In Hackney, East London hundreds of young people from three local churches stay up all night to pray and seek God. Al Gordon writes “I’ve never seen anything like it. There’s a remarkable sense of consecrating love setting apart the young, calling them to holiness.”
Snapshot #2: Saturday
In Trafalgar Square thousands gather to hear the gospel. Many healed and saved. Evangelist Daniel Chand sums it up in one word: “Historic”.
Snapshot #3: Sunday
St Aldates, Oxford where George Whitfield gave his life to Christ, is overflowing. So many young people give their lives to Christ they lose count. Steven Foster says: “It broke our systems. From the start of the service it felt like literally anything could happen and probably would. It was mostly Gen Z responding but also prison leavers and people in recovery.”
Jesus tells us to be alert to the signs of the times, but then again we need hope not hype.
And so, after 25 years of 24-7 Prayer, contending non-stop for the tide to turn, refusing to believe for anything less than revival, I am hesitant even to type these words: something seems to be shifting at last. Just when it felt like failure. When in our darkest moment we found ourselves wondering if it had all been a waste of time.
I dare to believe because this last weekend is just the latest iteration of something bigger that seems to be happening. Over Easter
– many churches reported bumper attendances.
– 12000 were baptised in France one of the most secular nations on earth
– 419 were baptised by our friends at New Life Church in Colorado Springs.
– 469 gave their lives to Christ at Audacious church in Manchester
– 116 got saved at Soul Church in Norwich
And meanwhile – beyond events, programmes, conferences and successful services – the long-term societal markers also seem to be shifting.
– Public intellectuals from Tom Holland to Jordan Peterson to Ayaan Hirsi Ali are arguing for faith in God.
– Influencers with millions of followers are professing faith – some even getting baptised.
– Columns in the Wall Street Journal and the London Times are reporting a return to religion amongst the young. The Spectator even using the (over-excited) headline ‘Revival’.
– More than 7000 school classrooms have now been turned into prayer rooms thanks to Prayer Spaces in Schools
– 25% of Australians are saying they’d accept an invitation to church and 70% that they talk to the God they’re no longer supposed to believe in!
Now if you’re reading this and thinking ‘it doesn’t feel like that where I live,’ all I can say is this:
Firstly, let’s pray! It doesn’t matter how small the spark, if you pour petrol on it you can start a fire. Pray on your own. Pray with others. Set up a 24-7 Prayer Room.
Secondly, let’s be confident in sharing our faith. There are clear signs of a growing spiritual hunger in the land – people are more open than they were to the Lord. These things always begin in certain hotspots before they spread out.
Thirdly, let’s invest in young people. The turning is most marked among Gen Z. Let’s not miss this moment of opportunity.
Finally, if this stirs your heart, join us at the Wildfires Festival – where we will once again be praying, thinking, dreaming and contending for the next great awakening in our lands.
Two thousand Iranians turning to Jesus every day
By Charles Gardner —
underground church Iran
The Bible Society, which operates around the globe, reports that more than 2,000 Iranians are turning to Jesus every single day! One 92-year-old believer, whenever she’s on a bus, pulls out a small book and asks her neighbor to help her read the tiny font.
In fact, she is secretly getting strangers to read the gospels. Every time she does it, the person sitting next to her ends up taking a New Testament home.
This is brave work in a land where leaving Islam is potentially punishable by death. But the Iranian revival is good news for Israel – and the Jews! For these dear people have been taught by their government and mullahs that Israel is their archenemy.
But now that they have opened their lives to Jesus, the Jewish Messiah, they find they are also growing to love the Jewish people, longing and praying for a restoration of the peace that the two nations once enjoyed.
This is profoundly good news for those who have eyes to see the bigger picture. For the strict Islamic state of Iran, whose rulers want to wipe out the Jewish people just as Hitler did and who are chief sponsors of monstrous terrorist groups like Hamas, is now the focus of a Christian revival where some two million people have discovered that Jesus, the Jew, is the Savior of the world.
As the mosques shut down in great numbers, passionate Christians are filling the vacuum, though of necessity staying ‘underground’ for now, out of sight of the religious police.
The Islamic foundations are crumbling for the chief sponsors of terrorism, a fact graphically prophesied by the psalmist thousands of years ago when he wrote of them: “Come,” they say, “let us destroy them as a nation, so that Israel’s name is remembered no more. With one mind they plot together, forming an alliance against you.” (Psalm 83:4f)
Among the enemies named are ‘Ishmaelites’ and people from Philistia (Gaza) and Tyre (Lebanon), with Assyria (covering parts of Iran, Iraq, Syria and Turkey) joining them. Does this ring any bells?
Yet the psalmist (Asaph) is not vindictive. He calls on the Lord to bring shame on them so that they will know “that you alone are the Most High over all the earth”. And we are hearing that many in the Muslim/Arab world, even in the strictest of regimes, are indeed discovering the truth of Yeshua.
In the UK too, where Jews feel increasingly threatened and pro-Palestinian marchers are allowed to call for Israel’s demise on the streets of our cities, there is a revival of Christianity, which gives us hope.
After conducting a thorough survey, the Bible Society reports a remarkable fourfold increase in young men aged 18-24 attending church over the last six years.
Amid rumors that Donald Trump is about to announce recognition of a Palestinian State (albeit without Hamas), here in the UK we are hearing reports of a recruiting campaign for Islam within the National Health Service. And even Conservative MPs and peers are making previously unheard-of calls for recognition of ‘Palestine’.
A British TV program has just been rightly lauded for exposing a shocking miscarriage of justice against a host of sub-postmasters wrongly convicted of theft, false accounting and fraud when in fact it was due to a faulty computer system.
