Written by Assistant Pastor Jon Herring, Kennet Valley Free Church
So last night about 20 or so of us went out carol singing around the Fords Farm estate. Several people came to their doors to listen and offer money for our collection, many took photos and videos of us (looks like KVFC are definitely going viral this Christmas!), and lots of people wished us a merry Christmas. On Saturday we were singing in Sainsbury’s foyer and again many stopped to listen and take photos and gave us a smile.
And over the past couple of weeks many of you have been out flyering the community and giving flyers as invitations to friends. We have gone to some lengths to make sure people are aware of our services that they might come and hear the great news of Jesus this Christmas…
…but the question is, will they come?!
As I was praying about this this morning I was reminded of the great revivals and of one in particular that I read about last year that happened in the late 1940s on the Isle of Lewis.
It is a similar story to most that I have read of revival- miraculous conversions in huge numbers, people coming to church at all hours of the day and night and staying for hours and communities transformed! And all of it started with a couple of older ladies who prayed with such fervour and expectation of God!
“Oh, the people God uses! Blind Peggy and her arthritic Sister, Christine, were too infirm to get to church services… But they knew God, and were passionate for His Glry, and so He met with them, and honoured their faith in Him.”
The story goes on that people were out on fishing boats and in in the fields working, or just sat at home and they felt an over whelming sense of their sin that they broke down there and then and cried out to God and then found themselves moved to find the church!
Over a three year period nearly every soul on the Isle of Lewis came to the Lord and people came in boat loads from neighbouring Islands and the revival spread throughout the Western Isles.
“This was no gimmicky fad. There was real fruit and the fruit lasted. Missionaries who were saved in the Lewis Awakening serve God around the world.”
It is reported that crime ceased on the island and the police jail was empty.
The point is, we can do all this hard work of inviting people and advertising but actually it is God who will stir people to come, it is God who will soften their hearts and open blind eyes. And he loves to honour the faith of those who trust him to achieve his glory.
So lets be praying earnestly that God would bring people through our doors over the next few weeks who he is working in and drawing to himself. It is a privilege to welcome them with love and be a part of his work.
Maybe you could set aside some time everyday over the remainder of this advent period, as you open the next door on your calendar, to be praying for God to work in peoples hearts and through us this Christmas.
Thanks your so much for all your hard work in serving and preparing for our Christmas activities; lets make sure it is worth it by involving God in it! Only he can save!
Isaiah 35:5
Then will the eyes of the blind be opened
and the ears of the deaf unstopped.
6 Then will the lame leap like a deer,
and the mute tongue shout for joy.
Water will gush forth in the wilderness
and streams in the desert.
7 The burning sand will become a pool,
the thirsty ground bubbling springs.
In the haunts where jackals once lay,
grass and reeds and papyrus will grow.
8 And a highway will be there;
it will be called the Way of Holiness;
it will be for those who walk on that Way.
The unclean will not journey on it;
wicked fools will not go about on it.
9 No lion will be there,
nor any ravenous beast;
they will not be found there.
But only the redeemed will walk there,
10 and those the Lord has rescued will return.
They will enter Zion with singing;
everlasting joy will crown their heads.
Gladness and joy will overtake them,
and sorrow and sighing will flee away.
Quotes from:
http://www.born-again-christian.info/scottish.hebrides.revival.duncan.campbell.htm
A video about the Lewis revival
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