Geoff Waugh
The decade of evangelism
and harvest in the 1990s has already seen astounding revival fire throughout
the world, unprecedented in all history.
Church history and
current revivals include times when God moves in great power with mighty
visitations. We are living through that now, and there is more to come.
* The early church
saw it. Read Acts! At Pentecost 3,000 were won in one day. Soon after that,
there were 5,000 more. Then great multitudes of men and women. They had the
reputation of turning their world upside down (Acts 17:6).
* Missionary
expansion continued to see it. For example, Patrick in Ireland and
Augustine in England saw strong moves of God and thousands converted with many
signs and wonders reported.
Evangelical
awakenings
* The Moravians
saw it. On Wednesday 17 August 1727, the Moravian colony in Germany was
overwhelmed and filled with the Spirit at their communion service. Their
leader, 27-year-old Count Nicholas Zinzendorf, said it was like being in
heaven. That month they began a continuous prayer meeting called the Hourly
Intercession with people praying in teams for an hour at a time day and night.
That non-stop prayer meeting went for 100 years. Within 25 years, they had sent
out 200 missionaries, more than all the Protestants had done in two centuries.
* The American
colonies saw it. 50,000 were converted in 17345. Jonathan Edwards described
the characteristics of that move as, first, an extraordinary sense of the awful
majesty, greatness and holiness of God, and second, a great longing for
humility before God and adoration of God.
* 1739 saw
astonishing moves of God in England. On 1 January, the Wesleys and Whitefield
and 60 others, Methodists and Moravians, met in London for prayer and a love
feast. The Spirit of God moved powerfully on them all. Many fell to the ground,
resting in the Spirit. In February 1739, Whitefield started preaching to the
Kingswood coal miners in the open fields with about 200 attending. By March
20,000 attended. Whitefield invited Wesley to take over then and so in April
Wesley began his famous open air preaching (which continued for 50 years).
* David Brainerd,
missionary to the North American Indians from 1743 to his death at 29 in 1749
saw a powerful visitation of God in October 1745. Whole communities were
changed by the power of the Spirit. Crime and drunkenness dropped, idolatry was
abandoned and marriages repaired.
* Powerful revival
touched America in 1800, especially the frontier territory of Kentucky.
Thousands were converted. Many strange reactions accompanied the move of the
Spirit then, including strong shaking and loud cries.
* John Hunt, a
pioneering Methodist missionary in Fiji, wrote in his journal about revival
there in October 1845. The Spirit fell on the people in meetings and in their
homes. There were loud cries of repentance, confession, long meetings,
simultaneous praying aloud, and some being overwhelmed (Birtwhistle 1954:133).
* Jeremiah Lanphier,
a city missioner, began a weekly noon prayer meeting in New York in September
1857. By October, it grew into a daily prayer meeting attended by many
businessmen. By March 1858, newspapers carried front-page reports of over 6,000
attending daily prayer meetings in New York and Pittsburgh, and daily prayer
meetings were held in Washington at five different times to accommodate the
crowds. By May 1859, 50,000 of New York's 800,000 people were new converts. New
England was profoundly changed by the revival and in several towns no
unconverted adults could be found! Charles Finney preached in those days.
* During September 1857,
the same month the prayer meetings began in New York, four young Irishmen
commenced a weekly prayer meeting in a village school near Kells. That is
generally seen as the start of the Ulster revival of 1859, which brought
100,000, converts into the churches of Ireland.
* Throughout 1859,
the same deep conviction and lasting conversions revived thousands of people in
Wales, England and Scotland. One tenth of Wales became new converts. Charles
Haddon Spurgeon, the Baptist prince of preachers, saw 1859 as the high water
mark although he had already been preaching in London for five years with great
blessing and huge crowds in a church where people prayed continually and had
seen continual growth.
Twentieth Century
Awakenings
* From October 1904 Evan
Roberts in his twenties, formerly a miner and blacksmith, saw God move
powerfully during the Welsh revival in answer to his and others'
persistent prayers. 100,000 were converted in Wales during 19045. Churches
filled from 10 a.m. until after midnight every day for two years, bringing
profound social change to Wales.
* William Seymour began
a Mission at Azusa Street in Los Angeles on Easter Saturday, 14 April
1906 with about 100 attending, both blacks and whites. It grew out of a cottage
prayer meeting. Revival there drew people from around the nation and overseas
and launched Pentecostalism as a worldwide movement.
