Best Christian Books on Revival: 15 Classics to Read Free
RevivalChurch HistoryHoly Spirit
If you read one book on revival, read Jonathan Edwards' A Faithful Narrative of the Surprising Work of God, printed in Edwards on Revivals. It is an eyewitness account of what happened in one New England town in 1734 and 1735, written by its pastor, careful and sober. Then read Charles Finney's Lectures on Revivals of Religion for the other side of the question: what should the church do? If you want something short to pray over, read Andrew Murray's Back to Pentecost.
What did the classic writers mean by revival? Not a week of special meetings. They meant a season when God's Spirit comes on a church or a town in unusual power. Cold Christians wake up and repent. Prayer becomes urgent. Many who were careless are converted, and the whole place seems full of God. They disagreed on how much human effort has to do with it. Edwards stressed God's sovereign work; Finney stressed the right use of means. But they agreed on more than they disagreed. Revival begins with God's people, not with the world. It comes in answer to prayer. It centers on the plain preaching of sin, the new birth and Christ crucified. And it shows itself in holy lives, not just strong feelings.
Wilt thou not revive us again: that thy people may rejoice in thee?
Psalm 85:6
Here are fifteen of the best books on revival in TheWay Library, all free to read.
Start here
1. A Faithful Narrative of the Surprising Work of God, by Jonathan Edwards
Edwards describes how concern for salvation spread through Northampton, how people were converted, what he cautioned against, and two conversions in detail, a dying young woman and a four-year-old girl. This edition also includes his Thoughts on the Revival in New England, his defense and correction of the Great Awakening.
the town seemed to be full of the presence of God.
Edwards on Revivals, A Faithful Narrative, chapter 1
See Who Was Jonathan Edwards? and Jonathan Edwards' books. Read Edwards on Revivals.
2. Lectures on Revivals of Religion, by Charles G. Finney
Weekly lectures to his New York congregation in 1835: what revival is, how to break up the fallow ground of the heart, prevailing prayer, the prayer of faith, being filled with the Spirit, preaching, and what hinders revival. It is long, blunt and demanding. Read the first five lectures even if you read nothing else.
A revival is nothing else than a new beginning of obedience to God.
Lectures on Revivals of Religion, lecture 1
See Who Was Charles Finney? and Charles Finney quotes. Read Lectures on Revivals of Religion.
3. Back to Pentecost, by Andrew Murray
A one-hour book on the ten days of united prayer before the Spirit came, and what they mean for us. Murray names prayerlessness as the great hindrance to revival. More of Murray is in Andrew Murray's books.
Would God that we believed with our whole heart in the glory of the prayer of Pentecost, and the courage it gives us to expect great things from our God!
Back to Pentecost, chapter 2
The Great Awakening
4. Wesley and His Century, by W. H. Fitchett
The best full story of the Methodist revival in the library. Fitchett follows Wesley from the Epworth rectory through his failed search for peace at Oxford and in Georgia to Aldersgate, then the field preaching, the itinerant years and the societies.
I felt my heart strangely warmed.
Wesley and His Century, Reaching the Goal
See Who Was John Wesley?. Read Wesley and His Century.
5. A Sketch of the Life and Labors of George Whitefield, by J. C. Ryle
A one-hour lecture on the greatest preacher of the Awakening: the deadness of the church before him, his conversion, his open-air preaching in England, Scotland and America, and what he preached.
He was perpetually telling you about your sins, your heart, and Jesus Christ, in the way that the Bible speaks of them.
A Sketch of the Life and Labors of George Whitefield
6. Selected Sermons of George Whitefield
Then hear the man himself. The introduction admits printed sermons can't explain his power, but "Regeneration," "The Almost Christian" and the rest show what he pressed on the crowds.
Jesus Christ must be your whole wisdom, Jesus Christ must be your whole righteousness, Jesus Christ must be your whole sanctification, or He will never be your eternal redemption.
Selected Sermons of George Whitefield, chapter 3
7. Selected Sermons of Jonathan Edwards
Seven sermons, including Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God, preached at Enfield during the Awakening, and A Divine and Supernatural Light, on the sight of God's beauty the Spirit gives. Read them to see what revival preaching sounded like.
