Danny Lehman shares his thoughts on the future of YWAM and how movements born in the 50’s can transition well in the coming years to continue their spiritual cutting-edge. In his article Walking Backwards Into the Future of Evangelism Danny looks at how YWAM started and teaches us a few things from history:
Revival historians have pointed out that even the most genuine moves of the Holy Spirit to awaken God’s church are barely able to keep their vitality for 2 generations.
Advocating lesssons learnt by Jonathan Edwards, Charles Finney, Evan Roberts (1st and 2nd Great Awakenings in America and the Welsh Revival respectively) we need to ensure that we remain Biblically based and Jesus focussed.
Can I highly recommend the entire article to you to read. It is a fantastic vision for authentic Christianity that my generation would do will to learn from.
Danny concludes with this declaration:
They will be free‐‐free from the religious legalism of the past, the cultural bondages of the present and the fear of the future. They will have no part of religious politics, elbowing for position, easy‐believism, dead orthodoxy, cheap grace or sleepy Sunday morning Christianity. They won’t seek to be cool, but to be holy. They will climb the spiritual ladder down, like their Lord. With shields raised, swords swinging and signs following they will storm the gates of hell and set the captives free in the name of the Lord. And when they turn around from their backwards walk they will see Jesus who will welcome them home: “Well done, good and faithful servants, enter in to the joy of the Lord.”