But I also believe the monumental miscarriage of justice of modern times has been the grossly misleading narrative – through media, parliament and elsewhere – of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Restored to their ancient land through internationally recognized treaties, not to mention God’s law – their ultimate title deed – they are constantly subjected to a host of lies and propaganda accusing them of stealing what is their own property.
It’s important that we see the big picture of the unfolding spiritual warfare taking place. When Jesus sent out the 72 disciples to spread the gospel (as recorded in Luke 10:19,21), he told them he had given them authority to trample on snakes and scorpions and to overcome all the power of the enemy.
And he was full of joy through the Holy Spirit because God had hidden these things from the wise and learned and revealed them to babes.
It is not the proud and arrogant who will inherit the earth, but the meek and humble. And the latter will also be granted a clear-sighted vision of what is really happening amidst the turmoil of these terrible times which are surely preparing the way for our Lord Yeshua’s return.
As the darkness deepens around the world, especially in the Middle East, the light of Christ is shining ever brighter. It must be tempting for Israelis to feel greatly perplexed.
The psalmist assures us: “Do not fret because of those who are evil… for like the grass they will wither… A little while, and the wicked will be no more… but the meek will inherit the land and enjoy peace and prosperity.” (Psalm 37:1f, 10f)
California May 3, 2025, 7750 baptized
On May 3, more than 7,750 people from all walks of life were baptized in the Pacific Ocean at Huntington Beach, California, marking the largest single-day baptism in U.S. history. Hosted by Oceans Church and Pastor Mark Francey, the “Baptize California” event united over 300 churches and drew 30,000 attendees for a powerful day of worship, public faith declarations, and spiritual renewal. This historic moment is just the beginning-organizers are now inviting churches nationwide to join “Baptize America” on June 8, aiming for the largest synchronized baptism ever and a wave of revival across the country. If God can do it in California, He can do it anywhere!
Although Christians still face persecution in Vietnam, churches thrive because of leaders who endured suffering to spread the gospel in the communist country.
They include 95-year-old Pastor Duong Thi, also known as Mrs. Ly, who helped start Vietnam’s house church movement. Her favorite verse is Romans 12:21 which says: ‘Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.’
She endured many hardships, such as being imprisoned five times. When asked how she felt during the ordeal, she answered: “I was not afraid because God was with me.” Bibles were not allowed in the prison but Mrs. Ly was able to have access to some of its pages which her church members used to wrap the sticky rice they sent her. Even inside the prison, she boldly shared the gospel.
Mrs. Ly’s father served as a pastor of the Christian Missionary Alliance, the only traditional Christian church in Vietnam at the time. She followed in his footsteps, becoming a pastor of that church. In 1982, however, she became the first member to step out after she experienced the baptism of the Holy Spirit. She went around the different provinces in Vietnam to share about the Holy Spirit baptism and set up the first charismatic house church.
Mrs. Ly mentored many of Vietnam’s current Christian leaders, including Pastor Pham Duc Trung, who went from being dependent on drugs to running several rehabilitation centers which is the main ministry of his church, The Blessing Church. “When I became a Christian, it was her church that I first attended and where I really felt loved. She recommended the rehabilitation center where I was delivered from drug addiction,” Pastor Pham said. Mrs. Ly’s legacy also lives on in her children and grandchildren who have become pastors and church workers.
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This year we witnessed a powerful move of the Holy Spirit across college campuses, beaches, prisons, and churches – so much so that 2023 could be dubbed a “Year of Revival.” It could even point to the beginning of what many have called a spiritual awakening in America.
Faith leaders have testified that “revival is happening” in pockets across the U.S. spanning different age groups, denominations, and backgrounds.
‘The Asbury Awakening’
Many would say that the biggest “firestarter” of them all was a simple worship service at Asbury University in Kentucky where 100 people fell to their knees and bowed at the altar in Hughes Auditorium, just to worship God.
“On Wednesday, February 8, a very small but very faithful group of Asbury students listened to the nudging of the Holy Spirit and stayed in Chapel a little longer, and then a little longer, and then way longer,” shared a student speaker. “And we had no idea that the world was about to know God better.”
That small act eventually inspired thousands to flock to the college campus where they sought God’s presence for more than two weeks, leading to repentance, healing, and salvation.
“Peers, professors, local church leaders, and seminary students surround me—all of them praying, worshipping, and praising God together. Voices are ringing out. People are bowing at the altar, arms stretched wide,” wrote Alexandra Presta, the editor of the student-run website The Asbury Collegian. “A pair of friends cling to each other in a hug, one with tears in her eyes. A diverse group of individuals crowd the piano and flawlessly switch from song to song. Some even sit like me, with laptops open. No one wants to leave.”
What took place garnered national attention and began to spring up across other campuses.
“THE FIRE IS SPREADING. Reports say students from more than 21 colleges have now arrived at Asbury University in Kentucky for revival services. Just imagine what will happen if this spreads nationwide,” wrote missionary Lee Grady in February.
Lee University: ‘Awakening the Deep Wells of Revival’
Lee University, a private Christian college in Cleveland, Tennessee is 250 miles away from Asbury University, but students from this small school felt compelled to take part in what was taking place and it began a movement of revival on their campus.
Lee University Campus Pastor Rob Fultz noted on X, “What’s happening at Asbury is not and will not remain confined. It will, and already is awakening the deep wells of revival on campuses across the nation. They have been churning, pressing against the seals that have kept them hidden, and they are about to burst with new life.”
