Alan and Elaine arrived in mambia India, in march 1963. This city, formally called bombay had a population of about 5 million people. It now has a population around 18,000,000. Alan and Elaine went as missionaries. Alan was to work in a technical capacity with gospel liberature service. His task was to develop a modern, high quality offset printing press temperatures Christian literature. There were very few churches in the city at that time, and very few had any real life in them. We joined the only Baptist Church, which had a handful of people and was weak and ineffective. Shortly after we arrived, a canadian missionary couple, john and reta Hutchinson, we’re invited to take over the pastor to the church. They, like us, we’re desperate for a move of God, and John began to preach his longing for God to come and do something among us. As a result of this preaching, a trickle of God hungry people came to join the church, and this small group began to cry out for God to move in our city.
In April 1965, as a result of some special meetings, God suddenly came. He swept into our church, overwhelmed our evangelical reservations about expressive worship and spiritual gifts, and they small number of us were gloriously baptized in the Holy Spirit. Then everything was going to change.
Several things happened to me personally because of that experience after a few weeks, Alan struggled through his intellectual and doctrinal differences and began to speak in tongues. Even today speaking in tongues does not make sense to. I still cannot accomplish this strange utterance from God. But I do what the apostle Paul tells me to do and I speak frequently and tongues, and I become greatly enlarged in my spirit so that God can then live within me in greater measure. As a result, he can do much greater exploits through us.
The power of the resurrection
within a few days of being baptized in the Holy Spirit, something else happened to me. I didn’t see an actual vision, but experiencing powerful revelation of God’s word in my heart. It led to such a major change in my spiritual understanding that it literally changed my life.
Since my conversion, I had believed in the resurrection of Jesus as a historical fact. I had the words of scripture many times, but I had concentrated on the physical miracle and not the spiritual power is released. I’m not really seeing it spiritually. That thing, is an entirely new wait, the spirit showed me the power, glory, and authority of the risen Christ. The spirit showed me the great triumph and victory that Jesus has already accomplished through the cross, the power of his glorious resurrection, and the president authority of his throne
suddenly, I could see that everything that opposed him was way beneath his feet, and he was far above all things ruling with complete authority. Just as importantly, I saw that I too was already raised and seated together with him on his throne sharing in his risen power and authority.
Up until that time Ellen would walk up and down the streets ohh mumbai, looking at all activity and power, thinking, what a terrible, dirt, demonic city this is. What hope is there for it? I could see satan’s activity everywhere camera and he seemed so dominant and strong. Our church was one of the few, tiny spots of blood in this vast, dark city, and it seemed very small, weak and insignificant by comparison.
But, when this revelation of the risen Christ came into my spirit, everything changed. Instead of seeing how strong the devil was. I began to see how strong and mighty Jesus was! My bandthe demonic I began to see how strong and mighty Jesus was! I began to feel indignant that Jesus was not being glorified as he deserved in my city. It seemed very possible but the spirit could use a few nobody’s like me to throw down the powers of darkness and change our city. So, I began to work with the Holy Spirit to that and.
A few months later, after this wonderful initial breakthrough, John and ret left end you to return to Canada, me too I was invited to take over as the pastor of the church. We moved into the manse, I began to preach the new things God was showing me. In the crowd continued to grow.
Preach the gospel
sometime later another important thing happened. I was visited by a man I had never met before we seem to come out of nowhere. You came knocking on my office door at the church and said, God has sent me around the world to speak to leaders. He was carrying a bag of books, and he handed me a specific book saying that I must read it. He went on to say, this is a message from God to you: you must see the Kingdom, you must believe in the Kingdom, you must preach the Kingdom, and you must forcefully advance the Kingdom. Then, you will see the glory of God come to your city.
He handed me the book, written by a man who had given his whole life as a missionary to India. His name wasDr.. E Stanley Jones. It was called then shakeable Kingdom and the unchanging person then, suddenly, this visitor was out the door and was gone. Several times since I have wandered, who was that man who showed up on my doorstep? He didn’t give me his name, and I never thought to ask him. He looked like an ordinary human being and had an American accent comma yeah he came carrying a strange presence period he came from somewhere and disappeared into nowhere period but he left me with these words burning in my heart to this day comma I honestly wonder if I had an angelic visitor without realizing it period
this visit and this book changed me period I began to see the Kingdom period I began to understand the Kingdom period and I began to preach the Kingdom period other people came to join us and together we began to forcefully advance the Kingdom of God in our city period but it didn’t all happen overnight
A successful church is not enough
through preaching this message, the first thing that happened was that our church grew and turned into a living, powerful and effective church. Miracles began to take place in the church. One Sunday a demon possessed man man came running into our morning service. As he ran down the aisle towards me I rebuked the demons in him in the name of Jesus and he fell down. The demons the demons came well, and the man was gloriously delivered, saved and transformed. Another time in a Hindu man came in coughing up blood. He was in the last stages of tuberculosis in both lungs and was gloriously healed. These things were happening in what had been until then, a respectable, traditional Baptist Church. It was no longer traditional or respectable, but it was a lot more biblical! Sometimes in order to become a Kingdom church, we have to choose between what is biblical in what is respectable in the eyes of others. In these cases, we must ask ourselves, do we want a biblical church or do you want a respectable 1; which is more important?
It would have been easy to stop there with what we had become a living church that was regarded as a great success. I could have traveled to other cities to tell the stories and explain how God had blessed us and, no doubt, I could have become an expert on church growth. The guy then showed me something else. He had not want he was not content with the living word from a demonized city. He wanted the city! He began to show me that taking a city was not too difficult for god.