Revive Europe, the conference and revival movement in European universities, will become a organisation of its own seeking to unite students and Christian ministries from across the continent with a vision to pursue “a move of God in the student generation in Europe”.

This new chapter for Revive will start after its second edition at the end of 2022.

The new steps of Revive were made public on 25 May, during a plenary session of the European Leadership (ELF) conference in Wisla, Poland. In a moment of commendation, Tim Adams (General Secretary of the International Fellowship of Evangelical Students, IFES) prayed for the next steps of Revive Europe and its leadership.

Sarah Breuel (Italy), director of Revive Europe and evangelism training coordinator for IFES Europe, will continue to head the renewed team alongside its new chair, Dave Patty (Josiah Venture, Czech Republic).

Launched in 2019 with a student conference organised by IFES and supported by other 30 student and mission organisations, the new organisation will continue to put a strong emphasis on unity and common work with other evangelical movements and ministries focused on mission and spiritual revival.

Prayer walks, digital pilgrimages through the history of revivals in Europe, Revive Our Hearts weekends, and other initiatives will grow alongside the next student conference to be held at the end of 2022 in Germany.

“We stand together as we long for God to do something much larger than any organisation”, Sarah Breuel told Evangelical Focus (read full interview below). “We would love your prayers for God’s breath as we try as best to build this ‘ark’ and we trust God for the rain”.

IFES expresses full support for next steps

Tim Adams told Evangelical Focus more about why the evangelical student movement IFES supports the next steps of Revive Europe. “Evangelism, discipleship, and mission have always been hallmarks of IFES-linked student ministry so we were thrilled to see students at Revive 2019 return to their national movements with a new passion and commitment in their personal witness for Christ”. 

[photo_footer] IFES World leader Tim Adams prays for Sarah Breuel and Dave Patty during the last plenary session of the European Leadership Forum conference, 25 May 2022. / J. Forster, Evangelical Focus[/photo_footer]

“Since then, the Revive vision and sense of calling has continued to grow”, added Adams, “so we believe this is the right time for the team to have a dedicated governance and support structure. We continue to pray and work with Sarah and the Revive team to bring the good news of Jesus to students across Europe. That’s what this is all about”. 

David 'Monty' Montgomery, who leads IFES Europe, said: “In 2019 Revive mobilised thousands of students to be serious about mission in Europe. It is our prayer that as they move forward under these new arrangements that even more students will catch that vision and be used by God throughout our needy continent”.

Over 1,500 students already registered for the 2022 end of year conference

The next big event of Revive Europe will be its second conference for students, which will be held in Karlsruhe (Germany) between 28 December 2022 and 2 January 2023. Over 1,500 students from 90 nations had already registered to attend half a year before.

Under the topic “Turning the world upside down” (Acts 17:6), the Bible expositions will look at how the New Testament describes the arrival of the gospel to the European continent (Acts 16-19). The three convictions of the movement (Revive our hearts, revive our universities, revive Europe) will string together the evening sessions, with speakers like Oxford Professor John Lennox, prayer movement leader Pete Greig, justice advocate Danielle Strickland among others.

The programme will also include testimonies from across Europe, lively worship, and seminars to choose from varying from equipping for evangelism in the universities (apologetics, personal evangelism, mission weeks, engaging public arena) to integral mission (environment, breaking poverty cycles, being ambassador of Christ in the areas of study/work) and cross-cultural mission (led by the various mission agencies who will exhibiting at Revive). The organisation is also setting apart “weighty times of prayer for God to breath afresh in each region of Europe”.

[photo_footer] A gathering of Revive Europe supporters during the 2022 ELF conference in Wisla, Poland, 22 May. / J. Forster. [/photo_footer] 

Q&A with Sarah Breuel

Sarah Breuel shared more about the vision and expectations Revive Europe has for the years ahead in the following interview.

Question. What is your dream for Europe?

Answer. These verses in Isaiah deeply resonate with my soul as I dream what God would do in Europe: “For I will pour water on the thirst land, and streams of the dry ground” (Isaiah 44:3) and “I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland” (Isaiah 43:19).

Our dry continent needs fresh streams of water. We can’t simply strategize our way over the re-evangelization of Europe, as important as strategies are. We need a fresh outpouring of the Spirt of Jesus to turn the tide for the gospel in our continent.

