While you will not hear much about it from major media there seems to be a spiritual awakening taking place around the globe. Thousands of GenZ’rs (13-28 year olds) on college campuses around the country have decided to follow Jesus and have been baptized in lakes, ponds, school fountains, and even in pickup trucks lined with tarps.

The Barna Research group embarked on the largest study in its history to “understand teens’ perceptions of and engagement with three crucial elements of the Christian faith: Jesus, the Bible and justice.” The report portends great things for the future of the church saying, “Christian teens today say that Jesus still matters to them with 76 percent saying, ‘Jesus speaks to me in a way that is relevant to my life.’”

Pastors Kyle Richter and Patrick Miller write: GenZ is hungry for the very things the empty, desiccated temples of secularism, consumerism, and global digital media cannot provide, but which Jesus can.” In my own church I have noticed an increasing spiritual appetite for God among our teens. I have also read that revival is taking place in London, England and Stuttgart, Germany where over 20,000 students have claimed Jesus as Lord.

All of these things thrill my heart and give me hope that we might see genuine revival sweep across America and around the world. But just to be clear, we must examine all things in light of Holy Scripture. While the Asbury Awakening in 2023 attracted much attention some Christian leaders found troubling things happening within that movement. Asbury president Timothy Tennent hesitated to call it a revival saying, “Only if we see lasting transformation which shakes the comfortable foundations of the church and truly brings us all to a new and deeper place can we look back and say, ‘yes, this has been a revival.’”

I share this with you today to specifically ask you to pray for a true spiritual awakening, a real Holy Spirit revival that will “shake the comfortable foundations of the church.” To that end, here are some characteristics that God is at work and revival may be forthcoming.

1. True Repentance of Sin

Confessing sin and turning from it. (See Proverbs 28:13) I read that one college student living with her boyfriend came under conviction and moved out. She was quickly supported by a nearby church that provided a new place for her.

2. Hunger for God’s Word & Prayer

It is encouraging to see headlines like this one in the Washington Times: “Bible Sales Surge: GenZ is Sick and Tired of Predecessors Self-Centered, godlike Hubris.” Students are initiating prayer groups that meet regularly to pray for others.

3. Sharing the Gospel

Trevin Wax writing for the Gospel Coalition reported that “a sacrificial movement is taking place, a real sense that life is more than money, more than influence, more than endless scrolling, more than political battles—there’s something bigger afoot, and it’s the advance of the gospel amid cultural opposition.”

4. Many Conversions Happening

Back in 23 Tim Keller wrote: “Many in the community come to faith in Christ, partly because when sleepy Christians wake up and nominal Christians get converted, it beautifies the church. The Church becomes an attractive place. It becomes a powerful place.”

So I want to encourage you to pray for these things to continue. Ask the Holy Spirit to “pour out a spirit of grace and pleas for mercy.” (Zechariah 12:10) Pray that an movement informed by Scripture will create a renewed appetite for God’s Word. Pray for lost souls to come under conviction of sin and find forgiveness through the gospel. And pray that our churches will see true revival as “sleepy Christians” wake up and “nominal Christians” get converted.