Pursuing Revival While Avoiding Revivalism | 9Marks Journal

It's good to pray and work for revival. But do you know the difference between revival and revivalism? One builds on God's Word and then waits for God to work, like a farmer who sows. The other builds on God's Word as well as our methods, like a factory engineer determined to increase quotas. Revival and revivalism represent two ways of approaching ministry. The goal of this Journal is to help you distinguish one from the other.

9Marks
At 9Marks, we help pastors, future pastors, and church members see what a biblical church looks like, and help them take practical steps toward becoming one. We believe every local church should be characterized by expository preaching, biblical theology, a biblical understanding of the gospel and of conversion, biblical evangelism, church membership, church discipline, discipleship, and a biblical model of leadership. In order to inform and influence churches, 9Marks creates a wide variety of practical resources including books, articles, podcasts, book reviews, and a quarterly Journal. We also host regular events around the world—almost all of them geared toward equipping and encouraging pastors.


Table of Contents

REVIVAL & REVIVALISM THEN

• Six Marks of Revivalism, by Andrew S. Ballitch
• What Can We Learn from Charles Spurgeon and the New York Revival of 1858?, by Geoff Chang
• Finney with a Twist: Elder Jacob Knapp and the Origins of Baptist Revivalism, by Caleb Morell
• Edwards, Revival, and the Necessary Means of Prayer, by Mark Rogers
• Revival Comes to Washington, by Caleb Morell
• Forgotten, Real Revivals of the Second Great Awakening, by Mark Rogers

• Pentecost: An Earthquake with Ongoing Tremors, by Sinclair Ferguson
• Don’t Walk the Aisle, Carry Your Cross, by Ben Lacey
• Can You Reverse Engineer Revival?, by Sean DeMars
• How Strong Trellises Promote Strong Vines, by Paul Alexander
• Pray for Revival—in the Other Guy's Church, by Andy Johnson

• How Movements Can Undermine Churches and Hurt Their Own Cause, by Jonathan Leeman
• Why Revivalism Causes Pastors to Burn Out and Job-Hop, by Phil A. Newton
• The Revival We Need and the Unregenerate Church Members We Have, by Jim Elliff
• Revivalism on the Mission Field, by Scott Logsdon
• Revival and Revivalism in Youth Ministry, by Mike McGarry
• The Worship Set: Today’s Sawdust Trail, by Drew Hodge

• Is Being Above Reproach a Qualification?, by Jeffrey Jeffson
• What Does Being ‘Above Reproach’ Mean?, by Paul Alexander
• How ‘Above Reproach’ Lay Elders Saved My Ministry, by Gary Kirst
• Why Is Being Above Reproach Necessary in Hard Times?, by David Doran
• Why Does a Pastor Being ‘Above Reproach’ Matter?, by Peter Hess

• Book Review: The Heart of the Gospel: A.B. Simpson, the Fourfold Gospel, and Late Nineteenth-Century Evangelical Theology, by Bernie A. Van De Walle Reviewed by Kevin Niebuhr
• Book Review: Revival and Revivalism: The Making and Marring of American Evangelicalism, 1750-1858, by Iain Murray Reviewed by Bobby Jamieson