift up those on the margins and exalt the lowly. It is something worth contending with God for!
July 30, 2025
This book was a required read for a leadership conference I’m going to and it was very interesting but often hard to get through. It was really well written but I often felt like there was so much on a page that I had to go back two or three times to fully understand. I really did like the stories though I thought they brought a real life aspect to it.
March 3, 2022
Oh my wow .
Choung’s passion for revival - both personal and corporate - is so contagious. Reading this made me passionate about it too, and he greatly encouraged me in my relationship with the Holy Spirit. He has anointed insight. Must read.
Choung’s passion for revival - both personal and corporate - is so contagious. Reading this made me passionate about it too, and he greatly encouraged me in my relationship with the Holy Spirit. He has anointed insight. Must read.
February 18, 2023
I have a feeling that this book with be very instrumental in shaping my year. After hearing James Chuong at Urbana 2022, I was excited to pick up his book, and God is opening my heart more and more to knowing him and the power of his Spirit this year!
August 22, 2020
It's a good book though the writing is a little bit challenge to follow along.
May 6, 2021
Good anecdotes tied in with spiritual disciplines.
March 31, 2024
It's not about building an empire, but about building God's kingdom.
Great principles, great focus on prayer and the balance of strategy with mystery.
Great principles, great focus on prayer and the balance of strategy with mystery.
December 3, 2025
“Expectations create anger & disillusionment in our faith when they aren’t met; expectancy is an openness to any outcome God desires.”
February 10, 2020
At various times, I have experienced periods of intense spiritual growth. I have also participated in extended occasions in church life where the adjectives more and better describe the congregation’s experience of God and of effectiveness in mission, respectively. Both are examples of revival.
Revival seems like a strange term to many Christians today, a word from another age or place. They acknowledge that revival happened back then or is happening somewhere else, but they don’t see it happening right now, right here. They don’t feel it happening in themselves either.
Worse, the term revival provokes suspicion in some minds because of its association with anti-intellectualism and emotionalism. This suspicion isn’t new. In his 1876 autobiography, Charles Finney described as a “burnt district” certain areas of central and western New York. “Taking what they had seen as a specimen of a revival of religion,” Finney writes, “they felt justified in opposing anything looking toward the promoting of a revival.”
But once you factor out the strangeness of and suspicions about the word revival, it still names what all Christians want, individually and corporately: more of God, and better effectiveness in mission. We all long for revival.
Revival is the work of God’s Spirit. We can’t gin it up, but we can prepare to receive it. How to do so is the subject of Longing for Revival by James Choung and Ryan Pfeiffer. Choung is vice president of strategy and innovation for InterVarsity Christian Fellowship (USA). Pfeiffer is next gen pastor at North Coast Calvary Chapel in Carlsbad, California. They divide their work into three parts.
Part One asks, what is revival? It is, in their words, “a season of breakthroughs in word, deed, and power that ushers in a new normal of kingdom experience and fruitfulness.” Word, deed, and power express the gospel in different ways: word as “biblical preaching and teaching”; deed as “compassion and justice”; and power in “miraculous or explicitly supernatural ways.”
Different revivals begin with an emphasis on different expressions. The Great Awakening is remembered for its preaching, the Second Great Awakening for its activism, and Azusa Street for its signs and wonders. Yet, the authors contend, “Revivals, as they mature, move toward the center. They exhibit word, deed, and power in love.” A focus on one of these expressions to the detriment of others “can stunt revival in our hearts and communities.”
Part Two asks, how do you prepare for revival? It outlines four essential practices: consecration, calling, contending and character. These are especially the practices of those who lead revivals. “Revivals are first experienced, and then given away,” the authors write.
Consecration consists of “making ourselves available to God so he can make us holy, and set us apart for his holiness.” Calling nourishes a “holy discontent” with the way things are. “It’s a provocateur against comfort, prodding us toward an alternative vision of what God can do.” The consecrated and called engage in contending, which isn’t contentiousness! Instead, it is “learning to pray in such a way as to not give up” — spiritual warfare, in other words, “fighting with God’s power and not with our own.” Finally, character. “Revival leadership invariably takes us on a path of confrontation with the status quo, and that means our character will be tested by both the praise we receive and the rejection we suffer.” Too often, revivals falter because their leaders fail this test.
Part Three asks, how do you lead revival? One noteworthy insight is what the authors call the “Mystery and Strategy Paradox.” In any revival, there are experiential elements (“mystery”) and organizational elements (“strategy”). According to the authors, a “holistic” revival majors in both mystery and strategy. When it majors in mystery but minors in strategy, it’s “experiential.” When it minors in mystery but majors in strategy, it’s “pragmatic.” When it minors in both, it’s merely “social,” a gathering of amiable people with no greater passion or purpose.
There’s an old gospel chorus that, if you pray it and live it, will lead beyond no greater to more and better. It doesn’t make an appearance in Longing for Revival, but it’s a fitting coda nonetheless:
Revive us again; fill each heart with They love;
May each soul be rekindled with fire from above.