* Revival in Korea
touched the nation in 1907. Presbyterian missionaries, hearing of revival in
Wales, prayed earnestly for the same in Korea. 1500 representatives gathered
for the annual New Year Bible studies in which a spirit of prayer broke out.
The leaders allowed everyone to pray aloud simultaneously as so many were wanting
to pray. That became a characteristic of Korean prayer meetings. Revival
continues there now.
* In the Communist
Soviet Union, the Spirit of God moved in great power from the revolution of
1917 to 1927 and churches grew and multiplied rapidly. Baptists in the Ukraine,
for example, grew from a few thousand to 100,000 in that decade, which was
followed by savage persecution.
* The famous cricketer
and missionary, C T Studd reported on revival in the Belgian Congo in
1914: 'The whole place was charged as if with an electric current. Men were
falling, jumping, laughing, crying, singing, confessing and some shaking
terribly. ... This particular one can best be described as a spiritual tornado.
People were literally flung to the floor or over the forms, yet no one was
hurt. ... As I led in prayer, the Spirit came down in mighty power sweeping the
congregation. My whole body trembled with the power. We saw a marvelous sight,
people literally filled and drunk with the Spirit' (Pratney 1984:267).
* The famous East
African revival began in Rwanda in June 1936 and rapidly spread to the neighboring
countries of Burundi, Uganda and the Congo (now Zaire), then further around.
The Holy Spirit moved upon mission schools, spread to churches and to whole
communities, producing deep repentance and changed lives. Anglican Archdeacon
Arthur PittPitts wrote in September, 'I have been to all the stations where
this Revival is going on, and they all have the same story to tell. The fire
was alight in all of them before the middle of June, but during the last week
in June, it burst into a wild flame which, like the African grass fire before
the wind, cannot be put out' (Osborn 1991:21).
* The Holy Spirit fell
dramatically on a small prayer group of eight people in Argentina in
1948, and their church immediately exploded with many signs and wonders and
healings. Some converts in that move of God were in Bible College in June 1951
when the Spirit fell on them there. The college prayed for 4 months with
intense weeping, and many astounding prophecies including that the largest
stadiums in Argentina would be filled soon for Christian meetings. That
happened in 1954 with the visit of Tommy Hicks. The largest stadium seating
110,000 was filled for weeks as 300,000 made commitments and hundreds were
healed each night for three months.
* God moved upon the
mountain town of Soe in Timor on Sunday 26 September 1965. That night
people heard the sound of a tornado wind and flames above the Reformed Church
building prompted police to set off the fire alarm. Healings and evangelism
increased dramatically. Hundreds of thousands were converted. About 90
evangelistic teams were formed which functioned powerfully with spiritual
gifts. The first team saw 9,000 people converted in two weeks in one town alone.
In the first three years of this revival, 200,000 became Christians in Timor,
and on another small island where few had been, Christians 20,000 became
believers.
* God's power visited Asbury
College in Wilmore, Kentucky, on Tuesday 3 February 1970 at the regular
morning chapel commencing at 10 o'clock. The auditorium filled with over 1,000
people. Few left for meals. By midnight over 500 still remained praying and
worshipping. Several hundred committed their lives to Christ that day. Teams of
students visited 16 states and saw several thousand conversions through their
witnessing in one week. Over 1,000 teams went out in the first six weeks.
* The Jesus Movement
exploded in 1971 among hippie and counter culture youth in America in the early
seventies. Thousands were baptized in the ocean. Vital new groups like those
that Calvary Chapel led by Chuck Smith emerged and multiplied rapidly.
Newspapers of the movement included the Hollywood Free Paper, which grew from a
circulation of 10,000 to over 150,000 in two years; Truth merged with Agape and
printed 100,000. Right On! grew from 20,000 to 100,000 circulation (Pratney
1984:231).
* In 1971 Bill
McLeod, a Canadian Baptist pastor, invited the twin evangelists Ralph and
Lou Sutera to speak at his church in Saskatoon. Revival broke out with their visit,
which began on Wednesday 13 October. By the weekend, an amazing spirit gripped
the people. Many confessed their sins publicly. Meetings had to be moved to the
Civic Auditorium seating 2000. This spread to other churches as well.
* In September 1973,
Todd Burke arrived in Cambodia on a one-week visitor's visa, later
extended. Just 23 years old, he felt a strong call from God to minister there.
