Tag: evangelism

church in China, evangelism, revivals ,

CHINESE TURNING TO CHRISTIANITY

by Geoff 11 April 2016 1 Comment

CHINESE TURNING TO CHRISTIANITY EN MASSE

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More people worship in China on a typical Sunday than attend all the churches in Europe combined.

China house churchThe message coming out of China is not about the slowing economy, nor about the tensions in the South China Sea — it is “Jesus Saves”.

It’s a theme echoed in Australia, where Chinese people are packing into our universities, tourism sites, property auctions and churches. In south Beijing on any Thursday night, a rock band leads 300 young worshippers at Zhushikou Protestant church, with lead singer Gao Liang, a convert of 3 years, prominently sporting a WWJD badge — What Would Jesus Do? A couple of kilometres away, another large and youthful congregation of about 600 was at mass at the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception, where Catholic churches have stood since 1605, and which also maintains a daily Latin mass. Large screens communicate the service to the overflow outside.

Liu Qiaojing, a 35-year-old teacher worshipping with her husband, Sun Yanqing, and their two-year-old son Yibo, said ever more young people were joining the church: “They love the atmosphere, the feeling of love, the warm-hearted people.”

Wang Libo, a 45-year-old businessman said: “Our broader society is in a quandary.” So the church is filling with those, especially in their 20s and 30s, “who come to seek truth and genuineness, to think, and to find belief”.

An estimated 100 million people in China have already become Christians — more than the 84 million in the ruling Communist Party. As a result, more people worship in China on a typical Sunday than attend all the churches in Europe combined. So Easter Day was a very big event in China, even though the authorities haven’t declared it as a formal holiday.

Easter saw unprecedented numbers attending both officially recognised Protestant and Catholic churches as well as underground “house churches” — although there is also constant traffic between these strands of Christianity.

In Australia, the Anglican Church, which has historically been viewed as largely an Anglo preserve, provides a particularly strong example of how rapidly Chinese people are changing core institutions, and how the latter are adapting. The Primate of the Australian church, Melbourne Archbishop Philip Freier, said: “Over the past 15 years, we have ordained 17 people for Anglican ministry in Melbourne who are Chinese by birth or background. “We have experienced a very positive response to our ministry amongst people newly arrived from China.”

The archdiocese ran a ministry conference in 2014 on the theme of the church in the Asian century, “where we celebrated the freshness of approach that all of our Asian congregations, including Chinese, are bringing to the church”. Last year, the Anglican cathedral, St Paul’s, introduced a weekly service in Mandarin, led by two Chinese priests. The official prayer book used in Australian Anglican worship has been translated into Chinese. Andreas Loewe, the dean of St Paul’s Cathedral, said: “The face of Anglicanism in Melbourne is changing. In 10 years, the number of congregations in our diocese where a language other than English predominates has almost ¬doubled, from 23 to 40 today.

“If you walk through the cathedral on any given day, you will witness an incredible cultural diversity among the people visiting and praying here. Our Chinese ministry at the heart of Melbourne is a visible sign of our commitment to serving the people who live, work, and now worship in this great culturally diverse city.” Many Chinese worshippers in Australia became drawn to the church only after they arrived, having no previous religious adherence or knowledge at all. Back home, the Christian surge within China has happened even though Communist Party members — the national elite — remain banned from all religious adherence, and proselytising by religious groups is illegal except within officially prescribed religious venues, whether temples, churches or mosques.

ConferencePraise

Source: Compiled by Australian Prayer Network from media reports, April 11, 2016.

CHINA GRIPPED BY SPIRITUAL REVIVAL AS HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS TURN TO FAITH

Forty-one years after China’s Cultural Revolution snuffed out all forms of religious expression, hundreds of millions of Chinese people are flocking to religions like Christianity. Pulitzer Prize-winning author Ian Johnson believes what’s transpiring in China is nothing short of “one of the world’s great spiritual revivals” and says the world better take note because the impact of this “spiritual transformation” could have significant global implications. “People in China are looking for new moral guideposts, some sort of moral compass to organize society,” said Johnson, author of The Souls of China: “So they are turning to religion as a source of values to help reorganize society.” Johnson spent six years researching the “values and faiths of today’s China.” He says the fastest-growing drivers of this “religious revolution” are unregistered churches or so-called “house” or “underground” churches.

 “These groups have become surprisingly well-organized, meeting very openly and often counting hundreds of congregants,” Johnson wrote in an article. “They’ve helped the number of Protestants soar from about one million when the communists took power to at least 60 million today.” Over the past 15 years, CBN News has also documented this unprecedented revival. From the countryside to the big cities, we’ve highlighted how a new generation of Believers is changing the face of Chinese Christianity. “Any casual visitor to the country can tell you that the number of churches, mosques, and temples has soared in recent years, and that many of them are full,” Johnson wrote. “While problems abound, the space for religious expression has grown rapidly, and Chinese Believers eagerly grab it as they search for new ideas and values to underpin a society that long ago discarded traditional morality.”

 Church leaders that CBN News spoke with say prayer has played a key role in sparking the Christian revival. For example, in one corner of northeast China, twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week, thousands of Christians have been meeting for an unprecedented prayer movement. What started as a small gathering several years ago has turned into a nationwide prayer initiative uniting hundreds of Chinese churches. In some cases, this revival is even touching China’s state-controlled churches known as Three-Self Church. “Now there’s big revivals happening in the Three-Self Churches,” Dr. Zhao Xiao told CBN News from his offices on the outskirts of China’s capital city. Zhao is one of China’s foremost experts on Christianity. A former Communist Party member and atheist, Zhao converted after reading the Bible.

“If you go to Haidian Church, you’ll find yourself in a more than 100-metre line trying to get inside and worship. In Shenzhen, there are usually an average of 500 people being baptized each Sunday!” he shared. Decades ago, the Chinese government had a law that said that young men and women below the age of 18 could not attend Three-Self Churches. Zhao says those rules have been loosened in recent years. “There’s an increasing proportion of them in churches now, more young male Believers, professionals, mainstream celebrities, especially in the big cities, that are attending the church unlike the past when it was mainly the elderly who attended.” While the government remains deeply suspicious of China’s religious revival, Johnson says it hasn’t stopped people from exploring matters of faith.

Source: CBN News
Australian Prayer Network, May 15, 2017

See Pastor George Chen’s moving labour camp story – In the Garden

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Posts on China – from Mission Blogs:
Asia’s Maturing Church (David Wang)
The Spirit told us what to do (Carl Lawrence)
Revival in China (Dennis Balcombe)
House Churches in China (Barbara Nield)
China – New Wave of Revival
Chinese turning to Christianity
Revival breaks out in China’s government approved churches
China: how a mother started a house church movement
China’s next generation: New China, New Church, New World
China: The cross on our shoulders and in our hearts
George Chen – In the Garden: 18 years in prison

Revival Blogs Links:

See also Revival Blogs

See also Revivals Index

See also Blogs Index 1: Revivals

 

GENERAL BLOGS INDEX

BLOGS INDEX 1: REVIVALS (BRIEFER THAN REVIVALS INDEX)

BLOGS INDEX 2: MISSION (INTERNATIONAL STORIES)

BLOGS INDEX 3: MIRACLES (SUPERNATURAL EVENTS)

BLOGS INDEX 4: DEVOTIONAL (INCLUDING TESTIMONIES)

BLOGS INDEX 5: CHURCH (CHRISTIANITY IN ACTION)

BLOGS INDEX 6: CHAPTERS (BLOGS FROM BOOKS)

BLOGS INDEX 7: IMAGES (PHOTOS AND ALBUMS)

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Christian mission, miracles, revivals , ,

Ebola area miracles – 100% saved – Look what God is doing!

by Geoff 2 April 2016 1 Comment

Look what God is doing!

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Edited from Chapter 3:
People of the Trees

100% of the 6,000 in a Pygmy tribe close to the area where the Ebola virus began now follow Christ 5 years after the young chief’s conversion.

Dick Eastman, International President of Every Home for Christ (EHC) – formerly Christian Literature Crusade – describes his visit to this area even though he was warned not to go. Catholic nuns and nurses who cared for the first known Ebola victims there also died from the highly contagious virus. The EHC team had round-the-clock prayer warriors praying for them the whole trip.  They arrived 3 years after the pioneering Bantu Africans began sharing good news there and 4,000 had become Christians.  Two years later all 6,000 of that tribe professed Christ.

This edited excerpt is from Chapter 3: People of the Trees (pages 37-51).

It would take eleven days travelling by canoe up the mighty Zaire River (also known as the Congo) before the two Every Home for Christ pioneer missionaries (Bantu Africans) from Kinshasa (Zaire) would reach their destination deep in the equatorial rainforest.  From the Zaire River they would travel several days more against the strong current up the smaller Momboyo River.  From the Momboyo they would journey still deeper into the forest on small tributaries, until they reached the heart of the rainforest rarely seen by outsiders.  It was a dangerous journey few ever made.

The Power of a Prayer Shield

Despite what I knew was the harassment of the enemy, my colleague and I soon found ourselves in Kinshasa, Zaire, loading our small tents and other supplies – including 100 pounds of salt for the Pygmies – into a small Mission Aviation Fellowship plane.

Thankfully we had found a courageous MAF pilot willing to take us to a rugged landing strip an an encampment called Boteka, located along the Momboyo River.  It would serve as the launching pad for our trip still deeper into the forest … to our final destination, the village of Bosuka, where hundreds of Pygmies were turning to Jesus.

The MAF flight took us only three hours.  As if to heighten my concern, we were flying straight into huge, billowing clouds with raindrops ripping against the windshield and lightning dancing just beyond our wingtips. Yet the plane flew steady as an arrow. I was amazed how the Lord guided our MAF pilot straight through the weather with hardly a bump.  Not a moment of our entire journey, day or night, lacked at least a few people praying as part of our special prayer shield.

The Last Tree on Earth

The plane landed safely on a patch of grass in Boteka, which I soon learned had been a Belgian Catholic mission since the early 1950s. (Zaire was known then as the Belgian Congo.) I also discovered that the Every Home Crusade ministry had already seen significant results in the region around Boteka. In fact, many of the Pygmies and Bantu people (taller Africans) who stood cheering along the small grass landing strip when we arrived were converts of EHC’s systematic every home evangelism ministry in the Boteka area.

At daybreak the next day, just before 6 a.m., we climbed into our borrowed 40-foot canoe to begin what would be a 14-hour journey against the strong current of the snake-like Momboyo River. We would not arrive at our destination, an encampment called Imbonga, until eight o’clock that night. We faced an additional 32-kilometer (20 mile) trek even deeper into the rainforest the following day.

The Momboyo was one of hundreds, if not thousands, of rivers that flow throughout the several rainforests of central Africa. As I looked at a map, I noticed, not too far north, the name of another river I recognized – the Ebola. Being reminded of that name made me a little uneasy.

The Catholics of Imbonga had the only vehicle within hundreds of kilometers – an old, beat-up Land Rover. Then we learned that the narrow road – not much more than a twelve-foot-wide jungle clearing – included 222 separate log bridges. Each bridge consisted of little more than 10 or 20 thick logs.

Along the 32-kilometer journey from Imbonga to the Pygmy settlement of Bosuka, we saw numerous Bantu villages – not uncommon in the area. Pygmy villages, on the other hand, were highly unusual, since Pygmies tend to be nomadic, seldom settling down to live in conventional huts or dwellings.

None of the initial progress reports from our workers had indicated how many homes were being reached even though this statistic appears on every report coming to our central office from the field. But our area director had been reporting only the numbers of conversions (and subsequent baptisms) among the Pygmies. So we asked him for updated reports that included the number of actual homes being reached.

He wrote again suggesting we still did not understand. The Pygmies do not live in homes, houses or even huts in the trees. They just live and sleep in the trees, sometimes on the thick leaves, sometimes under them and sometimes in temporary thatched shelters assembled hastily when a tribe moves to a new area for hunting. Occasionally they even tie themselves into a tree, he wrote, so they will not fall asleep (quite literally) from a high tree and injure themselves.

This report from our director ended with the usual African humour: “Brother Dick, we have now launched EHC’s very first Every Tree Crusade.” Then he modified our long-standing goal, which speaks of reaching “the last home on earth with the Gospel,” by printing in large letters on his report: “WE WILL NOT STOP UNTIL WE REACH THE LAST TREE ON EARTH WITH THE GOSPEL!”

The settlement called Bosuka meant “the end of the world” in their Pygmy dialect, for not much lies beyond Bosuka but dense forest. Indeed, the very village of Bosuka did not even exist until relatively recently. But here I was, standing among these usually nomadic “people of the trees” and seeing with my own eyes that they had formed a village with a church at its centre. It was a Christian phenomenon, I was told, and had resulted in thousands of Pygmies in the area giving their lives to Christ.

Half an Arm’s Length

The work had gone slowly at first. The two EHC workers, who had come to this part of the forest 14 months earlier – not for a visit but to live – were a married couple, both Bantu.

But as far back as anyone can remember, the smaller Pygmies have feared the larger Bantu. They learned to trade with them for precious commodities not available in the deep forest, commodities like salt and metal (the latter to make tools and weapons), but for generations the Bantu had slaughtered the Pygmies and driven them deeper into the forest.

Pygmies are the world’s shortest people. Because they are unable to process the hormones needed for normal growth, adults reach an average height of only four feet six inches. Pygmies feel they are second-class human beings – like monkeys, perhaps, or a category of human just above the animals. Their very name derives from the Greek word pygme, which means “half an arm’s length.”

The Pygmy sense of inferiority made it difficult at first for the Bantu workers to make even an initial presentation of the Gospel. So they had to be unusually creative. They would go to a clearning, for example, where they knew Pygmies could see them, and leave a quantity of salt on an old stump or mound in the clearing. Then they would retreat into the shadows of the forest but stand near the edge so the Pygmies could see they were still there. Soon the Pygmies would come, ever so slowly because they wanted the salt so desperately. Then they would snatch up the precious substance, leave monkey meat or fish in its place and rush off into the forest.