Fultz reported the revival had reached the Lee campus, writing: “A mighty move of God started this morning at Lee and it has been building throughout the day. We are approaching the 10th hour, nothing but voices in prayer, worship, and repentance.”
He also included a video taken of the worship in the campus’s Stone Chapel. Students were coming to the chapel, crying out to God, praying, and repenting.
The revival continued to spread to schools in Alabama, Kentucky, Missouri, Pennsylvania, Texas, and Virginia.
“I think there’s a move of God that’s happening; there’s a revival that’s happening, and I wanted to be in the Presence of God,” Regent University student Shameka White told CBN News. “I wanted to just be among believers. And we need it in the climate of the world today.”
Cedarville University
Cedarville University President Thomas White shared five short video clips of the revival at his school – just 10 days after the start of the Asbury revival.
“Tonight a large number of students gathered again to pray, read Scripture, testimonies, and to worship Jesus for about two hours! We had 2 more students saved tonight. Tomorrow night we are sending our students out to other Universities to share the Gospel,” he wrote. “Keep praying for wisdom and a genuine movement of the Lord! The last video is from students who stayed around to keep worshipping. They were still there when I left about 11 pm!”
In an email to the Cedarville faculty and staff, White wrote, “We are so thankful for how God is working on our campus in recent days.”
Texas A&M Corpus Christi
Some of the evidence that God was moving on college campuses did not involve massive worship services in an auditorium, but rather, outdoor prayer gatherings and spontaneous baptisms wherever there was water.
In February, Michael Fehlauer, the lead pastor of the New Life Church in Corpus Christi, Texas, posted videos to social media that showed baptisms being performed in a public fountain at Texas A&M Corpus Christi.
Auburn University
An impromptu baptism at Auburn University in Alabama started with one student wanting to be baptized but grew to roughly 200 people who decided to give their lives to Christ.
In September, Hundreds of students made a public declaration of their new life in Christ by dipping in a lake near Red Barn as spectators watched in awe.
“I’ve seen Auburn basketball beat Kentucky. I’ve seen Auburn football beat Alabama, but I have never seen something like I did Tuesday night,” Auburn University senior Michael Floyd told WFSA12 News.
More than 5,000 people showed up to Unite Auburn’s “Night of Worship”. The campus ministry’s outreach was created to bring the Alabama school’s Christian community together for a night of worship. It featured guest speakers New York Times Best-Selling Author Jennie Allen and Pastor Jonathan Pokluda, and worship was led by Passion Music.
“It was such a move of God,” Allen told CBN News. “There is something very special happening right now. I believe in their hearts I think they are, they are hungry for God and, and they want God in a very real way, this is not manufactured.”
A Move of God at HBCUs
One organization reported in March that God was also moving powerfully among the country’s historically black colleges and universities, also known as HBCUs.
The Black Voices Movement, a ministry of Circuit Riders, is on a mission to reach the next generation with the good news of Jesus Christ by empowering young black men and women across America to be evangelists and preachers of the gospel.
It is an important work because statistics show only 1% of American missionaries are black.
Yasmin Pierce, the director of the Black Voices Movement, told CBN News they had tours to 20-30 HBCU campuses this year and have seen many salvations.
“We are all about the gospel. We’re evangelists. We love Jesus. We’re so grateful for the cross,” Pierce explained.
‘Radically Transformed’ College Students
Healings on college campuses were also reported this year. One report from Texas A&M in College Station revealed that an A&M student who couldn’t previously walk unaided, walked 20 steps after Aggies students prayed over him. One young man shared what he saw in a video posted to Facebook.
Tarik Whitmore, the young adult pastor at New Life Church in Corpus Christi, Texas, told CBN News he is seeing a movement among college students who are getting saved and then boldly proclaiming the Good News of Jesus Christ with the student body.
The result is campuses are being transformed for Jesus – and it is happening quickly.
“We are seeing these people repent from compromise and make a decision to make a public declaration of, ‘No, I want to give my whole life to Jesus starting today.’ And then we see them radically transformed before our eyes where their lifestyle is radically different [and they have] boldness to preach the Gospel to their friends like never before,” said Whitmore.
Kentucky
This spiritual awakening was not just limited to college campuses but spread throughout towns in America.
As CBN News reported, in a small community in southeastern Kentucky, hundreds of people were changed by a move of God’s Spirit.
Pastor Scott Phipps told CBN News that for 77 nights God moved “in a mighty way” as people were delivered, healed, and set free from addiction.
“People are really pouring their hearts out to the Lord and the altars are full,” Phipps said in January. “There’s no room at the altars and people are just pouring in.”
Nearly 300 people showed up to North Main Community Church in Barbourville, Kentucky to have an encounter with God.
“Addicts have been delivered every night. And one thing about the people coming is that most of them do not have any background in any Christianity whatsoever,” Phipps added. “The Lord says those who have been forgiven much, loveth much, and many of these people were at death’s door.”
He shared that the light of Jesus Christ is shining brightly in a dark season.
Phipps explained, “As far as the world is concerned it looks like it’s not going to get better, but at the same time the Bible says we would shine as light in the midst of a dark world in a crooked and perverse generation and nation. It is a great time for [revival].”
Louisiana
In Hammond, Louisiana, a four-day church worship service turned into an eight-month-long revival at an old Baptist church.
Old Zion Baptist Church held its first service on Oct.16, 2022 by June 2023 thousands had decided to put their faith in Jesus. People from 17 states and two countries traveled to the church to see what God was doing.
“The Awakening in Louisiana has truly been life-changing. When God sent me there on October 17, I never would have dreamed we would still be there! It has been the most supernatural event I’ve ever seen,” Evangelist David R. Harrison of Voice of Hope Ministries told CBN News in June.