By the end of September, he had seen hundreds healed and saved. A virile church
grew rapidly, later buried after the communist coup of 1975. By 1978, a million
Cambodians had been killed. Still the decimated church survives, and is growing
again.
* In 1979, John
Wimber began pasturing a fellowship, which his wife Carol had begun in
their home. Their Vineyard Fellowship grew rapidly with their prayerful
worship, powerful evangelism and a growing healing ministry. On Mother's Day in
May 1981, a young man gave his testimony at the evening service and called on
the Holy Spirit to come in power. Revival broke out at that service as hundreds
were dramatically filled with the Spirit. In the next four months, they baptized
700 new converts. The church grew to 5,000 in a decade and commenced many other
Vineyard fellowships.
* The church in China
continues to see God's strong move amid great persecution, torture and killing,
which still continues. David Wang tells of a pastor imprisoned for over 22
years who left behind a church of 150 people scattered through the hill
villages in northern China. On his release in the 1980s, he discovered the
church in that area had grown to 5,000. Three years later, it had trebled to
15,000. Evangelists who saw 3040 converted in each village they visited in the
eighties now report 300400 or more being converted in their visits. Some
villages are experiencing a visitation of God where the whole village becomes
Christian.
* Nagaland, a
state in the NorthEast of India, began to experience revival in the 1960s and
has continued in revival. By the early 1980s, 85% of the population had become
Christians (Mills 1990:40).
* Missionaries were
expelled from Burma in the 1960s but the church continues to grow. A
baptismal service at the Kachin Baptist Centennial Convention in 1977 saw 6,000
people baptized in one day.
* During the 1980s, the
200 missionaries of the Philippine Missionary Fellowship each organized
daily prayer group meetings at 7 p.m. to pray for the growth of the church.
They report that within a couple of years this directly resulted in the
formation of 310 new churches (Robinson 1992:13).
* Revival has been
spreading in the Pacific Islands, especially in the Solomon’s since July-August
1970 when God moved powerfully in the nation, especially in meetings with Muri
Thompson a Maori evangelist. The Spirit came in power, producing deep and loud
repentance, much confession, signs and wonders, and transformed churches. Teams
have gone from the Solomon’s to many other countries, sparking many other
revivals.
* Engas in the Baptist
mission area of the Western Highlands of Papua New Guinea had a fresh
outpouring of the Holy Spirit from Sunday 16 September 1973, as the village
pastors preached in their services after attending meetings during the previous
week led by visitors from the Solomon Islands. Many were saved. Many were
delivered from evil spirits. Many were healed. The church grew rapidly.
* The Huli speaking
people of the United Church in Tari in the Southern Highlands of Papua New
Guinea also experienced revival from August 1974, with much confession,
many tears, and deliverance from spirit powers. That revival spread to
surrounding areas also.
* On Thursday afternoon
10 March 1977 at Duranmin near the West Irain border of Papua New Guinea,
Diyos Wapnok the principal of the Baptist Bible College spoke to about 50 people.
They were all filled with the Holy Spirit and great joy. Keith and Joan Bennet
of Gateway were there. 3,000 were converted in the next three years. They had
daily prayer meetings in the villages and many healings and miracles.
* Australian Aborigines
on Galiwin'ku (Elcho Island) experienced revival from Wednesday 14 March
1979. Djiniyini Gondarra had returned from holidays that day and people met in
his manse for prayer that night where the Spirit fell on them, as at Pentecost.
They met all night and many were filled with the Spirit and many healed. The
movement spread rapidly from there throughout Arnhem Land.
* In the Sepik
lowlands of northern Papua New Guinea, a visitation of God burst on the
churches at Easter 1984, sparked again by Solomon Island pastors. There was
repentance, confession, and weeping and great joy. Stolen goods were returned
or replaced, and wrongs made right.
* Jobson Misang, an
indigenous youth worker in the United Church reported on a move of God in the North
Solomons Province of Papua New Guinea in 1988. For 8 weekends straight he
led camps where 3,500 took part and 2,000 were converted.
* The Evangelist
Training Center of the Lutheran church in the Eastern Highlands of Papua New
Guinea had a visitation of God on Thursday night 4 August 1988. Crowds
stayed up most of the night as the Spirit touched people deeply, many resting
in the Spirit, others praying in tongues. Students went out on powerful mission
igniting fires of the Spirit in the villages.
