October 2, 2026
I have sensed something for a few years now. I have seen it. I have shared that sensing with some others and they see it, too. I see it at White Oak. Our cultural climate has affirmed this as well. What is it? I have seen a lot of young people showing great curiosity for spiritual things! The Barna research group says this:
“For the first time in decades, younger adults—Gen Z and Millennials—are now the most regular churchgoers, outpacing older generations, who once formed the backbone of church attendance.”
Something is happening in our country right now. There is an awakening happening. This isn’t the first time. The first Great Awakening in the 1730s and 1740s was a massive religious revival swept through the American colonies. This came after the Enlightenment era in the late 1600s which led western culture to turn away from spiritual things and to put dependence upon science and human reason. About five decades later, The Second Great Awakening was a massive Protestant religious revival in the United States that lasted from 1790-1840. After two world wars and an economic depression in the early and mid-20th century, the Jesus Movement of the 1960s and 1970s began yet another revival movement. Every 50 years, it seems, the is a sweeping movement of young people who desire more spiritual fervency and more Godly truth in their lives than what the current culture or generation has provided them with.
Psalm 85:4a, 6, 7, says,
Restore us again, God our Savior… Will you revive us again, so that your people may rejoice in you? Show us your unfailing love, Lord, and grant us your salvation.
Do you know what words like “restore,” “revive,” and “awaken” suggest? Those words suggest that we are often people who are worn out, depleted, and asleep in our faith. I’m intrigued by this historical pattern and the realities to which it points as it describes the preceding generations. If we are beginning to see a resurgence in young adults awakened for the Church and the things of God, what does that suggest about the rest of us? We won’t make sweeping categorical statements, but we can make some general observations by asking good introspective questions.
· How have my spiritual practices made me more aware of God’s presence?
· Am I loving people more like Jesus? Do I have an increasing burden for lost people?
· Do I have a growing awareness of my gifts and how they’re being used for Jesus’s Church? How?
Our answers to questions like these will help to reveal our level of asleep-ness or awakening to the movement of God in and around our lives. For many of us we just get stuck. We get comfortable in our faith traditions. We forget that our mission is for lost people. We neglect the rhythms which form our hearts to look more like Jesus. We start to believe that church exists to meet our needs and preferences rather than for worship, community, and for Jesus’s missional calling. When those things define a church then we find a generation of people who have fallen asleep.
Today, we must ask ourselves if we desire to be a part of the awakening that is happening in our modern times? I want you to be a part of that with me and the White Oak family. There is a great urgency to our calling. There is a resurgence of revival among the young people in our communities, and we must help them find a place and a vision. We must learn from their spiritual curiosity and let it fan back into flame our own. I want to ask you to prepare your hearts for a revival. I will help to lead our church to do the same. I sense it’s coming. I hear about this revival in conferences, in books, and from the conversations and observations I’m having. This isn’t just for young adults. It’s for all of us who want to see our city radically changed with the hope of Jesus. Awaken!
Awakened,
Nathan
Nathan Hinkle
Lead Pastor