“Thousands of decisions have been made for Christ! Salvations, restorations deliverance, and healings,” Harrison reported.
“Has there been many battles along the way? Yes! But, it truly has been worth it all just to see the thousands of lives who have been changed! I’m so thankful and humbled that God would allow me and my family to experience such an amazing move of the Holy Spirit. To God be the glory, great things HE hath done,” he added.
Massive Beach Baptisms
One beach in California, once the site of spiritual outpouring among young people during the Jesus Movement of the late 1960s and early 1970s, became a historic location where thousands gathered to be baptized.
Inspired by the movie “Jesus Revolution”, thousands of people came from all across America and the world to take part in the “Jesus Revolution Baptism” in July at the now-famous Pirates Cove in Newport Beach, California.
Harvest Christian Fellowship Sr. Pastor Greg Laurie held the massive baptism event where 32,500 people gathered and 6,794 made decisions to dedicate their lives to Jesus Christ.
Laurie, whose salvation story is featured in the “Jesus Revolution” film and who was also baptized at this location 50 years ago, couldn’t believe the size of the crowd.
“We have around 4,000 people signed up to be baptized today, can you believe that!” Pastor Laurie exclaimed. But then the number grew even larger.
Just a week earlier, more than 4,000 people were baptized on that same beach on Pentecost Sunday to celebrate not only the gift of eternal life but to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Jesus Movement.
Oceans Church organized Baptize SoCal – an event advertised as “the biggest water baptism in history.”
More than 280 churches and 8,000 attendees watched as 4,166 people flocked to the shore of Pirates Cove to declare their new life in Christ.
“What an amazing and historic day,” said musician and pastor at West Coast Life Church, Ray Gene Wilson. “Thousands baptized at Pirates Cove, God is moving in California!”
“A moment I’ll never forget,” one attendee commented on Instagram.
God Behind Bars
God Behind Bars, a national prison ministry, has baptized 599 prison inmates and seen 126,000 salvations this year.
The organization strategically works to reach the more than 2.3 million people in the prison system and bring the hope found in the Gospel.
The ministry’s goal to win souls for the Kingdom of God is exploding into an outreach that is providing hope to thousands in a dark place.
“In prison, it’s very easy to be a bitter, cold person,” one inmate recently shared. “But because of my relationship with Jesus Christ and because of who I’ve become while being in prison, I’ve learned (to be) a joyful person. Having a life sentence plus 30 (years), and people not understanding where this joy is coming from or not understanding how you can maintain a smile while going through adverse moments…and I know that it only came from God.”
Over the years, worship leaders like Brandon Lake, Naomi Raine, and Kirk Franklin as well as speakers like Sadie Robertson and Russell Wilson have prayed and sung alongside inmates. It could be described as a glimpse into a small facet of what we will likely see in Heaven – people from all walks of life worshipping Jesus Christ.
The ministry once shared that what is happening in the prisons is a “new thing” and it is evident in the joy that is felt and the lives that are changed.
“God is bringing revival to prisons! Jesus is doing a NEW THING,” they wrote.
Spontaneous Baptisms at Churches
Many churches across the country have experienced record-breaking water baptisms – some spontaneous.
More than 2,000 baptisms took place across Life.Church’s 40-plus campuses in August.
The Oklahoma megachurch celebrated as people took that step of faith at a large facility pool used by the church, while others got baptized at satellite campuses. Some even got baptized in their bathtubs, previously recorded video showed.
“We’re not praying for revival. We’re in the middle of one. I thank God for what he’s doing,” Life.Church founder and pastor Craig Groeschel said. “God is doing a big thing.”
In Houston, Texas, 755 publicly declared their faith in Jesus Christ at Champion Forest.
Nearly 300 people were baptized one Sunday morning at The Biltmore Church in Arden, North Carolina. And in one service at Long Hollow Church in Hendersonville, TN, 136 people were spontaneously baptized.
But the numbers represent far more than mere statistics, it is a representation of lives transformed and citizenship established in Heaven.
“This is something to celebrate, people being raised from death to life,” remarked one Long Hollow leader. “And how good is it that we don’t have to earn the victory? We don’t have to earn salvation. We get to rest in the victory Christ already won on our behalf.”
Gen Z
As revival and mass baptisms have hit every generation this year, in many ways Gen Z has been leading the way. This year served as a spotlight on the increasing hunger among young people for God.
A recent Pew Research study claims that Gen Z is losing their religion, but in reality, there is a spiritual awakening that is happening among that generation.
Thousands are hearing the gospel message, making professions of faith in Jesus Christ, and answering the call to ministry.
“This I believe is for Generation Z, for this generation coming up now,” shared Dr. Corne Bekker, dean and professor of the Regent University School of Divinity. “This is their moment where God is getting a hold of their hearts.”
“Their eyes are opening, and they are surrendering their lives to Christ,” he continued.
The move of God is not just happening in the U.S. Bekker references revivals overseas and believes that what’s taking place on a global scale is the beginning of the next Great Awakening.
“From my perspective, I believe it is here,” Bekker said. “The time is now; the kingdom of God is here. What should be our response? Repent and believe in the Good News.”
Bekker believes this could be the last great move of God to usher in the second coming of Jesus Christ. — CBN
Iran: ‘I plant secret house churches because I was saved into one’
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Nathan shares how he found Christ as a teenager in Iran and how God led him to launch a mission to equip persecuted believers. “I plant secret house churches, because I was saved into one,” he says.
