Every week I decide what the subject for my next post will be, then I decide on the title. Well, with this week’s title of “What’s Going On,” I just had to do some research on Marvin Gaye’s hit song (1971) by the same title. (Can’t get much better than Marvin Gaye!). When I read the lyrics, I was blown away!
Mother, mother
There’s too many of you crying
Brother, brother, brother
There’s far too many of you dying
You know we’ve got to find a way
To bring some lovin’ here today, yeah
Father, father
We don’t need to escalate
You see, war is not the answer
For only love can conquer hate
You know we’ve got to find a way
To bring some lovin’ here today
Picket lines and picket signs
Don’t punish me with brutality
Talk to me
So you can see
He was writing about the protests of the ‘70’s … sounds like today, right?
Yes, there is a lot going on in this world of ours. Despite all the chaos, however, it encourages me to read of the spiritual revival going on around the world. Church attendance has risen by 50% over the last six years, busting the myth of church decline. These findings come in The Quiet Revival, a survey commissioned by the Bible Society and conducted by YouGov. The Quiet Revival shows that the most dramatic church growth is among young adults, particularly young men. This blew me away!
As reported recently by Jim Denison (Denison Forum, June 5, 2025), “nearly thirty million more US adults are becoming followers of Jesus today than was the case just four years ago, according to Barna, whose CEO, David Kinnaman, called this “the clearest trend we’ve seen in more than a decade pointing to spiritual renewal.” He notes that this movement is being led especially by ‘younger generations.’”
God is moving in all parts of the world. We have heard for a long time that the church is dying. However, in France, 10,384 adults were baptized on Easter Sunday, a rise of 46% from last year and double from 2023. There is growth in the U.K. as well: Bible sales in the country have increased by 87 percent in 5 years; twice as many people are making first-time commitments to follow Jesus compared to 2021; one church saw 120 people respond to the gospel on Easter Sunday.
C. S. Lewis wrote: “The Church exists for nothing else but to draw men into Christ, to make them little Christs. If they are not doing that, all the cathedrals, clergy, missions, sermons, even the Bible itself, are simply a waste of time. God became Man for no other purpose. It is even doubtful, you know, whether the whole universe was created for any other purpose.” Oswald Chambers warned, “The great enemy of the life of faith in God is not sin, but the good which is not good enough.”
Our Lord promises, “You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart” (Jeremiah 29:13). Philip Yancey said, “God goes where he’s wanted.” Stay close to Jesus to become like Jesus. Paul wrote we are “being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another” (2 Corinthians 3:18). The more we practice the presence of Jesus, the more we become the presence of Jesus to others. Ask always, “What would Jesus do?” Then ask Him to empower you to be the change you wish to see. We become like Christ as we help others become like Christ. This is God’s design for humanity in which we are linked to one another in his tapestry of grace.
The Scottish evangelist and biologist Henry Drummond said, “To become like Christ is the only thing in the world worth caring for, the thing before which every ambition of man is folly and all lower achievement vain.”
This speaks to me. Do you agree?
Debby Efurd is co-founder of Cary John Efurd Ministries of Pittsburg, TX. She has been a contributor to Bound for Life and written numerous articles published in LifeNews, Christian Post and the Baptist Standard, and is the author of Go Tell It! Debby can be contacted at caryjohnefurdinistries@gmail.com. Visit her at the Second Mile blog at https://debbyefurd.com.
Tagged: church, Jesus, purpose and calling, revival, scripture
