Vanishing men’s breakfasts, shrinking children’s classes, and plummeting worship attendance often drive local church members to despair and then to complaints. They assert that their church would be growing if only their leaders were more relevant, if their fellow members would do more, and if their facilities were nicer. In short, they complain because they believe the solution to their church’s woes lies in the power of other men and women.

How God Worked in Ezra

Though such thinking pervades local churches, it does not align with the realities of Ezra chapter one. The book about the restoration of faithful worship after seventy years of desolation attributes that revival of true worship to the stirring of the Lord. Ezra 1:5 reports, “Then rose up the heads of the fathers’ houses of Judah and Benjamin, and the priests and the Levites, everyone whose spirit God had stirred to go up to rebuild the house of the Lord that is in Jerusalem.” God brings about and expands worship through his sovereign call.

What was true of temple worship proves true of new covenant church worship. God builds his church through the stirring of his people to action. Commenting on his church planting and evangelistic ministry, the Apostle Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 3:6: “I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth.”

Pray for Stirrings

When church attendance sags and ministries dry up, men and women should first and foremost take their concerns to the Lord. Instead of complaining to their friends or attempting to guilt the bottom tier of the church’s roles into action, believers should implore the Lord to stir them, their fellow church members, and their unsaved neighbors to action. As J.I. Packer notes, “This is the universal rule, in evangelism as elsewhere. God will make us pray before he blesses our labors in order that we may constantly learn afresh that we depend on God for everything.” In other words, Christians should pray that the Lord would stir the lost out of Babylon and into their local church through the waters of baptism. Christians should pray that the Lord would stir their fellow church members to be done with pornography, greed, and anger. They should ask the Lord to raise up the elders and deacons that the church needs to care for the saints. They should ask the Lord to stir up older women to disciple younger women, to stir up men to evangelize their neighborhoods, and to stir people of all ages to serve in the nursery. They should pray to the Lord who builds his church.

At times the growth will be slow and almost unnoticeable. The nation of Israel waited seventy years for their restoration. Our prayers too may have to span generations. But the Lord will answer. The gates of hell will not prevail. Though our local churches may come and go, the great church triumphant will never disappear and will be forever renewed in local assemblies until all are gathered to Jesus in the unending worship of the new heavens and the new earth. Pray for the Lord to stir, for he will not abandon his church.

Act on the Stirrings

Second, church members should follow the Lord’s stirring. Those who long to see their churches revived must join with the Jews of Ezra’s day and go rebuild their church as they are able. They must respond to the Lord’s stirring and put sin to death when their consciences convict them. Following the Lord’s leading, they should pursue righteousness and knowledge so that they can be qualified to lead their church and to disciple their brothers and sisters in Christ. They should follow the Lord’s stirring and invite their neighbor over for dinner and begin a relationship that will facilitate the sharing of the gospel. Those who are stirred to see more children in the church should begin volunteering in the nursery or teach a children’s Sunday school class. Those stirred to give to the church should increase their tithe and support of gospel ministry. Those who truly long to see their church grow and the worship of the Lord expand will ask the Lord to stir and also act on his stirring.

Test the Stirring

However, not every idea that pops into a believer’s head should be equated with the Lord’s divine leading. To determine an idea’s or a stirring’s source, the believer must ask and answer two questions. First, he should ask, “Does this idea or desire align with the clear teaching of Scripture?” The Lord stirred the Jews toward Jerusalem because he had promised to bring them back to Jerusalem after seventy years of desolation (Jer. 25:11–12; Dan. 9:1–2). Consequently, the man stirred to confess his sins to a trusted mentor should do so and turn from his sins. The woman stirred to divorce her husband because she finds him boring has not been stirred by the Lord and should not act on those stirrings.

Secondly, the believer should ask, “Has the Lord given him the skills, the station in life, and the resources needed to accomplish this stirring?” When God sent the Jews to Jerusalem, he sent them with the resources needed to accomplish the rebuilding of the temple. As Ezra 1:6 notes, “And all who were about them aided them with vessels of silver, with gold, with goods, with beasts, and with costly wares, besides all that was freely offered.” Consequently, if a man feels called to go on a mission trip that will cost him his job and his ability to provide for his family, he should not go. He lacks the resources. But if the man feels stirred to have his neighbor over for dinner to share the gospel, he should work with his wife to put that dinner on his calendar. Similarly, if a woman feels called to give a large sum of money to her church’s building fund but would have to take out a loan to cover her gift, she should not follow that stirring. The Lord has not blessed her with the ability to wisely fulfill her desire. Conversely, if she receives an unexpected bonus and is stirred to give some of that as a special offering to her church, she can and should give in accordance with her resources. God provides his people with the resources they need to follow his stirring.

Final Thoughts

Though Christians can be tempted to view the rebuilding or revitalization of their church as the work of others, Ezra 1 presents a different narrative. The Lord rebuilds his church through the stirring of his people to action. Those who long to see their church renewed so do two things: pray that the Lord stirs his people and then follow the stirring of the Lord. The Lord must build the house.