Revival & Mission

In this episode Matt interviews a Revival historian called Mathew Backholer about the connection between the great revivals of church history and global mission.

Enjoy a brief overview of several hundred years of missions history in which we talk about the Nestorians, the Moravians, the Welsh Revival, the martyrdom of Robert Jermaine Thomas in Korea and much more. 

 "If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land." (2 Chronicles 7:14)

Mathew's book, Global Revival, Worldwide Outpourings can be found here.

Transcript

Mathew Backholer: 0:02

they carried on sailing up the river. they didn't fully realize it was a tidal river. The tide went out, they were caught on a sandbank, and then cannons were sent against them. Robert Jermaine Thomas, who was from Wales he began to throw Bibles overboard to give them out as best as he could. And he was eventually, beheaded. And interestingly, one of the people he gave a Bible to actually took it home. used the leaves of the pages as wallpaper and put it on his hut. And day he eventually read them. And during the revival. 1907, he actually stood up and said, I was the gentleman, who executed Robert Germaine Thomas. It's incredible. he Eventually became a Christian because he, read the word of God

0:44

Hey guys, welcome back to Raw Mission. I'm Matt, your host, and today I'm delighted to have Matthew Bler on the show. Matthew is a revival, historian and an author of several books, and with the current conversation around what's been called The Quiet Revival in the uk, I wanted to find out what impact some of the great revivals in church history have had on global Mission.

Matt: 1:06

Well, good morning, Matthew. It's so good to have you on the show, on the podcast. Welcome,

Mathew Backholer: 1:10

Thank you Matt. It's, great to be here.

Matt: 1:12

Tell us a bit about yourself, Matthew. give us a little summary of who you are and what you do, and what the Lord's called you into.

Mathew Backholer: 1:18

I became a Christian when I was 10 years old. That's when I became born again.

Matt: 1:23

Very short.

Mathew Backholer: 1:25

I became filled with a spirit. I got called to. college in my early twenties, and I studied at for two years, and then I stayed on as staff member. And I've been in, ministry since that time. By the grace of God. I am the co-founder of By media. And we basically do websites Christian television streaming DVDs, books, and more recently social media.

Matt: 1:51

and I've had a look at some of the publications that you've written over the years. You've got all kinds of interests, don't you? Quite different topics. But the one we're gonna focus on today particularly is the book that you wrote quite a few years ago called Global Revival Worldwide Outpourings. And of course, our interest in this is to hear a little more about what God has done over the centuries, because everything we do today in missions, we're standing on the shoulders of giants, There have been things happening around the world that God has done. So we're gonna get into some of that today. As you reflect back on that book you wrote, but before we jump into it, what were the motivations for you personally in terms of getting into the history of Christian mission and global revival

Mathew Backholer: 2:29

From a young age, I understood the concept of Christ's command to go into all the world and to, preach the good news. It's the responsibility of every believer to share that good news. Some of us can go, some of us can pray, some of us can give, some of us can do all three of these things. But as a very young believer, I had the opportunity to go on short term missions, firstly with my dad and then with other people. my brother and I were traveling down the east coast of Africa over six and a half months, we traveled through 12 or 13 countries we visited various places and sites, especially mission stations. a number connected with Dr. David Livingstone and places where he himself had been. And I've always been interested in revival, history basically when God pours out his spirit and touch of people a bit like the Book of Acts really.

Matt: 3:23

Wow. that trip down the east coast of Africa, that sounds fascinating.

