A Theological Revival

The truth will set you free.

While predictions of the future of Western Christianity are often dire, I am not discouraged. I believe in a God who can accomplish “abundantly far more than all we can ask or imagine” (Eph 3:20), and, to quote Han Solo, “I can imagine quite a bit.” A recent article by Justin Brierley indicates that, in fact, Western trends for church attendance are beginning to move in the right direction. The same God bringing people to Christ around the world can bring people to Christ in the West. Our task is to be faithful. We are to pray, baptize and teach, live as ambassadors of Christ, and tell the truth in a world full of lies.

Truth-telling is at the core of who we are as the people of God. And what truth do we tell? The central truth is this: Christ died for us while we were yet sinners (Rom 5:8). Everything else we say and do flows out of that redemptive act. We must, then, explain what we mean by this. We must explain its implications, presuppositions, and relationship to other claims we make. We must drill down into this claim and bring forth its meaning for human life. In other words, we must think and speak theologically.

No, not everyone needs to be a professional theologian, but all of us must be able to think theologically as a way of fulfilling our evangelistic mandate. When we speak of Jesus Christ, whom do we mean? Why is he important? Why does his death matter? What is the on-the-ground cash value of the claim that he died for our sins? What is sin, anyway? Why do we believe some actions are right and others wrong? In what ways has God communicated with us?

In a post-Christian context, if we approach people with the gospel message, we’re likely to get questions like these. 1 Peter 3:15 teaches us, “Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have.” If you can’t give an answer, your witness will not be compelling. A great deal is at stake in our ability to speak in informed and effective ways about the beauty, truth, and goodness of our faith.

Photo by 🇸🇮 Janko Ferlič on Unsplash

Those of us who are Wesleyan Christians have a powerful witness to offer in these pessimistic times. Since the 1990s forms of Reformed (Calvinist) theology have dominated the Protestant landscape in the U.S. I am grateful for the people who have been led to Christ in the Reformed traditions, but I am nevertheless convinced that historic Wesleyan beliefs offer a truer, more beautiful vision of God. I don’t think I will ever get over my objections to the doctrine of individual predestination. It emphasizes God’s sovereignty to such an extent that it compromises God’s love and justice. The Wesleyan concepts of prevenient grace, God’s sanctifying power, and the notion that we should expect to be made perfect in love in this life are so optimistic, so life-giving, so hopeful that we should shout them from the rooftops. But that is not what has happened.

We’ve been too quiet about our Wesleyan faith. This may be because we haven’t really understood it. I was once asked in a Sunday school class, “Why can’t Methodists be the people who believe anything they want?” The answers to that question could fill a book, but one reason is that some beliefs are better than others. Some are life-giving, while others are death-dealing. Some promote human flourishing, while others lead to human suffering. The Wesleyan faith is too precious to allow it to die on the trash heap of doctrinal and moral relativism. It points us to a God who loves us, wants us to love him, and changes us into the people we were always meant to be.

I believe the Wesleyan faith is ascendant, and that the coming revival, of which we are glimpsing the beginnings, will be a theological revival. It will involve a deep sense of divine agency. God isn’t just a good idea. God actually moves with power in the midst of human life. It will involve divine encounters we have long identified with the “new birth” and assurance of salvation. It will result in changed hearts and renewed lives. God will heal addictions. He will heal marriages. He will mend broken hearts. He will bring together family members who are estranged from one another. He will give us the power and will to love both our neighbors and our enemies. He will work remarkable changes among the people we would least expect. He will even make us perfect in love.

The good news for Wesleyans is that we have theological language for all of these works of God. If we know and understand our faith, these are the kinds of everyday miracles we should expect. We can teach others to expect them as well. We can help them to interpret their experiences in light of Scripture and in conversation with other Christians who have experienced the same things. We can teach them how to think not just politically, not just ideologically, but theologically. In other words, we can teach them to think like Christians.

This means we need Christian leaders who are theologically engaged. We need seminaries that will form men and women in the Great Tradition of Christian faith and help them to grow in the knowledge and love of God. We need educators who can express the sanctifying love of God both intellectually and experientially.

We stand at a pivotal moment in the history of Western Christianity. It is imperative that we cultivate the wisdom, theological acumen, and character to respond faithfully to the needs of the moment. Many have gone before us who have done so. Now it’s our turn. The coming revival will be, among other things, a theological revival. Good theology leads us to truth, and, as our Lord taught, the truth will set us free (John 8:32).