Surfing the Waves of Spiritual Awakening

Once upon a time I enjoyed surfing. Not that I was ever good enough to call myself a surfer but I did catch quite a few waves.

It was the small ones that confounded me. Foolishly brave, I actually rode a few “freight trains” while struggling to catch their smaller siblings. Friends would quickly catch waves while I thrashed about with swells passing under my board.

My problem was that I didn’t surf often enough to get very good. Hence I was someone who surfed but not a “real” surfer.

So what’s this got to do with Revival? A lot!

But first here are some terms for accurate definition. Spiritual Renewal is when an individual comes alive after a period of lethargy. And Revival happens when a dying church regains life. A spiritual awakening is a move of God that transforms a locality or a culture. They occur on a scale of reach, too. Renewals touch individuals. Revivals consume congregations. Awakenings snatch cultures from Satan, restoring lost people to their creator. Finally there is a scale of dominance—a spiritual awakening encompasses the Revival of churches and the Renewal of faith in individuals.

So, are we on the cusp of a spiritual awakening? Will another Jesus Revolution occur soon? These are important questions. But not the final answer.

I recently spoke with several leaders in Hawaii about this. They feel that they are seeing the start of another wave of spiritual awakening. I’ll pass along several reasons why. But first let’s suppose they are wrong.

What if a Spiritual Awakening is a few decades away and all they are seeing are small seeds of Revival? Well then they should ride those smaller waves while awaiting the big swell that we all pray for. And so should you, wherever you serve.

Did you know that the greatest per-capita Spiritual Awakening in History occurred in Hawaii from 1837-1843. Nearly the entire population accepted Jesus after seventeen years of missionary activity. Those missionaries rode tiny waves of personal salvations, people falling away then renewing faith, etc. for seventeen years before the big wave came.

Since that time wave after wave of renewal, revival and awakening have swept across the state. About four years before my friends and I arrived a Baptist church planted the last of the 44 churches they had spawned over a couple of decades. Before them there was a strong move among workers in the sugar cane and pineapple camps. Makiki Christian Church arose along with the first wave of Japanese immigrants. While the New Hope Churches and Hope Chapels were at their apogee, the only state in America to show church growth was Hawaii. But that has died down in the past decade.

On the other hand there are dozens of new church plants sprouting up across the state. The school district raised rents and blocked outside usage of cafeterias during and after COVID but many of those congregations found new quarters or splintered into informal churches meeting in carports and coffee shops. I recently attended the rapidly growing “The House Established” church whose pastor recently declared that God called him from New York City to plant a church that plants churches—he likened his calling to breathing life into Ezekiel’s valley of dry bones (I think I could identify those dry bones).

I’m excited about all of this but like I said, we may be wrong. These events may not herald another major Spiritual Awakening. However, they are at least the smaller waves which we should and must ride if we expect to position ourselves for the big events.

So how do you ride?

Well, you make sure that what you pump out in knowledge gets met in human hearts. Do you personally disciple people or just run a congregation. Do your disciples discuss intimate details of their lives in light of scripture with others or do they just learn stuff? Do you and the people you disciple pray with outsiders other than prayers for salvation? If someone moves into your community to plant a church or start a ministry do you bless them or oppose them?

These are small waves and often seem to lack significance but I assure you that the big wave will pass you by if you don’t learn to ride the smaller ones well.