Mathew Backholer: 3:27

Yeah. So that trip was in 2008. It was an incredible experience. And, it was a real education and it was really nice, especially in Malawi speaking to the people. they said, what are you doing? He said, oh, we're just traveling in the footsteps of David Livingstone. And they said, oh, wow. The father of our nation. didn't realize how much he was revered and honored there. We went to Zanzibar. Oh, we went to so many places. just absolutely incredible. The place where Dr. Stanley, found Mr. Livingstone at and we saw the various memorials it was just incredible going around these places, seeing where these great men of God had trod standing in their footsteps so to speak, and just trying to get an understanding of what they did. It was a very difficult work. but they gave their all for Jesus Christ. David Livingstone wanted to open up Africa to end the slave trade, and he wanted to introduce commerce Christianity at the same time, because if you could introduce commerce, normal, free trade, then people would stop. Trading and it was the Arabs and it was of the locals themselves, he did a number of main journeys before coming back to England and basically recuperating, he had fever so many times and it was hard, it was very difficult. Very pioneering work. And he, opened up about half of Africa. opened up these various trade routes from east to west, from north to south, et cetera.

Matt: 4:51

And what about the book then, global Revival? What was the story of you writing that book?

Mathew Backholer: 4:56

Well, a few years before that, I had written Revival Fires and Awakenings, and that was basically 36 outpourings of the Holy Spirit. But I realized as I've been doing my search about revivals and mission books that many of these pioneering missionaries saw revival And I just thought I don't think there's a book out there about revivals and missions together. so I wanted to bring to the wider public how many of these men and women of God saw revival outpourings of the Holy Spirit, which helped advance the kingdom of God. So it revived not only the Christian churches that were there and the missionaries themselves, but also spread out into the wider community. And because my first book covered 36 revivals, I wanted this one to cover And by the grace of God, it was able to cover 43, visitations of the Holy Spirit. it's interesting because I was speaking, this is some years ago now, to a Scottish Revival historian, and he told me how he had bought this book on a whim thinking, oh, I'm probably gonna know about half these revivals anyway, I was greatly encouraged'cause he told me that most of them he'd never come across before. I was greatly encouraged that I was able to bring out these, lesser known revivals, to a wider, body

Matt: 6:10

yeah. We need to probably define some terms here as we start to talk about revival. And there's a lot of talk these days in the church about a quiet revival We could debate that word, whether it's the right use of that word but It might be the first beginnings of revival. We'll see. Time will tell I suppose. But in the beginning of your book, global Revival, you do talk about defining some terms, how do you describe this awakening or revival? What would be the core ingredients of revival rather than just a time of renewal in the church?

Mathew Backholer: 6:36

I would say that revival is an incredible outpouring of the Holy Spirit. If you look back in the time of King Solomon in the temple, the glory of God came down when they dedicated the temple to the Lord. it was with such power that the priests, fell on their faces before God. See, revival is not manmade, it's planned. You can plan an evangelistic event, you can plan a mission crusade, you can plan many things, but revival is not planned. It's a sovereign work of God, God's sovereignty does not relieve man of his responsibility that's like to Hubble ourself to pray, to seek God's face and. We're called to do what we can do whilst we can, to use the best of our abilities, the best of our talents to advance the kingdom of God. Revival is not manmade. I'm all in for renewal. I'm all in for awakenings, outpourings of the spirit. May God come and, just bless us all. But revival, especially seen from a larger perspective of the Welsh. Revival. That's 19 0 4, 19 0 5. God really came down and touched people so much so that men who were working down the mine, so hundreds of feet underground on the mine shaft were coming under great conviction of sin. literally they were crying their eyes out, some of them. And it is a social transformation when you come to a bigger revival. A revival can start in our own life. We can say, God, please revive me. Please touch my life. Help me to be a better person. Help me to glorify, christ. And then revival can come to a church or a mission hall or a fellowship, or it could come to a people group. In global Revival, I refer to various mission stations sometimes it would come in waves like the Congo 19 50 three, and it would touch this part of the mission station. Then that part of the mission station historically, you can read about revivals, literally sweeping for a school, like going from floor to floor or classroom to classroom is people come under conviction of sin. I remember Andrew Murray talking about the revival that broke out in his church in Southern Africa. And at the time he didn't realize it was revival breaking out even though he prayed for it for so many years. And people just spontaneously began to worship the Lord and to pray. he said, God is a God of order not disorder. And he commanded them to be quiet and they wouldn't quiet because the spirit of God come upon them. And he actually ran out of the church or left the church building quite disgruntled, said God, what's going on? And God spoke him, said you prayed for revival and this is it.

