The Holy Spirit's fingerprints were all over the astonishing revival of 1857-58 in the United States.
It began very quietly with one man - Jeremiah Lanphier - praying: "Lord, what wilt thou have me to do?" He was a layman, hired by the Old Dutch Church on Fulton Street, New York City, to reach out to the down-and-out in that city.
The revival continued on for more than a year with more than one million people becoming believers in a U.S. population of less than 30 million.
And, says Samuel I. Prime, this was a quiet, reverential revolution - no fanfare, no superstar preachers, no gimmicks to stir up emotions. Prime, who was part of the revival, says in his book The Power of Prayer that laymen led this prayer movement that spread like sparks in a fire from New York to Florida and California.
Prime writes that this was a definite move of the Holy Spirit - nothing else can explain it.
Prime's book is a tonic for anyone who is discouraged or disillusioned with the world around us. Anyone who feels that the church is doomed in North America needs to read this book.
Lanphier was a single man whose whole life was wrapped up in his ministry to the people of New York City. He had become a believer at the age of 33, 15 years before the revival began. He had been a businessman before becoming the Old Dutch Church's missionary to the inner city.
He was a very approachable, pleasant man and spent a lot of time on the streets talking to people and distributing tracts. But his heart was heavy, feeling that he was only touching the surface.
That's when he began asking God what the Lord wanted him to do.
After praying, he felt he should open the doors of the church to businessmen in the area for prayer one day a week for one hour, beginning at 12 noon. He distributed posters announcing the first prayer meeting on September 23, 1857.
He was the only one there for the first half hour. Then, one person arrived and by the end of the hour there were six. The six people were from different denominations - a trademark of that revival.
There were more people the next week. And about 40 people attended the third weekly prayer gathering and there was so much enthusiasm that they decided to meet again the next day.
From then on, the businessmen met daily. The prayer gatherings were very informal - everything was brief - the short talks and singing - because some people could only stay for as little as five minutes.
Very quickly, it became apparent that many people attending were not believers, but were under deep conviction of sin. There were a growing number of conversions.
Ministers started attending - though laymen were prayer leaders - and the prayer gatherings spread to other churches in New York. Before long, there were 150 prayer centres - some in churches, some in secular buildings in New York. Thousands were participating.
Then, in 1858, the revival spread to Philadelphia. Then, on to New England. Then, west to Chicago. Before long, every corner of the nation was touched by this Spirit-led movement.
The revival did not go unnoticed by the media. First, the church press and then the secular press began reporting on the revival.
Prime asserts that the 1857-58 revival was different from previous revivals because there was no dominating human leader and it was lay-led. As well, people from all denominations worked together - putting aside their differences to worship their Lord and Saviour and pray.
It was a humble, Spirit-led revival.
An example and inspiration for us today.
It began very quietly with one man - Jeremiah Lanphier - praying: "Lord, what wilt thou have me to do?" He was a layman, hired by the Old Dutch Church on Fulton Street, New York City, to reach out to the down-and-out in that city.
The revival continued on for more than a year with more than one million people becoming believers in a U.S. population of less than 30 million.
And, says Samuel I. Prime, this was a quiet, reverential revolution - no fanfare, no superstar preachers, no gimmicks to stir up emotions. Prime, who was part of the revival, says in his book The Power of Prayer that laymen led this prayer movement that spread like sparks in a fire from New York to Florida and California.
Prime writes that this was a definite move of the Holy Spirit - nothing else can explain it.
Prime's book is a tonic for anyone who is discouraged or disillusioned with the world around us. Anyone who feels that the church is doomed in North America needs to read this book.
Lanphier was a single man whose whole life was wrapped up in his ministry to the people of New York City. He had become a believer at the age of 33, 15 years before the revival began. He had been a businessman before becoming the Old Dutch Church's missionary to the inner city.
He was a very approachable, pleasant man and spent a lot of time on the streets talking to people and distributing tracts. But his heart was heavy, feeling that he was only touching the surface.
That's when he began asking God what the Lord wanted him to do.
After praying, he felt he should open the doors of the church to businessmen in the area for prayer one day a week for one hour, beginning at 12 noon. He distributed posters announcing the first prayer meeting on September 23, 1857.
He was the only one there for the first half hour. Then, one person arrived and by the end of the hour there were six. The six people were from different denominations - a trademark of that revival.
There were more people the next week. And about 40 people attended the third weekly prayer gathering and there was so much enthusiasm that they decided to meet again the next day.
From then on, the businessmen met daily. The prayer gatherings were very informal - everything was brief - the short talks and singing - because some people could only stay for as little as five minutes.
Very quickly, it became apparent that many people attending were not believers, but were under deep conviction of sin. There were a growing number of conversions.
Ministers started attending - though laymen were prayer leaders - and the prayer gatherings spread to other churches in New York. Before long, there were 150 prayer centres - some in churches, some in secular buildings in New York. Thousands were participating.
Then, in 1858, the revival spread to Philadelphia. Then, on to New England. Then, west to Chicago. Before long, every corner of the nation was touched by this Spirit-led movement.
The revival did not go unnoticed by the media. First, the church press and then the secular press began reporting on the revival.
Prime asserts that the 1857-58 revival was different from previous revivals because there was no dominating human leader and it was lay-led. As well, people from all denominations worked together - putting aside their differences to worship their Lord and Saviour and pray.
It was a humble, Spirit-led revival.
An example and inspiration for us today.
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