Pastor Dennis Balcombe recounted the remarkable gospel revival in China after 1978, emphasizing that Asia will take the gospel to other nations across the globe.
In the first afternoon workshop of the Everyone Asia 2024 conference conducted on July 4, Pastor Dennis Balcombe, the founder of Revival Chinese Ministries International, which was set up in 1997 to serve China through training, Bible distribution, prayer, etc, and Revival Christian Church in Hong Kong, gave a speech about the revival movement in China after 1978.
Initiated by Empowered 21, the worldwide relational network to mobilize churches and the more than 650 million Spirit-empowered Christians to fulfill the Great Commission by Pentecost 2033, the Everyone Asia 2024 conference was held from July 3 to 5 in Sentul International Convention Center, Indonesia. More than 11,000 participants from 46 countries on six continents attended the conference in person.
In his lecture entitled “Revival Movements in Asia: Tens of Millions of Chinese Following Jesus,” the white American pastor who came to Hong Kong several decades ago, introduced how the gospel was revived in China before 2015.
First of all, he talked about how revival began in the early church and spread to other parts of the world. “Every revival begins with prayer and repentance among the believers. Then many experience the baptism of the Holy Spirit. The result of the revival is an emphasis on the Bible. People preach, teach, study the Bible, and give Bibles to other people.”
“The Christian community began on the day of Pentecost in Jerusalem. Then next, the gospel spread throughout Europe. From Europe, it went to North and South America and to Africa. And during the 20th century it came back to Asia, the great revivals are now in Asia: India, China, Indonesia, and other nations. The goal is to fulfill the Great Commission and take the gospel all around the world and back to Jerusalem,” the “born for China” missionary added.
Pastor Balcombe continued that Asia is where 60% of the world's population lives and the Christians are now completing the Great Commission that preaches the gospel throughout the world. Despite the great revival in Asia, most of the nations also have persecution, “but we're sending our missionaries to reach the unreached people.”
The white pastor believes that those Asian nations, including China, India, and Vietnam, will eventually reach the Jewish people with the gospel in Jerusalem, which is called the “Gospel Silk Road Vision.”
Recalling the evangelistic work by Hudson Taylor and the China Inland Mission for China more than 150 years ago, the pastor stated that China now has some of the largest churches in the world and boasts a large Christian population.
“From 1949 to 1979, the doors of gospel ministry from outside to China were totally closed.” Pastor Balcombe said, “In 1978, Deng Xiao-ping opened China.”
After 1978, he and his team visited house churches in Henan, which saw a great revival, miracles, and great persecution in the past decades. They taught the word of God, prayed for the sick, and trained local co-workers for hours a day.
Sometimes, they disguised themselves to do ministry in China under the harsh situation in the 20th century. Pastor Balcombe was even “disguised” as a corpse, placed in a “coffin cart” and smuggled into the villages of Henan and Anhui in the 1980s and 1990s.
He mentioned Fangcheng County in Henan Province, which is sometimes referred to as the “Jesus Nest,” for there used to be many Christians (about 20% of the local population) and hundreds of preachers who traveled over China to preach the gospel.
From 1986 to 1995, many preachers received the baptism of the Holy Spirit, leaders were trained to be missionaries, and some young preachers were commissioned to other provinces for pioneer work.
Pastor Balcombe recalled an experience in Sichuan where he climbed for four hours to reach a mountainous area in the province. Before that, there were almost no Christians in the area, but one year later, there were 1,500 people meeting in local house churches. They came to Christ “due to the supernatural works of the Holy Spirit through the Henan preachers.”
“Now many house churches have their own buildings,” he said. There was a house church in southeastern China which had approximately 1,000 members in 2012. Meanwhile, “many house churches in Wenzhou have built their own buildings.”
He added that the Revival Chinese Ministries International was also delivering hundreds of thousands of Bibles from the Revival church in Hong Kong to mainland China from 1979 to 2015. There used to be the “Donkeys for Jesus” team that packed Bibles from overseas. Each member took 50 whole Bibles, carried them in their luggage bags, and took them into China. Millions of gospel tracts and booklets were also delivered to China.
