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We are continuing our three week class series on revival. And we are doing this because it’s part of church history. We want to be aware of (and grateful) and learn from what God has done in other generations. And we want it to motivate us to ask the question, “how should past revivals affect my life?”.
There have been instances in the history of the Church when the telling and retelling of the wonderful works of God have been used to rekindle the expectations of the faithful intercessors and prepare the way for another Awakening.
— J. Edwin Orr
The first week I spoke on the revival under King Josiah of Judah as well as the Second Great Awakening. Last week Philip covered the First Great Awakening in England. This morning I am going to cover the revival that started in New York City in 1857 and also the revival in the 1960s and 70s. Then I will end up with some encouragements.
Ezekiel 34:26–27 (ESV) — And I will make them and the places all around my hill a blessing, and I will send down the showers in their season; they shall be showers of blessing. And the trees of the field shall yield their fruit, and the earth shall yield its increase, and they shall be secure in their land…
We shall never see much change for the better in our churches in general till the prayer meeting occupies a higher place in the esteem of Christians,
— Charles Spurgeon
History backs up Spurgeon’s quote. Prayer is closely connected to the many revivals that the Lord has brought about not only in our country but in many other nations. We’ll discuss this more at the end but the revival that began in New York City in 1857 is a great example of this.
The revival is sometimes called the Prayer Meeting Revival. Others have called it the Businessmen’s Revival. The revival that spread from a single prayer meeting in New York City throughout our nation and around the world is called by some as the Third Great Awakening. It began September 23 of 1857 when a man named Jeremiah Lanphier organized a prayer meeting and handed out hundreds of flyers inviting others to it. Now Lanphier had been converted under Charles Finney’s ministry. In our first class I had criticized Finney for promoting what some call revivalistic techniques.
These were ways and methods of pressuring people to respond to Christ. We should appeal to people, exhort people, preach to people and encourage them to respond to the gospel of Christ. But we must never pressure them or seek to manipulate them to some kind of conversion. This can lead to false conversions. But here is one thing we should understand about revivals. When God is doing a surprising work of awakening and reviving and saving he often saves people despite bad doctrine and practice and sometimes leaders who are sometimes flawed. This does not validate bad doctrine or practice or suspect leaders. However, God is able to save using his people but also in spite of his people. He works through clay vessels.
For all indications Jeremiahn Lanphier was a genuine and godly Christian and the Lord used him to begin this revival. The first prayer meeting was to begin at at noon and run one hour… (At 12:15…)
The next week there were twelve participants. By October there were over 3000 people attending. By December it was at 10,000. A snowball quickly gaining momentum. Remember a revival is a surprising work of God that intersects his providential moving in powerful ways with the work and ministry of his people. superabundance of the Spirit’s operations - Ian Murry
There were specific guidelines in place for this prayer meeting that worked well during that time. They started promptly at 12:00pm and finished right at 1:00pm. They allowed people to come and go as they please so that folks could join on their lunch break if possible. There was a sign posted that said, “Prayers and Exhortation not to exceed 5 minutes, in order to give all an opportunity. Not more than 2 consecutive prayers or exhortations. No controversial points discussed.” Hymns were sung, scriptures were read, prayers were prayed.
By 1858 more than twenty prayer groups were meeting at noon in the city. Then, it began to spread to every major city in the U.S. Prayer meetings began to spring up everywhere: in churches, on college campuses, in hospitals, among sailors, on mission fields and orphanages, And the result was a powerful revival. Churches were baptizing 20,000 people a week. Scholars estimated that one to two million or more were converted in the late 1850s while hundreds of thousands of professed Christians were deeply affected. It spread to England, Northern Ireland and other nations. Church services often needed to be held outside because the crowds were so big. At least 90 college campuses were affected.
In some respects it was a very unique revival. It lacked the fanaticism that so often can attach itself to a move of God. Criticism of it was also almost non-existent. There was very much diversity in regards to church denominations of those that attended. It “produced the highest degree of real cooperation and unity among the various evangelical Christian denominations until then known in modern times.”
The general “zeal for souls” blurred denominational lines and diminished the denominational ambitions for aggrandizement.” … everywhere it was a revival of prayer. There was no hysteria, no unusual disturbance. Just prayer.”