This is his story:
I grew up in a Muslim family in Tehran, Iran. My mother, a devoted Muslim, taught me to follow Islamic practices diligently. However, fear of losing my parents haunted me due to uncertainties about salvation. One day, a Christian relative visited us and shared the gospel. Even though I’d been taught that the Bible was corrupted, her words resonated deeply with me. My mother surprisingly listened and questioned rather than getting defensive. Her claims of Jesus freeing us from fear struck a chord in my soul.
Later, I found myself on my knees, asking Jesus to save me. To my amazement, my mother was undergoing her own spiritual transformation. We, along with my father and brother, embraced Christ. A secret house church provided us refuge. Despite potential danger, the Holy Spirit emboldened us to share the gospel with Muslims.
‘We now lead an Instagram fellowship for secret house churches’
Over the years, I delved deeper into my faith, attending Christian conferences abroad and returning to teach in Iran. A dream of leaving Iran in 2013 came true as I became a refugee in the United States, fulfilling God’s promise. My ministry extended to social media, where I equip Persian believers through online education and mentorship. My wife and I lead an Instagram fellowship for secret house churches in places like Iran and Afghanistan, allowing us to reach Muslims globally.
The transformation was powerful – my once fearful heart was liberated by Jesus. My father’s passing brought sadness but also peace, as he embraced Christianity and found solace in his last days. I am now a church planting pastor and leadership coach in North Carolina, thankful for the journey that led me to Christ and my mission to empower persecuted believers.
Joel News International # 1315, September 15, 2023
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Share good news – Share this and any page freely. Over 100,000 blog views annually. Share this link on your media, eg Facebook, Instagram, and Emails: Europe: 5 signs of Christian revival
Post-Christian. Secular. A prodigal continent. These are some of the words often used to describe Christianity in Europe. Yet, a growing number of voices believe God is not done with Europe.
“Renewed spiritual hunger, new stirring of prayer, fresh expressions of the church, and migrant churches restoring faith” are signs of hope in our continent today, writes former YWAM Europe director Jeff Fountain.
It would certainly not be the first time that God changes the narrative of a continent. Only decades ago, Protestants described Latin America as a mission field. Today, it’s become a mission force, and the Brazilian church sends the second most missionaries in the world. In 1900, Africa was home to about nine million Christians. Who could ever have imagined that by the 2020s there would be half a billion Christians on the continent?
But the missional challenges for Christians in Europe are overwhelming. The old continent has a complex and unique history with the Christian faith. “No other continent has been exposed to Christianity for such a prolonged period and in such an extensive way,” wrote Jim Memory, the Lausanne Europe co-regional director, in the Europe 2021 Missiological Report. “Yet just as Europe was the first continent to be Christianised, it was also the first to be de-Christianised.”
Even so, in our day, an extraordinary re-evangelisation of Europe is taking place. Here are five ways we are seeing God move throughout the continent:
1. Diaspora churches
Latin-American migrants have planted thousands of churches in Spain, Portugal and beyond over the last thirty years. It is difficult to find a major European city that does not have a large Spanish speaking and/or Brazilian congregation. Similarly, Chinese churches can be found almost everywhere. African-initiated Pentecostal churches number in the thousands in Britain alone.
2. Church planting
Church planting has been also accelerating in Europe through various networks, denominations, and mission agencies. In France, for example, the National Council of French Evangelicals (CNEF) has set a goal of establishing an evangelical church for every 10,000 people. The church planting movement in France saw, on average, one church be planted every seven days over the last few years. “We want to move the church in Europe from decline and plateauing into growth,” said Øystein Gjerme, leader of M4 Europe, a movement with a vision to see one church planted every day in Europe.3. The prayer movement
The late revival historian J. Edwin Orr wrote that “whenever God is ready to do something new with his people, he always sets them to praying.” For the last two decades, the 24/7 prayer movement has seen the birth of 22,000 prayer rooms in 78 nations, the majority of them in Europe. One house of prayer in Augsburg, Germany, has had continuous prayer, day and night, for 11 years, or 110,000 hours.4. Increased Christian unity
The war in Ukraine has fostered unprecedented collaboration between mission agencies. Networks like the European Leadership Forum, the European Evangelical Alliance, and the Lausanne Movement have strengthened unity and collaboration. In charismatic circles, a historic coalition of 29 denominations and mission agencies in Norway brought together 9,000 young people, the largest Christian cross-denominational gathering in over 20 years, for The Send Norway.
5. The next generation
This May, 13,000 teens and young adults from all over Germany came together for Christival, a conference organized by a nondenominational network with historical roots in the Jesus Movement. Revive Europe brought together 3,000 university students from 68 nations to pray for a revival among their peers. God is raising a new generation of Europeans longing for authentic encounters with Jesus. They are increasingly open to spiritual conversations, prayer, and especially looking for a community to belong to.
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According to the Evangelical Alliance’s Census, ‘Ethnicity and Regular Church Going’, this growth is reflected in Black church attendance being at least three times their proportion in the population. London is the best place to see this as 48% of all churchgoers are now Black, with the London Borough of Southwark having the largest concentration of African churches anywhere in the country. It has an estimated 240 Black Majority churches, with over 20,000 congregants.
What do we know about African churches, their Christianity and their rapid growth? Here are five things worth knowing:
1. African Christianity is active and engaged
African churches expect their members to become fully engaged and involved in the life and activities of the church. Their Christianity is part of everyday life, every aspect of it.
2. African Christians have a positive outlook on life
African church leaders are generally inspirational and often charismatic. Members are aspirational and have a positive outlook on life. They see prosperity as God’s blessing and find it empowering to pursue this.