There is not only a rational belief that God is holy and that holiness is a good thing, but there is a sense of the loveliness of God's holiness.
Selected Sermons of Jonathan Edwards, chapter 2
8. The Life of David Brainerd
Mostly Brainerd's own diary: his conversion, his lonely years among the Indians, and the awakening among them in New Jersey. It has sent many into missions and many to their knees. See our Life of David Brainerd summary and Brainerd's prayer life.
O, my soul tasted the sweetness of heaven; and was drawn out in prayer for the world, that it might come home to Christ!
The Life of David Brainerd, Chapter III
Read The Life of David Brainerd.
Revival in the nineteenth century
9. The Biography of Robert Murray M'Cheyne, by Andrew A. Bonar
M'Cheyne died at twenty-nine. While he was away in Palestine, revival broke out in his Dundee church under William C. Burns, and Bonar tells how M'Cheyne came home to it. The book is mostly about the man himself: his prayer, his holiness and his love for his people.
He felt meditation and prayer to be the very sinews of his work.
The Biography of Robert Murray M'Cheyne, chapter 3
Read the Biography of M'Cheyne.
10. My Life and Sacred Songs, by Ira D. Sankey
Moody's song leader tells how they met, the great British missions, and the stories behind the hymns that were sung in them. A warm book, and a reminder of how much singing has had to do with revival.
I have known a hymn to do God's work in a soul when every other instrumentality has failed.
My Life and Sacred Songs, Preface
Read My Life and Sacred Songs.
11. Deeper Experiences of Famous Christians, by J. Gilchrist Lawson
Short accounts, many in their own words, of the turning points of Wesley, Whitefield, Christmas Evans, Finney, Moody and many others. Good for reading one chapter at a time.
The persons described, whether Bible characters or others, relate their deeper experiences in very different terms; but the deeper Christian experience described is always the same.
Deeper Experiences of Famous Christians, Introduction
Read Deeper Experiences of Famous Christians.
Revival begins with us
12. Personal Declension and Revival of Religion in the Soul, by Octavius Winslow
Revival in one heart. Winslow traces how a believer cools without noticing, in love, in faith and above all in prayer, and how the Lord restores him. It also appears in our guide to the best Christian books on holiness.
Love to God will expel love to the world; love to the world will deaden the soul's love to God.
Personal Declension and Revival of Religion in the Soul, chapter 2
13. The State of the Church, by Andrew Murray
Written after the 1910 World Missionary Conference. The world's doors were open, Murray says, and the real obstacle was the low spiritual life of the church at home. He calls for far more prayer and a revival of holiness.
The primary need is not the multiplication of prayer meetings, but that individual Christians should learn to pray.
The State of the Church, chapter 9
Practical handbooks
14. How to Promote and Conduct a Successful Revival, by R. A. Torrey
Torrey starts with the Holy Spirit and prayer, then covers the preaching revivals need and the practical side: personal work, children, after-meetings and keeping the converts.
The presence of the Spirit of the living God in our hearts, giving holy unction to the message, is the crowning glory of the revival preacher.
How to Promote and Conduct a Successful Revival, chapter 3
15. The Perennial Revival, by William B. Riley
A Minneapolis pastor's plea that a church modeled on Acts 2 should be winning people every week, not waiting for a season of meetings. Riley calls prayer the most important subject in his book.
But God has never yet imparted his Spirit to a prayerless preacher.
The Perennial Revival, chapter 4
More to explore
Finney's own Memoirs tell the story of the revivals he saw; see our Memoirs of Charles Finney summary and Finney's conversion. Edwards' Religious Affections, written after the Awakening to tell true religion from false, and Ryle's Christian Leaders of the Last Century are both in the library, though their texts still have scanning errors. Revival and the Holy Spirit go together, so see also the best books on the Holy Spirit and the best Christian books on evangelism.
Where to start
- Want to know what revival looks like: Edwards' Faithful Narrative.
- Want to pray for it: Murray's Back to Pentecost.
- Your own heart is cold: Winslow.
- Pastor or church leader: Finney's Lectures, then Torrey.
More books are on the revival topic page.