The last penny came off the press yesterday. Pennies started being made in 1793. Back then a penny bought a biscuit, a candle, or some candy. Today, it costs about four cents to make a penny. I wasn’t a math major but it seems that if it costs four times the amount to make a penny than what it is worth, it quite literally is not a money making venture. The penny had to die. It didn’t make financial sense to make cents.
I wonder if there are things that have lost their value in the church? Do we do things that no longer make sense, but cost cents (sometimes a lot more than cents)? Every church that I have been a part of has had a few sacred cows hanging around that probably could have been let out to pasture years ago. Sometimes we do things that don’t necessarily cost cents, but still have no value and should be buried.
The opposite is also true, there might be things that have immense value that we have let go by the wayside because the bottom line. For example, I wonder if spiritual renewal weeks (revival services) fall into this category. A yearly (even semi-annually) revival meetings were common place fifty years ago. Today, most churches no longer have them. The unsaved have other things to do. School activities take out many students and parents from evening services. Other busyness invades our time. The seasoned saints felt they no longer needed such gatherings. Attendance dropped. It grew costly. There are better ways to spend money. I’ve heard all the arguments. Churches don’t see the value in the special services. It’s like the penny. They cost more than they are worth.
But is that true? Revival/spiritual renewal services still can have immense value. In fact, it makes no spiritual sense to call them off. No matter the cost.
Our spiritual renewal services are preceded by a 24/7 prayer week. We are convinced spiritual renewal should be bathed in prayer. There are three people in the building (two hosts and one pray-er) for every hour from Sunday to Sunday. Next, from Sunday to Wednesday, we have special services. We provide a free meal before the weekday meetings. We start early (5:30 meal; 6:30 service) so young families can still attend. We provide children’s services (it’s not babysitting. It’s age appropriate children’s worship). We do our best to allow our “regular” worship leaders and pastors to have the services off—so that they can receive the blessing of spiritual renewal (maybe those leading need spiritual renewal the most. We don’t want our leaders to have the well run dry). We bring in excellent speakers. It’s an important rhythm of our church. We ask folks to prioritize the gatherings. We remind them that we all need it. Pastors included. Hitting pause on our busy schedules and settling to hear what the Lord has for us has immense value. It’s not like the penny.
What’s the value in one person saved? One marriage renewed? One teenager called in to the ministry? One person healed? One discouraged saint reinvigorated? The penny might not be worth the time and effort to make them anymore. The same cannot be said for times of spiritual renewal.
My Two Cent Offering 
You say that renewal services are valuable “no matter the cost”. At the same time, your regular worship leaders aren’t involved, because you want them to receive the blessing of the event. Clearly, the “cost” of having your regular leaders involved is too high. So, in fact, there are costs you’re not willing to pay for your event.
I’m glad that y’all find those events valuable, and that you have the resources needed to execute them well. Other churches haven’t been resourced in the same ways.
Maybe I didn’t communicate very well. We bring in other musicians (not always) so our regular musicians can have a break in leading. It doesn’t cost a lot to do this. We find folks who are serving in other local churches that bless us with their abilities. This can apply to all areas. There are local (local enough) preachers willing to come, same goes for children’s workers. It costs, but it can be done economically. I think the bigger cost is in people’s time. It’s stopping the busyness and in pausing their schedules to allow God to speak to them.
As a younger Nazarene, I have a hard time connecting with your high valuing of revival services. I think if I hadn’t heard of revival services from older Nazarene pastors and professors, I wouldn’t know what a revival service is. The closest service I have to it is the Wesleyan Covenant Service practiced annually in my home church.
Theologically and spiritually, I can trace it back to our theological fathers John and Charles Wesley. I think the spirit of the revival service is still necessary, but I think it perhaps needs a re-forming. I am unsure if the form you present the revival service fits the needs of current generations of Nazarenes. I think we need to accept that the busyness of our society isn’t going away anytime soon, and that we will continue to struggle with it as disciples of Christ. But there are other ways we can carry the spirit of the revival service into the 21st century.
One of the ways that we can is through sacraments and high church liturgy. The Wesley brothers were high church sacramentalists who emphasized the prayer book and the Eucharist as a significant (if not central) functions for the Methodist revival. What if we encouraged all Nazarene churches to have the Eucharist weekly, and through the week gave them prayer books they could pray on the bus or with their families in their homes? What if we also encouraged a midweek Eucharist service that simply followed a basic pre-determined service? It wouldn’t need a praise band, simply some re-usable bulletins with prayers of the people and an eucharistic liturgy? Something short and simple.
But Rob do you think what I am proposing follows your spirit for revival services?
Sure those things are great. One of the blessings of a Spiritual renewal time is the intentionally setting aside time, pausing life for the deliberate purpose of hearing from the Lord. Wherever and however we do that, is a good thing.