* On Saturday 6 May 1989,
the Spirit of God fell on Waritzian village in Papua New Guinea's Eastern
Highlands. For three days, the people were drunk in the Spirit. Healing and
miracles occurred. On the Monday, they burned their magic and witchcraft
fetishes. The area had been a stronghold of spirit worship. Students from the
Lutheran Training Center were involved that weekend.
Harvest in the 1990s
* The CBNTV
(Christian Broadcasting Network) 700 Club with Pat Robertson reported 6 million
conversions in their work worldwide in 1990, which was more than the previous
30 years of results combined.
* Revival swept Cuba in
1988. One A.O.G. church had 100,000 visitors in 6 months! In central Cuba, a
miraculous healing in one church led to nine days of meetings in which 1,200
people were saved. The pastors were imprisoned, but the revival continued. In
another church over 15,000 accepted Christ in three months. In 1990 an A.O.G.
pastors whose congregation never exceeded 100 meeting once a week suddenly
found himself conducting 12 services a day for 7,000 people (Robinson 1995).
* In the 1980s,
Christians in East Germany started to form small prayer groups of ten to
twelve persons to pray for peace. By October 1989, 50,000 people were involved
in Monday night prayer meetings. In 1990, when these praying people moved
quietly into the streets, their numbers swelled to 300,000 and the wall came
down (Robinson 1992:14).
* In 1990, a bloodless
revolution freed Mongolia from Russian rule. Within two years, more than
500 people became Christian in that formerly resistant nation. A young girl was
the first in her area to accept Christ. Now churches are growing in Mongolia
where there were none before 1990.
* Christians in Iran have
recently grown in number from 2,700 to over 12,000 according to Abe Ghaffari of
Iranian Christians International. An additional 12,000 Iranian Christians live
in Western nations. Disillusionment with harsh Islamic law has opened Iran to
the Gospel (United Prayer Track News, No. 1., Brisbane, 1993).
* Harvest has begun
among the Kurds who have been hounded into refugee camps where
Christians have helped and comforted them. The first Kurdish church in history
has resulted. Many Kurds are open to the Gospel (United Prayer Track News, No.
1, Brisbane, 1993).
* The church in the
Sudan is suffering under Islamic edicts. Missionaries are expelled, pastors
imprisoned, and Christians persecuted. Despite the persecution there has been
phenomenal church growth reported, especially in the south and the Nuba
mountains region.
* A church leader wrote
from Asaba, Nigeria, in 1992, telling how their church had increased
from 700 to 3,200 within 6 months. A team of just over 100 went on outreach,
first in Sokoto State where they started 5 churches involving 1,225 converts
within 3 months. Then they went to Bomu State where three branches were planted
with over 1,000 converts in all. Many Moslems were converted in spite of severe
persecution.
* Reports indicate that
more Muslims have come to Christ in the past decade than in the previous
thousand years. 'New believers are immediately tested to a degree
incomprehensible to us. Many are imprisoned and some have been martyred by
governments or relatives. Yet, the persecution seems only to strengthen their
determination and boldness. In one country, where all Christian meetings are
illegal, believers rented a soccer stadium and 5,000 people gathered. Police
came to disperse the meeting and left in confusion when the Christians refused
to leave' (United Prayer Track News, No. 1, Brisbane, 1993).
* The church in
previously resistant Nepal in the Himalayas is growing steadily. David
Wang tells of a former Lama priest nicknamed Black Bravery, who has been an
illiterate pastor for 15 years. By the nineties, he led 43 fellowships with 32,000
people. Another pastor in a remote area has 40,000 Christians in his region.
Most conversions in Nepal involve casting out demons to set people free (Asian
Report, May/June 1991).
* Eric Alexander of the
Bible Society in India wrote in 1993, 'I was in Amedabad in the month of
February and was delighted to see a great revival in the Church there. I was
surprised to hear that 30,000 people have accepted the Lord Jesus as their
personal Savior in the Diocese of Gujarat (Church of North India). Thousands of
new converts are in the Methodist, Roman Catholic, Salvation Army and
Pentecostal churches. There are thousands and thousands!' (Sharing Australia,
SOMA Newsletter, March 1993, p. 2).
* In October-November
1990, one small island in Indonesia saw 30,000 converted and 45,000 were
baptized in another region in January-February 1991. This growth is among
former animistic Muslims.