Matt: 9:10

That's interesting. There are quite a few components you've mentioned there that I think are Yeah. Really key, aren't they? In revival history. we've talked about the confession of sin and.

Mathew Backholer: 9:18

Yes.

Matt: 9:18

Although the scripture says, that's something we should be doing that can even bring God's healing and blessing and restoration revival, but also this spontaneous conviction of sin that takes it to another level, doesn't it? And especially not just an individual but whole s swathes of people. And I've heard the stories too in recent years of a school here or a people group here, just people coming under that weight of conviction, floods of tears and so on. And the spirits at work when that's happening. that's not something somebody forces or a preacher from the front can make happen amongst someone. Yeah. So there's conviction of sin. And you talked also about the idea of social transformation because when that revival goes from the personal to the church and beyond into the nation or even beyond that, we'll come on to talk about then things start to change in society, don't they? Tell us a bit more about that.

Mathew Backholer: 10:04

With the Welsh revival, people, led hard lives. Difficult lives. There was little pay, very hard work. Many of the men were minors. That was the main job mines, or tens, but it was working underground. And many of them, after work would go to the pub and drink. Many families were impoverished. The wages weren't that good. If you went to America, you could earn five times the wage. Reese Howes did that. He went over in about 1902. But he actually came back in 1904, just before the Welsh revival broke out. But like I said, these people who got converted, they decided, no, we're not gonna go down to pubs. We're not gonna be drinking alcohol, we're not gonna be getting drunk. It basically meant more money for the family. So The family could be fed. Many people were impoverished, not just in Wales, not just during that revival, but in many places, during the evangelical revival across Britain, under people like John Wesley and George Whitfield. So that's 1739. When there was great social transformations there was a gentleman called Lord Shaftsbury he was known as the seventh El. But Lord Shaftsbury and the work that he did, he was born into wealth, but he understood the concept of helping other people. And then there was Lady Huntington, exceptionally wealthy person. She would sell some jewels just so that another chapel could be built and could be erected. But people understood, we, we were called to love our neighbor as ourselves. And that was in a practical outworking format, helping people, poor people, whether it's accommodation or food or social working conditions. And that's the big one. Social working conditions. Our ancestors across Britain had it very difficult. They had hard working lives. Even in the Victorian era. So we talk about 1840s, 1850s. We talk about, under Dickens time, There were so many homeless children in London alone, and then Dr. Bernardos himself, he got involved with that and started helping poor. I said they were caught up in the 18 revival, which basically, touched England, Scotland Island, and Wells. First of all, it broke out in 18 58 in wells, and But people were really, concerned with helping each other, but also they understood the concept well, we need to go and tell these people in other lands who have never heard. When we think about Hudson Taylor of the China in Li Mission, he founded that in, June 18 65. in some of these revivals, there's great restitution. like Zach, the guy who went up the tree. Jesus saw him, he says, Zach, I wanna come and eat at your house tonight. So he went and ate at his house and he came under such a conviction of sin bear in mind he was a tax collector and he knew he cheated people. He said, I'm gonna restore fourfold. in various revivals through history, people have made restitution. In 21, 22 in Belfast Island, we had the Har and Wolf factory, where they built the Titanic. And so many tools were being returned by these men, these workers who come under conviction. And they realized they had stolen these items. They could say they borrowed them or liberated them, but they know they'd stolen them. And so they came under conviction and just returned them. And it got to the stage. after all these sheds were filled with these stolen shovels and pickaxes, et cetera, that they said, look, please stop returning them. We've got no more place to store them. But like I said, there's a number of instances they can be told about that. And also about people spontaneously coming under conviction. They may have not ever have come under the sound of a preacher or an evangelist. They may have never entered a church or a chapel or a mission hall. Some people were converted out at sea on their fishing ships or their trawlers, or a member in America, it was like 1857. They were on these navy ships anchored out at sea, and they came under conviction. And these people cried out and submitted themselves to Jesus Christ and they had a born again experience. So it is quite incredible when God literally just rushes in. And touches and transforms people's lives because there has to be an outflow. As believers, we're called to go into all the world and to preach the gospel, and we're called to do many other things. Pray for the persecuted church. We're called to help people, the orphans in the widows, et cetera. And that's part of the social outflow, doing what we can to help other people to be that light as Christians.