The Christians would come a third day, but this time they would wait only a few paces from the salt. Now it would take even more time for the Pygmies to cultivate the courage to come. But because salt is priceless to a Pygmy, a brave adult (usually a young warrior) would soon step into the clearing and move toward the salt. As he did, the Bantu Christians would walk very slowly toward the salt, trying to send a signal that they meant no harm.

Eventually at least one of the Pygmies, sometimes more, would muster enough courage to approach the believers waiting nearby with the salt. In this moment – through interpreters, if necessary – the Christian workers would begin to tell them they had come in a spirit of love with Good News for their people. The Pygmy listeners almost never looked into the eyes of the speaker, reflecting their conviction that they were less than human.

These first close encounters usually lasted only a few minutes, but they were crucial for building trust that might later lead to longer meetings. Still, in these first moments of contact, the Christians sought to share the gospel message as quickly as possible. They never knew if they would get another opportunity.

Sometimes it took two or three encounters before there was an indication the message was being understood. When it was, it was clear something was happening in the heart of the recipient. The pattern was almost always the same. The Pygmy would agree to say the sinner’s prayer, still not looking into the eyes of the believer. Then he or she would begin to weep, sometimes uncontrollably. Then, just as suddenly, as one worker described the process to me, “The Pygmy will lift his head boldly, look you straight in the eye and laugh with joy. We know then that something has really happened. The Pygmy has just met Jesus.”

A Cornelius Conversion

When our team had finally arrived at Bosuka, we discovered that a groundswell of conversions had taken place over an amazingly short time. Our last report some six months earlier had indicated that as many as 1,200 Pygmies in the Bosuka area had received Christ. But because of a lack of radio transmitters in this village, or any other communications from this deep in the forest, we did not know this number had grown significantly. There were now 4,000 converts from a tribe of little more than 6,000. Two thirds of the tribe had come to Jesus! (Two years later  a report would indicate all 6,000 had now professed Christ!)

One of the special converts – and one of the very first ones – was Lendongo Botshemba, the 30-year-old chief of the tribe, who greeted us graciously on our arrival. His conversion, our director of the region told me, had been like that of Cornelius in Acts 10.

The young chief had grown up worshipping the snakes and trees of the dense rainforest along the Momboyo River, just as his parents Bokimba and Bolanza had before him.

But the miracle of the Gospel was now transforming those parts of the rainforest. Lendongo’s entire family had been converted affecting some 40 persons in all. And churches were being planted to help nurture and sustain these new believers. Lendongo was responsible for the formation of at least 18 additional Christian villages in the region, each one established around a church.

In a neighbouring part of the equatorial rainforest, where we had heard that 32 churches had been planted by EHC workers 36 months earlier, we now learned that an astounding 300 additional fellowships of new believers had been born. In still another rainforest area (in Cameroon, West Africa) 5,000 more Pygmies were converted and baptized. Several hundred additional churches were formed as a result.

The “Every Tree Crusade” launched in the rainforest had been responsible for more than 15,000 Pygmy conversions – in just 36 months!  And as our journey to the people of the trees ended, and our large canoe headed back down the Momboyo River, I could not get a verse from Isaiah out of my mind: “The earth will be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea” (Isaiah 11:9)

Look what God is doing – and rejoice!

See Dick Eastman interviewed about this book

Offer of free book – and you can donate

See also: God’s Visitation, by Dick Eastman

EastmanSee also Chapter 2: Mountains of Mystery
Solomon Islands:
Hostile tribe’s chief died and met Jesus

by Dick Eastman
Ch 2: Mountains of Mystery
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BLOGS INDEX 1: REVIVALS (BRIEFER THAN REVIVALS INDEX)

BLOGS INDEX 2: MISSION (INTERNATIONAL STORIES)

BLOGS INDEX 3: MIRACLES (SUPERNATURAL EVENTS)

BLOGS INDEX 4: DEVOTIONAL (INCLUDING TESTIMONIES)

BLOGS INDEX 5: CHURCH (CHRISTIANITY IN ACTION)

BLOGS INDEX 6: CHAPTERS (BLOGS FROM BOOKS)

BLOGS INDEX 7: IMAGES (PHOTOS AND ALBUMS)

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evangelism, revival ,

Many Muslims are Turning to Christ

by Geoff 7 March 2016 No Comments

MANY MUSLIMS ARE TURNING TO CHRIST

Syrian-Outreach-400x267-300x200

A revival is taking place as Muslims turn to Christ

ISIS has targeted more Muslim-populated areas in Syria. The attacks have left at least 140 dead in Damascus and Homs. The attacks were the deadliest of Syria’s 5-year war. In Damascus, the explosions took place near one of the holiest Shia Muslim shrines. ISIS has claimed responsibility for the attacks.

Dyann Romeijn with Vision Beyond Borders (VBB) said “As ISIS attacks the Christians, they also attack other Muslims. Certain Muslim groups that ISIS doesn’t perceive as radical enough are being persecuted.” The latest attacks took place during ceasefire talks. This is the second time attacks have happened in the last few weeks during the process of ceasefire discussions. The first time, the talks were delayed. But now, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry has said a “provisional agreement” has been reached with Russia.

There is both joy for the agreement and grief for a devastating loss in the war-torn nation. Millions of minorities and Syrians have fled from the terror of ISIS, leaving everything behind, including family members. In Lebanon alone, nearly one in every five people is a refugee. Romeijn explains this crisis is different from most others. “One of the things that’s overwhelming that we are seeing in this crisis more than some of the others is that the majority of these families were actually middle class families before ISIS came in.” The people had secure homes and jobs, but the persecution of ISIS drove them away and cost them everything. A VBB worker relayed the story of one man who’d saved up $50,000 for retirement. But, ISIS took it all away and left him with nothing.

Yet despite the grief, Romeijn says God is moving. Because less radical Muslims are being persecuted and fleeing, they are more open to seeing the love of God. Their  eyes are being opened to see the truth about Islam and there’s a turning to the Gospel in great numbers. A revival is taking place as Muslims turn to Christ, and VBB wants to seize the moment that God has given.

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VBB has printed 20,000 Arabic New Testament Bibles and is giving them to refugees. The Bibles have study notes in order to make it easier for Muslims to understand. Romeijn explains a New Testament is currently more beneficial to the people than an entire Bible because they will likely start at the very beginning of the book. A New Testament will immediately tell the Gospel story, whereas an entire Bible will contain rules Muslims might get caught up in.

But VBB knows they have more to do. “If you just tell Muslim refugees that Jesus loves them and hand them a Bible when they’re starving, they can’t even comprehend. But, we need to meet their physical needs as well.”

VBB is meeting physical needs by providing food, clothing, hygiene kits, and more. When they see genuine interest and care, Muslims want to hear about the Gospel. They’re accepting the Bibles graciously, and Romeijn says more than 1,000 have already been handed out by VBB.

Refugees need your prayers. After all, only God can bring peace. “There are over 6 million that have fled. It’s obvious no one person or organization is going to meet the needs. It’s got to be the Body of Christ.”

 Source: Mission Network News

There is an ongoing underground revival in the Muslim world. Over the past 20 years more Muslims have found Isa (Jesus) then in all the previous centuries together. See links:
Iran: where Christianity is growing fastest
Iran – fastest growing evangelical population
Iran: How two women brought hope in Tehran’s brutal Evin Prison
The Staggering Rise of the Church in Iran
Jesus and Muslims: Life in the desert
18,000 Muslim leaders led to Christ in West Africa
Jesus appears to Middle Eastern Muslim for a month
Iman hated Christians until Jesus raised him from the dead
Muslim woman returns from the dead to tell about Jesus
‘The Lord reached me right in the mosque’

If you want to know more about following Jesus, go here

 

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Revival Blogs Links:

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See also Revival Blogs

See also Blogs Index 1: Revivals

GENERAL BLOGS INDEX

BLOGS INDEX 1: REVIVALS (BRIEFER THAN REVIVALS INDEX)

BLOGS INDEX 2: MISSION (INTERNATIONAL STORIES)

BLOGS INDEX 3: MIRACLES (SUPERNATURAL EVENTS)

BLOGS INDEX 4: DEVOTIONAL (INCLUDING TESTIMONIES)

BLOGS INDEX 5: CHURCH (CHRISTIANITY IN ACTION)

BLOGS INDEX 6: CHAPTERS (BLOGS FROM BOOKS)

BLOGS INDEX 7: IMAGES (PHOTOS AND ALBUMS)

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Jews finding Jesus in Israel

by Geoff 5 March 2016 2 Comments

MORE AND MORE JEWS FINDING JESUS IN ISRAEL

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Jews finding Jesus in Israel

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Messianic Congregation in Israel

“I have never before seen what we’re seeing now,” said Tuvya Zaretsky, chairman of the Israel branch of Jews for Jesus. “We’re seeing a steady stream of particularly young Israelis who are coming to Jesus from all walks of life. There seems to be a greater openness to spiritual input.”

The First Wave of Jews coming to Jesus hit in the 1970s in America. The Second Wave were Russian Jews in the 1990s. And now – in a Third Wave – Jews in Israel are coming to faith in increasing numbers. 

In the 1990s, there were about 3,000 Messianic Jews in Israel; today there are as many as 20,000 (still less than 1% of the population), said Simon Stout, executive assistant of Jews for Jesus. There is estimated to be 150 congregations of like-minded believers in Israel. Of Israel’s 84 cities and towns, 81 have at least one messianic Bible study.

“There is a very unusual turning in Israel,” said Zaretsky. “The community of believers there has solidified. They’ve found their voice. There’s less antagonism. The situation is changing.” When Jews for Jesus launched its Israel branch in 2000, its banners were torn down and workers beaten up by ultra-orthodox Jews who associated Christianity with the Holocaust. Now, Jews for Jesus has a staff of 31 and the world political situation has sparked greater interest in Jesus, Zaretsky said. After World War II’s Holocaust killed 6 million Jews, Israel was created by decree of the United Nations as a safe place for Jews. But now many Israelis feel more imperilled than ever. Iran, which is feared to be close to producing nuclear weapons, is constantly threatening Israel’s destruction. On the streets of Israel, terrorism is a constant.

“Young people generally feel very little hope for the future and are therefore more open to the gospel,” said Zaretsky. With half the country’s population, Tel Aviv is where Jews for Jesus runs a 3-story discipleship centre which hosts coffee house activities, art shows and other events to bring in neighbours in the trendy Florentine neighbourhood. A brief presentation of the gospel is always given; literature is on hand, and messianic Jews are present for anyone curious. In 2008, research showed that most Israelis had very little concept of who Yeshua was. They knew him by the name Yeshu, a corruption of his name imposed by the rabbis to expunge Christianity from Judaism. Yeshua is related to Yeshuah, which means “salvation”.

Bannering

So Jews for Jesus took to the streets with banners to educate Israelis about Yeshua. The placards read: “Yeshu = Yeshua = Yeshuah” and included the phone number of the Jews for Jesus office. They took out ads in the newspaper with this motto and placed it on billboards and buses. The ultra-orthodox tore the signs down. Now workers hold up banners along streets and highways at different times. Jews for Jesus have also staged yearly region-wide campaigns, called “Israel, Behold Your God,” that included months of concentrated evangelism.

Ben’s Story

Ben, an 18-year-old high school student from northern Israel, contacted Jews for Jesus personnel through its website two months ago.

Igal, a missionary intern, talked to Ben via Skype and found out that his mother was a believer. Igal shared with him his personal testimony about how God set him free from drugs and brought him peace, encouraging Ben to believe that Yeshua would do the same for him, Stout said. Ben agreed to study more about Yeshua and actually stated that he wanted to give Yeshua a chance to work in his life. Igal prayed daily for Ben and talked to him once a week. Just this month, Ben prayed with Igal to accept Yeshua as his Messiah, Stout said. “People are receiving Christ at a fairly constant rate,” Stout said. “They’re coming in ones or twos each month. It’s not a speedy process. There are cultural barriers for Jews to accept Jesus Christ.”

Simon Stout’s Story

Stout was himself a non-believing, reformed Jew from Indianapolis who visited Israel on a government-subsidized tour in 2001. First he saw the horrors of concentration camps in Poland, where Jews were imprisoned and killed wholesale as part of Hitler’s anti-Semitism during World War 2. Leaving behind the dreary memorials and the cold weather, Stout landed in Israel when it was warm and lovely. “The first time I saw Jerusalem, there was a rainbow over part of the city,” he said. “There was something inside me that told me that there was a reason for me to be in Israel. I had this feeling that there was a God and He had a purpose for Israel.

“I felt God must be real because only He could have taken the horrors of World War II and birthed a nation and bring us back after 2,000 years,” he said. But it wasn’t until years later that Stout accepted Jesus when he came to Israel to study for a master’s in education. A friend from a messianic congregation invited him to visit. In Indianapolis, his only exposure to Christianity were school kids telling him he would burn in Hell for being a Jew; he also saw Jewish houses get egged, he said. Despite the bad first impression with Christianity, he wasn’t completely closed to hearing about Jesus. For two months, he attended Bible studies and fellowship groups. Then one night he had a dream about a flood in New York and a flood in China.

When he attended a Bible study about prophetic dreams, he hoped to find an interpretation. Instead the lady speaker prophesied over him: “God hears your prayers. Yeshua is real, and He has great plans for you.” Stout broke down crying. He accepted Yeshua and was baptized in the Mediterranean Sea. He decided to remain in Israel, where he has married and had two children. Originally, he taught English literature but two years ago started working with Jews for Jesus.