3. African churches think big and stylish
African Christians think big. They love the term ‘my God is a big God’, which shows the limitless power of what God can do. Many of their churches started with a few members and in record time have grown into big churches. When African churches put on events and conferences, they are likely to be on a grand scale. When they buy warehouses, abandoned buildings, bingo halls, or former churches, they refurbish them to a high standard with a ‘wow’ factor.
4. Africans market and promote relentlessly on social media
African churches have a good grasp of modern communication and information technology. Typically, they are on all the leading social media platforms to grow their churches and attract young people to their services. Many are likely to have had an online experience before going through the doors.
5. ‘Reverse Mission’
Reverse Mission is a concept prevalent among many African Christians, who see their mission in Britain as a reversal of how the missionaries once brought Christianity to Africa. They now believe Britain needs re-evangelising and are committed to doing so.
At the beginning of the last century, a young immigrant from Russia to the US named Ivan Voronaev found himself in the midst of a revival.
This revival had started in a little store-front church on a street named Azusa in Los Angeles, but quickly spread across the nation and also impacted New York where in 1917 Voronaev pastored a small Russian Baptist congregation. He encountered the work, power and leading of the Holy Spirit there, as described in the New Testament.
Photo: The Voronaev family
Several months later at a home prayer meeting, Voronaev received a prophetic message, “Voronaev, Voronaev, go to Russia!” This would not be an easy task. The tsar recently had been overthrown by the bolsheviks, and political, religious, and social turmoil had produced much suffering.
In 1920 Voronaev went to Ukraine with his message of revival and set up headquarters in the port city of Odessa. In a few years of preaching, teaching and mobilising, he saw over 17,000 people encountering the Holy Spirit and following Christ. They fanned out across the Soviet Union, preached the gospel, and established Pentecostal churches. In 1926, Voronaev organised the General-Ukrainian Union of Christians of Evangelical Faith, which provided fellowship for the growing number of churches. By 1928, the Union consisted of about 400 congregations with approximately 20,000 members.
Shortly after this revival, Voronaev and his wife Katherine were arrested by the communists and sent to the gulag where he died. His wife sat out her sentence of 25 years. Their story is shared in more detail on the website of the Assemblies of God.
Photo: Odessa before the Russian invasion
Meanwhile, Stalin uprooted millions of Ukrainians (as Putin is doing today), scattering them across the Soviet Union to Siberia and beyond to the Far East, unwittingly spreading the revival. Voronaev’s disciples became the foundation of the underground church of Russia. At the same time Stalin replaced the Ukrainians with millions of Russians, thus creating the problem we are facing today.
Ukraine has long been the spiritual center of Eastern Europe and beyond. Seven out of ten evangelical churches in Russia today have Ukrainian pastors. Ukrainian churches can be found all over the former Soviet Union; and all across Europe, the US and the world.
As the leadership of the Ukrainian Pentecostal Church met this week in Kyiv representing 1800 congregations, their senior bishop, Mykhailo Panochko, shared the belief of state officials that the church was a key element in the healing of their nation. “Don’t miss your chance to be part of great things God is performing,“ he told them. “God’s plans are surely higher than ours!”
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Living in the Spirit – Blog Living in the Spirit – PDF The Holy Spirit andThe Christian Life READ SAMPLE * I find the study material to be balanced in theological emphasis and exceptionally well organized and presented. ~ Bishop Owen Dowling * This book is not only good for personal use but also GREAT for group study. Even good for a Sunday School class. ~ SW * If you are a Christian you need to read this book, it helps to understand the Holy Spirit and how he works in your life. ~ Allen R Lancaster
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In Argentina between 2008 and 2019 the percentage of Evangelicals grew from 9% to 15.3%. This revival is most remarkable in the nation’s prisons.
The evangelical advance in Argentina occurred, as in most Latin American countries, in all sectors of society, but especially “in the most vulnerable, including prison inmates,” says researcher Verónica Giménez of the National Council for Scientific and Technical Research (CONICET). There are similar developments in Brazil, where the huge Universal Church of the Kingdom of God has 14.000 people working with prisoners.
As an example, 40% of the approximately 6,900 inmates in the province of Santa Fe live in evangelical wards, estimates Walter Gálvez, Undersecretary of Penitentiary Affairs, who is also a Pentecostal. The Puerta del Cielo (‘Heaven’s Door’) and Redil de Cristo (‘Christ’s Sheepfold’) congregations are among those that exert strong influence in Santa Fe’s prisons. They began to evangelise inmates in the late 1980s and today have more than 120 pastors working inside prisons.
From hired killer to pastor
Rosario, a city with 1.3 million inhabitants, has high levels of poverty and crime. Violence between gangs seeking to control territory and drug markets has helped to fill its jails. Eighty percent of crimes in Rosario are carried out by young hitmen who provide services to the drug gangs, whose bosses are imprisoned and maintain control of the criminal business from the jails.
Jorge Anguilante from Piñero prison was sentenced to 12 years for murder. He has been allowed to head home every weekend to minister in a small evangelical church he started in a garage in Argentina’s most violent city. As he leaves, the former criminal-turned-pastor greets the guards with a single word: “Blessings!” His violent life is behind him, the word of God made him “a new man.”
His story, of a convicted murderer embracing an evangelical faith behind bars, is common in the dungeons of Argentina’s Santa Fe province and its capital city, Rosario. Many began selling drugs as teenagers and were caught in a spiral of violence that sent some to their graves and others to overcrowded prisons divided between two forces: the evangelicals and the drug traffickers.
