CROWDS WITHOUT CONVERSION
Why young adults (and grown adults) are flooding “revival” gatherings, and how to test the movement using John 6.
There is a kind of spiritual excitement that feels like oxygen. You walk into a room packed wall-to-wall, voices lifted, hands raised, tears flowing, stories spreading, and you can almost taste the momentum. Someone says, “God is doing something.” Another says, “This is revival.” And if you hesitate, you risk being labeled quenching, skeptical, or dead inside. This happened to me when I raised a few concerns during the Asbury “revival” in 2023, which immediately met with retaliatory criticism of “quenching the Spirit” and other spiritual slogans turned into bullets for anyone who exercised caution.
I want to be careful here. I am not writing to sneer at what others love. I am not denying that definitive truth may be taught in some of these settings, nor am I denying that some may genuinely be converted in the gathering spaces. God saves whom He wills, when He wills, through His Word. He can draw a sinner to Christ in a living room, a stadium, a prison, or a loud and chaotic gathering.
But it is precisely because God truly saves that we must not confuse crowds with conversion. Scripture will not let us. John 6 will not let us. And if we are going to be faithful shepherds of our own souls, and faithful members of Christ’s church, we must learn the difference between a moment of mass enthusiasm and a movement of deep discipleship.
The chapter that begins with a miracle ends with a warning.
John 6:66 (LSB) says, “As a result of this, many of His disciples went away and were not walking with Him anymore.”
That is not a footnote. That is the point John is making throughout this chapter, as a caution for us today.
One of the biggest mistakes modern Christians make is categorizing the response into two options.
Either:
Nothing real is happening; it is all fake.
Everything is revival, and anyone cautious is resisting the Spirit.
The Bible gives us a third category: God can do real work in the midst of mixed motives, even when the crowd is largely unconverted.
In John’s gospel, he selects events and arranges them to show us who Christ is and what true faith looks like. He tells you what he is doing at the end: “these have been written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing you may have life in His name” (John 20:31). John is not primarily interested in giving you a scrapbook of spiritual highs. His goal is to reveal the Son of God and expose counterfeit faith.
That theme shows up early. “Many believed in His name, when they were seeing His signs which He was doing. But Jesus, on His part, was not entrusting Himself to them… for He Himself knew what was in man” (John 2:23–25). That is one of the most sobering lines in the Gospel. It tells us that there is a kind of belief Jesus does not recognize as saving.
John 6 is where that reality becomes undeniable.
Why Crowds Form: A Simple John 6 Diagnosis
In John 6, Jesus feeds a massive crowd. The miracle is real. The provision is undeniable. The excitement is understandable. But John tells us why they followed Him: “because they were seeing the signs which He was doing” (John 6:2). Later, Jesus looks them in the eye and exposes their motive for following Him: “Truly, truly, I say to you, you seek Me… because you ate of the loaves and were filled” (John 6:26).
This is the danger: the crowd wanted Jesus as a means to an end. Bread meant survival and security. A miracle-worker who can feed thousands looks like a political asset, a revolutionary advantage, a Moses-like deliverer (John 6:14). They were ready to take Him by force to make Him king (John 6:15). The crowd wanted a kingdom they could control, not the King they must obey.
John 6 teaches us at least two principles that remain painfully relevant.
First, false disciples are drawn to crowds.
Crowds offer validation without conviction and belonging without accountability. In a crowd, the conscience is diluted, truth is measured by momentum, and a person can feel spiritual without being holy. A full room is often mistaken for a faithful church or a revival. Attendance becomes proof of life. But crowds do not produce disciples. The Word produces disciples.
Second, false disciples are drawn to signs.
The modern-day “signs” we see are different from those of the first century. When people chase experiences, they begin to treat Christ as an instrument. The sign becomes the attraction. The Savior becomes the accessory. And when the experience fades, so does the so-called faith.
That is not me being gloomy. That is Jesus explaining the human heart.
Why Are Young Adults Drawn To These Gatherings?
We should not pretend we are living in a normal cultural moment. Young adults are growing up in a spiritual environment that is at once starving and overstimulating.