Massah

Another ministry of Jews for Jesus is its “Massah” outreach in India. Surprisingly, the Himalayas are a favourite hiking mecca for Israelis after they complete their mandatory military service at about age 20. Secular Jews, in particular, use the getaway to take drugs and forget the stressful experience of constant war threat in Israel, Zaretsky said.

For 5-6 weeks during the summer, there are so many Israelis in the Himalayas that entire restaurants and coffee houses are filled with Jews. There are even Hebrew-speaking waiters and Hebrew menus to cater to the sub-culture diaspora. There’s something about the mystique of India, with its varied spirituality, that seems to open Jewish youth to talk about alternatives. It’s the perfect spot to strike up a conversation about Yeshua. So yearly, the Israeli branch of Jews for Jesus forms a team that travels to India for ministry. “India is a relevant place to talk about spirituality and belief,” said one Messianic Jewish believer on a YouTube video about Massah. Another recounted about sharing the gospel with a Jew who, intrigued, told her: “This whole talk we’ve had would not have happened if we were in Israel.”

The parents of Shmuel Salway immigrated with his family from India and now the 42-year-old is associate pastor of the Adonai Roi congregation, which has functioned in Tel Aviv for 19 years. It’s now a church of 100 members. “We just had five baptisms last month,” Salway said. “The Jews are coming back to the land, and they’re coming to know the Messiah. We’re living in prophetic times. I believe Yeshua will come back in our lifetime. He’ll come back when many more Jews come to Messiah and cry out ‘Baruch Haba B’Shem Adonai’ – Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord.”

Source: God Reports

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Reconciliation & Jews Coming to Faith

Israeli Jews and Bibles

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New Wave of Revival in China

by Geoff 29 February 2016 2 Comments

New Wave of Revival in China

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New wave of revival in China:
https://renewaljournal.com/2016/02/29/new-wave-of-revival-in-china/
Renewal Journal – a chronicle of renewal and revival: www.renewaljournal.com

RADICAL REVIVAL SWEEPS CHINA’S GOVERNMENT CONTROLLED CHURCHES

ConferencePraiseIt’s Thursday evening and scores of men and women are dancing, waving flags, blowing shofars, singing and worshipping God. You might think you are in a charismatic service in the United States. But you are not.

This is communist China. And what Duan Huilai says is remarkable about this scene is that it’s happening in an officially government-controlled congregation known as Three-Self Church. “Dramatic changes are happening,” Duan said. “God is moving powerfully inside these Three-Self Churches.”  Duan and his wife have for several years crisscrossed China documenting the Holy Spirit’s move among Three-Self Churches. “The most amazing thing is that the Lord is raising up God-fearing people in these churches—brothers and sisters who love God deeply and want to serve Him,” Duan said.

Pastor Duan says what is happening today in Beijing and in other parts of China as it relates to the powerful move of God amongst the Three-Self Churches is quite remarkable considering where the church has been in the last 30 years. “Every sermon that the pastor preached back then had to be vetted by the government authorities. Young people were never allowed to attend these churches so you’d only see old people, mostly women,” Duan said. “Preaching about the power of the Holy Spirit was forbidden. You couldn’t talk about end times or preach repentance.” Topics on healings, miracles, signs and wonders were out of the question. Not anymore. “Nowadays people have accepted these topics,” Duan said. Two main types of churches exist in China: registered and unregistered.

Three-Self Churches, are government-approved. Unregistered, sometimes called underground or house churches, operate outside government control, and for decades faced intense persecution. And with that persecution came tremendous growth. Three-Self Churches on the other hand never experienced that kind of explosive growth. Until now. “Now there’s big revivals happening in the Three-Self Churches,” Dr. Zhao Xiao said from his offices on the outskirts of China’s capital city. Zhao is one of China’s foremost experts on Christianity. A former Communist Party member and atheist, Zhao converted after reading the Bible. “If you go to Haidian Church, you’ll find yourself in a 100-metre line trying to get inside and worship. In Shenzhen, there are usually an average of 500 people being baptized each Sunday!” he shared.

Decades ago, the Chinese government had a law that said that young men and women below the age of 18 could not attend Three-Self Churches. Zhao says those rules have been relaxed in recent years. “There’s an increasing proportion of them in churches now—more young males, professionals, mainstream celebrities, especially in the big cities, that are attending the church unlike the past when it was mainly the elderly who attended.” Back at the Thursday night meeting in Fujian Province, folks have gathered for a four-day event called “Love Camp.” “Love Camp aims to help the Believer grow in their faith walk and get closer to God,” Sun Rengui said. Sun is a pastor and leads the camp. He says the idea came 12 years ago when the Holy Spirit one day showed up while he was preaching at the Three-Self Church he pastors.

“During the service, suddenly everyone at the church felt the Holy Spirit come. Some couldn’t stand straight, others fell down. Some were dizzy and nauseous. When the worship began, people started crying. After the service, some were being healed. I saw demons leaving people’s bodies.” Pastor Sun says his church had never experienced anything like it.” “It was unprecedented. We had no theological training in the work of the Holy Spirit. Word quickly spread. ” Soon, leaders from other churches came to us and were eager to receive the Holy Spirit. Later they also started witnessing the Holy Spirit’s move as well,” Pastor Sun said. But it wasn’t without controversy. “People doubted if it was real. There was even conflict among my church staff,” Sun said. “But as time passed, more people accepted it.”

Twelve years later, Pastor Sun says the impact of the Holy Spirit’s move is seen in the transformed lives of church members. “Our cell groups are expanding, more people are attending church, and more people are going outside the church to share the Gospel.” The church runs two orphanages and two elderly care centres, and twice a year puts on the Love Camp. For Pastor Duan and his wife, this is evidence that God is doing something special in China. “I was speaking in Shandong recently. Around 8,000 people joined the meeting. Last Christmas, I was speaking at a Three-Self Church in Yuhuan and there were 12,000 people,” Duan exclaimed with joy. “The number of Christians in China is growing rapidly. It means Christ is starting to play an active role in China’s society and that’s good in many ways,” Zhao said.

Source: CBN News (February 2016)

China reports in Mission Index

Asia’s Maturing Church (David Wang)
The Spirit told us what to do (Carl Lawrence)
Revival in China (Dennis Balcombe)
China’s House Churches (Barbara Nield)
China – New Wave of Revival
Chinese turning to Christianity
Revival breaks out in China’s government approved churches
China: how a mother started a house church movement
China – Life-changing Miracle
China’s next generation: New China, New Church, New World
China: The cross on our shoulders and in our hearts
George Chen – In the Garden: 18 years in prison

More revival stories:

Carl Lawrence & David WangThe Spirit told us what to do
Two teenage girls plant many churches

Excerpt from The Coming Influence of China
*
*
*
*

Great Revival Stories Reproduced in Great Revival Stories:

Part 1: Best Revival Stories
1  Power from on High, by John Greenfield    
2  The Spirit told us what to do, by Carl Lawrence   
3  Pentecost in Arnhem Land, by Djiniyini Gondarra     
4  Speaking God’s Word, by David Yonggi Cho       
5  Worldwide Awakening, by Richard Riss  
6  The River of God, by David Hogan
Part 2: Transforming Revivals
7  Solomon Islands
8  Papua New Guinea
9  Vanuatu
10  Fiji
11  Snapshots of Glory, by George Otis Jr
12  The Transformation of Algodoa de JandairaMore Blogs on China:
Asia’s Maturing Church (David Wang)
Revival in China (Dennis Balcombe)
House Churches in China (Barbara Nield)

Back to Blogs Index 2: Mission

Revival Blogs Links:

See also Revivals Index

See also Revival Blogs

See also Blogs Index 1: Revivals

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BLOGS INDEX 1: REVIVALS (BRIEFER THAN REVIVALS INDEX)

BLOGS INDEX 2: MISSION (INTERNATIONAL STORIES)

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BLOGS INDEX 4: DEVOTIONAL (INCLUDING TESTIMONIES)

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evangelism, revivals ,

Asia’s Maturing Church, by David Wang

by Geoff 28 February 2016 3 Comments

Asia’s Maturing Church

David Wang

David Wang
David Wang

The world’s largest revival continues unabated despite widespread restrictions and persecution. Dr David Wang talks about why God is moving so dramatically among Asian believers at this time. David Wang is the International Director of Asian Outreach.

Article in Renewal Journal 2: Church Growth
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An article in Renewal Journal 2: Church Growth
Asia’s Maturing Church, by David Wang

_______________________________________

The traditional word ‘harvest’ no longer seems

adequate to describe what God is doing.

I would describe it as ‘the great ingathering’.

_______________________________________

Q. Is this truly a Decade of Harvest for Asia?

A. For 25 years I have been involved in Asian evangelism and mission. I must admit that there have been times of discouragement, particularly in the latter part of the 1960s. We saw a lot of activity and effort, but not many lasting results.

However I would say that for the past 20 years we have seen a tremendous response to the gospel of Jesus Christ. This is happening not only in countries such as Korea and Singapore, which are enjoying phenomenal revival, but also in countries closed to traditional mission activities such as China and Vietnam. We’re now seeing the Holy Spirit moving in dramatic ways, resulting in conversions and church growth, with regular signs, wonders and miracles.

The traditional word ‘harvest’ no longer seems adequate to describe what God is doing. I would describe it as ‘the great ingathering’. This is even happening in traditionally difficult Thailand and Japan. I visited these countries very recently and both missionaries and national leaders were reporting breakthroughs of an unprecedented nature.

Q. Why is the Asian Church suddenly growing so dramatically?

A. We must give credit to the early missionaries who laboured, bled and died sowing the seed of the gospel. Some of the seeds laid dormant for many years. But they did take root. As God’s time comes upon this continent, they are now bearing fruit. Aided by signs, wonders and miracles some are bearing a hundred fold!

Secondly, we now see an explosion of the Church led by indigenous leadership. God is raising up excellent Asian leadership. Asian workers are now evangelising, sending out missionaries and bringing in a great harvest.

Thirdly, persecution and suffering inflicted by communist or atheist regimes and other religious forces have enhanced the Church’s growth even further.

But ultimately I recognise that it seems to be God’s sovereign plan. He seems to have a timetable, and now is the time for the Asian Church to experience revival, renewal, growth and expansion. It is God’s time for this continent.

Q. You mentioned persecution what specific role has it played?

A. Persecution has brought out two things in the Church of Asia. Firstly, it has brought forth Christ’s beauty in the lives of the believers. I know of Christians who have been deprived of everything that we consider important and are suffering deeply for their faith, yet they are living out a life of purity and simplicity in Christ. That kind of living has a great impact.

Secondly, persecution has returned the Church back to the basics of Christianity. It is no longer the clergy who are important. It is no longer the building that is important. What is important is having a fundamental relationship with Jesus Christ. Believers who have suffered persecution experience that Jesus is very real to them.

This return to the basics of Christianity and living a faithful life of beauty in Christ have resulted in mass conversions of people to Christianity.

Q. We read of thousands of these persecuted believers sharing a handful of Bibles and often having no pastor. How can the free world help to meet their urgent need for leadership and Bible-based teaching?

A. Without question this is the number one concern for every one of us who are involved in ministry into the Restricted Access Nations of Asia.

I think first of all we have to realise that ultimately it is God who gives the increase. He is also the author and finisher of this good work. We have to go back and trust Him and say, ‘Lord, it is your Church. It is your body. It is your vine. You take care of it.’

This seems to be a basic philosophy for Christians in the East. When you talk to leaders in the rural areas of China they say things like, ‘Another church has sprung up in that village over there. And a church of 7,000 has just exploded out of nowhere in that mountainous region.’ They give thanks to God for what He has started, and commit it to Him saying, ‘Lord, you continue to finish your work.’ I suppose we have to learn to do the same.

On the other hand, for ministries like Asian Outreach, we do need to shift more and more from pure evangelism to evangelismplusdiscipling. I would say now that at least 50% of our efforts targeted into the Restricted Access Nations are discipling and training in nature. Other ministries are also making a similar shift. In this part of the world, it has to be evangelism plus discipling now.

Q. What can believers in Asia’s Third World countries teach their brothers and sisters in the First World nations of the West?

A. In the West, or in the free world as a whole, I see the church identifying far more with the powerful victory of Jesus’ resurrection. They want that kind of relationship. They are keen for the success, the prosperity, the good things of the Risen King. Few partake in the fellowship of Christ’s suffering (Philippians 3:10). However I see the opposite in the Asian Church, particularly in countries where situations are confining and restrictive. These believers are more willing to fellowship with the suffering of Christ. To them that is the greater reward and privilege.

Recently one of our coworkers went to China with a large sum of money to bail out a Christian worker. She had been sentenced to five years of hard labour in a very poor province of China. A few days later my coworker returned with the money. That woman refused to be bailed out. She said, ‘Pray for me, but don’t get me out of this situation. Here is where the sinners are. Here is where the criminals are. Here is where Jesus Christ would have come. Now He has sent me. So please don’t bail me out.’

Q. Dr Paul Kauffman, the founder of Asian Outreach, has been quoted as saying, ‘For the cost of sending out one Westerner to the mission field, five Asians can be sent.’ Should we be sending more Asians?

A. Yes, and no. Looking over the last 15 years I do see the Asian Church moving from a ‘bless me’ position to a ‘bless the world’ position. They are now ready not only in attitude but also in capability. Christians in Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaysia, Japan and even Thailand or Indonesia are now in a position where they can pray, they can send, they can give and they can go. I am seeing more and more of the Asian Church changing from being missionary-receiving to becoming missionary-sending.

However, I do want to sound a warning. Third World mission is not the rising star and the answer to ushering in the return of Christ. We have our share of weaknesses and problems. We are just as culturally insensitive. We suffer our share of egocentric nationalism. We stumble over the same things that Western missionaries have stumbled over. Perhaps we are even more arrogant! I think the key is for Western and Asian churches to both send out missionaries. Together let’s cooperate in learning, teaching, sharing, caring and shouldering in a relationship of interdependence the Great Commission responsibility.