Matt: 14:29

so to summarize, Some of the key signs of revival, it's an outpouring of God's spirit. It involves conviction of sin. It involves the gospel going outside the normal boundaries of the church into places where the gospel isn't very well known in society and beyond. Would another one be signs and wonders?

Mathew Backholer: 14:47

There can be signs and wonders, but, as a revival historian, I would say that's more on the outside. It's more about getting a person's character right, with the Lord. Now, I remember in the Cheong Revival, 2006 there was a case of a man there who had been hit by a truck and he was paralyzed and this man come and said to him, look, you can be healed and God can come and touch you. And he anointed him with oil in the name of the Lord. he was healed instantly But then he went back to his old ways. Then he was paralyzed again. And the guy called for the evangelist again and said to him look what's happened. He said you're not meant to carry on in your old sins. There's meant to be a newness of life in God did not heal you. So you carry on, in your former lifestyle, you need to be born again. You need to be filled with the spirit and you need to be a light and a witness. You're meant to be that new creature in Christ.

Matt: 15:41

Yeah, that's interesting because I think it's very easy for the church to get excited about miracles or signs and wonders and to forget that holiness is. It the essential part of, what the Lord wants to do in us. He wants to make us more like him. And yes, of course his power can be involved and there are wonderful things that can happen in our world, Muslims who come to Christ, there's often a miracle at some point in their conversion story, it might be a dream, it might be a vision, a healing But the core of their walk with Jesus is much more than that. It's so much more the daily holiness, the reading, the scriptures, and trusting the Lord and seeing his provision and the smaller miracles on a daily basis.

Mathew Backholer: 16:18

Yes. it's better to have character rather than charisma. Or the gifts of the spirit, et cetera. Now, the gifts of the spirit are important, but the character of having, Christ formed in us, Bible says, without holiness, no man shall see the Lord. Sometimes it's conviction of sin as well, they've had to, publicly, humble themselves before the Lord and before a congregation That's how the Great Revival broke out in Koreas in 19 0 7, 1 of the missionaries stood up and basically confessed the sin of racism against this, Korean gentleman. And then the Korean gentleman confessed his sin of racism against the missionary. there was prejudice on both sides, but they confessed the sin in this big meeting of Christian believers. And God really did a great work in that country. And, tens of thousands of people, come to know the law. And it's interesting because, the first Protestant missionary, went there, a hundred and 50 odd years ago. It was

Matt: 17:14

Robert and

Mathew Backholer: 17:15

who went there initially, shared the good news as best as he could. He

Matt: 17:18

Jermaine's.

Mathew Backholer: 17:20

if court, because foreigners were not allowed to enter Korea. It was known as the hermit country. And he basically went there heavily disguised. He went there on American schooner, which is basically just a form of a ship. he was able to hand out Bibles as best as he could speak to a few people. He learned some of the language whilst in, China. And at the time, the Koreans read the Chinese script anyway. cause China was largely overlords of Korea, Japan were as well. But, went and he did what he could. And actually he was martyred on a sandbank.

Matt: 17:52

Yeah, tell us that story because it is really interesting, and then we'll make some of those connections too. Back to the Welsh revival perhaps.

