When the scheduled weekly opportunities for corporate prayer are often the most poorly attended of all our church meetings,

Are we not in need of revival?

When church wide events such as concerts of prayer, prayer walks and missionary meetings are attended mainly by senior citizens,

Are we not in need of revival?

When the older generation spends so much time longing for "the good old days" yet neglects the call to pray for revival today,

Are we not in need of revival?

When our younger and older generations so often cannot become one in the Spirit regarding the worship style we adopt in our churches but resort to holding separate services,

Are we not in need of revival?

When the older generation protests the demise of the evening service and/or the midweek prayer meeting, yet in many churches that try to maintain these traditions, the attendance of seniors is less than encouraging,

Are we not in need of revival?

When we evangelicals have not yet repented of our historic and present neglect of taking the "good news" to our First Nations, to French Canada, to the Sikhs and other immigrants,

Are we not in need of revival?

When we refuse to confess that long before prayer and Bible reading and the posting of the Ten Commandments were banished from our schools, they had all but vanished from our homes and families,

Are we not in need of revival?

When most of us evangelicals are more affluent than we have every been, but proportionately we give less to the church and missionary work,

Are we not in need of revival?

When was the last time you or I were accused, as Jesus was, of being "a friend of tax gatherers and sinners", the outcasts of His day (Luke 7: 34)? But instead we show little vision or burden for the last, the least and the lost,

Are we not in need of revival?

When we Christians so adamantly defend "traditional marriage", yet consider divorce and broken families are becoming almost as common among us as they are among the general public, yet we refuse to repent and return to the biblical standard of "one man, one wife, for life",

Are we not in need of revival?

When most of our evangelical churches are so smugly middle class and we rarely see "a poor man in shabby clothes" (James 2: 3) in our services, never mind becoming integrated into our fellowship,

Are we not in need of revival?

Oh brothers and sisters in Christ, let us hear and heed the call of our God to repentance and renewal!

"If My people, who are called by My name will humble themselves and pray and seek My face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land." (2 Chron. 7: 14)

- Bert Warden is a retired C&MA pastor who regularly contributes to this column space. He is a member of Sevenoaks Alliance Church in Abbotsford.