Q. Should we be sending Asian missionaries even to the West?

A. This is something we have to really work at on both ends. We, on our end, have to stop being nationalistic. Thus far I see far more Korean missionaries going to Koreans in overseas countries, or Japanese missionaries going to Japanese, or Chinese missionaries working among the Chinese diaspora. I would like to see Asian missionaries going to wherever the need and the response are the greatest, be it in the West, be it Africa, be it Latin America or be it anywhere.

It is also time for the West to realize that mission has undergone a fundamental change. It is no longer ‘from the West to the rest’. Mission is now a universal endeavour of God’s church. People of various nationalities have to learn to work side by side to spread the Gospel. So if it’s time for Asian missionaries to go to the West, well, let’s do it.

Q. Are we seeing Asian leadership with such a global view?

A. I do see Asian leadership taking more and more of a strategic role in world evangelism. Some are even holding highly recognizable positions, such as Dr Thomas Wang heading up the AD2000 Movement.

But as a whole, the Asian Church is currently producing localized leaders who are effective in their own culture, among their own people. Only a few are also gifted with multicultural flexibility and availability. However, I believe that in days to come we will see more and more Asian leaders who are bigger than their own church, or their own denomination; bigger even than their own nationalities. Because they are totally for the kingdom, they will take a vital role in Christian leadership worldwide.

Q. How will Asian leadership be different?

A. Over the last one hundred years Christian leadership has been primarily trained with a Western theology. This theology has a strong emphasis on the Gospel as the knowledge of God, and the wisdom of God. But there is a general lack of understanding and application of the Gospel as the power of God see 1 Corinthians 1:24. Thus the propagation of the Gospel has been mostly information based, and somewhat ‘powerless’ in a warfaring sense.

Now we’re seeing an influx of Asians along with Africans and Latin Americans into the overall leadership of the Church. Because of their cultural and historical backgrounds, they have a far better understanding and application of the Gospel as the power of God. Signs, wonders and power encounters are more common to their thinking and lives. I see this having a balancing effect, enabling the Church to make great advances into the world of darkness.

Q. There are some who believe that this ‘power of God’ belongs to another age. Yet we hear many stories of signs and wonders in Asia leading to mass conversions. Is God doing something different in Asia?

A. God is creative. He doesn’t have to repeat himself in any way. But I do see that He has a pattern of operation when it comes to breaking up new ground, opening up new countries.

He allows new signs, wonders and miracles to take place to create tremendous impact. Because Asian cultural influences include a traditional dominance of spiritism and spiritual activities, God has to use signs, wonders and miracles in a very, very phenomenal and outstanding manner to demonstrate that there is no other god but Himself.

I believe He also wants to demonstrate to people in the West that He is a God of power, a God of might. He is the Great Physician. Unfortunately for many, God is our last resort, and not the first and only resort. Therefore we don’t go to Him as desperately and frequently as our Asian brothers and sisters, seeking Him regularly for supernatural intervention. A Biblical principal is that the more you ask the more you receive; the more you knock, the more the doors are opened; the more you seek, the more you will find. That perhaps is one reason why we see more signs, wonders and miracles in Asia. They knock more. They seek more. They ask more.

Q. If God is raising up His Church through mass conversions and is refining it through persecution, where is God taking His people?

A. As I see the events happening all about us, I summarize the work of the Holy Spirit as ‘Immanuel and Maranatha’.

Firstly, I see God being with us. God is not only being with us in a theological way, a historical way, in a hearsay way: ‘I hear that God is doing this and this and this… wow!’ But God is with us in a very ‘Immanuel’ way: personal, current and relevant. And you know it: you sense it, you hear it, you see it, you touch it.

I am sensing that God’s Spirit is taking His people to a realization of the reality of Christ. Jesus is very real. As I fellowship with Christians in China, I don’t hear people saying, ‘We heard about,’ or ‘We read about,’ but rather ‘I experienced Him, I touched Him He touched me, He revealed Himself to me, I saw Him, and also He healed me.’ He is Immanuel in a first person, hands-on manner.

On the other hand I am seeing ‘Maranatha’. Christ is coming back very soon. I think I have never seen the world so shaken up, so disrupted, so changed to the point where everyone is in a state of confusion, flux, and uncertainty. Countries and peoples who previously were not particularly open to the Gospel are becoming receptive. With that kind of openness, the Church is presented with an unequalled opportunity: publish the good news, and proclaim the Gospel ’till He comes.

That’s where I see He’s taking His people. He is giving His people a strong sense of the reality of Immanuel. He is also giving us a strong awareness of Maranatha. Something really big is going to happen very soon.

Q. How can West and East work together to support and encourage each other?

A. In my 25 years of ministry I have seen some basic changes in the relationship between the Asian and Western Church. In the beginning there was a total reliance on the Western missionaries for personnel, provision and prayers to meet the needs in Asia. Everything seemed to be reliant on the West. Then I saw the pendulum swing to the other extreme. One general mood was ‘Missionaries, go home!’ Even missions echoed such a cry. Total dependence swung to total independence.

Now I see a new and more balanced phase: a phase of interdependence. I think both the Eastern and the Western churches have matured to accept the validity of each other, with each other’s strengths and weaknesses. I see them valuing each other’s giftings. I see more and more a symbiotic relationship developing where we say, ‘You rely on me and I rely on you.’ We now recognize that we need each other to survive, to perpetuate.

I do not call this relationship a partnership. Partnership is often an arrangement of convenience. I would like to see more of a marriage relationship developing, which is not an arrangement of convenience but of mutual commitment and trust. It is a body relationship.

I have seen Asians receiving Westerners, and I pray that Westerners will increasingly receive Asians.

Q. What has been the burden of prayer upon your heart, above all else, about Asia?

A. In Asia I have seen churches grow from nothingness into, perhaps, the biggest churches in the world today, such as Yonggi Cho’s church and now the Hope of Bangkok, and several others such as the Full Gospel Assembly of Malaysia. I saw them when they were small, and now they’ve grown tremendously. As I look at this kind of phenomenon, the thing that encourages me greatly is to see the birthing and the growing up of a church. The thing that concerns me is that often the church started as an organism and ended up as an organization; started as a corporate body of believers and ended up as a corporation.

My prayer for Asia is that I want to see the basic, beautiful gospel of Jesus Christ proclaimed, and a simple, pure bride of Jesus Christ prepared. That’s my prayer.

(c) Asian Report, March/April, 1992 (G.P.O. Box 3448, Hong Kong).

Used with permission.

China reports in Mission Index

Asia’s Maturing Church (David Wang)
The Spirit told us what to do (Carl Lawrence)
Revival in China (Dennis Balcombe)
China’s House Churches (Barbara Nield)
China – New Wave of Revival
Chinese turning to Christianity
Revival breaks out in China’s government approved churches
China: how a mother started a house church movement
China – Life-changing Miracle
China’s next generation: New China, New Church, New World
China: The cross on our shoulders and in our hearts
George Chen – In the Garden: 18 years in prison

________________________

Renewal Journal: 2 Church Growth(c) Renewal Journal 2: Church Growth (1993, 2011), pages 69-76.
Reproduction is allowed with the copyright intact with the text.

Now available in updated book form (republished 2011)
Renewal Journal 2: Church Growth

Renewal Journal 2: Church Growth – PDF

Renewal Journal 2: Church Growth – Editorial

Church Growth through Prayer, by Andrew Evans

Growing a Church in the Spirit’s Power, by Jack Frewen-Lord

Evangelism brings Renewal, by Cindy Pattishall-Baker

New Life for an Older Church, by Dean Brookes

Renewal Leadership, by John McElroy

Reflections on Renewal, by Ralph Wicks

Local Revivals in Australia, by Stuart Piggin

Asia’s Maturing Church, by David Wang

Astounding Church Growth, by Geoff Waugh

RJ Vol 1 (1-5) 1Also in Renewal Journals, Bound Volume 1 (Issues 1-5)

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Contents of all Renewal Journals

*********************************

Revival Blogs Links:

See also Revivals Index

See also Revival Blogs

See also Blogs Index 1: Revivals

Link to all Renewal Journals

All Renewal Journal Topics

1 Revival,   2 Church Growth,   3 Community,   4 Healing,   5 Signs & Wonders,
6  Worship,   7  Blessing,   8  Awakening,   9  Mission,   10  Evangelism,
11  Discipleship,   12  Harvest,   13  Ministry,   14  Anointing,   15  Wineskins,
16  Vision,   17  Unity,   18  Servant Leadership,   19  Church,   20 Life

GENERAL BLOGS INDEX

BLOGS INDEX 1: REVIVALS (BRIEFER THAN REVIVALS INDEX)

BLOGS INDEX 2: MISSION (INTERNATIONAL STORIES)

BLOGS INDEX 3: MIRACLES (SUPERNATURAL EVENTS)

BLOGS INDEX 4: DEVOTIONAL (INCLUDING TESTIMONIES)

BLOGS INDEX 5: CHURCH (CHRISTIANITY IN ACTION)

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Evangelism brings Renewal, by Cindy Pattishall-Baker

by Geoff 28 February 2016 4 Comments

Evangelism brings Renewal

Cindy Pattishall-Baker

The Rev Cindy Pattishall-Baker wrote as a Uniting Church minister and Consultant for Evangelism and Renewal in the South Australian Synod of the Uniting Church.

Article in Renewal Journal 2: Church Growth
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An article in Renewal Journal 2: Church Growth
Evangelism brings Renewal, by Cindy Pattishall-Baker

_____________________________

Time and time again new converts

begin the process of renewing

the church and individuals in it.

_____________________________

Evangelism can lead to renewal and on to revival of the church. I have seen this in my experience in ministry in the last sixteen years as someone committed to the renewal of people and churches.

We need to release the dedicated and already discipled people of our parishes and churches into sharing their faith with those outside the church. This is a strategy for renewal that will lead to the revival of the church in the 1990’s.

Time and time again new converts begin the process of renewing the church and individuals in it. Their fresh approach to religion, their radical testimonies to the faith, and their enthusiasm to share the gospel and to live in its power, affect many others.

Does it work? Let’s look at one parish I know really well where I served for seven years.

Evangelism leads to revival

Margaret Matthews, a nurse and an elder in the Cobden Uniting Church Parish, gave this account at the Conference on Conversion Growth in Launceston, Tasmania, 1012 March, 1988. It describes her experiences of both personal and parish-wide renewal that started with evangelism.

Cobden is in the heart of a dairying district in Western Victoria, and a recent decision to expand the local factory has assured the future viability of the town. Our population of 1,450 is stable. We all know our neighbours. Our parish has two churches, both of which now have active Sunday Schools, youth groups and fellowship groups. Bible studies are an integral part of our life, catering for all levels of faith from 13 to 84 year olds. All participate in the leadership of worship. We started evening services with a more relaxed, informal worship style where newcomers felt more at ease.

Our growth story really began many years ago, when during a prolonged time of ministerial vacancy we were visited by an evangelist who challenged us to pray for revival in our church.  A small group gathered together following the lines suggested:
that we share the leadership,
pray for the church and each other, and
bring a name before the group and pray that God would prepare their hearts as we approached them and shared his Word.

We saw our prayers answered and we saw our fellowship grow to 2030 people who met under our first minister after the formation of the Uniting Church in 1977.

Like most of our generation, we clung to the concepts we had grown up with: preaching the gospel was the minister’s job and bringing newcomers to the church was no longer our responsibility.  We lost our sense of purpose and our direction for several years.  Our numbers began to dwindle and although we continued to pray that others might come to know the Lord, we were almost back to the original six or seven of us.

A new minister arrived.  Hearing our prayer for revival and seeing us do nothing actively to bring it about, she organized an evangelism workshop for our Presbytery and persuaded eight of us to go to it. For myself, it was a real step of faith.  I had forgotten how easy it had been, with the Lord’s help, to share my faith with friends, and now we were being asked to knock on stranger’s doors a terrifying thought!

It became our ministry to make those strangers into friends:
getting to know people,
listening and ministering to their needs,
sharing their stories,
sharing our story and God’s story,
depending on God to do the rest.

We all came home from the workshop inspired to put what we had learned, into practice.  We set aside one night each week to go visiting on a regular basis.  We first met for prayer to ask the Lord to prepare the way and to go with us, and those of our group who did not go out joined together to pray for those who did.  After our visit we returned to the church to talk it over, to learn from each other’s experiences, to get any hurts or knockbacks off our chests, and to share any blessings with those who stayed behind to pray.

To our surprise, after a few weeks, we realized we were enjoying this experience and started looking forward to it.  We found that our little team of eight just couldn’t keep up with all the people who would like us to return for a visit.  There was a great thirst out there beyond our church of people wanting to know more about the Lord, about the church, or wanting to share the hurt that took them away from the faith in the past.

About twelve months later, a second evangelism workshop was organized by our own and neighbouring parishes.  Now many others in the church could see the importance of evangelism and most of our elders and several of our converts attended it.  By then, I had begun a Bible Study home cell for some of the new converts who had no background of Christianity, but a wonderful new faith which was to change their lives, and lead me into a deeper faith commitment.

I didn’t start out to be an evangelist.  I didn’t have that burning desire to share my faith with everyone I met, which I found among our converts. My visiting was an act of obedience to God’s will for us to share the gospel with all people.  It was a stepping out in faith on the road that takes you from `What can God do for me?’ to `What can I do for God?’

Margaret, through the witness of her converts, later sought the infilling of the Holy Spirit and today not only continues to share her faith but is a mighty preacher and dynamic Bible Study teacher. From the witness of these early evangelists and those who were converted to the faith, the parish grew by 135% on their adherents roll and by 26% in four years (198387) in their confirmed members’ roll. In 1988, the 241 regular Sunday worshippers included 121 of the people who had faith for longer than ten years and 119 (49%) of the people having come to faith in the last five years (between 198388). In 1989, 94% of those converted to the faith were still regular attenders at worship (some now 6 years old in their faith).