Mathew Backholer: 17:59

Yeah. So basically he went with this American schooner to be their translator. That's one of the ways he could get to Korea as a single country back then. And the people wanted to trade but the Korean people did not wanna trade. They didn't want to have any dealings with foreigners. Of course, the people he was traveling with weren't missionaries many of them weren't fellow Christians. And they opened, fired and the Koreans commander attack somebody came aboard the ship, try to Negotiate some sort of deal, some Korean gentleman. Then they captured him and sailed off. Of course, they carried on sailing up the river. they didn't fully realize it was a tidal river. The tide went out, they were caught on a sandbank, and then cannons were sent against them. Robert Jermaine Thomas, who was from Wales he began to throw Bibles overboard to give them out as best as he could. And he was eventually, beheaded. And interestingly, one of the people he gave a Bible to actually took it home. used the leaves of the pages as wallpaper and put it on his dwelling places hut. And day he eventually read them. And during the revival. 1907, he actually stood up and said, I was the gentleman, who executed Robert Germaine Thomas. It's incredible. he Eventually became a Christian because he, read the word of God again. It shows the importance of having the word of God, in our mother tongue, in these native languages around the world. But it's interesting because also with that revival, the great revival, 1907. They were greatly influenced by a guy called Ra Tory. was basically traveling in the world, 19 0 3, 19 0 4, 19 0 5, and he himself was doing evangelistic campaigns and had been inspired by the Welsh revival of 1904. No, 1905.

Matt: 19:38

Was he from Australia, Tori

Mathew Backholer: 19:40

He might have been, I can't fully remember. I think he was American, but he traveled all over. He did a big evangelistic campaign in Australia and other parts of the world, basically for two years. His day, he was like, the equivalent of what Billy Graham would become. So yeah, it's interesting, at least 30 different revivals can be traced back. To the Welsh Revival. Man and woman of God who are inspired by what happened in Wales, especially Welsh missionaries in other parts of the world like, in India, like the Cassie Hill revival broke out and other places. And also broke out in Algeria about 1200 people come to know the Lord during that time. but it was incredible often where, Welsh missionaries had gone to various mission fields. When they heard about the revival in the homeland, they said God, if you could do that there, you can do that here where I am. They began to, call upon God who is mighty to save. And they asked God to pour out his spirit, to touch, the revive themselves and to also to touch the people, they were amongst and with.

Matt: 21:30

Did some of it start amongst the missionaries, but then overflow into the people they were working with?

Mathew Backholer: 21:35

Yes, generally speaking, it started with the missionaries because they were the people who received communication from back home about what God was doing. different parts of the world. They received booklets. Sometimes there were booklets and newspaper clippings about the revival. So they were, greatly encouraged. I had the opportunity of going to India. Probably about two decades ago now, we went to some of the places connected with William Carey known as the Father of Modern Missions. though missionaries had been to India, Protestant missionaries had been to India like 50 years before. And we think about Thomas, doubting Thomas, one of the disciples of Price. Legend tells us that he was the first person who went to India to share the good news with those lovely people out there.

Matt: 22:21

Yeah, there's a whole denomination based around Thomas' name. I think in Kerala in Southwest India.

Mathew Backholer: 22:27

Yeah, I mean it's, incredible, but I said we went to some of the sites connected with William Carey and which is about 20 miles from Calcutta. And we saw the baptism site of Christie Paul. He was baptized, I believe it was in 1810. We went to the church where he went, William Care was part of the trio. And he greatly encouraged people. Like I said, he's known as the father of Modern Missions because he encouraged people to go. but it's interesting if we look back in time a bit to 1727 to Nu in Germany under the Moravians. They had a revival there under Count Zinzendorf and basically started up an incredible missionary movement. And it was said that they had more missionaries went out from that one community 20 years had gone out in the previous 200 years. So it is just incredible. And many of these people went to places where, the gospel had never been heard before. Two men even sold themselves as slaves they could go to, these, west Indian countries To share the gospel with the slave because they couldn't go there. William Carey himself had difficulty going to India'cause they didn't want missionaries there. It was under the control of the east Indian company. And he had very

Matt: 23:42

Very

Mathew Backholer: 23:43

time just trying to get out there. And so he actually ended up in a, like a Danish controlled area, until that company all fell apart. And the gospel was more, permitted I suppose it's a bit like in China, you had the various opium wars, Britain, disgracefully tried to push opium onto the Chinese a way for the British to make money. And so then you had the Opium wars, but you have these treaty ports now because of these five various treaty ports over different years. is where the missionaries could live and that could be their basis. But people like, charm burns and, James Hudson, Taylor themselves were able to venture outside of these places and many other missionaries did as well, to share the good news where people who had never heard of Christ, it's quite incredible, really. Especially because China, they had their Nestor tablet. I saw that in 2011 when I went to China with my brother.