How did the revival advance? One description goes like this: “By conversing with a friend, inviting him to a Christian minister, by giving him a book or tract - above all by making him the special subject of prayer in secret, simple as these means appear they have been all-powerful through the blessing of God to produce the desired results.”
As most revivals do, It had an effect on society. Gambling saloon owners offered their buildings for daily prayer meetings. Crime drastically dropped and many “haunts” of sin and shame” were closed.
The revival had an effect in a great way on the soldiers of the Civil War. Some historians estimate that 250 to 300 thousand soldiers confessed Christ during revivals in military camps both North and South.
Before we move on to the next revival let’s pause and be instructed by this “Third Great Awakening”. To me it’s encouraging that it centered on prayer. This is not unique for in most revivals there is a direct or indirect link to in the words of Issac Watts wrote, God’s people striving mightily in prayer. But here it seemed to be the most important ingredient. People began praying together all over the country. We can sometimes have an idealized idea of the prayer that brings about revival. This is not to minimize a spirit of prayer that seems to accompany awakenings. The important thing is to pray. Remember they read Scripture, sang hymns and prayed.
Another encouraging aspect of this revival was that Christians of all different stripes prayed together. Philip touched on this last week. He mentioned that during times of persecution and times of revival Christians often enjoy the blessing of unity. We should look for opportunities (and pray for them) to pray with other Christians for God to pour out his Spirit on our nation. There are many things that Christians have different beliefs in regards to doctrine. But praying for a move of God is something we should all desire and pray for.
Also in this revival there weren’t any big “stars’ or personalities. It doesn’t mean that there weren’t men and women that God used in a leadership way especially in men preaching and teaching of God’s word. But avoiding the "aggrandizement" of individuals or churches/organizations is so important in a revival (in fact many revivals have been derailed). I think especially living in the digital social media age this is really crucial. I appreciate the way that the administration at Asbury University tried to shepherd the “revival” that seemingly occurred there in 2023.
The university leadership wanted to avoid people coming in from the outside and co-opting it. So they put certain stipulations in place to prevent it. That’s similar to the five minute type of rule in the Prayer Meeting revival. It’s also a way of encouraging many Christians to participate. The prayer meeting revival’s insistence on not talking or praying about controversial topics is wise as well. Centered on praying for the Spirit to be poured out and for non-Christians to come to faith.
But remember we can’t control if and when and how a revival comes. That leads us to talk about the revival that transpired in the 1960s into the 1980s .This seems to have been a merger of a number of “moves of God”. (There were actually a number of revivals and moves of God in the 20th century). The elders wanted me to especially talk about this because it has a direct connection to the origins of our church. At this point in the life of our church we have a significant number of senior saints (60s-70s). Many of them came to faith as a result of this revival. Also many of the original members and leaders of our former denomination were converted in this work of the Lord.
The Charismatic Movement initially affected main line Protestant churches (Episcopal, Presbyterian, Lutheran, as well as the Catholic church.) People began to experience the baptism of the Spirit in churches that didn’t even really believe in it. Remember how I mentioned that God often brings both reformation and revival to people in “different” situations? He doesn’t always move in ways that we would prefer or desire but in ways that sometimes if we are honest cause us to scratch our heads.
An example of this happened in the autumn of 1966 (Christian History Institute) among faculty and students at Duquesne University (Catholic University) in Pittsburgh. They recognized a lack of dynamism in their Christian witness. So they began to pray that the Holy Spirit would renew them with the powerful life of the risen Lord. In mid-February, 1967, about thirty students and teachers went on a weekend conference to pray and to meditate on the first four chapters of the book of Acts. (Return to the norm)
Saturday evening as they gathered in the chapel the Holy Spirit brought something new into their lives. One professor reported. There was no direction as to what had to be done... Some praised God in new languages, others quietly wept for joy, others prayed and sang. They prayed from ten in the evening until five in the morning. Throughout the evening God dealt with each person there in a wonderful way.'
During the following weeks the fellowship group at the university grew. It began to function as more of a community using spiritual gifts to strengthen the body of Christ. This renewal spread to other universities. (Snowball effect-which had been rolling for a while)
Many church historians would place the beginning of the charismatic renewal in April of 1960 in St Mark’s Episcopal Church in Van Nuys, California. (Christian History Institute). The rector, Dennis Bennett stood in his pulpit and told of a new work of the Holy Spirit in the church and also in his own life. It involved a variety of spiritual gifts including speaking in tongues. The immediate strong reaction forced his resignation.
