I ran across this quote in a book today and it sparked some thoughts:

It is my considered opinion that under the present circumstances we do not want revival at all. A widespread revival of the kind of Christianity we know today in America might prove to be a moral tragedy from which we would not recover in a hundred years.

First, I think the author is exactly right. The church as a whole continues to pray for and seek revival, yet we have no idea what that means and if we did, if we knew the changes to our current ways of life it would entail, I think we would stop praying for it and settle for the form of Christianity we currently enjoy.

Second, I have to laugh at all of these churches who constantly preach how they "are a New Testament Church" or "are seeking to become a New Testament Church." What humors me is that they all have a different definition of what a NT church is. Some make it totally charismatic and focused on the gifts of prophecy and tongues, others go the other way with focus on service to the loss of the Gospel. No one knows what the NT church looked like exactly, we get bits and pieces and definitely some truths from the Epistles, but no model as a whole to be followed exactly. What we need to do is be a people of faith, to listen to the Spirit, to study the Word, and to love God and love others with everything we have. When we accomplish that, we will be a NT church.