Revival first started in this parish because an evangelist came and proclaimed the gospel. That gave others a hunger to do the same. It almost failed when a minister arrived during a prolonged vacancy and the people abdicated their responsibility to him, but it was later revived by another minister. As the converts grew in faith and hungered for a deeper expression of their faith, they sought, received and began to use their spiritual gifts. It led them into a personal encounter with the Holy Spirit. This influenced the established church to reevaluate itself and to also grow in renewal.

Renewal that brings revival

Our strategies in the church for bringing renewal have at times been wrought with force, causing judgment, mistrust and resistance. This resistance in the church can gravely hurt those in the renewal movement. So they have at times left the churches that would not accept their way or stayed in their church and developed a ghetto mentality of `we-they’ that made it harder for others to see renewal as an option for their lives.

In past years, the renewal movement often concentrated on changing worship to allow all the spiritual gifts to be prevalent and seen by sceptics and nonbelievers alike, thinking that this would aid in renewing others. Signs and wonders, although reaching some and exciting them to seek renewal, also frightened many more and turned them right off renewal.

A strategy for the renewal of the church needs to be more than just a change of worship where signs and wonders can be evident. Renewal demands a more radical lifestyle and call to ministry than this. When this change is seen in others, the people in the church do respond.

Here is an anatomy of renewal that I believe leads to revival:

1. Evangelists proclaim the message of salvation and people are converted to faith.

2. The converts grow in faith and hunger for a deeper expression of their faith. They seek, receive and use the spiritual gifts leading them into a personal encounter with the Holy Spirit which influences the established church to reevaluate itself and to also grow in the area of renewal.

3. The church then needs to understand and standardize the use of the spiritual gifts from good biblical teaching moving the people away from experience as the authority for the use of spiritual gifts to good theology about their use.

4. Converts and those who grew up in the faith examine their lives in light of God’s Word,

showing a desire for deeper service to the Lord and a hunger for righteous and holy living.

Evangelism renewal revival

The Reformation revivals of the 1500’s, the Great Awakening of the 1700’s, or the South Australian revivals in the mines at Wallaroo, Moonta and Burra at the turn of this century, follow this common pattern: evangelism renewal revival (in that order).

First, evangelists went out and proclaimed the gospel.  The gospel they proclaimed emphasiszd a personal encounter with Jesus Christ and an individual religious experience rather than the doctrines of the church. Many people fell under the conviction of these evangelists’ proclamation of the gospel and received salvation.

As these converts grew in faith, they began to hunger for a deeper expression of their faith and began seeking, receiving and using the spiritual gifts God uses to build the church. That led them into a personal encounter with the Holy Spirit. This greatly influenced the preaching of the evangelists and their message.

When revival got to this second stage evangelists like John and Charles Wesley shifted from their basic salvation message of the early days of revival to sermons on a deeper discipleship and on walking in the power of the Spirit of God. This led to them establishing Bible studies, encouraging lay people to take up leadership roles in every giftedness of the Spirit, and it eventually led to the established church of their day reevaluating itself and growing in renewal.

This process also happened in the Reformation revival where the reformers shifted from the basic salvation message of their earlier days to deeper discipleship which led to the established church (the Catholic Church) reevaluating itself and having a revival itself influenced by such people as St. John of the Cross and Theresa of Avila, some 40 years after the Reformation.

This leads to the third phase of revival. In every succeeding generation when renewal comes, the church all over again, needs to learn how to understand and use the spiritual gifts given to them by God. So, the next phase of revival seems to be standardizing the use of the spiritual gifts and how they are to be ordered and used in the life of the church. Every new generation of revivalists find themselves in unchartered waters. So it takes time to sort out problems with the use of spiritual gifts and ensure that there is sound Biblical teaching on them.

Often those in the renewal movements, excited to experience the power of their faith, rush into using the gifts (and having `the experience’) rather than doing serious biblical study in order to bring others with them in good understanding. The `experience’ is not enough. We need good renewal theology that is strong enough to be debated.

The last phase of revival seems to be an inner desire of both converts and those who grew up in the faith to examine their lives in light of God’s Word, a desire for deeper service to the Lord and a hunger for righteous and holy living. This was very evident in the Great Awakening revival where evangelists later in the revival clearly shifted their proclamation of the salvation message to the preaching on holiness and righteous living (such as the sermons of the American revivalist of the early 1700’s, Jonathan Edwards).

The history of the church, shows long periods (which sadly follow great revivals) where the gospel is reduced by many in the church to narrow relativism. Pragmatism is rife. This leads to a suspicion of the supernatural, and for a while the church loses the power of its faith from lack of belief in the Holy Spirit and the Spirit’s gifts. The church in this condition seldom goes out to do evangelism but is content with social work and political statements.

Therefore, for renewal of the church to be effective today and for it to issue out into revival, we must first start with evangelism.

Revival involves mission and ministry

The following comments show how the personal encounter of the Holy Spirit by converts led the church to reevaluate its life, moving them into renewal. It caused them to explore the use of spiritual gifts by good Biblical teaching and discipleship. That moved people away from experience as the only authority for the use of spiritual gifts to good theology about their use.

These quotes are from talks that Cobden people gave at the Launceston 1988 Conversion Growth Workshop sponsored by the Uniting Church Assembly’s National Mission and Evangelism Committee.

Barbara Cowley, the Cobden Parish treasurer and a mother of two, says, “I have always believed in God and have attended Sunday School and church most of my life. In our courting days, my husband used to come to church with me, but after we were married he always found himself too busy to come. Our two children were baptized and attended Sunday School regularly, our daughter especially so, and our son until the age of 10 when he rebelled about going.

“When my daughter finished Sunday School and didn’t want to attend church anymore, I went to church by myself but my attendance started to drop off. At about that time my husband started exploring his faith. This encouraged me and we started attending church as a family. Since then, both our children have made decisions for the Lord at different times.

“Since being baptized in the Holy Spirit, my eyes have been opened to the workings of the Lord. Even though I had been involved in attending church all my life, it’s only in the last couple of years that my faith has come alive in attending our Bible Study group, which has helped me grow in my walk with the Lord.”

Hazel and the late Norm Maskell, dairy farmers, church elders, and Cobden Parish’s original evangelists in their mid70’s, led cell groups. Hazel and Norm said, “Why did we form study or cell groups?  We believed that the church would not or could not grow until our people came together to study God’s Word, understand his gifts and to build each other up in faith. Those we brought to faith needed nurturing and encouraging. So our study groups came into existence one by one.

“These converts were more teachable than some of the older folk in the faith.  Being eager to learn, they were wide open to Bible teaching and getting to know the Lord in a real way. Their growth was astounding, causing our growth too!  We have seen miracles happen and now we see many of these new Christians taking leading roles in our church life alongside of us.  I have found that new Christians pray out loud, share faith, and learn far more easily than we who have been in the church for some time, because they have no preconceived ideas. Almost any Bible Study member in our church will pray on the spot publicly. They thank God for various things, confess their own shortcomings, and pray for others. Now almost half the congregation will participate in prayer or the leading of worship whenever asked to do so.  The result of these Bible Study groups is that our church has not only grown in numbers, but more importantly, we understand the Holy Spirit so much better and know the Spirit to be working in our church.  We older folk have learned so much and grown closer to the Lord.”

Sometimes there may be difficulties for the church when it tries to assimilate not only new people into the life and especially the leadership structure of the church, but also starts reevaluating itself in light of the testimonies of these new converts and their walk with the Lord.

Most people within our church will say ‘we need new blood, some fresh faces and especially we need more younger folk to keep us going.’ However, once there is new blood, fresh faces, and younger folk coming into our churches, many old-timers may feel that the ‘new folk have taken us over and have made so many changes that we don’t know what’s going on anymore, so we will just stay at home and let them run it!’

Church growth in evangelism and renewal means that we, too, as individuals have to grow and be renewed. Many people resist this. Sometimes, church growth can only happen by berthing a new church that’s separate from the established church. This happened both in the Reformation and Great Awakening Revivals and it did most recently in the 1970’s and 1980’s. However, it doesn’t have to be that way.

Although the Cobden Parish had some battles and upheavals from its evangelism and renewal, division was averted by hospitality fellowship, Bible Study and shared worship. The leadership shared in hospitality fellowship, that is, intentionally inviting old-timers in the church to meals and gatherings with converts and helping them to get to know and to interpret their faith journey to each other.

The Bible Studies started out to disciple converts. Then, as people in the church started to reevaluate their faith journey through their contacts with the converts and hungered to know more, Bible Studies were set up for them too. Later, converts and those of long standing in the church merged many of their separate Bible Studies together where they learned to pray and care for one another.

Another important aspect of the Bible Studies, was the curriculum the Parish wrote to train people about the infilling of the Holy Spirit and the proper use of the spiritual gifts.  When members discovered their own spiritual gifts, they were encouraged to take up their ministry roles within the life of the church. For converts this usually occurred by the end of their first year in the faith.

Shared worship took the form of setting up eight worship teams of six people each, chosen across generations and from each of the worshipping congregations. Each member of the team had a designated area of leadership: prayers, music, administration of the team, children’s sermon, the sermon, the organisation of the service sheet, announcements and the Bible readings. They had to listen to each other’s needs and they developed a style of worship that all were happy with and that was open enough to be able to evolve, as the parish needs changed.

Conclusions

We see that evangelism starts the process of renewal which brings revival. Renewal leads to a personal encounter with the Holy Spirit as the converts of the church’s evangelistic outreach grow in faith and hunger for the power of their faith, seeking, receiving and using the Spiritual gifts. This renewal leads to the established church reevaluating itself and either blockading and resisting renewal, or growing in it.

Renewal leads to discipleship training in and standardizing the use of the spiritual gifts with good Biblical teaching and the development of an articulate theology that can be debated. Discipleship leads to a radical lifestyle where one has a desire for a deeper service to the Lord, a greater knowledge of God’s Word and a hunger for righteous and holy living.

When the church misses one of these parts revival doesn’t happen. For instance, in studying several charismatic churches, I have discovered that if a church tries to bring in renewal before it does evangelism, it often gets a huge amount of transfer growth from other churches which leads to divisions and it eventually goes into decline.

If renewal doesn’t follow on into good discipleship, the church folk often get stuck on the experiences of the Holy Spirit and cannot articulate a clear enough theology so that they can take others into the experience with them in good understanding. Often these churches can become quite ingrown and in a denominational structure be quite divisive.

If discipleship does not produce a radical lifestyle, the church does not benefit others. Then it runs the risk of not only privatizing a person’s faith journey, but also of making one’s experience the only test of the validity of other people’s faith. It also means that the church remains at the level of signs and wonders instead of moving into a deeper discipleship with Jesus where one is sold out to him in complete sacrifice in holy living.

Jesus said to the doubting Thomas, ‘Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe’ (John 20:29). Signs and wonders are for nonbelievers (1 Corinthians 14) but a radical lifestyle of a disciple is for the mature Christian.

Many church leaders spend so much effort in renewing a congregation from within. I firmly believe that a congregation should be renewed from without, through evangelism and the converts that receive their message.

Then evangelism will lead to renewal and revival in the land.

__________________________

(c) Renewal Journal 2: Church Growth (1993, 2011), pages 23-33.
Reproduction is allowed with the copyright intact with the text.

Now available in updated book form (republished 2011)

Contents of all Renewal Journals

Renewal Journal 2: Church Growth
Renewal Journal 2: Church Growth – PDF

Renewal Journal 2: Church Growth – Editorial

Church Growth through Prayer, by Andrew Evans

Growing a Church in the Spirit’s Power, by Jack Frewen-Lord

Evangelism brings Renewal, by Cindy Pattishall-Baker

New Life for an Older Church, by Dean Brookes

Renewal Leadership, by John McElroy

Reflections on Renewal, by Ralph Wicks

Local Revivals in Australia, by Stuart Piggin

Asia’s Maturing Church, by David Wang

Astounding Church Growth, by Geoff Waugh

RJ Vol 1 (1-5) 1Also in Renewal Journals, Bound Volume 1 (Issues 1-5)

Renewal Journal Vol 1 (1-5) – PDF

Renewal 2: Church Growth on Amazon and Kindle andThe Book Depository

Contents of all Renewal Journals

Revival Blogs Links:

See also Revivals Index

See also Revival Blogs

See also Blogs Index 1: Revivals

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All Renewal Journal Topics

1 Revival,   2 Church Growth,   3 Community,   4 Healing,   5 Signs & Wonders,
6  Worship,   7  Blessing,   8  Awakening,   9  Mission,   10  Evangelism,
11  Discipleship,   12  Harvest,   13  Ministry,   14  Anointing,   15  Wineskins,
16  Vision,   17  Unity,   18  Servant Leadership,   19  Church,   20 Life

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BLOGS INDEX 1: REVIVALS (BRIEFER THAN REVIVALS INDEX)

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BLOGS INDEX 3: MIRACLES (SUPERNATURAL EVENTS)

BLOGS INDEX 4: DEVOTIONAL (INCLUDING TESTIMONIES)

BLOGS INDEX 5: CHURCH (CHRISTIANITY IN ACTION)

BLOGS INDEX 6: CHAPTERS (BLOGS FROM BOOKS)

BLOGS INDEX 7: IMAGES (PHOTOS AND ALBUMS)

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Pentecost in Arnhem Land, by Djiniyini Gondarra

by Geoff 27 February 2016 4 Comments

Pentecost in Arnhem Land, Australia

Djiniyini Gondarra

See Australian Aboriginal Revival from 1979

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Article in Renewal Journal 1: Revival
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Revivals Index – revivals into the 21st century

 

Djiniyini Gondarra

The Rev Dr Djiniyini Gondarra is a Uniting Church minister and former Moderator of the Northern Synod of the Uniting Church in Australia.