包德宁牧师讲述了1978年后中国所发生的非凡的福音复兴运动，强调亚洲将把福音传播到全球其他各个国家。
7月4日，“人人亚洲2024”大会第二天下午第一场主题为“新时代新方式”的工作坊中，复兴华人国际事工和香港复兴基督教会的创始人包德宁牧师发表有关1978年中国的复兴运动。国际复兴华人事工是1997年创办的，主要通过培训、分发圣经、祷告等方式服事中国。
人人亚洲2024（EveryOne Asia 2024）大会于7月3-5日在印度尼西亚冼都国际会议举行。大会人人亚洲2024大会是由“灵力21”举办，致力于动员六亿五千万的被圣灵充满的基督徒在2033年的五旬节完成大使命。大会共有来自全球46个国家的11000人实地参加。
包牧师的分享以《亚洲的复兴运动：数千万中国人跟随耶稣》为题，其中重点介绍了从1978-2015年中国的福音复兴。
首先，他谈到早期教会的复兴是如何开始，并传播到世界各地的。“每一次复兴都是从信徒的祷告和悔改开始的，许多人经历了圣灵的洗礼。复兴的结果是重视圣经。人们传道、教导、学习圣经，并把圣经送给别人。”
“教会从五旬节那天开始在耶路撒冷建立起来，接下来，福音传遍了整个欧洲。从欧洲福音又传到了北美、南美和非洲，20世纪又回到了亚洲。现在最伟大的复兴在亚洲：印度、中国、印度尼西亚等国家。我们的目标是完成大使命，把福音传遍世界各地，带回耶路撒冷。”被称为“为中国而生”的包牧师补充道。
包牧师继续说，亚洲是世界60%人口居住的地方，基督徒现在正在完成向全世界传播福音的大使命。尽管亚洲正在经历大复兴，但大多数国家也遭受迫害，“但我们正在派遣传教士去接触那些尚未接触到福音的人。”
包牧师认为，包括中国、印度、越南在内的亚洲国家最终会把福音传到耶路撒冷的犹太人中，这就是所谓的“福音丝绸之路的愿景”。
此外，包牧师还回顾了200多年前戴德生和中国内地会在中国的传福音工作，并表示中国现在拥有世界上最大的教堂之一，并且拥有大量的基督徒。
1978年以后，他成为最早来到中国大陆服事的牧师之一，他和团队探访了河南教会，那里在过去的几十年里经历了复兴、神迹和逼迫。他们每天花几个小时传讲神的话语、为病人祷告、做同工培训。
在20世纪的艰难处境中，他们有时必须乔装打扮才能进入中国开展事工。在20世纪80和90年代，包牧师曾经“假装”自己是放入“棺材”中一具尸体，私下运送到河南和安徽的农村。
包牧师提到，河南的方城县曾经有许多基督徒（约占当地人口的20%），有时被称为“耶稣窝”，也有数百位传教士在中国各地传播福音。
1986年至1995年间，不少传道人领受了圣灵的洗礼，有的被训练成为领袖，也有一些传道人被差派到外省开拓工作。
据包牧师回忆，有一次在四川他花了四个小时才到达一个山区。在此之前，这个山区几乎没有基督徒，但一年后，当地的家庭教会举行了1500人的聚会。他们跟随基督是“因为圣灵通过河南传教士所做的超自然的工作”。
“现在家庭教会也有自己的聚会场所。”包牧师说，2012年，中国东南部的一所家庭教会有大约一千位会友。同时，“温州很多的家庭教会都建了自己的聚会场所。”
他还补充说，1979年至2015年间，国际复兴华人事工从香港复兴教会向中国大陆运送了几十万本圣经。曾经有一支“驴子为耶稣”的队伍，专门从海外运送圣经，每人带50本整本圣经，放在行李箱里，带进中国，数百万本福音单张和小册子也送到中国。
人人亚洲2024大会工作坊：包德宁牧师讲述1978年后中国的福音复兴
Pastor Dennis Balcombe recounted the remarkable gospel revival in China after 1978, emphasizing that Asia will take the gospel to other nations across the globe.
