A Call to Faithfulness
Adapted from a message by Jervis Djokoto, Senior Director of Church Health, Free Methodist Church in Canada
Imagine your weekly Bible study or prayer gathering meeting as usual. Then someone shares the invitation online, and instead of a dozen people, 3,000 arrive at your door. What would you do?
That isn’t far from what happened in Acts 2. One hundred and twenty ordinary believers gathered in an upper room to pray. Then the Holy Spirit came. Before the day was over, about 3,000 people had responded to Peter’s message and placed their faith in Christ. Peter didn’t pause to wonder whether they had enough volunteers or enough room to handle the discipleship and support of these new believers. He simply proclaimed the gospel, trusting God to do what only He could do.
Stories like that aren’t confined to the pages of Scripture. Recently in the United Kingdom, three churches organized a simple prayer gathering and over 500 young people came on the first night. Within the following gatherings, nearly 3,000 young adults are gathering to pray from 7:00 p.m. until 7:00 a.m. People lined up an hour before the doors opened just for the opportunity to seek God together.
These accounts raise an important question: If God were to reverse the trend of decline and begin renewing His Church, would the Canadian church, or the Free Methodist Church be ready?
For years we have hoped, prayed for renewal, preached about revival, and longed for God to move again to restore vitality where it’s missing. Yet, for many of us, having lived in the North America context for decades, many have quietly absorbed the expectations and assumptions of this secular age. Decline seems to have become so familiar that we’ve stopped expecting God to do “immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine” (Ephesians 3:20). But Scripture tells a different story. Throughout the Bible—and throughout church history—seasons of decline are repeatedly interspersed by seasons of renewal as God brings new life to His people by His Spirit. The Book of Judges illustrates the pattern clearly: God’s people drift into complacency, complacency leads to crisis, crisis leads to repentance, God raises up a deliverer, and His people experience renewal once again. The cycle reminds us that decline is never God’s final word.
At the same time, renewal does not happen by accident. Too often our churches are unprepared because we have neglected the slow and intentional work of preparing and equipping each other for God’s best. So, what should we do while we wait? The prophet Elisha once declared to a nation devastated by famine, “Tomorrow about this time…” (2 Kings 7:1). God’s deliverance was coming, and His people needed to be ready for it. Perhaps we need to attune our ears to hear that same message. Rather than simply waiting for God to act, we can prepare ourselves to steward what He may be about to do.
In Jervis’ recent teaching, he describes this preparation through the acronym SHIFT – five essential “gears” that help move the Church toward health and revitalization:
S — Scripture
H — Holy Spirit
I — Intercession
F — Faith
T — Training (or thanksgiving, in some other teaching)
Like the gears in the transmission system of a car, each element helps translate God’s power into faithful movement in your life and ministry. Together they prepare the Church not merely to survive a season of decline, but to be ready when God brings renewal
