Jill and I have a nephew-in-law who pastors a church in the hometown of the famed nineteenth-century evangelist D. L. Moody. Moody is well-known for large evangelistic crusades in which God undoubtedly saved thousands of people. His influence is felt today through Moody Church, Moody College and Seminary, and Moody Press. Northfield is also in the same vicinity as the city of Northampton, where the great theologian Jonathon Edwards pastored for 23 years. It is claimed by many historians that Edwards was the greatest mind ever produced in the United States. But Christians mainly remember him as an instrument God used to bring a great awakening to the region of New England in the United States in the mid to late 1700s. God used his preaching, along with that of George Whitfield, to bring about the conversion of many nominal Christians and the revitalising of many local churches in that part of the world. Though Moody and Edwards lived a hundred or more years apart, they both lived during times of spiritual blessing and significant evangelistic harvest in New England.
I have stood by Edwards’s grave and have been in Moody’s house, which is now a museum in honour of past days of gospel advance. Yet, over the years, that part of the world has experienced a disturbing degree of spiritual declension, and most people living there have little, if any, awareness or appreciation of these men and their significance in church history. For decades, it seemed that the hopes of spiritually better days were buried with these men. This past week, I detected what seems to be some encouraging green shoots in what has for so long been a barren land.
On Monday and Tuesday, my brother-in-law and dear, dear, friend, Dan Crichton, took me to a retreat in the state of New Hampshire, where 58 pastors from churches in New England (Northeastern United States) gathered for rest, renewal, and the strengthening of relationships. A handful of these pastors were well-known to me, as are their churches and ministries. But what particularly struck me was the number of unsung faithful brothers who pastor small-to-mid-size gospel faithful churches. As I interacted with them, I learned that many are facing the onslaught of secularism, theological liberalism (influenced by the diseased remnant of nineteenth century unitarianism), mindless wokeism, and elitist atheism. However, these brothers are faithfully proclaiming Christ, discipling converts, and training aspiring elders, and God is using them to build healthy local churches.
When Dan planted a church in Cranston, Rhode Island fifteen years ago, the region was perhaps the most unchurched area in New England. But over the years, the Lord has blessed the growth of Grace Bible Church, and it was a thrill to preach to a full church building last Sunday. In addition, many other churches have either been revitalised or planted in that state. God is doing a work of renewal!
I have often read the argument by pundits that, after a geographic region has experienced gospel blessing and later departs from the faith, God moves on to other parts of the world, abandoning the former, never to return. I am so grateful and encouraged that this is obviously not the case, for New England gives the lie to that conventional “wisdom.” What I observed and learned in the Northern Hemisphere this week emboldens me to hope for similar blessings here in the Southern Hemisphere.
As I type, the captain of our plane just informed us that we are leaving a part of the globe where the sun is setting and are entering that part where the sun is rising. But, of course, in twelve hours, the opposite will take place. Perhaps this is how spiritual blessings should be assessed. That is, when it seems like gospel blessings are setting in one part of the world, we should be expectantly encouraged that they are arising elsewhere. We should therefore rejoice with those who rejoice while mourning our own declension. And yet as Stephen Scholtz recently taught us, those who mourn will be comforted. That is, one day spiritual renewal can take place as we faithfully labour and pray amid the difficult times.
Brothers and sisters may what appears to be indications of spiritual renewal in New England stimulate us to pray for another Great Awakening in that part of the world, which for so long has been in a spiritual stupor. And may that prospect encourage us that the same blessings can happen right here in our land. Neither the North, nor the West for that matter, has a monopoly on gospel blessings.
Encouraged,
Doug