In the first afternoon workshop of the Everyone Asia 2024 conference conducted on July 4, Pastor Dennis Balcombe, the founder of Revival Chinese Ministries International, which was set up in 1997 to serve China through training, Bible distribution, prayer, etc, and Revival Christian Church in Hong Kong, gave a speech about the revival movement in China after 1978.
Initiated by Empowered 21, the worldwide relational network to mobilize churches and the more than 650 million Spirit-empowered Christians to fulfill the Great Commission by Pentecost 2033, the Everyone Asia 2024 conference was held from July 3 to 5 in Sentul International Convention Center, Indonesia. More than 11,000 participants from 46 countries on six continents attended the conference in person.
In his lecture entitled “Revival Movements in Asia: Tens of Millions of Chinese Following Jesus,” the white American pastor who came to Hong Kong several decades ago, introduced how the gospel was revived in China before 2015.
First of all, he talked about how revival began in the early church and spread to other parts of the world. “Every revival begins with prayer and repentance among the believers. Then many experience the baptism of the Holy Spirit. The result of the revival is an emphasis on the Bible. People preach, teach, study the Bible, and give Bibles to other people.”
“The Christian community began on the day of Pentecost in Jerusalem. Then next, the gospel spread throughout Europe. From Europe, it went to North and South America and to Africa. And during the 20th century it came back to Asia, the great revivals are now in Asia: India, China, Indonesia, and other nations. The goal is to fulfill the Great Commission and take the gospel all around the world and back to Jerusalem,” the “born for China” missionary added.
Pastor Balcombe continued that Asia is where 60% of the world's population lives and the Christians are now completing the Great Commission that preaches the gospel throughout the world. Despite the great revival in Asia, most of the nations also have persecution, “but we're sending our missionaries to reach the unreached people.”
The white pastor believes that those Asian nations, including China, India, and Vietnam, will eventually reach the Jewish people with the gospel in Jerusalem, which is called the “Gospel Silk Road Vision.”
Recalling the evangelistic work by Hudson Taylor and the China Inland Mission for China more than 150 years ago, the pastor stated that China now has some of the largest churches in the world and boasts a large Christian population.
“From 1949 to 1979, the doors of gospel ministry from outside to China were totally closed.” Pastor Balcombe said, “In 1978, Deng Xiao-ping opened China.”
After 1978, he and his team visited house churches in Henan, which saw a great revival, miracles, and great persecution in the past decades. They taught the word of God, prayed for the sick, and trained local co-workers for hours a day.
Sometimes, they disguised themselves to do ministry in China under the harsh situation in the 20th century. Pastor Balcombe was even “disguised” as a corpse, placed in a “coffin cart” and smuggled into the villages of Henan and Anhui in the 1980s and 1990s.
He mentioned Fangcheng County in Henan Province, which is sometimes referred to as the “Jesus Nest,” for there used to be many Christians (about 20% of the local population) and hundreds of preachers who traveled over China to preach the gospel.
From 1986 to 1995, many preachers received the baptism of the Holy Spirit, leaders were trained to be missionaries, and some young preachers were commissioned to other provinces for pioneer work.
Pastor Balcombe recalled an experience in Sichuan where he climbed for four hours to reach a mountainous area in the province. Before that, there were almost no Christians in the area, but one year later, there were 1,500 people meeting in local house churches. They came to Christ “due to the supernatural works of the Holy Spirit through the Henan preachers.”
“Now many house churches have their own buildings,” he said. There was a house church in southeastern China which had approximately 1,000 members in 2012. Meanwhile, “many house churches in Wenzhou have built their own buildings.”
He added that the Revival Chinese Ministries International was also delivering hundreds of thousands of Bibles from the Revival church in Hong Kong to mainland China from 1979 to 2015. There used to be the “Donkeys for Jesus” team that packed Bibles from overseas. Each member took 50 whole Bibles, carried them in their luggage bags, and took them into China. Millions of gospel tracts and booklets were also delivered to China.
Pastor Dennis Balcombe Recounts the Gospel Revival in China After 1978 at Everyone Asia 2024
