Review: Pentecostal Outpourings

Pentecostal Outpourings: Revial and the Reformed Tradition, Robert Davis Smart, Michael A. G. Haykin, Ian Hugh Clary, editors, Reformation Heritage Books, 2016, 280 pages.

Most Christians would agree that we need revival today, but what does that look like and what are its fruits? If we are honest, an accurate assessment of modern-day revival is "a humanly engineered series of meetings to convert the unsaved and with a fanatical experience that has little to do with the gospel and biblical theology."¹ Sadly, this definition bears little resemblance to New Testament. Hence our ideas need correcting, and Pentecostal Outpourings offers a much-needed biblical and historical corrective.

This book examines historic revivals of the past in the British Isles and America. The accounts are not confined to one particular denomination but cover a range of groups all within the reformed tradition. Thus what constitutes revival is defined by that theological context. The authors have also taken care to accurately examine the events  and portray the good as well as the mixture that often accompanies a genuine move of the Holy Spirit. In addition to the history, there is much application to be gleaned such as - How does revival mesh with the ordinary means of grace? Is revival the solution to all the church's problems? How should the church move forward even when revival does not come? Do the ends justify the means or will compromised methods lead to compromised conversion?

Pentecostal Outpourings would be a great book for the church history lover and an excellent companion to Iain Murray's Revival and Revivalism. This book would also offer encouragement to church leaders and believers who are praying for revival in their midst. As God has clearly and powerfully moved in the past, perhaps He will be gracious enough to do so again in our lifetime?

"O brethren, let us pray much for an outpouring of God's Spirit upon our ministers and churches, and not only upon those only of our own connection and denomination, but upon 'all that in every place call upon the name of Jesus Christ our Lord, both theirs and ours' (1 Cor. 1:2)."²

1. pg. ix.
2. Andrew Fuller, pp. 256-257.

I received a copy of this book from Reformation Heritage Books via Cross Focused Reviews. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission's 16 CFR, Part 255: "Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising."