We get a national rivival every ninety years. Like clockwork. Our last revival began in 1953 and a new one is starting but doesn’t yet seem to have an overall form although I have heard from a number of pastors that their children are turning out very charismatic and they think that the next revival may have that character.
The revivals are usually set off by an individual and I don’t yet think we see one on the national stage. Franklin Graham is not the guy, Joel Osteen is not, and Rick Warren is defintely not the pastor to set it off (I thought he was going to solve all the problems in Arica. What happened?).
I think we Evangelicals wil be pleasantly surprised to see it happen and most of us alive today will be there when it takes off. I am really looking forward to it.
Our church is experiencing an influx of new people and it may be the start of the Fourth Great Awakening, but we won’t know for a decade or so.
We have, by the way a very large number of new members who have been previously unchurched. Over half of our new members are in that category and they have not turned out to be Christian Lite, but tend to develop into conservative Christian activists. Extremely busy in Jesus’ work.
I would add that no one would ever accuse my church of being Liberal or non Biblically based. Very conservative, but very activist and highly creative.
So, don’t take the reports of the demise of Christianity too seriously. We win in the end and you can proceed with this certainty in your heart. Get out there and bring people to Jesus.
My money is on somebody like Rob Bell, whose take on Christianity offers a very refreshing (and yet thoroughly orthodox) change from what "church" generally seems to be about today.
To get a sense of his approach, I strongly suggest that you read a couple of his books: Velvet Elvis and Sex God -- in that order.