Matt: 24:36

Just explain that. Who were the Nestor? Was it seventh Century Missionaries?

Mathew Backholer: 24:41

yeah, 6, 3, 5 AD they went in. They were Syrian Christians They went there and they were permitted there, and there was a big monument up, which was inscribed like 200 years later, so it was about 1200 years old. But when you were there, it was just incredible to see it. And there was a big cross at the top and everything.

Matt: 24:58

Let's pause for a second there because you've mentioned some really interesting stories. Hearn Hut and the Moravians under Count Zinzendorf is a fascinating time, and I think a lot of that was birthed out of a prayer movement, wasn't it?

Mathew Backholer: 25:11

Yes.

Matt: 25:11

I think Pete Greg has written a book about that, which could be really interesting. I'll put that in the show notes.

Mathew Backholer: 25:16

Yeah, basically 1727, they started praying and revival came to their church, came to their fellowship, came to their area, and they started this prayer movement and it was a hundred year prayer movement. They prayed daily around the clock, that, Christ would be proclaimed throughout the nations. It's interesting that, Christ himself said, we're to pray that Lord of the harvest would thrust forth, more laborers into the harvest. And it's interesting how many people who have actually prayed end up, being called to go themselves.

Matt: 25:43

That's really interesting. And, God's sovereignty in all of this is fascinating to watch. We've talked a lot about, yeah, William Carey and some of those Western missionaries, but it's always been actually the global church sending into places where the gospel has not been known. And that's very much the story today. Yes. there may have been a season in history in the 19 hundreds, particularly when a lot of missions was from western countries to eastern and southern places, but now it's very much the rise of the church in Latin America. The rise of the church in Africa and they're sending massively and career, of course, sending missionaries in all sorts of directions too, which is just wonderful. We're part of a global effort now, aren't we?

Mathew Backholer: 26:20

I've heard about, converts in Pakistan, going to Arab speaking. People and China, a big group of back to Jerusalem down the old Silk Road, sharing the good news across that 10 40 window, which is known as the least evangelized, parts of the world. And it's incredible. What these, people are doing, many of them first, second, third, fourth, even longer generation Christians who are, going into all the world and preaching the gospel.

Matt: 26:46

and now we in the west, we don't wanna get left behind. you've obviously mentioned the connection with Empire and colonialism. And it's too easy probably to paint a picture whereby, oh, the missionaries were always hand in glove with the colonialists. that's a whole nother topic for another day. But it is important, I think that in the West we don't have this post-colonial angst and guilt. Because of some of the atrocities that were done. And some of the poor examples of mission even. But we can learn from the past and these days I think missionaries are very aware not to bring a lot of the cultural baggage with them, but to, see the church grow in indigenous ways. And it's wonderful that, folks from the south are coming here to the north and folks from the east are coming to the west and it's very much what God is up to all over the world.

