Would you agree with me that both our church (ACNA) and our culture (North America) could use a Holy Spirit revival? Wouldn’t it be wonderful for there to be another Great Awakening? Wouldn’t it be fantastic if the Gospel spread like wildfire as it has in other times where many repent and believe and are transformed as disciples of Christ? We at the American Anglican Council (AAC) are praying and working toward that end! I am grateful for the signs of revival that are emerging, especially among younger people in the wake of the tragic assassination of Charlie Kirk. God is at work, and we want the ACNA to be a part of what he is doing and is going to do. We want to see the province more completely fulfill its own mission statement: reaching North America with the transforming love of Jesus Christ. Even as we deal with the current crises in our church, its main mission must go on, and it won’t do that without deeper discipleship and personal renewal at every level.
This is one of the reasons the AAC, in partnership with SOMA USA, is launching The Rehydrate Conference in early 2026 for the whole province. We recognized that something was missing in our movement: a regular provincial wide conference just for renewal and empowerment in the Spirit for mission. We want everyone who feels dry and/or ill-equipped for sharing the Gospel in our times to come and be rehydrated with the Living Water, the Holy Spirit, so his truth and goodness overflows to everyone around them. We want to seek repentance, cleansing, and personal change to reflect that Gospel to a greater degree. It says in John 7:37-38, “On the last day of the feast, the great day, Jesus stood up and cried out, ‘If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, ‘Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.’” Our sense is many of us Anglicans could drink more deeply so we can pour out more abundantly to those who need it.
At the conference, in addition to great worship and speakers, there will be significant times for participants to receive prayer, empowerment, and equipping in order to take it back to our local churches. Among other training opportunities, we will address how to do evangelism as Jesus and the Apostles did, using a balance of both demonstration and proclamation, of both wonders and words.
Not only are we struggling with a church in need of renewal, we are living in a culture dominated by secular humanism, where the individual believes they are each the determiner of truth. Simply using a proclamation of Gospel truth won’t be very effective evangelistically. Only using words to convince people who are “woke” of universal truth won’t work. To them, it’s just your truth but not the Truth. However, using a combination of both proclamation and demonstration of the Gospel will work to an increasingly skeptical world.
Jesus modeled the use of both proclamation and demonstration in his many miracles and teaching. Then, in Matthew 10:5-8, when he sent out the disciples to put into practice what they saw him do it says, “These twelve Jesus sent out with the following instructions: ‘Do not go among the Gentiles or enter any town of the Samaritans. Go rather to the lost sheep of Israel. As you go, proclaim this message: ‘The kingdom of heaven has come near.’ Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse those who have leprosy, drive out demons. Freely you have received; freely give.’”
Jesus gave clear instructions to use both the proclamation of the Gospel with the words, “The kingdom of heaven has come near,”partnered with the demonstration of that truth with signs and wonders: “Heal the sick…”
I met a young mother one time who shared with me she had a drug addiction. I invited her to come to our church’s Celebrate Recovery program that coming Friday. She surprised me when she, her husband, and two sons showed up that Wednesday for our normal Bible Study instead. I happened to be teaching on the first Beatitude that night, “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” (Matt. 5:3) In the discussion time, the mom said she was at a point of desperation. She prayed for salvation and entered the kingdom of heaven that night! The husband said this was all new to him and was just trying to take it all in.
That Sunday, they came to worship, and we happened to be offering our Membership Class after the service. They said they wanted to come. As we were about to start, the mom stood up, went over to the wall and bent over breathing heavily. The husband went to her and said that this often happened, that it was an anxiety attack, and that they would just have to leave. Me and two lay leaders all looked at each other and instantly agreed that it was demonic in nature. I asked the rest of the class to wait, and we took the mom to the next room to pray with her, which she agreed to. We laid hands on her and prayed prayers to cast out the demonic spirit. At one point, I looked over and saw that the husband was there too with his hand on her and nodding along with us! Shortly, a peace came over her and we all went back into the classroom, where I proceeded to teach the class an explanation of the Gospel. The husband got saved that day, and soon after, I baptized the whole family together.
Although that wasn’t something that happened most Sundays, it was the most normal thing in the moment. And that combination of both demonstration and proclamation, of wonders and words, left no doubt of the truth of the Gospel for that lost family.
In the AAC’s Anglican Revitalization Ministries, we recognize that many in the ACNA have been either inadequately equipped for this kind of evangelism or have sort of forgotten how, after many years of not asking for the Holy Spirit’s power. We believe the church desperately needs to be renewed and equipped in this area if there truly is to be revival in our churches and in our land.
Again, this is one of the many reasons we are launching the Rehydrate Conference this February in Savanah GA in partnership with SOMA USA. We named the conference based on Jesus’ description of the Holy Spirit as the Living Water in John 7 quoted above. At the conference, we will drink deeply of the Holy Spirit to be refreshed and renewed ourselves, learn to live fully by utilizing the full range of spiritual gifts and power offered to us in the kingdom of heaven, and finally pour abundantly as we are equipped and commissioned to do evangelism with both demonstration and proclamation, which is so desperately needed both in our Church and in the world.
If you are thirsty for more of the Lord, come. For more information or to register click here.