In a church service in prison pop-style hymns blared from loudspeakers while three TV cameras recorded the ceremony for other worshippers watching at home via a YouTube channel. “No one else is going to jail. Not your children, not your grandchildren,” the pastor shouted to the crowd. “Change is possible!”
Inmate Ruben Luna, who is serving a 14-year sentence for murder, embraces Sebastian Monje, who has been in prison for eight months for attempted murder and robbery, before being baptised inside an evangelical cellblock at the penitentiary in Pinero.
Each evangelical unit at Pinero is run by 10 prisoners who have about 15 assistants for the 190 inmates. They’re in charge of controlling everything and keeping the peace. “We don’t use knives, but the Bible to take over a cellblock,” says Pentecostal pastor Sergio Prada. Prisoners who want to be allowed in must comply with rules of conduct, including praying three times a day, giving up all addictions and fighting.
Oasis inside prison
For the past 20 years, Argentine prison authorities have encouraged, in one way or another, the creation of units effectively run by evangelical inmates, sometimes granting them some additional special privileges, such as more time in the open air. The wards are much like those in the rest of the prison: clean and painted in pastel colors, light blue or green. They have kitchens, televisions and audio equipment, here used for prayer services. But they are safer and quieter than the regular units. Violating rules that prohibit fighting, smoking, alcohol or drugs can get an inmate sent back to the regular prison.
“We brought peace to the prisons. There were never any disturbances inside the evangelical wards. And that’s better for the authorities,” said Rev. David Sensini of the Redil de Cristo church, one of Rosario’s largest Pentecostal churches. Access is controlled by both prison officials and ward leaders who function as pastors and are wary of gang attempts to infiltrate.
Source: Evangélico Digital
Joel News International, # 1248, February 22, 2022
Revival behind bars How God’s grace transformed Los Olmos, Argentina’s largest maximum-security prison. This inspiring e-book describes in detail how the revival in Los Olmos prison started, which changes it brought, how inmate leadership emerged and how the prison church was organized. Specific attention is given to the role of the prayer watches and how the revival influenced other prisons across Argentina. Detailed growth statistics are included. | order here
“The church has to become small in order to grow big.”
– Wolfgang Simson
Global: The fastest-growing expression of church
German missiologist Wolfgang Simson published a global status report on house churches, in his observation “the fastest growing expression of Christ-followers on the planet.”
House churches like we read about in Acts have been present throughout church history, but these groups were often sidelined and even persecuted by the mainline church. However, since the early 20th century, we see a major comeback of house churches. First in China, where some researchers speak of 160-200 million members in more than 10 million house churches.
Since the 1990s house churches also experienced a rapid renaissance outside China. In particular Egypt and India have experienced the emergence of large house church networks, and became modern-day apostolic epicentres for this global phenomenon. The sum total of all current believers in house churches in India alone, about 80 million, already outnumbers the Lutheran Word Federation.
Simson estimates the number of house churches in mid‐2021 as follows:
1) 10 Million house churches in China.
2) Since 1996, about 2 million house churches have been planted in India, Egypt and the rest of the Middle East.
3) 3 Million house churches have reportedly been planted by various missions collectives like 24:14 and T4T.
4) 2 Million house churches are not on the official radar. This includes movements like Hoffnung Deutschland (founded by Marcus Rose, about 1,000 house churches) and 20,000 newly planted village house churches in Uganda – many meet under a tree for the lack of a hut large enough – as reported by Riccardo Meusel.
5) 1.5 Million ‘ halfway houses’ for church misfits in the USA. According to American sociologist Josh Packard, in his book Church Refugees, the US experiences a gigantic church exodus of so-called ‘doners’ – people who are done with church, but not with God, and organize themselves in ‘halfway houses’.
6) 1 Million ‘doner’ [done with church] house church groups outside the US in countries like Australia, the UK, South Africa, Korea, Singapore and Israel.
7) 1.7 Million house churches inside businesses and Insider Movements. Insider movements are house church movements that do not openly identify with Christianity but remain outwardly loyal and therefore hidden inside existing religions like Islam, Hinduism, Shintoism or Buddhism. Many see their religious environment as their cultural heritage within which they have become secret followers of Christ. This phenomenon also exists inside secular groups, clans or tribes. An additional form of this are ‘business churches’, house churches that function inside a business as their cover. Close observers speak of about 500,000 ‘business house churches in China and 200,000 outside China.
8) 400,000 Informal small groups in mainline churches like the Roman Catholic Church and Orthodox Churches that fulfill a role in ‘re-evangelisation’.
9) 1 Million house churches in 20,000 smaller house church networks and so-called ‘Apostolic Networks’.
Small expressions are booming. Picture: tiny houses in Almere, The Netherlands.
There are several significant contributors to the expansion of house churches:
1) Mission researcher Dr. Todd Johnson, in his ‘Status of Global Christianity 2021′, lists 113 million ‘unaffiliated’ or ‘Crypto-Christians’ who are following Christ outside the official church system, often in private, non-public gatherings in homes.
2) An Egyptian missiologist reported that during the Arab Spring at least four million Muslims in Egypt alone have turned away from Islam – many in search of God.
3) A growing number of young evangelists, like Torben Sondergaard (The Last Reformation) and Werner Nachtigall (Global Outreach Day) are intentionally connecting evangelism with the immediate planting of house churches.
4) Several megachurches in the US feel called by God to be instrumental in the planting of house churches. Mission strategist Curtis Sergeant has created a web-based ‘simple church saturation’ project planning to plant one simple church for every 5,000 people in the US and for every 50,000 people globally with material currently available in at least 37 languages.
