The recent Asbury University Revival reflected a larger movement in Western and worldwide Christianity. This is good news for Generation Z, a generation that has been characterized as depressed, anxious, and increasingly irreligious.
Younger generations of Christians are particularly drawn to the charismatic experience today because it’s impossible to replicate online. Why did people flock to Asbury? Because you had to be there to experience it.
WHAT THE HISTORY OF EVANGELICALISM TELLS US ABOUT THE ASBURY PHENOMENON
So it is with Holy Spirit-led churches each week around the world. The Asbury Revival and others like it embody a universal desire to experience the more supernatural, metaphysical faith that has been absent in many of the churches that are hemorrhaging members.
Headlines often declare the loss of religion in the United States, a notable trend toward those who identify as “nones.” That shift, however, is being slowed dramatically by the rise of charismatic movements found partially in the influx of immigrants from Latin America, Africa, and Asia to the U.S.
While mainline churches have been on the decline for 60 years, charismatic iterations boast substantial growth globally. Global Christianity is growing at a rate of 1.17%, thanks in large part to the ever-expanding charismatic church, according to the 2022 Status of Global Christianity report. There are close to 600 million Pentecostals, a quarter of the world's Christians, a number that is expected to reach 1 billion by 2050.
Today’s modern charismatic, Pentecostal church can be traced back to the 1906 Azusa Street Revival. For three years, a diverse group of believers led by African American Pastor William J. Seymour met at a former African Methodist Episcopal church building daily for spirit-filled gatherings. This unexpected series of events led to the founding of the Pentecostal denomination in the U.S., which has continued to grow since then, even as most other denominations have shrunk.
From 1900-2020, “spirit-empowered Christianity grew at nearly four times the growth rate of both Christianity and the world’s population,” according to a recent study at the Center for Global Christianity at Gordon-Conwell.
The style of worship, preaching, and gathering within the black church and movements such as Azusa are gaining fervor today, echoed by the Asbury Revival and charismatic church growth. Jesus Revolution, a new movie covering the rise of the charismatically tinged Jesus Movement of the 1960s, also reveals a time that grounded and moved this sector of Christianity in lasting ways.
The movie’s co-director, Jon Erwin, notes similarities between baby boomers of the 1960s and Gen Z today. Gen Z, he believes, is ripe for the kind of passion embodied within the Jesus Movement. “They’re deeply curious and deeply spiritually hungry,” he said.
The resemblance, encompassed by a deep search for meaning, is evident. ”If we say we’re looking for truth, what if this is truth?” asks one character in the movie. “Because everything we’ve been trying … is not working for me.”
Other things aren’t working for Gen Z, either. Depression and suicide have hit record rates, and Gen Zers are lonelier than previous generations. Social media, politics, individualism, isolation, agnosticism: Those things aren’t working for this generation, but there’s a hope they’ve begun to embrace in today’s spirit-empowered churches.
“The rumors of Christianity’s demise among younger people are greatly exaggerated,” said Barna Research President David Kinnaman, whose polling firm found that 65% of U.S. teenagers identify as Christians, a number higher than the global number of just 52%.
Young people are not losing their spirituality. Rather, they hunger for experiences that the traditional church hasn’t offered. With deep wells of content on every religious subject at their fingertips, where youth could watch church online and exist within their own personal faith silos in isolation, the charismatic church tradition offers a tangible, offline-only experience that draws in the spiritually starved.
“People aren’t looking for information,” wrote church growth expert Carey Niewhof. “They’re looking for transformation.”
That’s what the presence of the Holy Spirit in charismatic environments offers. Unlike so many other things available via Zoom or replay, these gatherings can’t be replicated on social media.
The charismatic shifts in the American church offer a light of hope for Christianity in the West, presenting a welcome contrast to the brittle proclamations of certain faith exodus. Asbury’s revival may have ended, but spirit-induced Christianity has not.
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
Ericka Andersen is a freelance writer living in Indianapolis, Indiana. She is the author of Reason to Return: Why Women Need the Church & the Church Needs Women.