_______________________________________

mission is to include every aspect of the work

which the church is sent into the world to do

_______________________________________

This is a very brief outline of the revival which took place in Arnhem Land in the Uniting Church parishes, beginning in Galiwin’ku on Elcho Island, 400 miles east of Darwin, with a population of 1500 to 1600.

In the early years, Galiwin’ku Community was the mission station established by the Methodist Overseas Mission back in 1942 under the leadership of Rev. Harold Shepherdson. He was accepted by the Methodist Mission Board in 1927 as a lay missionary, engineer and saw-miller. Because of his long outstanding Christian leadership and humility he was ordained at Galiwin’ku, Elcho Island, on 19th October, 1954. He and his wife Ella Shepherdson would have been the last pioneer missionaries to leave their beloved home and people in Arnhem Land.

The missionary movement in Arnhem Land has taken as its mandate the great commission in Matthew 28:19-20 which says: ‘Go, then, to all peoples everywhere and make them my disciples, baptize them in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, and teach them to obey everything I have commanded you. And I will be with you always, to the end of the age.’

I understand that mission is to include every aspect of the work which the church is sent into the world to do, and I understand evangelism in a different sense which is called holistic evangelism. It is a means of communication of the good news about Jesus Christ as it affects the whole of life.

You will remember very well the story in Acts 1:68 when Jesus and his disciples met together before the ascension took place. The disciples asked whether God’s reign was now come in full. Jesus told them it was not their business to worry about that, but they would receive power when the Holy Spirit came upon them and they would be his witnesses beginning in Jerusalem and going outwards into Judea, Samaria and on to the ends of the earth.

There is something quite unpredictable, unexpected and mysterious about the way that God’s rule is realized in communities and in the lives of individuals. So the disciples were told to wait for the Holy Spirit and then they would be witnesses when Pentecost came. Something quite unplanned and unexpected happened. They began to babble in other strange languages and people asked what is this that is happening? What is going on?

Difficult times

Galiwin’ku, Elcho Island, experienced the revival on 14th March, 1979. That year was a very hard year because the churches in Arnhem Land were going through very difficult times. There was suffering, hardship and even persecution.

Many people left the church and the Christian gospel no longer had interest and value in their lives. Many began to speak against Christianity or even wanted to get rid of the church.

This attitude was affected by the changes that were happening. Money and other things were coming into the community from the government. The people became more rich and were handling lots of things such as motor cars, T.V., motorboats, and good houses. The responsibilities were in the hands of the Aboriginal people and no longer in the missionaries’ hands.

The earthly values became the centre of Aboriginal life. There was more liquor coming into the communities every day, and more fighting was going on. There were more families hurt, and more deaths and incidents happening which were caused by drinking.

Whole communities in Arnhem Land were in great chaos. The people were in confusion and without direction. The Aboriginal people were listening to many voices. The government was saying you are free people and you must have everything you want, just like the other Australians. And there were promises from one to another.

To me, the Aboriginal people in Arnhem Land were like the Israelites in Egypt being slaves in bondage because of all the changes that were brought into the community. They were like the vacuum suction which was sucking in everything that comes without knowing that many of the things that came into communities were really unpleasant and only destroyed the harmony and the good relationship with the people and the communities.

I thank God that I was being called back to serve my own people in Arnhem Land, especially to Galiwin’ku. In 1975 I had just completed my theological training in Papua New Guinea in Raronga Theological College and was appointed to Galiwin’ku parish. My ordination took place in 1976 in Galiwin’ku parish, and I was ordained by the Arnhem Land Presbytery. I was appointed then to Galiwin’ku parish as parish minister.

This celebration took place when there were lots of changes happening and when the church was challenged by the power of evil which clothes itself in greed, selfishness, drunkenness, and in wealth. As I went on my daily pastoral visitation around the camp I would hear the drunks swearing and bashing up their wives and throwing stones on the houses, and glass being broken in the houses. And sometimes the drunks would go into the church and smoke cigarettes in the holy house of God. This was really terrible. The whole of Arnhem Land was being held by the hands of satan.

I remember one day I woke up early in the morning and went for a walk down the beach and started talking to myself. I said, ‘Lord, why have you called me to the ministry? Why have you called me back to my own people? Why not to somewhere else, because there is so much suffering and hardship?’

I then returned to the manse where Gelung, my wife, and the children were. This was our last day before we left for our holidays to the south, visiting old missionary friends and also taking part in the lovely wedding held in Sydney for Barry and Barbara Bullick, one of our missionary workers still remaining in Galiwin’ku Community.

It was almost 6.30 am and it was my turn to lead the morning devotions. The bell had already rung and I had rushed into the church. When I got there, there were only four people inside the church. We used to have our morning devotions every day early in the morning because this system had been formed by the missionaries in the early years.

God had given me the Word to read and share with those four people who were present in the church with me. The reading I selected was from the Old Testament, Ezekiel 37:1-14, the valley of dry bones. Most of you know the story very well, how God Yahweh commanded the prophet Ezekiel to prophecy to the dry bones, and how that the dry bones represent the whole house of Israel, how they were just like bones dried up and their hope had perished. They were completely cut off.

After the morning prayers, Gelung, the children and I were ready to leave for Gove and then go on to Cairns in North Queensland. We were away for four weeks and returned on 14th March, 1979.

20th century Pentecost

To me and all the Galiwin’ku Community, both the Aboriginal Christians and the white Christians, these dates and the month were very important because this is the mark of the birth of the Pentecost experience in the Arnhem Land churches or the birth of the Arnhem Land churches. To us it was like Pentecost in this 20th Century.

It happened when Gelung, the children and I arrived very late in the afternoon from our holidays through Gove on the late Missionary Aviation Fellowship aircraft to Galiwin’ku. When we landed at Galiwin’ku airport we were welcomed and met by many crowds of people.

They all seemed to be saying to us, ‘We would like you to start the Bible Class fellowship once again.’ It seemed to me that God, after our leaving, had been walking on and preparing many people’s lives to wait upon the outpouring of his Holy Spirit that would soon come upon them. Gelung and I were so tired from the long trip from Cairns to Gove and then from Gove to Galiwin’ku that we expected to rest and sort out some of the things and unpack. But we just committed ourselves to the needs of our brothers and sisters who had welcomed and met us at the airport that afternoon.

After the evening dinner, we called our friends to come and join us in the Bible Class meeting. We just sang some hymns and choruses translated into Gupapuynu and into Djambarrpuynu. There were only seven or eight people who were involved or came to the Bible Class meeting, and many of our friends didn’t turn up. We didn’t get worried about it.

I began to talk to them that this was God’s will for us to get together this evening because God had planned this meeting through them so that we will see something of his great love which will be poured out on each one of them. I said a word of thanks to those few faithful Christians who had been praying for renewal in our church, and I shared with them that I too had been praying for the revival or the renewal for this church and for the whole of Arnhem Land churches, because to our heavenly Father everything is possible. He can do mighty things in our churches throughout our great land.

These were some of the words of challenge I gave to those of my beloved brothers and sisters. Gelung, my wife, also shared something of her experience of the power and miracles that she felt deep down in her heart when she was about to die in Darwin Hospital delivering our fourth child. It was God’s power that brought the healing and the wholeness in her body.

I then asked the group to hold each other’s hands and I began to pray for the people and for the church, that God would pour out his Holy Spirit to bring healing and renewal to the hearts of men and women, and to the children.

Suddenly we began to feel God’s Spirit moving in our hearts and the whole form of our prayer suddenly changed and everybody began to pray in the Spirit and in harmony. And there was a great noise going on in the room and we began to ask one another what was going on.

Some of us said that God had now visited us and once again established his kingdom among his people who have been bound for so long by the power of evil. Now the Lord is setting his church free and bringing us into the freedom of happiness and into reconciliation and to restoration.

In that same evening the word just spread like the flames of fire and reached the whole community in Galiwin’ku. Gelung and I couldn’t sleep at all that night because people were just coming for the ministry, bringing the sick to be prayed for, for healing. Others came to bring their problems. Even a husband and wife came to bring their marriage problem, so the Lord touched them and healed their marriage.

Next morning the Galiwin’ku Community once again became the new community. The love of Jesus was being shared and many expressions of forgiveness were taking place in the families and in the tribes. Wherever I went I could hear people singing and humming Christian choruses and hymns! Before then I would have expected to hear only fighting and swearing and many other troublesome things that would hurt your feelings and make you feel sad.

Many unplanned and unexpected things happened every time we went from camp to camp to meet with the people. The fellowship was held every night and more and more people gave their lives to Christ, and it went on and on until sometimes the fellowship meeting would end around about midnight. There was more singing, testimony, and ministry going on. People did not feel tired in the morning, but still went to work.

Many Christians were beginning to discover what their ministry was, and a few others had a strong sense of call to be trained to become Ministers of the Word. Now today these ministers who have done their training through Nungilinya College have been ordained. These are some of the results of the revival in Arnhem Land. Many others have been trained to take up a special ministry in the parish.

The spirit of revival has not only affected the Uniting Church communities and the parishes, but Anglican churches in Arnhem Land as well, such as in Angurugu, Umbakumba, Roper River, Numbulwar and Oenpelli. These all have experienced the revival, and have been touched by the joy and the happiness and the love of Christ.

The outpouring of the Holy Spirit in Arnhem Land has swept further to the Centre in Pitjantjatjara and across the west into many Aboriginal settlements and communities. I remember when Rev. Rronang Garrawurra, Gelung and I were invited by the Warburton Ranges people and how we saw God’s Spirit move in the lives of many people. Five hundred people came to the Lord and were baptized in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

There was a great revival that swept further west. I would describe these experiences like a wild bush fire burning from one side of Australia to the other side of our great land. The experience of revival in Arnhem Land is still active in many of our Aboriginal parishes and the churches.

We would like to share these experiences in many white churches where doors are closed to the power of the Holy Spirit. It has always been my humble prayer that the whole of Australian Christians, both black and white, will one day be touched by this great and mighty power of the living God.

_________________________________

(c) Djiniyini Gondarra’s, Let my people go. Published by Bethel Presbytery of the Northern Synod of the Uniting Church in Australia. Used with permission. 

Some photos from Australian Aboriginal Revival from 1979:

 


Prayer meeting in the church


Meetings outside the crowded church


Mission meetings

Renewal Journal 1: Revival(c) Renewal Journal 1: Revival (1993, 2011), pages 29-36
Reproduction is allowed with the copyright intact with the text.

Now available in updated book form (republished 2011)
Renewal Journal 1: Revival

Praying the Price, by Stuart Robinson

Prayer and Revival, by J Edwin Orr

Pentecost in Arnhem Land, by Djiniyini Gondarra

Power from on High: The Moravian Revival, by John Greenfield

Revival Fire, by Geoff Waugh

 

RJ Vol 1 (1-5) 1Also in Renewal Journals, Bound Volume 1, Issues 1-5

Renewal Journal Vol 1 (1-5) – PDF

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Contents of all Renewal Journals

Revival Blogs Links:

See also Revivals Index

See also Revival Blogs

See also Blogs Index 1: Revivals

Link to all Renewal Journals

All Renewal Journal Topics

1 Revival,   2 Church Growth,   3 Community,   4 Healing,   5 Signs & Wonders,
6  Worship,   7  Blessing,   8  Awakening,   9  Mission,   10  Evangelism,
11  Discipleship,   12  Harvest,   13  Ministry,   14  Anointing,   15  Wineskins,
16  Vision,   17  Unity,   18  Servant Leadership,   19  Church,   20 Life

GENERAL BLOGS INDEX

BLOGS INDEX 1: REVIVALS (BRIEFER THAN REVIVALS INDEX)

BLOGS INDEX 2: MISSION (INTERNATIONAL STORIES)

BLOGS INDEX 3: MIRACLES (SUPERNATURAL EVENTS)

BLOGS INDEX 4: DEVOTIONAL (INCLUDING TESTIMONIES)

BLOGS INDEX 5: CHURCH (CHRISTIANITY IN ACTION)

BLOGS INDEX 6: CHAPTERS (BLOGS FROM BOOKS)

BLOGS INDEX 7: IMAGES (PHOTOS AND ALBUMS)

BACK TO MAIN PAGE

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Article in Renewal Journal 1: Revival

Renewal Journal 1: Revival

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Pentecost in Arnhem Land, by Djiniyini Gondarra:
https://renewaljournal.com/2016/02/27/pentecost-in-arnhem-land-bydjiniyini-gondarra/
An article in Renewal Journal 1: Revival
PDF Revival Books on the Main Page

See Australian Aboriginal Revival from 1979

Revivals Index – revivals into the 21st century

Blogs Index, miracles, mission, revival, signs and wonders , ,

Blogs Index 2: Mission

by Geoff 16 February 2016 14 Comments

Blogs Index 2: MISSION

General Blogs Index

Blogs Index 1: Revivals (briefer than Revivals Index)

Blogs Index 2: Mission (international stories)

Blogs Index 3: Miracles (supernatural events)

Blogs Index 4: Devotional (including testimonies)

Blogs Index 5: Church (Christianity in Action)

Blogs Index 6: Chapters (Blogs from Books)

Blogs Index 7: Images (photos and albums)

Share good news  –  Share this page freely
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Renewal Journals – Blogs Index 2: Mission:
https://renewaljournal.com/2016/02/16/blogs-index-2-mission/

 

SEE BELOW for Blogs grouped into countries & regions:
Australia/South Pacific – Asia – Middle East – Europe – Americas – Africa 

Logo Square - PNGClick images to see Blogs

 Q  Search – at end of Blogs on phones

Click here to be notified of new Blogs

PDF books on the Main Page

*

A Great Commission Mission

 

Great Commission Mission – Blog

Great Commission Mission – PDF

 

 

A Teaching Them to Obey in Love

 

Teaching Them to Obey in Love – Blog

Teaching Them to Obey in Love – PDF

 

 

A Jesus the Model Globe

 

Jesus the Model for Short Term Supernatural Mission

Jesus the Model – PDF

 

*

0 0 Jurney M2
Journey into Mission – Revival Highlights

Journey into Mission – PDF


God’s Surprises

Amazing Mission Blogs

All the Blogs are amazing accounts of God’s actions, but these are very surprising.

