An article I posted on Steve Cottons Website

Revival is a misused and misunderstood word. In this brief essay I will be using the term as shorthand for a move of God's Spirit. This is the definition that has come to be used for the concept of Revival. In reality revival speaks of giving life back to something which is dead, a state which, despite it's difficulties, the church in this nation is still avoiding. A sovereign move of God's spirit does little to revive the church but much to reinvigorate the purposes of God for a nation, even for continents.

Students and witnesses of revivals from around to world tell of remarkable events, miraculous happenings, wondrous encounters with the living God that fill us with awe and excitement. How we long to see these things in our midst, how desperate we become to live amidst the wind and power of the Spirit, how hard we press in prayer to see these scenes of joy and conversion. Yet how long have we waited for revival to come? How long, how hard, how urgently must we pray to see that which we hope for?

Over the last 10 years I have come to change my view of what we are actually praying for. I no longer expect that my street will be set ablaze with the gospel of Christ. My hope has gone when I think of my town under the pressing glory of God. This nation may never again burn with the fires of revival. I say these things because society has changed. How well do we know our neighbours? The family across the street, that bloke who walks his dog past our house every night? Not as well as I might. The social structure of the UK has fragmented. It has become increasingly tribal, each to his own social group focused around interests rather that location. We simply do not have the same community spirit that once could be found across the land.

This is proving to be a stumbling block for the gospel carrying church. We struggle to create events, occasions, situations that allow us to meet people, make friends and hopefully share the gospel with. How will the flames of revival spread in a community where no one talks to each other, where the links are simply not there? Revival may tarry because there is no fuel to add to the fire.

BUT, universities (colleges and schools) may be different. Surely on university campuses we find exactly the close knit communities through which revival can spread like wildfire? In an environment where everyone knows everyone surely a spark of the Holy Spirit can cause an outbreak of contagious conversion? Has there not been revival in the prison system? In the Gypsy community? Both examples of communities like universities that have a large population in a specific location.

Another factor may well be the susceptibility of students to the gospel. The university age is a very influencable age, an impressionable age. Your university days are filled with exploration and discovery, everyone (more or less) has an open mind to new things. This may even include the gospel!

I believe that God is calling for students like you to be the tinder for a great revival. God's heart for the lost remains as fiery and as jealous as ever. He wants and needs people to be set ablaze with His holy passion for the people of this nation, to be changed into contagious carriers of an infectious gospel. He is requiring a people who are so intimate with Him that His very presence in their lives affects others, that the Spirit of God would bring conviction and conversion. He is looking, searching for those who are willing to stand up and be counted for His Kingdom, saying "here I am, take me and use me". He cries out to see His people walk in faith that He is the Almighty, that there is nothing that He cannot do, that He will be with them always wherever He asks them to go.

So will you be on of those few?, will you answer God's call?

I believe that revival is coming to university campuses around this nation. I believe that God will do extraordinary things through ordinary people. I believe that God will send the sparks of ignition right now if you ask Him. And if you walk in intimacy and faith in His power, He will change the course of a nation, the course of a continent and even the course of history.