They are lonely. They are anxious. They are inundated with information but starving for wisdom. They have been trained by algorithms to interpret intensity as authenticity. They are used to “viral” as a measure of truth because the modern world rewards what spreads, not what is sound.
A large gathering offers what this generation desperately craves.
It offers community without cost.
It offers meaning without long obedience.
It offers identity without submission.
It offers “transcendence” without slow, discipleship-based growth.
And to be fair, young adults are not the only ones. Many of their parents are exhausted, disillusioned, and hungry for something hopeful. Many grown adults are tired of political chaos, cultural decay, and the coldness of secular life. A packed room, filled with spiritual energy, feels like a lifeboat. People want to believe a monster revival is here because they want relief, and I believe it is from a genuinely Godly desire.
But hunger does not guarantee discernment.
A starving man will eat whatever is set in front of him. That is why churches must not feed people cotton candy and call it bread.
Why Grown Adults Are Drawn To
Older generations have their own vulnerabilities.
Some are desperate to see a “return” to something they remember.
Some want their children to be “on fire” for God, and any fire looks like the Spirit.
Some have been in churches that are dry, dead, or doctrinally compromised, and they assume the opposite must be true.
Some are simply tired, and emotional uplift feels like spiritual renewal.
Add to that a modern evangelical habit of measuring success by numbers, and the recipe is complete. A crowd becomes a scoreboard. A movement becomes a brand. A testimony becomes marketing. And once that machine starts moving, nobody wants to be the guy who asks whether the engine is actually running on Scripture or in a God-honouring direction.
John 6 stands in the doorway and refuses to let us confuse volume with vitality.
Jesus’ Method: He Attracts Crowds and Then Withdraws from Them
One of the most revealing patterns in the Gospels is how often Jesus withdraws from crowds. He refuses to be reduced to a political deliverer or a miracle vending machine. He does not let popularity define His mission. Luke records the crowds trying to keep Him from leaving, and Jesus responds, “I must proclaim the good news of the kingdom of God to the other cities also, for I was sent for this purpose” (Luke 4:43).
Do you see the priority of Christ in His ministry?
Not spectacle.
Not a never-ending healing line.
Not crowd maintenance.
Proclamation of the kingdom.
Now contrast that with much of modern “revival culture.” The unspoken goal is often to keep the crowd, grow the crowd, and protect the atmosphere that sustains the crowd. Hard truths get delayed. Doctrinal edges get sanded down. Warnings get softened. Boundaries get avoided because boundaries thin crowds, and that isn’t “loving” in the manner in which we would choose to be loved.
Jesus did the opposite. He spoke the truth that drove many away, and then asked the Twelve, “Do you want to go away also?” (John 6:67). Christ is not afraid of a smaller church if it is a truer church. Jesus wanted truly committed followers who had counted and knew the cost of following Him.
The Worship Test: Wow Versus Worship
Matthew gives us a helpful contrast. Earlier in his Gospel, the disciples marvel after He calms the sea, “What kind of a man is this, that even the winds and the sea obey Him?” (Matthew 8:27). Later, after another display of Christ’s authority on the sea, “those who were in the boat worshiped Him, saying, ‘You are truly God’s Son!’” (Matthew 14:33).
That shift matters and is critical to understand.
Marveling is not worship.
Awe is not adoration.
Tears are not repentance.
True worship confesses who Christ is and submits to what He says.
A movement can produce many “wow” moments while producing very few worshipers.
The Judas Factor: The Category Nobody Wants To Talk About
John 6 ends with Judas. Not an outsider. Not a critic. One of the Twelve. A man near Jesus, hearing everything, seeing everything, participating in ministry activity, and still unconverted (John 6:70–71). This is why the New Testament repeatedly warns the church about false assurance.
“Enter through the narrow gate… few who find it” (Matthew 7:13–14).
“Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter…” (Matthew 7:21–23).
“Test yourselves to see if you are in the faith; examine yourselves!” (2 Corinthians 13:5).
