New wine into old wineskins

Billy Graham's crusades saw hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of people walk the aisle making professions of faith in Jesus Christ. I wonder what happened to those people. How many of them became disciples of Jesus Christ and active in their local churches? I seem to remember Graham himself asking that question in an article or interview. While his team did a lot of work preparing for the meetings, the follow-up was left to the churches. I just wonder how effective that follow-up was, and did these converts from Graham's crusades find a home in their local churches.

I think about that again as the Asbury revival continues and similar revivals are breaking out on other college campuses. Eventually, the revival will wind down. They always do. How many of the people so impacted by this revival will find their way into a local church, and how will the churches be impacted by what these individuals have experienced?

Jesus made it clear that new wine cannot be poured into old wineskins. The reason was that as the new wine fermented and expanded it would rip apart the dried leather of the old wineskin. The things I have read about and heard from family and friends who have been to Asbury during this revival are not things that necessarily happen in our churches. The worship, the testimonies, the confessions, the prayers do not fit in our 60-minute worship services. The services at Asbury are not three songs, a couple of prayers, an offering, a sermon and everyone sent home inspired to eat lunch. These students are doing business with God. What's going to happen when these students try to take their new experience back into their churches? In many cases, I fear the old wineskin will burst.

For a number of years I have told pastor conferences I led that God is doing a new thing in His church. 
For the past several years I have felt that God was in the process of bringing change to His church, but I did not know what this would look like. Many others have felt like I did, but they could not define the changes that were coming either. Perhaps this is it. There will be churches that will welcome this revival and experience it themselves. For many of these churches, it will not be easy, but enough people in the congregation will desire revival so much they will welcome it. Other churches will resist it, remain old wineskins, and prevent revival from happening. 

I believe something else may happen as well. I believe we will see new churches spring up led by these students who have experienced this fresh move of God in their lives. They will approach worship differently than they have known in their previous churches. These churches will be built around community much like we read in the first chapters of Acts. Many of them may well be house churches. None will be mega-churches. Just as this revival has been organic; these new churches will be organic as well. Few, if any, will join existing denominations. Many may have loose connections with other like-minded churches such as we saw in Charismatic churches in the late 70s and early 80s.

There is one caveat for these new churches. It is important that you not neglect the preaching of the Word of God. Acts 2 makes it clear that the early church continued steadfastly in the apostles doctrine. In other words, they were regularly taught the Word of God. Such teaching must be included if these new churches are to successfully develop disciples and see this revival continue.