Happily Surprised by Works of God’s Spirit

Abstract

Throughout Church history, God has worked in “normal” ways, in and through the lives of his children, in evangelism, discipleship, and missions. He has also, on numerous occasions, worked in “unusual” ways, among significant numbers of people, to greatly advance his kingdom work via evangelism, discipleship, and missions. The terms revival and movement have both been used to describe these surprisingly positive advances of kingdom ministry. This article focuses specifically on movements involving rapid and generational church planting and considers similarities and differences between revivals and movements—in principle and in practice.