 

Peace Child – PNG: A true story that impacted world missions

 

Carl Lawrence & David Wang

 
The Spirit told us what to do
Two teenage girls plant many churches
Excerpt from The Coming Influence of China
*
lwgcoverLook what God is Doing!
by Dick EastmanCh 3: People of the Trees
Pygmy tribe of 6,000 saved in 5 yearsEbola area miracles
*
*
*
0 SkullSplitterbaptism3
Revival in the Amazon among “Skull Splitters”
*
Sol IsSolomon Islands:

Hostile tribe’s chief died and met Jesus

by Dick Eastman

Ch 2: Mountains of Mystery

*
Mama Luka
“Before they call I will answer”
Helen Roseveare in Africa
*
*
4
Modern Day Daniel

Philippines: Dream led to a hidden tribe

Mission Blogs – grouped in regions

SEE BELOW for Blogs grouped into countries & regions, most recent first in each group:
Australia/South Pacific – Asia – Middle East – Africa – Europe – Americas 

Global


United Nations is a unique mission field


The Insanity of God – persecution and faith

Missions
Biblical Basis for Mission

jesus-net
Jesus.net – over 12 million decisions for Christ


Atheist Author Recognizes Global Faith Revival


5 Stages of Culture Shock


5 Common Misconceptions between Foreigners and Thais

Australia / South Pacific


Australian Aboriginal Revival from 1979

Aboriginal 5000
Our Mob, God’s Story – Indigenous Australians

PP
Power to Change – University of PNG

 

20170716_091009
Team Visit to Pentecost Island, July 2017

village-church-1
Pentecost on Pentecost Island, Vanuatu, South Pacific

 

Asia / South-East Asia


George Chen – In the Garden: 18 years in prison


China: The cross on our shoulders and in our hearts


China – how a mother started a house church movement

Baby
China: Life-changing Miracle

6 screenshot-www.youtube.com-2016-02-09-06-13-36
Revival Breaks Out in China’s Government Approved Churches


New Wave of Revival in China

China house church
Chinese turning to Christianity


Evangelization in North Korea



North Korea: Cherishing the book he once feared

Korea
North Korean believers meet underground

North Korea
North Korea: The blessing of forced solitude with God

Korea
Escaping North Korea

Korea
Koreans evangelized their own nation

Silence
Japan: Christian sites nominated for World Heritage

1
Asia: Love on Fire – drunk transformed

GFA2
Filth and Fertile Ground in Asia

young muslim woman at Mosque in Kuala Terengganu, Malaysia
South East Asia: From fear to freedom

Duck
Indonesia: Sacrificial duck – a witnessing tool

2
Nepal: Hindu priest embraces Jesus


Hosanna – Revival in Nepal

Philippines-1-696x464
The Bible – the most read book in the Philippines

BAM
Business as Mission

2
Laos: A church for the So

1
Jesus Well: life-giving and living water in India

M
Myanmar: Buddhist village comes to Christ

Bangladesh
Christianity exploding in Bangladesh

children
Children’s Prayer Movement in Indonesia

1
Influential Buddhist Monk Receives Jesus

Manobo
Philippine Village Embraces Christ

1 India
Does Jesus live here?


Vietnam: Jailed five times but unshaken

 

 

Middle East / Egypt


Tajikistan: God’s Grace can reach any heart


Afghanistan: Children ask “Where does Jesus live?”

Seeds of Revival in Afghanistan.


The real enemy of Afghanistan


Standing on our knees in Kharkov, Ukraine


Siberia: The light of Christ in the darkness of winter

Russia
World Cup: Churches reach millions

A
Mongolia: Russian Christians bringing God’s love to the steppes


Jews finding Jesus in Israel
Also: Israeli Jews and Bibles
Also: Christian Passover Service

Syrian-Outreach-400x267-300x200
Many Muslims are Turning to Christ


‘The Lord reached me right in the mosque’


Jesus appears as a bus driver to a Muslim pilgrim


Miraculous Movements – among Muslims

vomjail
Christian missionary tortured in prison led 40 to Christ

Egypt
Egypt opening to the Gospel amid persecution

Cairo ch
Thousands gather in Egypt

Iran
Iran – fastest growing evangelical population

Iran
Hope in Iran’s notorious Evin Prison


Iran: I plant secret house churches

Iraq
Historic Christmas in Iraq

Young man reading the Bible
Iraq: Muslim from Ninevah discovered the Bible’s magnetism

life-in-desert
Jesus and Muslims: Life in the Desert

iraq
Christian Refugees in Iraq – Beauty and Bravery


Iraq: Reaching an entire village from your desk

duststorm
God protects new believers

woman
Muslim Woman returns from the dead to tell about Jesus

when-the-alcoholics-son-prayed-3
The Alcoholic’s Son Prayed

*

Africa


Language God gave a missioary


Bonnke Lagos
Reinhard Bonnke’s Final Crusade in Africa


Ghana: Jesus Film Riders


West Africa: A terrorist accepts Jesus

David and Svea Flood

Congo: Those who sow in tears


Cameroon: God’s love – changed a culture


Uganda: How a Bible App is growing churches in a refugee camp

AIDS
Uganda: God saves and heals including HIV

eoy-field-testimony-blog-1118-350x221
Witch doctor sought to destroy Bible group – God had other plans

1
A woman in the marketplace starts 3 churches in 6 months

Yansi-crossing-river
Missionary thought he was a failure: now churches thrive

1
Uganda Mission Trip

Frontlines
The Faithful on the Frontlines

Bridge of Hope
Bridges of Hope

Binoras-father-baptism
Son of witchdoctor sees 65 brothers and sisters converted with Jesus Film

Sth Africa
Almost 1,000,000 pray together, South Africa

Boys weed a field of bambara nut close to Segou, Mali on August 25 2011.
The ‘Unqualified’ Farmer, West Africa

Storytellers
Story-tellers of Good News, West Africa


The church on the camel’s path in West Africa

uganda
Sheikh sent to assassinate pastor, converted

dr-jason-fader
Outstanding medical missionary in Africa

*

Europe / UK

A picture of a young beautiful opera singer performing over black background
Opera singer plants church in Vienna among Muslims & Buddhists

3
Christians reach out to Muslims in UK

*

Americas

BG2 
Billy Graham (1918-2018) – in his own words


Mexico: Thousands of migrants me4et Jesus at the border

 

General Mission Blogs

Monks
 
Jesus invaded a Buddhist Monastery
in the Himalayas
 
*
Johan van Bruggen
Acts 3 acted out in faith in PNG
*
cfan1He woke up totally healed

in Ghana

*

*

*

*
Ruibal
Revival Impacted Bolivia
*
AYDC eat
Helping in Myanmar/Burma
 
*
Noel returns to Pentecost Island*
Mission on Pentecost Island

Vanuatu

South Pacific

Updated Report, 2015

 

 
Read to father
 
Reading to his father
Testimony from India
*
*
Russ Stendal
Christian Light
is filling Columbia’s
Spiritual Black Hole
*
unnamed
One Touch from Jesus
Ordinary Christians doing what Jesus told us to do
*

A Jesus the Model Globe
The Disciples’ Mission and Ministry

Chapter 2 of Jesus the Model for

Short Term Supernatural Mission

*

*

Hicks vision2
A Vision of the Pure & Powerful Bride

Tommy Hicks’ Revival Vision

*
*
 
Mitch1 prayYoung Christians

sharing Good News

on the streets in Brisbane
*
*
*
 
National Prayer Strategy
The 10 Domains
for prayer and mission
*
*

Dawkins RobbyGangsters in the Doorway
Also:
Interrupted by God
*
*

1Revival in Brazil

Transformation through Prayer

Evangelicals Grow from 7% to 45% in 7 years

*

Mission & Revival stories

See also: Great Revival Stories

Survey of Revivals (Geoff Waugh)

Revival Adventures (Geoff Waugh) 

Atheist Author Recognizes Global Faith Revival 

Jesus.net – over 12 million decisions for Christ

Australia – Pentecost in Arnhem Land (Djiniyini Gondarra)

Australia – Fire of God among Aborigines (John Blacket)

Australia – Our Mob, God’s Story

Australia – Pilgrimage in Renewal (John-Charles Vockler)

Australia – Young Christians sharing Good News in Brisbane

Australia & South Pacific – Healing Evangelism (Geoff Waugh)

South Pacific – The Timor Revival (Mel Tari) 

South Pacific – Bougainville Revival (Royree Jensen)

South Pacific – Acts 3 in faith in PNG (Johan van Bruggen)

South Pacific – Solomon Islands: Hostile Chief dies and meets Jesus

South Pacific – Vanuatu Revival Meetings (Geoff Waugh)

South Pacific – 21st Century Revivals in the Pacific (Geoff Waugh) 

South Pacific – Pentecost on Pentecost Island (Geoff Waugh) 

South Pacific – Pentecost Bungalows 

South Pacific – Papua New Guinea, Power to Change

Asia’s Maturing Church (David Wang) 

Asia – Woman returns from the dead to tell about Jesus

Asia – Bridges of Hope

Asia – Love on Fire: Drunk transformed

Mongolia – Russian Christians bringing God’s love to the steppes

China – The Spirit told us what to do (Carl Lawrence)

George Chen – In the Garden: 18 years in prison

China – Revival in China (Dennis Balcombe)

China – House Churches (Barbara Nield)

China – New Wave of Revival

China – Chinese turning to Christianity

China – Revival Breaks Out in China’s Government Approved Churches

China – Life-changing Miracle

China – how a mother started a house church movement

China – The cross on our shoulders and in our hearts

Korea – Koreans evangelized their own nation

Korea – North Korean believers meet underground

Korea – The Blessing of forced solitude with God

Japan – Christian sites nominated for World Heritage

Philippines – Village Embraces Christ

Laos – A church for the So

Myanmar – Buddhist village comes to Christ

Nepal – Revival Meetings (Raju Sundas) 

Nepal – Influential Buddhist Monk Receives Jesus 

Nepal – Jesus Invaded a Buddhist Monastery 

Nepal – Hindu priest embraces Jesus

India – Filth & Fertile Ground

India – One Touch from Jesus

India – Reading to his father 

India – The Alcoholic’s Son Prayed 

India – Christianity exploding in Bangladesh

India – Jesus Well: life-giving and living water

Russia – Speaking God’s Word (David Yonggi Cho) 

Russia – World Cup: Churches reach millions

UK – Alpha in Prison

UK – Christians reach out to Muslims 

Europe – Seven Signs of Hope (Jeff Fountain) 

Europe – Two Unlikely People in Rome

Europe – Opera singer plants church in Vienna

North America – Pensacola Revival (Michael Brown)

North America – Baltimore Revival (Elizabeth Moll Stalcup)

North America – Mobile Revival (Joel Kilpatrick)

North America – Smithton Revival (Joel Kilpatrick)

North America – Gangsters in the Doorway (Robby Dawkins)

North America – Interrupted by God (Robby Dawkins)

North America – 20th Anniversary – Toronto Blessing (Randy Clark)

North America – Billy Graham – in his own words

Mexico – The River of God (David Hogan) 

Mexico – Thousands of migrants meet Jesus at the border

Central America – Missions at the Margins (Bob Ekblad)

South America – Snapshots of Glory (George Otis Jr) 

South America – Revival in the Amazon among “Skull Splitters”

South America – Almolonga, the Miracle City (Mell Winger)

South America – Prison Revival in Argentina (Ed Silvoso) 

South America – Argentina Revival (Guido Kuwas) 

South America – Bogotá Revival, by Guido Kuwas 

South America – Revival Impacted Bolivia (Ruth Ruibal)

South America – Brazil: Transformation by Prayer (Inger Logelin)

South America – Brazil: Transformation through Prayer (George Otis)

South America – Christian Light filling Columbia’s Black Hole

South America – Cali Transformation (George Otis Jr) 

Israel – Jews finding Jesus in Israel (God Reports) 

Muslims and Jesus: Life in the Desert 

Middle East – Many Muslims are Turning to Christ 

Middle East – Isis losing control

Middle East – God sends dust storm to protect new believers

Afghanistan – The real enemy of Afghanistan

Iran – fastest growing evangelical population

Iran – Hope in Tehran’s notorious Evin Prison 

Iraq – Christian Refugees – Beauty and Bravery 

Iraq – Muslim from Ninevah discovers the Bible’s magnetism

Iraq – Historic Christmas in Iraq

Arabia – Sheiks import Bibles

Egypt – opening to the Gospel amid persecution 

Egypt – Miracles in Garbage City, Cairo (Joel News)

Egypt – Thousands gather

Egypt – Modern Day Daniel 

Africa – Reinhard Bonnke’s beginnings 

Africa – Reinhard Bonnke’s Final Crusade in Africa

Africa – “This Disco is a church” (Reinhard Bonnke)

Africa – Congo: Before they call I will answer (Helen Roseveare)

Africa – Congo: Missionary thought he was a failure

Africa – Mozambique: The Primacy of Love (Heidi Baker)

Africa – Ghana: He woke up totally healed (Daniel Kolenda)

