A Worldwide Movement of the Holy Spirit

There are few Christians in the West who have not heard of the revival that started around 1906 usually referred to as the Azusa Street Revival. This outpouring of the Holy Spirit on evangelical Christians, mostly from the holiness stream literally changed the history of Christianity and the world. People came from all over the world to Los Angeles, and after being baptized in the Holy Spirit took this fresh Pentecost, this Full Gospel, to the whole world.

From this sprang the many Pentecostal denominations that today boast some of the largest churches in the world, and later various movements such as the Latter Rain Revival, the Charismatic Renewal, Vineyard Movement, Third Wave, Toronto Blessing, etc. which impacted hundreds of millions all across the globe. Today, probably the vast majority of mission-related Christian organizations have their roots in this revival.

On the 100^th anniversary of the Azusa Street Revival, over 10,000 Christians gather in Los Angeles for a centennial meeting. Leading pastors and evangelists from every persuasion and stream in this great movement both shared the Word and reported on the progress, obstacles, and future vision of preaching the Full Gospel and planting churches throughout the world. Dozens of workshops covered virtually every aspect of the movement.

The leaders then called a second large conference that they named Empower 21 that first was held in Tulsa Oklahoma at Oral Roberts University in 2010. The following description taken from the website is self-explanatory:

In 2008, the Empowered21 initiative was launched in Tulsa, Oklahoma, to focus on new generations and the power of the Holy Spirit. Today, Empowered21 spans the entire globe through twelve regional cabinets. Each regional cabinet focuses on pursuing initiatives and events in their area of the world to address the future of Spirit-empowered Christianity.

The purpose of Empowered21 is:

• To unite the global Spirit-filled movement together intergenerationally for the purpose of seeking a fresh outpouring of the Holy Spirit in the 21st century
• To focus the energy and resources of the Spirit-empowered global church on the harvest and challenges before us
• To provide a platform for addressing the crucial issues facing the 21st century Spirit-empowered church
• To discover contemporary methods, vocabulary, spiritual grace and relational favor needed for engaging every generation in Spirit-empowered living
• To witness greater convergence and collaboration of Spirit-empowered ministries around the world

The 2010 conference, held in Tulsa, Oklahoma, with over 10,000 participants, was exceptionally meaningful and powerful. I have been in this movement for 53 years and as a young man actually met a few who were in the original Azusa Street outpouring, but we learned so much more in Tulsa about this whole movement, its roots and impact on Christianity. The workshops also were extremely inspiring and informative.

From that conference we decided to host the Empowered 21 event in Asia, in which Asian speakers were invited and situations relating to Asians were specifically addressed. About 60% of the world’s population (4.3 billion of the earth’s inhabitants of 7.172 billion) lives in Asia. The largest populations are in China, India and Indonesia.

For three consecutive years, 2011,2012 and 2013, the E21 conference has been held in Jakarta Indonesia, hosted by Pastor Niko Njotorahardjo and GBI Bethany, Indonesia, which is one of the largest Pentecostal denominations in Indonesia. The conference was held at their huge convention complex in Sentul City, a suburb of Jakarta, and each year 10,000 – 15,000 participated. Though our RCMI ministry in Hong Kong, we were able to arrange yearly participation of up to 700 church leaders from China.

These conferences have had a tremendous impact on Christianity all throughout Asia, resulting in a deeper understanding of the work of the Holy Spirit today, preaching the message of the Kingdom, thousands being baptized in the Holy Spirit, and this vision and anointing being passed down to the next generation.

Then an amazing thing happened last year, 2013, when the E21 conference was held in Kyoto, Japan. Three-thousand participated and there were an addition 500 young people praying for the conference. Japan has seldom seen such a large gathering of Christians, and it cannot be denied that the revival of the Holy Spirit has already taken root in Japan. Many consider Japanese to be some of the most Gospel hardened people in the world.

Then this year, June 5-7, the E21 Asia Conference was held in Hong Kong. Due to the inability to rent larger facilities in Hong Kong, we rented the Queen Elisabeth Stadium which can only seat 3,000. It was of course packed, and about 1,000 or so came from China.

Some of the Western speakers were Billy Wilson and Cindy Jacobs, and from other Asia nations we had our chairman Lawrence Khong (Singapore), Dishan Wickramaratne (Sri Lanka), Jerome Ocampo (Philippines), Andrew Chang (Taiwan), and Tan Tek Seng (Malaysia). Speakers from Hong Kong included Hugo Chan (Full Gospel Business Men’s Fellowship), Gloria Au Yang (Hong Kong Prayer Altar), Linda Ma and Barbara Chan (both famous key leaders in society and ministry in Hong Kong). I shared on the subject “Revival and Missions”.

To me this was one of the most powerful and energizing conferences, and each and every participant was greatly ministered to. Unlike other conferences that are rather heavy with a lot of prophecy, powerful preaching, emphasis on power and gifts, in this meeting the ministry focused on healing families, children and youth, Jesus in the business world (marketplace), and reaching the lost. It was enjoyable, refreshing and brought deliverance and healing to many. We also had tremendous worship and praise with a singing group from Oral Roberts University and GBI Indonesia.

This is no longer just another series of meetings, but a part of a world-wide movement in which different Christians from many nations can gather together yearly to build solid relationships promoting unity in the Body of Christ, and pass the baton of the Holy Spirit and world evangelism to next generation.

The next conference will be a Global Conference that will be held in Jerusalem, Israel, May 15-17, 2015. One of the organizers said there may be up to 10,000 at this gathering, which will perhaps be one the largest gathering of Christians for a single event in Israel since the day of Pentecost. We are now arranging for our Chinese brethren to travel to Israel to participate. I myself will not miss this for anything.

Habakkuk said “For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord as the waters cover the sea” (Hab 2:14). Throughout the history of the church, in certain periods of time revival fires burned brightly and many saw the works or the glory of God. But now through movements like Empowered 21, we have the knowledge of His glory, and it is spreading to the whole world.

 

Pastor Dennis Balcombe

Hong Kong

June 26, 2014