Q. Tell us more about your personal calling behind Revive.

A. On 2 December 2016, I experienced something profound, and my life has never been the same. God woke me up in the middle of the night in Oxford (UK) and spoke deeply to my soul. In the following months, I had an all-consuming hunger to be in God’s Word, presence, in prayer and in worship.

I found out later that the technical term for what I was going through was called ‘personal revival’. I had no particular interest or knowledge about revival, but it was like God ‘hijacked’ my prayer life, and I would pray day in and day out for a Move of God in the student generation in Europe.

I thought it was just a personal experience, but to my surprise in the following months I came across several leaders in Europe who had similar experiences, prayers and desires. Could it be that God was calling us to pursue together a Move of God in the student generation in Europe?

Q. Revive Europe had its first edition in December 2019. What was some of the impact of that?

A. In our first edition, by God’s grace and to God’s glory, we gathered over 3,000 students and graduates from 78 nations for five days in Germany. The pandemic broke out right after.

We decided to put together online prayer meetings, not knowing how many would show up. To our surprise, 350 students across the continent were joining us in those prayer meetings.

We wanted to steward what God was doing. Students in Croatia were on fire and baptized 8 of their friends during the pandemic. Students in Berlin started to meet frequently to pray for revival in their city. They saw some friends come to Jesus, and this group has been meeting consistently to pray for about two and a half years now.

In Belfast last year, about 400 students came together from different Universities to pray for revival in their city. We see these as just some ‘seeds of revival’, but we learn not to despise small beginnings (Zechariah 4:10).

[photo_footer] Plenary sessions at Revive Europe conference 2022 will reflect on the book of Acts. / Revive Europe[/photo_footer] 

Q. How is Revive growing from a conference to a Movement?

A. The story of Noah has been meaningful for our team. When God asked him to build the ark, it made no sense. But when the rain came, nothing else made sense except the ark. Here are some ways we sense we are called to ‘build an ark’ as we trust God for the rain:

Wide – Revive Europe conference. The second edition at the end of this year (2022), where we are expecting over 3,000 participants from 90 nations.

Deep – Mentoring Emerging leaders. We handpicked 12 emerging revivalists from 10 nations to peer mentor one another. We are also walking with about 30 key student leaders from 15 nations (we met in Switzerland in March), and about 100 Revive Ambassadors from 35 nations (we met in Greece in April).

Local – Seeds of revival. We have identified places where we see seeds of revival (Berlin, Belfast, Durham, Helsinki, and others) and meet frequently to encourage one another and put more wood into the fire. Some of them are organizing retreats in their city to ignite personal revival in students/young adults, followed by an outreach in the University and in the streets some weeks later.

Continental – Prayer walks. We are casting vision to see prayer walks happening in all 2,200 Universities in Europe in 2023. This has been a coalition that has emerged in the last two years between Cru, IFES and 24-7 prayer, called “The Spark”.

Historical – Revive Pilgrimages. We are engaging with previous moves of God (Moravians, Wesleys, Welsh revival, etc) through a digital pilgrimage. The aim is to learn what God has done in the past and ask He would do something fresh again.

Q. Finally, tell us a bit about the people joining the Revive Board and how you intend to learn and encourage each other.

A. The first edition of Revive had about 30 partners beyond IFES: Cru, Navigators, Students for Christ, Steiger, YWAM, OM, Lausanne, European Evangelical Alliance, 24/7 prayer, and many others. As IFES blesses Revive to become a new organization, we are grateful for a robust board coming together with Dave Patty (president of Josiah Venture) as Chair, strong IFES presence with Zefjan Nikolla, Luke Greenwood (Steiger), Andreas Nordli (YWAM), Jon Burns (GEM), Lindsay Olesberg (Wycliffe) and Ole-Magnus Olafsrud (Lausanne Movement, as senior adviser). We stand together as we long for God to do something much larger than any organization.

[destacate]"We stand together as we long for God to do something much larger than any organization"[/destacate]We would love your prayers for God’s breath as we try as best to build this ‘ark’ and we trust God for the rain.

Learn more about Revive Europe by visiting its website and its Instagram.