Mathew Backholer: 27:30

Yes I think that's very interesting. I said, Christian culture is very different from one nation to the next. What we perceive is biblical is not always perceived as biblical in another country, like how a church service happens. I remember going into a church in Ethiopia and men and women sat on different sides of the church, gring and also in Sudan as well. It was very distinct very separate. That's how it was. Your families did not sit together. Husbands and wives did not sit together. Brothers and sisters did not sit together. Some churches, they will stand for prayer. Other people, they will kneel for prayer or sit for worship, or stand for worship. it's a case of just understanding that, different cultures do things slightly differently. Many times we might be part of a denomination. We might think this is biblical culture. Perhaps if we reexamine the word of God, perhaps we would've think a little bit differently. This is what the word of God says. And that part, that denomination, how they do this or how they do that. That was what, once upon a time, one man, or group of men sat down and decided what was right for us. At that time, I think the Salvation Army, under William Booth, talk about 1850s incredible work. They saw many revivals in their early days and their social work was incredible, especially around London. But then they went much further afield across the country, and then they went abroad. I think one of the most interesting things I ever come across was working men's church. Some people could not attend church on Sunday because they did not have Sunday clothes. Most people back then had two sets of clothes. They had the clothes. for Sunday and they had working clothes. That's all they had. And so they decided to have services often held in theaters and it was like working men's clothes and you could wear what you wanted because they understood some people were hindered from coming to a church service because they were too embarrassed, because they didn't have footwear. just being aware of that. And I know different places I've been to of the world, you see sometimes people not wearing footwear or footwear, very worn, or sometimes they're clothes, they're quite. It's literally torn and ragged. Some people have a very difficult life, very hard life.

Matt: 29:45

Matthew as we come into land. What would be some of the lessons you've taken away as you've explored the history of revivals, the history of mission around the world? Any takeaways that you'd wanna leave our listeners with? Any encouragement, any challenges?

Mathew Backholer: 30:01

I would say that life is best lived looking forward, but it's best understood whilst looking back. so we've gotta keep going forward with our walk for the Lord. But we could look back on history and see incredible times, but also we've gotta, ask the Holy Spirit, what am I called to do? What have you called me to do? We're meant to share the good news. We may not be an evangelist, we may not have the gift of an evangelist, but we're all called to be ready to give a defense for the hope that we have in us. We need to go and share. The good news, we need to pray that Lord will frost out more laborers. And we need to give, if we've got disposable income, generally speaking, we tithe to our church and there's offerings. But the Lord may speak to us individually about giving certain amounts of money to certain organizations or certain certain, people who in full-time work or even part-time work to help them. But it's about being obedient to what the Lord has called us to do. And it's important to pray for revival, and pray that God would thrusts forth more laborers into his harvest field

Matt: 31:08

Thank you, Matthew. That's really helpful. And as these little shoots of renewal and potentially revival are being talked about more and more certainly in Europe in the States as well, we are hearing more and more things aren't we? Amongst Gen Z particularly coming to church, wanting to read the Bible. I've seen amongst youth in our church a deep conviction of sin and brokenness and really powerful stuff. And you can see the spirits at work, but it's early days and I think it's good to have this historical perspective to pray for these guys that holiness remains central. That this will spill into not just their schools and their workplaces, but to the ends of the earth. And it has always been what God is about. He wants his glory to be known. He wants his son to be exalted and worshiped by all tribes and all tongues, like you said, whether they've come over here or whether we get out there because there are places, plenty of places where if no one goes, they won't hear. But thank you so much for your time today, Matthew. Hopefully that will encourage our listeners to get out there and read a bit more and research a bit more about some of these great revivalists and some who ended up taking this and bringing it out to the nations as well.

Mathew Backholer: 32:13

Thank you. Matt has been very kind. And may the Lord richly bless yourself, your ministry and the listeners.

Matt: 32:20

Amen. Thanks Matthew. Bye-bye.

32:22

Thanks so much for joining us today, guys. Do get in touch. As usual, if you want to share with me how God is speaking to you through our podcast or if you want to partner with us in any way, you can email me personally, matt@frontiers.org.uk, and we'll finish with a quotation from our founder, Greg Livingston, who passed away earlier this year. I stood up and asked. How many of you are praying for the 53 American hostages being held in Iran? Hands went up all over the auditorium. And how many of you are praying for the 53 million Iranians who are going to die and be separated from Christ forever? Unless we go and bring the gospel to them? Maybe two or three students raised a hand. Oh, I said in closing. I'm sorry. I thought this was a Bible believing college. Have a great week, and do join us next time.