5) During the COVID19 lock-downs many traditional church members have been forced to engage in ‘stay-at-home-church’, and a significant percentage will continue in this mode. They organised themselves into neighbourhood churches in homes, sometimes with online input. These numbers are not yet fully researched but may be very significant. One thing is evident: the post-corona church will not be exactly the same as pre-corona-church.
6) A large percentage of the children of church-goers have said their farewell to ‘mum’s-and-dad’s church’ and are in search mode for community, values and lifestyles that are radically different. Abraham Piper for example, the son of famous US‐theologian John Piper, runs a TikTok account with more than 1.1 million followers where he is trying to deconstruct fundamentalist evangelical church culture in search of a new and non-religious framework for life. It is to be seen what forms of following Christ will emerge from this very explosive and creative global people group.
Source: Wolfgang Simson
Editorial note: Wolfgang Simson did not research house church networks empirically or scientifically. Such a research is fairly difficult, if not impossible, with organic small groups that in many countries operate under the radar. He used ‘informed estimations’ of ‘trusted insiders’. Obviously data from church leaders who estimate the size of their own movements, and don’t keep records (although many of the Indian movements track conversions and groups), are less reliable and can only be indicative. In the past Simson has exaggerated numbers, and on various occasions was not willing to provide the contacts of those he claimed to have spoken to. So it was not possible for Joel News to check these claims as thoroughly as we would like to. On a general note we can say: house church movements are surely one of fastest-growing segments of the church, and the drivers that Simson suggests are valid, but the exact numbers are debatable.
Germany: The secret behind 1,000 new house churches
One of the networks, Hoffnung Deutschland (Hope Germany), planted an estimated 1,000 communities in 20 years, which for Europe is quite remarkable.
When Joel News asked Marcus Rose, Hoffnung Deutschland’s founder based in Berlin, about the number of house churches in his network, he responded: “We crossed the 500 sometime in 2017, after which we stopped counting.” What also stands out is that most people in these house churches are new Christians. On the question how this remarkable growth happened, Rose remarked drily: “There are many reasons. The one I usually give is that we just never stopped doing the small things.”
Photo: Marcus Rose
In a podcast on missions he elaborated on this: “I always wonder why people ask me: ‘What is the secret of the growth around you?’ And I would say: probably the most important thing is that I would never ask myself that question! I consider growth in an individual’s life the necessary foundation for growth as churches. In 1 John 2:12-14 the Christian work is described as newborn babies who are supposed to become fathers with children of their own. The way to get there is by overcoming the evil one, by being so strong in Christ, his Word and the Spirit, that the world stops being the place where you get your answers from.”
‘Church is the most progressive institution in a country, with the power to transform’
“It’s a continuous process to encourage people on that track and to do it together, to put in their time, giftings and financial resources. The most important part of leadership is just observing: what do people already get from God, and how can we connect people with a similar vision?”
In another podcast, Rose shares his own life story – how he grew up in communist East Germany, and at age 15 had a personal encounter with Christ. When the Wall fell in 1989, even though he was still a teenager he contacted schools to ask if they were interested to replace the lessons on communism in the curriculum with the teachings of Jesus. This opened many doors, and 30 house churches were established.
Later on, in Thailand, like Jonah on the run from his calling, Rose discovered church as “the most progressive institution in a country, with the power to transform, because it brought together prostitutes and millionaires as new people in Christ.”
‘There was no formula, I simply connected with people I met’
Around 2000 he moved back to Germany with the explicit instruction from God to not work in the Christian scene, but to work under the radar, connecting with non-Christians and discipling them in the way of Christ. This was a challenge as East Germany was culturally atheist, almost immune to the Gospel. In the first three months in Berlin God gave Rose a kick-start with a handful of young people getting baptised. “There was no formula. I simply connected with people I met, showed genuine interest, told them I had come to Berlin to plant a church, and if they were open to continue the relationship, I got their number and followed up.”
It quickly spread to several other cities in Germany. Rose communicated from the start that his vision was to see communities started in every region and subculture, and for God to raise up 10,000 missionaries out of Germany.
Image: A visualisation of apostolic hubs and the explosive growth potential of house churches in regions and subcultures
From 2010 onwards the network developed what Rose calls “an apostolic pattern” that started to catalyse things. “God instructed us to divide Germany into 90 minute regions. The idea was that a German could get in his car or step on a train on a Saturday, drive 90 minutes to a place, do outreach there, mentor people, organise something, pray for sick people, do sports, make it a family trip. This is something that people dare to do, that feels very natural.”
‘Continuously ask God what He wants you to do’
Rose also helped new Christians to focus on what he calls ‘the three steps of spiritual planning’, as explained in a third podcast:
1. Ask God: what are the qualities He wants to establish in your life, and through your life in the world around you?
2. If you have security about that, then ask God how many of your resources (time, money) you should invest in that.
3. Then ask Him in which specific projects you should invest yourself.
“This creates an atmosphere in which people continuously ask God what He wants them to do. Not what the church expects of them, or what others might want them to do, but what God says.”
New Christians with an apostolic gifting receive personal coaching to start similar processes themselves in other regions and countries. This is how the multiplication takes place. Rose’s vision for the next years is to start and support 100 apostolic teams, with every team being unique in giftings and reach. Each team could support 100 house churches, reaching people Rose or the apostolic workers could never reach themselves.
Source: Marcus Rose, Hoffnung Deutschland
Small is the new big… Do you long to be part of this global movement? Consider supporting Simple Church Europe, a project of Dutch charity Joel Ministries. We equip Christians to start missional simple church groups in Europe that multiply.
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Snapshot #1: Friday
