THIN SPACE
This week, Prayer Hour continues the theme of REVIVAL.
We’re going to be checking out revivals from as early as 1727 to revivals that are still going strong in 2020!
Today… it’s all about the The Jesus Movement 1967-1972
The Jesus movement was a Christian movement beginning on the West Coast of the United States in the late 1960s and early 1970s and spreading primarily throughout North America, Europe, and Central America. Members of the movement were called Jesus people, or Jesus freaks. This revival is different from other revivals we have looked at, as there was no singular church or individual that stands out as being the face of the movement.
Conditions Prior to the Jesus Movement
Following WWII prosperity was increasing across the United States and there was tremendous hope and optimism of a very bright future. Then, with the arrival of the 1960s, tremendous upheaval occurred:
A strong anti-war movement opposed the United States’ involvement in Vietnam. This included draft card burnings and campus take overs. “Make Love, Not War” wasa phrase seen and heard everywhere.
Fear associated with the Cuban Missile Crisis (October 16–28, 1962),
Multiple assassinations shocked the nation: President John F. Kennedy (November 22, 1963); Robert F. Kennedy (June 5, 1968); Martin Luther King Jr. (April 4, 1968).
Three astronauts were killed in the Apollo I explosion (Jan. 27, 1967)
Race riots were common in major cities.
Church attendance began declining as young people were turned off by the Church, as they wanted to see Christianity lived out in real life and not just hear it preached.
Anything different from previous generations was embraced, such as long hair and beards; communal living which involved drugs, sex, and rock and roll; as well as the exploration of Eastern religions (Hindu/Buddhism/New Age) and the occult.
American psychologist Timothy Leary began conducting conferences on campuses promoting the benefit of using LSD to explore mysteries of the mind and inner space
On January 14, 1967, 30,000 hippies assembled in San Francisco for the Human Be-In. This event was a radical promotion of the 1960s counterculture movement, involving radical liberal politics, communal living, higher consciousness through the use of LSD (and all types of drugs), free sex, Eastern religions, and the occult.
And on the heels of the Human Be-In came the 1967 “Summer of Love,”
What Happened
The origin of the Jesus People Movement is traced by most to a handful of young people who had left the hippie culture, had recently become Christians, and in 1967 had started The Living Room, a Christian street mission (coffeehouse) for the hippies in the Haight-Ashbury district of San Francisco. As communal homes were part of the hippie culture, a Christian communal home (rescue mission/halfway house) was also established to undergird the ministry of The Living Room. It gave the opportunity for the care and discipleship of recently converted hippies.
Jesus Freaks, as the hippie converts to Christ were mockingly called, proudly embraced and owned that name, carrying it as a badge of honor to identify with the one who was also mocked and ridiculed by the world.
Through The Living Room and similar Christian coffeehouses, many hundreds of hippies began giving up drugs, sex, Eastern religions, and the occult, and instead turned to Jesus, the Bible, and sharing Jesus with everyone they met.
Communal Homes / Halfway Houses - Between 1967 and 1972, there were 800 communal homes established in the USA.
Coffeehouses began springing up in every city and small town throughout the United States. These were gathering places for young people so they could have “church services”
Jesus Music - Contemporary Christian music is said to have had its beginnings with the Jesus Movement. A few of the well-known recording artists at that time were: Matthew Ward, Chuck Girard, 2nd Chapter of Acts, Larry Norman, Children of the Day.
Hippies Rejected by the Churches
Many churches were appalled when newly converted hippies began attending their churches. They could not endure the bare feet, beards, long hair, beads, etc.
Results of the Revival
By 1977, an estimated 2 million new born-again believers came into the Christian faith.
Many thousands of young men and women across the United States received their calling into the ministry (pastor, evangelist, missionary).
The generation that rejected the “establishment” did not join traditional denominational churches, but instead established new fellowships of churches. Two notable ones were Calvary Chapel and Vineyard Fellowship.
At the height of the revival,
200 were won to Christ each week.
There were 500 baptized every month for a period of two years.
At the baptism services, crowds of 3,000 would gather and the occasion was used to preach the Gospel, with many more coming to Christ.
Calvary Chapel trained hundreds who were sent out to start churches, first in California, and then up and down the Pacific Coast. Then churches began to be planted throughout the United States and the world—reaching well over 1,700 churches.
Calvary Chapel was highly instrumental in giving contemporary Christian music its start.