The spontaneous revival at Asbury University has now moved into its second week. What started as a regular Wednesday chapel service has grown into a move of God that is attracting hundreds of people to Wilmore, KY, to experience this outpouring of God’s Spirit. People are coming to experience the power of confession and repentance, healing and reconciliation, testimony and spontaneous praise. There’s no central leader, no direction or agenda, just people gathering together, drawn in and sent out by ...
The spontaneous revival at Asbury University has now moved into its second week. What started as a regular Wednesday chapel service has grown into a move of God that is attracting hundreds of people to Wilmore, KY, to experience this outpouring of God’s Spirit. People are coming to experience the power of confession and repentance, healing and reconciliation, testimony and spontaneous praise. There’s no central leader, no direction or agenda, just people gathering together, drawn in and sent out by the Spirit in a way that is so unusual that national news outlets are picking it up.
But while many are rejoicing at this movement of God that began with college students and is spreading to other campuses, others are skeptical and even critical--and, not surprisingly, a lot of that criticism seems to be coming from those who are actually in the church. Some merely chalk up the revival to emotionalism, while others sniff that it’s not immediately following their prescribed social justice agenda. Still others have never been part of such a spontaneous outpouring and question any kind of ecstatic experience. In Wesley's day, movements of the God outside the established church were considered to be a dangerous form of "enthusiasm," or an irrational religious madness.
The reality is, however, that these kinds of revivals and spiritual watershed events are a hallmark of the Wesleyan holiness tradition. Asbury experienced a similar revival back in 1970 that launched a generation of pastors and missionaries. Camp meetings and other gatherings were, and in many places still are, opportunities for the Spirit to bring renewed vision in the midst of prayer, worship, healing, and testimony. Indeed, from the very beginning, Methodism has been a movement of the Holy Spirit and a movement that has always raised questions for those in the institutional church.
In "The Nature of Enthusiasm," written in 1750, John Wesley responds to critics of the movement by redefining what "enthusiasm" actually means and offers a prescription for discerning the work of the Holy Spirit and the will of God. It's a timely sermon for this moment in history and one that both supporters and critics of revival need to consider.
Read The Nature of Enthusiasm
Read Kevin Watson's helpful summary
Send your questions and comments to host Bob Kaylor at pastorbk@tlumc.org and follow him on Twitter @revbkaylor.
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