Hallelujah! Thine the glory, Hallelujah, amen!
Hallelujah, Thine the glory, revive us again!
Book Reviewed
James Choung and Ryan Pfeiffer, Longing for Revival: From Holy Discontent to Breakthrough Faith (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2020).
P.S. This review will appear in the March-April 2020 issue of Influence magazine and is posted here with permission.
Revival seems like a strange term to many Christians today, a word from another age or place. They acknowledge that revival happened back then or is happening somewhere else, but they don’t see it happening right now, right here. They don’t feel it happening in themselves either.
Worse, the term revival provokes suspicion in some minds because of its association with anti-intellectualism and emotionalism. This suspicion isn’t new. In his 1876 autobiography, Charles Finney described as a “burnt district” certain areas of central and western New York. “Taking what they had seen as a specimen of a revival of religion,” Finney writes, “they felt justified in opposing anything looking toward the promoting of a revival.”
But once you factor out the strangeness of and suspicions about the word revival, it still names what all Christians want, individually and corporately: more of God, and better effectiveness in mission. We all long for revival.
Revival is the work of God’s Spirit. We can’t gin it up, but we can prepare to receive it. How to do so is the subject of Longing for Revival by James Choung and Ryan Pfeiffer. Choung is vice president of strategy and innovation for InterVarsity Christian Fellowship (USA). Pfeiffer is next gen pastor at North Coast Calvary Chapel in Carlsbad, California. They divide their work into three parts.
Part One asks, what is revival? It is, in their words, “a season of breakthroughs in word, deed, and power that ushers in a new normal of kingdom experience and fruitfulness.” Word, deed, and power express the gospel in different ways: word as “biblical preaching and teaching”; deed as “compassion and justice”; and power in “miraculous or explicitly supernatural ways.”
Different revivals begin with an emphasis on different expressions. The Great Awakening is remembered for its preaching, the Second Great Awakening for its activism, and Azusa Street for its signs and wonders. Yet, the authors contend, “Revivals, as they mature, move toward the center. They exhibit word, deed, and power in love.” A focus on one of these expressions to the detriment of others “can stunt revival in our hearts and communities.”
Part Two asks, how do you prepare for revival? It outlines four essential practices: consecration, calling, contending and character. These are especially the practices of those who lead revivals. “Revivals are first experienced, and then given away,” the authors write.
Consecration consists of “making ourselves available to God so he can make us holy, and set us apart for his holiness.” Calling nourishes a “holy discontent” with the way things are. “It’s a provocateur against comfort, prodding us toward an alternative vision of what God can do.” The consecrated and called engage in contending, which isn’t contentiousness! Instead, it is “learning to pray in such a way as to not give up” — spiritual warfare, in other words, “fighting with God’s power and not with our own.” Finally, character. “Revival leadership invariably takes us on a path of confrontation with the status quo, and that means our character will be tested by both the praise we receive and the rejection we suffer.” Too often, revivals falter because their leaders fail this test.
Part Three asks, how do you lead revival? One noteworthy insight is what the authors call the “Mystery and Strategy Paradox.” In any revival, there are experiential elements (“mystery”) and organizational elements (“strategy”). According to the authors, a “holistic” revival majors in both mystery and strategy. When it majors in mystery but minors in strategy, it’s “experiential.” When it minors in mystery but majors in strategy, it’s “pragmatic.” When it minors in both, it’s merely “social,” a gathering of amiable people with no greater passion or purpose.
There’s an old gospel chorus that, if you pray it and live it, will lead beyond no greater to more and better. It doesn’t make an appearance in Longing for Revival, but it’s a fitting coda nonetheless:
Revive us again; fill each heart with They love;
May each soul be rekindled with fire from above.
Hallelujah! Thine the glory, Hallelujah, amen!
Hallelujah, Thine the glory, revive us again!
Book Reviewed
James Choung and Ryan Pfeiffer, Longing for Revival: From Holy Discontent to Breakthrough Faith (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2020).
P.S. This review will appear in the March-April 2020 issue of Influence magazine and is posted here with permission.
May 23, 2023
Awesome book. Even better that it was written by two campus ministers. Would highly recommend for those who want to contend for revival in their communities
March 7, 2020
This book has nuanced, shaped and enlarged my prayers for the work of the gospel in my day. I was especially helped by the U curve described in part 1, and by the thought that revival requires leadership to achieve all that God can do in these periods. Revival can only come from God - but we are called to hoist the sails in order to catch the wind of the Spirit as he blows.
February 9, 2020
Reading this book felt like listening to dear friends share their lives and remind me of what I once longed for in my own life and ministry. I cried at so many points in this book and truly could not put it down in the midst of 2 days. I find myself thinking about this book constantly and wanting to reread it to better dive into what’s God’s challenging me to think about. If the word “revival” feels like and over used word to you, or like something you’d never felt motivated to believe in—this is a book for you. As a skeptic myself find out why revival is worth longing and praying for!!
February 15, 2020
The mystery and strategy matrix is my biggest takeaway from this book. Glad I read it and InterVarsity is leaning into its application.
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