He continued to teach and encourage the exercise of spiritual gifts in the church at large including healing, prophecy and speaking in tongues. His extensive traveling and writing during the following years stimulated charismatic renewal in the major Protestant denominations. Also influential in these early years were Lutheran Larry Christenson, Reformed Harald Bredesen, David Du Plessis, and Michael Harper, from England.
The Charismatic movement really moved the Pentecostal experience of being baptized in the Holy Spirit into the wider body of Christ. But it was about far more than that. First and foremost it was about salvation - and many people especially those in non-evangelical churches came to Christ. We don’t really have more time but the charismatic movement has influenced and is still influencing the evangelical landscape throughout the world.
Let’s jump to the Jesus People revival. It began during a turbulent time in the U.S. “Civil rights revolution, complete with racist resistance and frustrations-driven urban riots across the country; dark murmurings of political revolution as anarchy reigned on the nation’s college campuses over the Vietnam War and the draft; the advent of the Pill and the sexual revolution; the spread of LSD and the psychedelic revolution; and the counterculture flower power of the hippie revolution. (The clean cut external image/culture of the 1950s was coming apart at the seams)
In the midst of all this the Lord began to save young people especially those who were involved in this counter cultural revolution. It began in 1967 during what has been referred to as the Summer of Love. This was a major social phenomenon that occurred in San Francisco when as many as 100,000 people, mostly young people, hippies, beatniks, and 1960s counterculture figures, converged in San Francisco's Haight-Ashbury district and Golden Gate Park.
A very important figure in the Jesus people revival was Chuck Smith of Calvary Chapel Costa Mesa California. He pastored a very middle class church until his wife, Kay, began to express a growing concern for the hippies gathering in nearby Huntingdon Beach. Smith, though initially suspicious of the hippies, much to his credit warmed to the idea and was willing to connect with Lonnie Frisbee who was a sort of hippie evangelist and missionary.
Soon Calvary Chapel was filled with long-haired, tye dyed, hippies, sitting cross legged on the floor. These were the original “Jesus freaks”. (Reading their Bible in the front lawn after church with a cigarette.(Remember in a revival God saves people where they are at… ) God did a surprising work among the hippie community. They were getting genuinely saved and seeking to follow Jesus whole heartedly. Larry Eskridge estimated 250,000 were saved in this revival.
What began in California did not stay in California. In fact it was duplicated all across the country. “Independent of the organized church, thousands of young people formed communes, fellowships and coffeehouses; created their own Jesus Rock bands; and printed their own street papers to hand out on evangelistic forays.” It also affected Christian young people who had grown up in evangelical churches.
They came to really identify with the authentic life-changing experiences of their newly converted hippie brothers and sisters and their cultural relevance (and music). In fact from 1971 on it really switched to a more evangelical youth driven focus. Coffeehouses became a big deal as well as Christian rock to draw main line young people into evangelical conversations, gospel presentations and the baptism of the Holy Spirit.
The high water mark of the revival was 1971 and 1972. In June of 1971 Time magazine did an eight page cover article titled the Jesus Revolution. In 1972 Bill Bright and Campus Crusade and others had a conference that was called Expo 72. Eighty - five thousand people attended and 185,000 came to a Christian music concert.
Much more could be said about this revival and moves of God. Both of these had profound influence on the body of Christ both in terms of adding millions of converts to the church as well as affecting both doctrine and practice. I have tried to highlight some of its characteristics and influence on the handout. Here is a quote describing some of the changes affecting church structures:
Church structures were transformed and modeled on New Testament principles. Thousands of biblically-aligned churches were planted, new ministries emerged and apostolic movements or ‘streams’ were born. Evangelism was put at the top of their agendas and aggressively pursued. Multitudes were converted, filled with the Holy Spirit and became active in Christ’s mission.
Predominantly, these churches were not aligned to denominational churches nor the Pentecostal movement. Instead, they resembled a colorful kaleidoscope of church government and expression, all different but founded on what the participants saw as the Biblical norm. (Revival Library)
In answering the question “How Then Shall We Live?” let me share these bullet points:
How do we live in-between revivals?
Here are some other recent messages.
We are a church built on the Bible, guided and empowered by the Spirit, striving to make disciples, and pursuing holiness in the context of robust biblical relationships.
© 2026 Cornerstone Fellowship Church of Apex
