The Revivalympics initiative encourages students to pray for a revival in the university context. Over 1,100 “from every corner of Europe” have already registered for the second Revive conference at the end of this year.
Over 3,000 students attended the first Revive Europe conference at the end of 2019. Over one thousand have registered for the second conference already. / Photo: [link]Revive Europe Facebook[/link].
Prayer will again be a fundamental part of the European student conference Revive Europe, that will hold its second edition at the end of 2021 (28 December to 1 January).
Over 1,100 students and young graduates “from every corner of Europe” have already registered for an event that “longs for a fresh move of God in the student generation in Europe”, says Sarah Breuel, the Director of the conference, who is also IFES Europe Evangelism Training Coordinator.
Continuing in the direction of the ten-months-long prayer campaign of 2019 that covered 40 countries of the continent, the organisation has launched a new prayer challenge, the Revivalympics. France has been the first country presented.
Sarah Breuel told Evangelical Focus about this initiative that will lead up to the end of year conference.
[photo_footer] Sarah Breuel, Director of Revive Europe. [/photo_footer] Question. What will the Revivalympics look like in practice?
Answer. There is so much power when we see that God is bigger than our own context or nation, and when we stand together as a continent. The Revivalympics gives a marvelous taste of that! It is a virtual prayer relay to unite us in seeking revival across Europe. In practice, every week we focus in 1 or 2 nations, when a local Revive participant from that country shares in a short video on social media how God is moving in their context, fueling our prayers for that particular nation. Then they pass on the torch to the next country.
The previous prayer campaign for the first edition of Revive had about 1 million views on the different videos produced and shared on different platforms. God use it powerfully to give a sense of how He is at work in Europe, and to stir up intercession among students.
Q. Why is prayer so central to the Revive Europe movement?
A. At the very heart of Revive is the longing for a Fresh Move of God in the student generation in Europe. That is something that God alone can do. For this reason, we have prayer at the very core of the movement. Looking into the history of past revivals, there has never been a revival without a fervent move of prayer that preceded it, and a wave of repentance. We sense that our role is to prepare as best as we can a fertile soil for God to move.
Q. How many are registered already for the Revive 21 conference? What countries have surprised you positively in the engagement and excitement?
A. We are delighted that already 1,100 people have registered from 67 nations with still almost 9 months to go before the conference! What is exciting about Revive is that it is truly a European conference, with people coming from every corner of Europe. The country with highest registration so far is Spain, with already 158 participants (Spain brought 220 participants in the previous edition and it looks like it will be even more in this second edition).
Croatia also brought a big group for Revive 2019 (50 participants) and the students came back saying, on their own words, that ‘God used those days to revive student mission in Croatia- all puns intended!’. In 2020, even with the pandemic, they have baptized 6 students in Croatia. Students and graduates come literally from everywhere in Europe to Revive, even the small country of Faroe Islands has already 43 people registered.
Q. Has this pandemic and the crisis that has come with it awakened young Christians across Europe to seek God and engage with His mission?
A. Absolutely! One of the things that this pandemic showed us is the fragility of life. Students are asking the deeper questions of what life is all about. As Christians, we know that Jesus is the only one who can offer true hope.
The pandemic brought many to our knees. With the overwhelming suffering, and traumatic things that we have all experienced, it was like we had no choice other than to seek God. That is not a bad place to be after all.
Q. Anything else you'd like to add to encourage people to join the Revivalympics.
A. If you heart is burning like ours to see a Fresh Move in this generation, it would be a joy for you to join us. You can follow us on Instagram or Facebook. Come Holy Spirit, come. Revive Europe!
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