If we refuse this category, we will misread the entire spiritual landscape. We will assume every spiritual experience is saving faith. We will assume every testimony is conversion. We will treat skepticism as sin and caution as unbelief. Meanwhile, people will be inoculated with religious emotion and never actually come to Christ. I believe this is the most concerning underlying issue with all of this, the creation of self-deceived people. They assume they are Christians because of what they do, and do not realize that it is not who they are. They are worshipping themselves and their spiritual experience appetites, and not the Creator of the universe.
That is not a small danger. That is an eternal danger.
So, How Do We Evaluate Our Church Or A Movement?
We do not start with cynicism. We start with Scripture. And we apply tests that are difficult to fake.
Jesus gives us a parable for this: the sower (Matthew 13). Some hear, and the word is snatched away. Some receive with joy and fall away under affliction. Some are choked by worries and wealth. Only the good soil bears fruit. The key is not the initial response. The key is durable, lasting fruit.
Romans 12:1 describes true worship as a life offered to God: “to present your bodies as a sacrifice—living, holy, and pleasing to God, which is your spiritual service of worship.”
That is not an event. That is a lifelong pursuit of Christ, not entertainment or self-affirming crowds.
A Practical Diagnostic Checklist
Use this to evaluate your church, or any movement, regardless of your age. This is not a weapon to beat others. It is a tool to protect your soul.
Is Scripture central or supplemental?
Do they preach the text with context, authorial intent, and doctrinal clarity, or do they use verses as seasoning for stories and experiences? (2 Timothy 4:1–5; Acts 20:26–27)Is the gospel defined or assumed?
Do you regularly hear about sin, repentance, the cross, substitution, resurrection, and lordship, or do you hear vague language about “encounter” and “purpose”? (1 Corinthians 15:1-4)Does truth thin the crowd?
Are hard teachings addressed plainly, or avoided to preserve momentum? In John 6, truth scattered the crowd. If a ministry never loses people over doctrine, ask what kind of doctrine it preaches.Is repentance normal or rare?
Are people confronted about sin and called to turn, or mainly affirmed and comforted? (Luke 13:3; Acts 17:30)Is holiness expected or optional?
Do leaders speak about purity, self-denial, and obedience as essential fruits of faith, or as “extra credit”? (1 Peter 1:14–16; Hebrews 12:14)Is the church treated as a body or a product?
Is membership, accountability, and shepherding emphasized, or is the goal to keep people anonymous and entertained? (Hebrews 13:17; Acts 2:42)Is worship aimed at God or at experience?
Do songs and services point to the glory of Christ and the truth of the gospel, or do they aim mainly at creating a mood and elevating the self? The question is not whether emotions happen. The question is whether truth governs them. (John 4:23-24)Are leaders qualified and accountable?
Is there biblical plurality, character qualification, and real oversight, or celebrity branding and platform protection? (1 Timothy 3; Titus 1)Are warnings preached with love?
Do you hear Matthew 7, Hebrews 6, 1 John, and 2 Corinthians 13:5 preached as pastoral protections, or are warnings treated as negativity?What kind of people does it produce over time?
After the music fades and the moment passes, do people plant in a local church, submit to Scripture, grow in doctrine, and endure suffering? Or do they drift to the next experience?
If those questions feel too strict, remember: Jesus was stricter.
A sober conclusion, and a hopeful one
Here is the posture I am commending.
Rejoice where Christ is truly preached.
Pray for genuine conversions.
Refuse to mock spiritual hunger.
But do not outpace Scripture with your declarations.
If this is a revival, it will not merely gather crowds. It will produce worshipers. It will produce repentance. It will produce churchmen and churchwomen who love the truth, submit to shepherds, and endure when obedience is costly.
And if it is primarily crowd momentum, it will eventually reveal itself. Jesus taught us that.
Do not let the size of the crowd give you spiritual legitimacy without submission to Christ’s lordship. Do not let a room full of people replace a heart full of repentance. Do not let excitement become your assurance.
Test everything. Hold fast to what is good. And remember the lesson John 6 presses into the conscience of the church:
Many will follow for bread.
Few will remain for truth.
And Christ is worthy of the few.