Revival meeting

{{Short description|Series of Christian religious services}}
[[File:Revival crusade in Andhra Pradesh, India, Johannes Maas, American evangelist, speaking.jpg|thumb|Revival meeting in India]]
A '''revival meeting''' is a series of [[Christianity|Christian]] [[religion|religious]] services held to inspire active members of a [[Christian Church|church body]] to gain new [[Conversion to Christianity|converts]] and to call sinners to repent. Nineteenth-century [[Baptist]] preacher [[Charles Spurgeon]] said, "Many blessings may come to the unconverted in consequence of a revival among Christians, but the revival itself has to do only with those who already possess spiritual life."<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.spurgeon.org/s_and_t/wir1866.htm |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20020614153018/http://www.spurgeon.org/s_and_t/wir1866.htm |archive-date=2002-06-14 |title=What Is a Revival?}}</ref> These meetings are usually conducted by churches or missionary organizations throughout the world. Notable historic revival meetings were conducted in the [[United States]] by evangelist [[Billy Sunday]]<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.wholesomewords.org/biography/biorpsunday.html|title=Billy Sunday Biographies - Christian Biography - Wholesome Words|website=www.wholesomewords.org}}</ref> and in [[Wales]] by evangelist [[Evan Roberts (minister)|Evan Roberts]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.welshrevival.com/lang-en/1904evanroberts.htm|title=Welsh Revival|website=www.welshrevival.com}}</ref> Revival services occur in local churches, [[brush arbor revival]]s, [[tent revival]]s, and [[camp meeting]]s.<ref name="Marberry2019">{{cite web |last1=Marberry |first1=Mark |title=Brush arbor revivals are still around |url=https://dailyjournalonline.com/community/farmington-press/brush-arbor-revivals-are-still-around/article_290dfb01-3df4-59e7-aa3e-e7d404b0af78.html |publisher=Daily Journal Online |language=English |date=2 May 2019}}</ref>

== Meetings ==
[[File:Indiana-Michigan Conference In Fairview MI 1947 (5808666974).jpg|thumb|Mennonite conference in 1947]]
A revival meeting usually consists of several consecutive nights of services conducted at the same time and location, most often the building belonging to the sponsoring congregation but sometimes a rented assembly hall, for more adequate space, to provide a setting that is more comfortable for non-Christians, or to reach a community where there are no churches. [[Tent]]s were very frequently employed in this effort in the recent past, and occasionally still are, but less so due to the difficulties in heating and cooling them and otherwise making them comfortable, an increasing consideration with modern audiences.{{Citation needed|date=May 2016}}

[[Ben M. Bogard]], from 1909 to 1914, conducted revivals full-time in seven southern states. In 1924, he founded the [[American Baptist Association]], the [[Missionary Baptist]] denomination, still based in [[Texarkana, Texas]]. ABA churches have traditionally held revivals usually once or twice a year.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.encyclopediaofarkansas.net/encyclopedia/entry-detail.aspx?entryID=1593|title=Benjamin Marcus Bogard (1868–1951)|publisher=encyclopediaofarkansas.net|access-date=August 2, 2013}}</ref>

The length of such meetings varies. Until the last quarter-century they were frequently a week or more in duration, especially in the [[Southern United States]].<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Black|first1=Daryl|title='The Excitement of High and Holy Affections': Baptist Revival and Cultural Creation in the Upper-Piedmont Georgia Cotton Belt, 1800-1828|journal=Georgia Historical Quarterly|date=2003|volume=87|issue=3/4|pages=329–358|url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=a9h&AN=12115129&site=eds-live&scope=site|access-date=19 February 2018}}</ref> Currently they may be held for three or four days. Evangelist [[Billy Graham]] planned [[New York Crusade (1957)|a week-long crusade]] in [[New York City]], which ultimately extended from May 15 to September 1, 1957. More than two million people went to New York's [[Madison Square Garden]] to hear him preach.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.ghi-dc.org/files/publications/bulletin/bu044/bu44_071.pdf |title=Archived copy |access-date=2012-04-26 |archive-date=2011-11-10 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111110214654/http://ghi-dc.org/files/publications/bulletin/bu044/bu44_071.pdf |url-status=dead }}</ref>

Most groups holding revival meetings tend to be of a [[conservatism|conservative]] or [[Christian fundamentalist|fundamentalist]] nature, although some are still held by [[Mainline (Protestant)|Mainline]] groups, which formerly conducted them with a far greater frequency.  Similar events may be referred to as "crusades", most especially those formerly held by Billy Graham and [[Oral Roberts]].

Along with [[camp meeting]]s, the holding of revival services is an integral part of the [[Methodist]] tradition, in which they serve to offer individuals the [[Born again#Methodism|New Birth]] ([[first work of grace]]) and [[entire sanctification]] ([[second work of grace]]).<ref name="Oconer2017">{{cite book|last=Oconer|first=Luther Jeremiah|title=Spirit-Filled Protestantism: Holiness-Pentecostal Revivals and the Making of Filipino Methodist Identity|date=12 October 2017|publisher=Wipf and Stock Publishers|language=en|isbn=9781498203609|page=4}}</ref>

[[Conservative Mennonites]] continue to hold and promote protracted revival meetings of usually seven or eight days duration at least once per year in a given congregation. The visiting evangelist is chosen from among their own or related congregations.

Many revivals are conducted by nondenominational community churches, most of which are conservative in [[theology]].

==In popular culture==
This movement has been portrayed by director [[Richard Brooks]] in his [[1960 in film|1960]] film ''[[Elmer Gantry (film)|Elmer Gantry]]'' with [[Burt Lancaster]] (who received the [[Academy Award]] for this film) and [[Jean Simmons]], adapted from [[Sinclair Lewis]]' [[Elmer Gantry|eponymous novel]].

The [[Stephen King]] novel, [[Revival (novel)|''Revival'']], features a major character who is a revival meeting faith healer.

There is a revival scene in the 1997 film ''[[The Apostle]]'', starring [[Robert Duvall]]. Duvall's portrayal of an evangelical minister earned him an [[Academy Award for Best Actor]] nomination.

[[Cormac McCarthy]]'s novel ''[[Blood Meridian]]'' begins with a scene set at a revival meeting.

The Academy Award-winning documentary ''[[Marjoe]]'' reviews the career of child-evangelist [[Marjoe Gortner]], giving a behind-the-scenes look at revivals he promoted as an adult.

[[Neil Diamond]]'s ''[[Brother Love's Traveling Salvation Show]]'' depicts a revival meeting.

The music video for [[OneRepublic]]'s [[Counting Stars]] depicts a Christian revival meeting.

[[Laura Ingalls Wilder]]'s ''[[Little Town on the Prairie]]'' depicts a week of revival meetings at the [[Congregational church]] in [[De Smet, South Dakota]].

Remembrances of revival-meetings attended as a youth were the inspiration for the second movement of [[Charles Ives|Charles Ives']] [[Orchestral Set No. 2]], ''The Rockstrewn Hills Join in the People's Outdoor Meeting''.<ref>Ives, Charles E. (1973) ''Memos'' (ed. Kirkpatrick), Calder & Boyars, p. 92</ref>

==See also==
{{Portal|Christianity}}
* [[Camp meeting]]
* [[Charles Grandison Finney]]
* [[Christian revival]]
* [[New York Crusade (1957)]]
* [[Smithton Revival]]
* [[Tabernacle (Methodist)]]
* [[Tent revival]]

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

{{Evangelical Protestantism in the United States}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Revival Meeting}}
[[Category:Evangelical Christian missions]]
[[Category:Christian fundamentalism]]
[[Category:Christian revivals]]