It is with no question that one of the fastest growing Churches in the world has been in China. And without question it is the largest revival of the Church since the Book of Acts with over 100 million believers in 40 years. Alan Hirsch a church historian comments on this work of God and its implications for us in the West:
“The forms of the church, and that’s the key, the forms are taken out. Properties were confiscated. Seminaries were closed. Foreign missionaries were sent out. Leaders were killed or sent to work in Mongolia in mines or whatever else they did. So now all you have is peasants, largely, an uneducated group of people, and they discover these resources in themselves. And they end up actually looking very much like the early church in its phenomenology. …
“That, for me, fundamentally changes me. This sounds heretical, but for me, this is big. Because what I actually discovered is that every ecclesia has within it the potentials for what the New Testament envisages and promises. I’ll say it another way: Every church has everything it needs to get its job done. Because, by the power of the Gospel, by the power of the Holy Spirit, by the kingdom or the reign of God, it doesn’t need much more than that really. We think we need more than that. We think we need all the paraphernalia, we need the buildings. We don’t really. China says you don’t.
“They grow from 2 million to 120 million in less than 80 years — go figure that one out! — without all the resources we think you need, hey, to get the job done. No Bibles, no seminaries, no formal leaders [who are] ordained.
“Actually, one of the most disturbing things about that is God has to take all the leaders out in order for the church to get it again, which actually makes me worry a bit.”
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“Christianity was birthed in the Baptism of the Holy Spirit and will only continue as we have this empowering from above. God is always looking for the willing vessels that will trust Him afresh for the impossible.” from: Principles for the gathering of Believers under the Headship of Jesus Christ.Since 2012, a growing group of believers in North America started to warn of coming persecution to western countries. This message was shared in a variety of ways. One of the responses to this was to compile a book taking principles from underground Churches around the world of how they thrived under pressure and persecution. The volume, Principles for the Gathering of Believers, had in a short time over 50,000 downloads in ebook format and much interest was shown. Some new house churches started through this and other existing groups were encouraged.