SOME ANALYSTS suggest that we will never again experience the kind of revival which occurred in the 18th and 19th Centuries. They argue that society is too fragmented for this to happen.

 They say that today we find our sense of community among workmates, scattered family members, people we e-mail and so on. They contrast this with earlier times when everyone in a town knew everyone else, and what happened to Taffy Jones was soon known to the whole town. They point to 1950s cultural evidence like that song, "The Whole Town's Talking About the Jones Boy", and say that, today, the whole town wouldn't even know if there was a Jones boy.

 In such a world, the greatest spiritual experience of one person will have no impact on another, they say.

 On the other hand, Marshall McLuhan, 20 years ago (admittedly before the Internet really got a hold on popular imaginations) said that we live in a global village, and that what happens in Australia will be known in Europe within hours.

 It was certainly fascinating to watch reports of Australian bushfires on SBS's Das Journal programme (direct from Germany) within six hours of our hearing of them on the local
news, or to hear of a new killer virus in Kenya the day before our papers printed it!

 Who is right?

 Both are, in part. We no longer find our communities as close to home. At the same time, we can certainly communicate across land and sea in ways we once thought impossible.

 However, I believe that the first view hasn't noted some important factors.

 First, revival is always corporate, never individual. So, what happens in churches is vitally important. While each individual in a church may not have the same range of local contacts as one had even 20 years ago, the church is, in itself, a range of contacts for each adherent. Revival spreads in churches.

 Second, a church is a body. This is more than the legal fiction of the company, which is a person in law, if not in fact. The church has a life of its own, with contacts throughout the
community. When Elise, from our church, shopped in Marrickville for our Christmas function, she bought from people who know other Church members, and added to their perception of this church.

 Third, while our contacts may be more scattered than before, it frequently happens that information still gets back into the originating community, though by a more roundabout path. So people still find out about revival.

 And this brings in a further advantage, that news of a local happening can seem even more important when it comes from someone outside the community!

 But, above all, God is sovereign, and he'll get his word through, won't he?

A good question to ask is, if revival is possible, is it desirable? Revivals haven't always been unmitigated good news!

Is revival desirable?