Africa – West Africa: The church on the camel’s path

Africa – West Africa: Story-tellers of Good News

Africa – West Africa: The ‘Unqualified’ Farmer

Africa – West Africa: A woman in the marketplace starts 3 churches

Africa – Cameroon: God’s love – changed a culture

Africa – South Africa: Almost 1 million pray together

Africa – Burundi: Outstanding Christian medical missionary

Africa – Sudan: Missionary tortured in prison led 40 to Christ

Africa – Uganda: Sheikh sent to assassinate pastor, converted

Africa – Uganda: God saves and heals including HIV

Africa – Uganda: a Bible App is growing churches in a refugee camp

Africa – Uganda Mission Trip 

Africa – Son of witchdoctor sees 65 brothers and sisters converted 

Africa – Ghana Miracles (Geoff Waugh) 

Africa – Kenya Mission (Geoff Waugh)

Renewal Journal Facebook Mission Albums

Moravian Revival, Herrnhut, East Germany

Germany,with David – July-August 2013

Transformed Communities – Latin America & more

Brazil Transformation – Conference, 2008

USA and Caribbean – 2008 & 2012

Alaska – Catch the Wave Conference, 2009

Ghana Mission – 1995

Kenya Mission – 2005-2007

Light Home, India – Elisha Chowatapilli

Mission in Darjeeling, India – 1998-2000

Mission in Nepal – 2004-2015

Mission in Thailand – 2011

Mission in Malaysia – 2010

Myanmar (Burma) Mission Trip – 2015-2016

Mission in Myanmar – 2008-2012

Solomon Islands – 2007

Solomon Islands with Gideon – 2007

Grant in Solomon Islands – 2007

Solomon Islands Convention – 2006

Solomon Islands with Vanuatu team – 2006

Solomon Islands – 2004-2006

Vanuatu Mission – 2012-2015

Vanuatu Revival Mission Teams – 2013

Grant in Vanuatu – 2006

Pentecost Island, Vanuatu – 2005-2006

Vanuatu – Port Vila & Tanna – 2003-2004

Fiji, with Kenmore Church – 2008-2009

Priscilla on Mission in Australia – 2002

Seini on Mission in Australia – 2002

Romulo on Mission in Australia – 2002

South Pacific Mission Team in NSW Australia – 2002

South Pacific Mission Team in Queensland, Australia – 2002

PDF books on the Main Page

GENERAL BLOGS INDEX

BLOGS INDEX 1: REVIVALS (BRIEFER THAN REVIVALS INDEX)

BLOGS INDEX 2: MISSION (INTERNATIONAL STORIES)

BLOGS INDEX 3: MIRACLES (SUPERNATURAL EVENTS)

BLOGS INDEX 4: DEVOTIONAL (INCLUDING TESTIMONIES)

BLOGS INDEX 5: CHURCH (CHRISTIANITY IN ACTION)

BLOGS INDEX 6: CHAPTERS (BLOGS FROM BOOKS)

BLOGS INDEX 7: IMAGES (PHOTOS AND ALBUMS)

BACK TO MAIN PAGE

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https://renewaljournal.com/2016/02/16/blogs-index-2-mission/

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miracles, mission, revival, signs and wonders , ,

Blogs Index 1: Revivals

by Geoff 16 February 2016 3 Comments

 Blogs Index 1: REVIVALS

General Blogs Index

Blogs Index 1: Revivals (briefer than Revivals Index)

Blogs Index 2: Mission (international stories)

Blogs Index 3: Miracles (supernatural events)

Blogs Index 4: Devotional (including testimonies)

Blogs Index 5: Church (Christianity in Action)

Blogs Index 6: Chapters (Blogs from Books)

Blogs Index 7: Images (photos from Books)

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Renewal Journals – Blogs Index 1` Revivals:
https://renewaljournal.com/2016/02/16/blogs-index-1-revivals/ 

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* Flashpoints of Revival This page is similar to the Revivals Index – top bar Menu. Revivals Index (Top Bar Menu) has more details and links, including links to specific revivals.

 

 

REVIVALS

See also Revivals Index

See also Revival Blogs

Recent Revival Blogs

Revivals in 2024


See also: 17-year-old Evangelist sparks Revival in South Africa

 


Christianity is Growing Faster than Ever


Europe – Slovakia: Revival among the Roma – 2020


Asia: 3,000 churches from one man’s obedience


Israel – Reconciliation & Jews coming to faith – 2020


Randy Clark describes personal revival beginnings


Iran: where Christianity is growing fastest


Transformation – communities transformed by God

 
Light the Fire Again – Pensacola Conference 2019


Revival with Iris Global – Roland & Heidi Baker

 

Day and night prayer impacted a community


Revival hits army base

f-akers
Revivals Across the South of USA

Virginia2
Revival Fires in West Virginia

ASU
Current Revival in America’s Largest University


California beach revival attended by 1000 – in 2020

Blessings Bible
Atheist Author Recognizes Global Faith Revival 

General Revival Blogs

a-gods-surprises-all
God’s Surprises – Blog
God’s Surprises – PDF Revival Blogs

 

Carl Lawrence & David WangThe Spirit told us what to do

Two teenage girls plant many churches

Excerpt from The Coming Influence of China
*
 
Johan van BruggenActs 3 acted out in faith in PNG
*
cfan1He woke up totally healed
* * * *
 
 
Mama Luka“Before they call I will answer”
Helen Roseveare in Africa
 
*
RuibalRevival Impacted Bolivia
*
 Russ StendalChristian Light
is filling Columbia’s
Spiritual Black Hole
*
Monks
Jesus invaded a Buddhist Monastery
in the Himalayas
*
*
 

Peter Morgan
Pinnacle Pocket Revival, North Queensland

  repent-Holy-Ghost-party
Why Culture won’t Change without Radical Revival  

Untitled
Principles of Revival from History

1
Students ignite Charismatic Movement

  p1
Transformation in Juarez, Mexico

  A face
Revivals in the Middle East

  RICOH
Pentecost on Pentecost Island

  0 revive-us-again-1
Revival Quotes

Chuck Smith Lonnie Frisbee
Jesus People Revival  

Mel TariMel Tari on the Timor Revival

  Syrian-Outreach-400x267-300x200Many Muslims are Turning to Christ  

Weat AfricaThe church on the camel’s path
 
ConferencePraiseChina – New Wave of Revival
 
Hicks vision2 A Vision of the Pure & Powerful Bride

Tommy Hicks’ Revival Vision

*
*
Dawkins RobbyGangsters in the Doorway
Also: 
Interrupted by God
*

 1Revival in Brazil Transformation through Prayer Evangelicals Grow from 7% to 45% in 7 years

Revival Summaries

Condensed from Flashpoints of Revivals and Revival Fires

Biblical Background
Pentecost to the Reformation
The Great Awakenings
Eighteenth Century Revivals: The Great Awakening
Early Nineteenth Century Revivals: Frontier and Missionary Revivals
Mid-nineteenth Century Revivals: Prayer Revivals
Early Twentieth Century Revivals: Worldwide Revivals
Mid-twentieth Century Revivals: Healing Evangelism Revivals
Late Twentieth Century Revivals: Renewal and Revival
Final Decade, Twentieth Century Revivals: Blessing Revivals
Twenty First Century Revivals: Transforming Revivals

Revival stories – inspiring accounts

See also: Great Revival Stories
Survey of Revivals (Geoff Waugh) 

OUTPOURINGS – I will pour out of my Spirit

Some Revival accounts to 2020 into the 21st century

Global Faith Revival – 2016

Why Culture won’t Change without Radical Revival – 2017

Christianity is Growing Faster than Ever – 2020

Twenty-first Century Revivals – 2020 

 

UK – Alpha in Prison – 2014 

Europe – Seven Signs of Hope – 2014 

Europe – Two Unlikely People in Rome – 200 million – 2014

Europe – Slovakia: Revival among the Roma – 2020

 

North America – Jesus People Revival – 1960s

North America – Students ignite Charismatic Movement – 1967

North America – The Jesus Film – now in 1500 languages, 500 million responses – 1979

North America – Toronto, Canada – 1994

North America –  Pensacola, Florida, North America – 1995

North America – Mobile Revival – 1996

North America – Smithton Revival – 1996

North America – Baltimore Revival – 1997 

North America – Whatcom: day and night prayer – 2008

North America – Aurora: Gangsters in the Doorway – 2011

North America – Revival Fires in West Virginia – 2016

North America – Revival hits army base – 2018

North America – Revivals Across the South of USA – 2018

North America – Current Revival in America’s Largest University – 2018

Mexico – Transformation in Juarez, Mexico – 1970s

Mexico – The River of God – 1996

 

Central America – Missions at the Margins – 2008

South America – Snapshots of Glory – 1970s-1990s 

South America – Revival Impacted Bolivia – 1970s 

South America – Almolonga, Guatemala, the Miracle City – 1970s

South America – Prison Revival in Argentina – 1990s 

South America – Argentina Revival – 1980s-1990s 

South America – Bogotá Revival – 1990s 

South America – Brazil: Transformation through Prayer – 1990s

South America – Cali Transformation – 1995 

South America – Amazon: Revival in the Amazon among “Skull Splitters” – 2012

South America – Christian Light is filling Columbia’s Spiritual Black Hole – 2015

South America – Brazil: Transformation through Prayer – 2016

South America – Argentina: The amazing transformation at Los Olmos prison – 2020

Brazil – Revival spreads worldwide – 2023

 

Israel – Reconciliation & Jews coming to faith – 2020

Israel – Supernatural Signs & Wonders break out among 1,000 Jews – 2015

Israel – Jews finding Jesus in Israel – 2000s

Midle East – Revival in the Middle East – 2000s

Middle East – Many Muslims are Turning to Christ – 2016

Arabia – Sheiks import Bibles – 2000s

Iran – fastest growing evangelical population – 2000s

Iran – where Christianity is growing fastest – 2000s

Egypt – Miracles in Garbage City, Cairo – 1980s 

Egypt – Thousands gather – 2000s

 

Africa – Congo: Before they call I will answer (Helen Roseveare) – 1950s
Video: Mama Luka Comes Home – Helen Roseveare tells this story 

Africa – Reinhard Bonnke’s beginnings – 1970s

Africa – “This Disco is a church” (Reinhard Bonnke) – 1970s

Africa – Nairobi: Reinhard Bonnke’s Final Crusade in Africa – 2017

Africa – Ghana Miracles – 1995

Africa – West Africa: The church on the camel’s path – 2000s

Africa – Mozambique: The Primacy of Love (Heidi Baker) – 2000s

Africa – Mozambique: Revival with Iris Global – 2000s

Africa – Ghana: He woke up totally healed (Daniel Kolenda) – 2014

Africe – Revival spreads worldwide – 2023

 

Asia’s Maturing Church (David Wang) – from 1970s

Asia – Radicals can’t stop the Jesus Film – 2000s

Asia: 3,000 churches from one man’s obedience – 2020

Nepal – Revival Meetings (Raju Sundas) – 2000s

Nepal – Jesus invaded a Buddhist Monastery in the Himalayas – 2015

India – One Touch from Jesus – 2000s

Bangladesh – Christianity exploding in Bangladesh – 2000s

Russia – Speaking God’s Word (David Yonggi Cho) – 1992

China – The Spirit told us what to do (Carl Lawrence) – 2001

China – Revival in China (Dennis Balcombe) – late 1900s

China – House Churches – late 1900s

China – New Wave of Revival – 2016

China – Chinese turning to Christianity – 2000s

China – Revival Breaks Out in China’s Government Approved Churches – 2000s

China – How Christians respond to the coronavirus outbreak – 2020

Indonesia – Mel Tari on the Timor Revival – 1965

 

Hawaii – Thouands of native Hawaiians touched by God – 1837-1841

South Pacific – Bougainville Revival – 1987 

South Pacific – Acts 3 acted out in faith in PNG – 1990

South Pacific – Vanuatu Revival Meetings – 2000s

South Pacific – 21st Century Revivals in the South Pacific – 2000s

Australia & South Pacific – Healing Evangelism – 2000s

Australia – Pinnacle Pocket Revival, North Queensland – 1930s

Australia – Pilgrimage in Renewal (John-Charles Vockler) – 1970s

Australia – Pentecost in Arnhem Land (Djiniyini Gondarra) – 1979

Australia – Fire of God among Aborigines (John Blacket) – 1980s

Australia – Young Christians sharing Good News on the streets in Brisbane – 2015

Links to revival resources

Tommy Hicks’ Revival Vision

Authors of Renewal Journal articles

Revival Library – revival-library.org

Revival Quotes

Some biographical revival blogs

Renewal Journal and Geoff Waugh on Facebook – regular updates

Revival Reports – God’s Surprises

Revival Highlights from Journey into Ministry & Mission – & PDF

Revival Highlights from Journey into Mission – & PDF

Revival Adventures (Geoff Waugh)

Revival Reports (Geoff Waugh)

Africa – Ghana Miracles – 1995

Nepal – Revival Meetings (Raju Sundas) – 2000s

South Pacific – 21st Century Revivals in the South Pacific – 2000s

South Pacific – Vanuatu Revival Meetings – 2000s

Australia & South Pacific – Healing Evangelism – 2000s

 

riverlife-goingdeeper
Podcast link: 21st-century revivals – Riverlife Church: Geoff & grandson Dante talk with staff about revivals they’ve seen

See also Revivals Index

See also Revival Blogs

GENERAL BLOGS INDEX

BLOGS INDEX 1: REVIVALS (BRIEFER THAN REVIVALS INDEX)

BLOGS INDEX 2: MISSION (INTERNATIONAL STORIES)

BLOGS INDEX 3: MIRACLES (SUPERNATURAL EVENTS)

BLOGS INDEX 4: DEVOTIONAL (INCLUDING TESTIMONIES)

BLOGS INDEX 5: CHURCH (CHRISTIANITY IN ACTION)

BLOGS INDEX 6: CHAPTERS (BLOGS FROM BOOKS)

BLOGS INDEX 7: IMAGES (PHOTOS AND ALBUMS)

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