Historically, the most significant trends in the church are prefaced by extraordinary prayer. Prayer was the key element in the historic awakenings that significantly touched the traditional church.

Church historian Earle E. Cairns noted with profound simplicity that "prayer ranks first in the coming of revival." In his study of prayer and revivals from 1726 to the present, Cairns notes that each renewal began with organized prayer groups.

"Prayer preceded the Scottish revival of 1742 and 1839. Moody, Chapman, and other nineteenth-century persons had many organized prayer groups praying for their work. Mrs. Warren organized thousands to pray for the [R.A.] Torrey meetings of Australia and then for his [Torrey's] meetings in Britain. Indeed, Torrey's call to lead in worldwide revival came in a prayer meeting at Moody Bible Institute. There cannot be revival unless Christians pray for it."(emphasis added)

The Jerusalem Church

The first church provides a clear example of the centrality of prayer to effect new directions for the church. While most discussion centers around the explosive power of the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost (Acts 2:1-47), Jesus gave his followers important instructions prior to this day. He told them to "wait for the gift my Father promised, which you have heard me speak about" (Acts 1:4).

The response of his followers to this mandate to wait was to gather for intensive prayer. "They all joined together constantly in prayer, along with the women and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with his brothers" (Acts 1:14). Before the first, true church awakening took place, prayer was evident among the people.

The coming of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost was a powerful event. It initiated the age of the New Testament church. While certain developments were unique to that moment, some unchanging principles still apply to the church today. One is the principle of prayer. The Jerusalem church was the first of a plethora of churches over the centuries awakened by God through prayer.

Awakenings during the 18th and 19th centuries

The pattern of awakenings in the church during the 18th and 19th centuries was similar to the cycle of sin, judgment and renewal that Israel experienced in the book of Judges.

The 18th century included the European and Revolutionary wars and the revival of deism, transcendentalism and Unitarianism. The 19th century was an era of slavery controversy, liberalism and evolutionism.

After each era of social and moral decline, God ushered in a new era of church awakening.

The First Great Awakening that began with the New England Congregationalists and Presbyterians reversed the course of both sacred and secular history in America, Germany and Britain. Instruments of God in this revival included some of history's greatest preachers: James Davenport, Jonathan Edwards, Gilbert Tennent, John Rowland, George Whitefield and Shubal Stearns.

The late 18th and early 19th centuries were the years of the Second Great Awakening that began with Methodists and Baptists. That period should be noted along with numerous other accounts of church renewal preceded by prayer such as: the Cane Ridge Revival, the Great 19th Century Awakening with Charles G. Finney and D. L. Moody, and the Lay Prayer Revival of an overlapping era.

The church was greatly impacted through these and other movements. But the impact differed from the great progress in education, politics, medicine and other humanitarian endeavors recorded in the history of the 18th and 19th centuries. Instead of progress and change, church history during this time records a return to the basics or traditions, if you will.

Lewis Drummond notes that in the First Great Awakening the church returned to "apostolic simplicity." One of the profound results of these awakenings was a return to the more traditional elements of the church: expository preaching, organized Bible study, a new zeal for evangelism, and an affirmation of orthodoxy. Certainly the church changed some of its methodologies, but it reaffirmed the elements of the faith that have their roots in centuries past.

Looking ahead

As today's church heads toward a great prayer movement and therefore a possible awakening to follow, futurists have only to glance at history for an outline of the shape of the 21st century church to come.

Next week we will look at specific ways that the prayer movement is manifesting itself in individual churches across the U.S.

Thom S. Rainer is dean of the Billy Graham School at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Ky. He is the author of 15 books and an active speaker and consultant on church health.