by Peter Franklin at UnHerd
About a week ago, some students at a Christian college in America attended a worship service. Wholly unsurprising, you might think.
Well, it would have been, if they’d all gone home again — as people normally do after church. But in this case they haven’t. In fact, ever since, Asbury University has been overflowing with worshippers attending round-the-clock services and prayer meetings. None of this was expected, let alone planned. It appears to be a spontaneous religious revival.
Nationally, the first commentators to take note were evangelicals like David French (“something profoundly powerful is happening”) and Charlie Kirk (“Asbury University might be the first chapter in a revival which will sweep the nation”). Now, the mainstream media is covering the story — and not only Fox News. For instance, this is the NBC report:
A Christian service at a college chapel in Kentucky has ballooned into a nonstop prayer and worship session that some are calling a “revival” — and people are traveling thousands of miles to take part in it after seeing viral videos on TikTok. – NBC
Services have become so popular that they are overflowing into other local churches, and even neighbouring towns. So what precisely is the attraction? While the worship is heartfelt, this is hardly unusual for evangelical America. Judging by the online footage, what’s been going on at Asbury seems comparatively restrained — if somewhat livelier than the average choral evensong.
There are no hellfire preachers whipping up the crowds into a frenzy, nor…
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