A revival meeting is a series of Christian religious services held in order to inspire active members of a church body or to gain new converts. Spurgeon defines revival meetings this way: "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.". These meetings are usually conducted by churches or missionary organizations throughout the world. Most notable historic revival meetings in America were conducted by evangelist Billy Sunday and in Wales by evangelist Evan Roberts.
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. Tents 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.
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. Currently they may be held for three or four days. Evangelist Billy Graham planned a week-long crusade in New York which ultimately went from May 15 to September 1, 1957. More than two million persons went to New York's Madison Square Garden to hear him preach.
Most groups holding revival meetings tend to be of a conservative or fundamentalist nature, although some are still held by Mainline groups, which used to conduct them with a far greater frequency. Similar events may be referred to as "crusades", especially those held by Billy Graham and Oral Roberts.
Most American Protestant groups other than evangelical churches have become less active in holding revival meetings in recent years, but many are still conducted by nondenominational community churches, most of which are conservative in theology.
Read more about Revival Meeting: In Cinema
Famous quotes containing the words revival and/or meeting:
“I do not think a revival of business will be greatly postponed by [Samuel J.] Tilden’s election. Business prosperity does not, in my judgment, depend on government so much as men commonly think.”
—Rutherford Birchard Hayes (1822–1893)
“I feel the desire to be with you all the time. Oh, an occasional absence of a week or two is a good thing to give one the happiness of meeting again, but this living apart is in all ways bad. We have had our share of separate life during the four years of war. There is nothing in the small ambition of Congressional life, or in the gratified vanity which it sometimes affords, to compensate for separation from you. We must manage to live together hereafter. I can’t stand this, and will not.”
—Rutherford Birchard Hayes (1822–1893)