Thought for the Week: Revival or Survival? – 18th September 2026

Were you lucky enough to attend the talk by Jarrod Cooper at St Giles on Saturday 5th September? I was. For those who do not know him, Jarrod is the Senior Minster of Revive Church at Woodmansey. He is an accomplished author of Christian literature, and he came to speak to us about his new book, The Altar.

During his talk Jarrod said something which resonated with me … do we want ‘revival or survival?' The concept of revival got me thinking and brought to mind a few passages: “This is what the Sovereign Lord says to these bones: I will make breath enter you, and you will come to life.” (Ezekiel 37:5); “Do not conform to the pattern of this world but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is - his good, pleasing and perfect will.”(Romans 12:2); “Whoever believes in me, as Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within them.” (John 7:38).

For me, each verse says a little about what Christianity is about. It is not about us sitting comfortably in our churches thinking ‘I’m all right, and pull the ladder up, Jack’, it is about us following Christ. It is not just about praying, or reading the bible, but about action. Jesus was a man of action, a man of challenge, a man of compassion. Reading through the Gospels I cannot remember when any have recounted ‘and Jesus sat there, because he couldn’t be bothered'. But I ask you how often do we take that stance? How often is it easier to do nothing rather than something. I know that I am guilty of that sometimes. Guilty of failing to challenge, guilty of failing to act.

Therefore I call upon our church communities to become churches of action. To look to bring forward the Kingdom of God. Your Churches Leadership team are working hard to discern what God wants from us, not what we want from God. Over the coming weeks, months, years we will be looking to develop new. New what? I am not sure we know yet, but we share a belief that Jesus is at the centre of what we are doing, and we need to strive towards that. The appointment of our Children, Youth and Families worker was a significant step on that journey, so is the new Pattern of Worship. This will hopefully open new opportunities. To go back to that opening question, do we want ‘revival or survival’? Personally, I choose revival. Are you with me?