Some in the Church wonder whether conversion, and its corporate expression, revival, are not just manifestations of Western individualistic thinking. What does the Bible say?

In the words of a hymn written by James Edwin Orr, he asks God for revival. Pray fervently that God will bring us revival in our lifetime, and that He would start with each one of us.

We may know failure and lack of fruit; but the Lord is never defeated. There is no limit to His power. How can His power be shown in our hearts and lives? How can we serve the Lord in His power?

Revival comes through Divine intervention from God. To be granted revival calls for believers to seek God in faith and with prayers that are saturated with the Word of God.

God poured out the Holy Spirit on the first believers and that sparked a revival in Jerusalem which spread to many countries in the Roman Empire. Reading the Book of Acts gives us a biblical picture of what normally happens during a revival.

In 1861 in Paarl, South Africa, a small group prayed together every evening during the ten days between Ascension Day and Pentecost, like the first Christians who waited to be baptised with the Holy Spirit. There was great expectancy and they were not disappointed.

The Boers asked why it had to happen, but God had a bigger plan in the midst of their suffering. Boers who went to the camps as prisoners of war unsaved returned as true born-again Christians, filled with the Holy Spirit. God worked powerfully in these camps.

Nicholas Benghu had a dream in which he heard the words, “Africa must turn back to God.” Out of this was born his ‘Back to God Crusade.’ For forty years, his crusades toured systematically through South Africa.