* Ruth Rongo from Vanuatu
told of three months of evangelism ministry in 1991 where the power of God
touched many villages and shocked the villagers with miracles just as in the
New Testament. The church grew rapidly. Ruth was then involved in a prayer group,
which met after the Sunday night service. They began at 10.30 p.m. and prayed
every week to 1 or 3.30 a.m.
* From May 1993, the Christian
Outreach Centers in Australia have experienced a strong move of the Spirit,
with much repenting, and many resting in the Spirit or drunk in the Spirit for
hours, or days. Many have received visions and prophetic insights, including
young people and children in the schools. Beginning at the headquarters in
Brisbane it spread to their churches. It brought a new zeal for evangelism and
outreach. Similarly Christian Outreach Centers overseas, especially in the
Pacific, are experiencing powerful moves of the Spirit and rapid growth.
* Evangelist Rodney
Howard-Browne has led meetings in the eighties and nineties with hundreds
of thousands touched afresh by the Spirit of God and many thousands converted.
That has sparked powerful moves of the Spirit in thousands of churches,
including the Toronto Airport Christian Fellowship since 20 January 1994. An
estimated 100,000 visited that church in 1994 and the revival continues. Over
7,000 churches in Great Britain have been reported to have experienced this
current blessing, including a Brethren church on which the Spirit fell one
Sunday overwhelming the people who then found themselves praying in tongues.
* Latin America continues
to experience revival. Many healing evangelists now speak to hundreds of
thousands in massive crusades, and churches continue to multiply. Some
evangelists there fast and pray in an area before commencing crusades until the
strongholds in that area are broken. Then they report astounding moves of the
Spirit of God. An estimated 3.5 million a year become Christian in Latin
America now.
* Reinhard Bonnke
continues to have massive healing evangelistic crusades in Africa, often with
hundreds of thousands attending in the open air. In February 1995, in
spiritually resistant Ethiopia, up to 115,000 attended his meetings daily. In
five days, more than 100,000 made commitments to Christ and as many were filled
with the Spirit and thousands received healing. Around 10 million a year are
becoming Christians in Africa.
* An estimated 12
million a year are becoming Christian in China now with unprecedented
moves of God's Spirit, healings, miracles, and visions of Christ. In the
eighties teenage evangelist reported on 30-40 people being converted when they
preached in a village. Now they report on 300-600 being converted in a village.
Evangelical Christians numbered 1 million there in 1950. Now estimates exceed
100 million, with over 12 million becoming Christians each year now.
* The Jesus
Film, based on Luke's gospel, has been seen by an estimated 503 million
people in 197 countries, and 33 million or more have indicated decisions for
Christ as a result. It has more than 6,300 prints in circulation and around
356,000 video copies. The world's most widely translated film, Jesus,
has been dubbed into more than 240 languages, with 100 more in progress
(National & International Religion Report, May 3, 1993, p.1).
* Pentecostal/charismatic
Christians are now more than one third of all the 1,260,000 practicing
Christians in the world today, just one indication of how the Spirit of God is
moving.
We continue to pray that
the Lord will thrust us out into his harvest. To God be the glory.
References
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Burke, T & D (1977) Anointed for Burial. Seattle: Frontline.
Koch, K (n.d.) The Revival in Indonesia. Evangelization Publishers.
Mills, B (1990) Preparing for Revival. Eastbourne: Kingsway.
Osborn, H H (1991) Fire in the Hills. Crowborough: Highland.
Pratney, W (1984, 1995) Revival. Springdale: Whitaker House.
Richardson, D (1981) Eternity in Their Hearts. Ventura: Regal.
Robinson, S (1995) Praying the Price. London: Sovereign
Tari, M (1971) Like a Mighty Wind. Carol Springs: Creation House.
Tari, M & N (1974) The Gentle Breeze of Jesus. Carol Springs:
Wagner, C P (1983) On the Crest of the Wave. Glendale: Regal
Wagner, C P (1986) Spiritual Power and Church Growth. London: Hodder & Stoughton.
Wagner, C P (1992) Prayer Shield. Ventura: Regal.
Watt, E S (n.d.) Floods on Dry Ground. Marshall, Morgan & Scott.
W.E.C. (1954) This is that. Christian Literature Crusade.
______________________________________________________
(c) Waugh, G. ed. 1995. Anointed for Revival. Brisbane:
Renewal, pp. 27-35.
http://www.pastornet.net.au/renewal/
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