The rechargeable batteries for my Nikon camera carried a strong charge for several years, but after a while the batteries would only recharge enough for a couple shots. I finally had to admit, it was time to buy a new expensive battery.

In my young adult years, I heard older people longingly speak about the six-week revivals that changed communities. To me, what I was experiencing and witnessing in my generation was powerful and satisfying. I thrived on ten-day revivals and camp meetings. Now that I’m older I find myself wishing my grandchildren could experience the awe I felt when walking into a camp meeting where we worshiped God with exuberant singing and left spiritually satiated.

Here and there, people still find refreshment in scattered revivals and camp meetings, but these events are increasingly rare. While stadium crusades currently draw crowds in the southern hemisphere, they now have little appeal to North Americans or Europeans. Some methods of communicating Christ no longer carry the power that they did in the past. It’s time to ask ourselves, “Should we keep trying to go back and revive what served one generation well but carries a weak signal to a  rising generation?”

Charles Cowman, co-founder of OMS* said, “Find God’s plan for your generation and get in line with it.” Where and how is God changing lives in the rising generation?  We must ask that God reload our lives with a new vision – the vision he has for the rising generation. We must ask how to encourage and support those who are battling evil that never entered our mind or imagination when we were young. God’s plan continues through all generations but each generation must embrace a fresh vision of God and his plan for their generation.

Fresh visions are costly. They come through prayer, the study of God’s Word, fasting, cultural awareness, a concern for those who have never known God’s forgiveness, and encouragement for those who struggle in their walk with God. Fresh visions come through a willingness to set aside our familiar, comfortable way of thinking and allow God to show us his ever-unfolding plan.

Martha Hawn VanCise©

* (Formerly Oriental Missionary Society, now One Mission Society)