Leonard Ravenhill was a British Christian evangelist who believed in the power of the book of Acts. He challenged the Christian Church in the West to live out the concepts in the Biblical book. In Why Revival Tarries, Ravenhill seeks to spark revival in churches across the Western hemisphere by calling them to return to church order.
Revival Isn’t Coming
One of the major reasons Ravenhill believes revival has “tarried” in the West is because of the lack of prayer in and out of church services. The evangelist rebukes believers for failing to pray during their personal devotions and, furthermore, talks about the overall church structure that seems to leave out prayer.
According to Ravenhill, revival comes out of desperation for the supernatural. You cannot have such despair without realizing your need for something (or someone) beyond yourself. Prayer, from the evangelist’s perspective, is the only way to connect with God and, in doing so, understand your need for His power in your life.
Prayer, Prayer, And More Prayer
Although I appreciate the author’s stance on prayer, it was a bit annoying to read a book with so much repetition. Ravenhill emphasizes prayer even while presenting other factors he believes keep revival out of the church. His conclusions for every aspect ultimately come to “let us pray.”
Yes, prayer is important if you are a Christian. Yes, believers should probably pray more often than they complain about the problems they find in the world. But believers should also act on what they feel are answers they receive during their prayer time. Ravenhill doesn’t present an action plan for Christians and churches outside of prayer.
For The Christian Spirit
Perhaps, Ravenhill writing in a different time period (the 1950s) is why I couldn’t connect with his formula as much. Why Revival Tarries, however, can be great for devout Christians who base their lives on prayer. They would likely agree with Ravenhill’s approach to discussing Church structure and the remedy for seeing revival.