South Pacific

Revivals

Geoff Waugh

with Robert Evans

Royree Jensen

Walo Ani and

Vuniani Nakauyaka

©  Geoff Waugh, 2012

These stirring stories of South Pacific Revivals include many accounts from Flashpoints of Revival.  This book, South Pacific Revivals, adds more detail and includes more accounts of revivals in the islands of the South Pacific.

1st edition  2009

2nd edition 2010 – Bougainville Revival added

3rd  edition 2012 – Preface: Brief History added

ISBN: 1-4392-5544-5

EAN-13: 978-1-4392-5544-5

Printed by CreateSpace, Charleston, SC, USA, 2010

Renewal Journal Publications

www.renewaljournal.com

Citipointe Ministry College

School of Ministries

Christian Heritage College

PO Box 2111, Mansfield, Brisbane, Qld, 4122

Australia

To friends in the South Pacific

with loving appreciation for your

friendship, hospitality and ministry

shared together in many nations

and many islands.

South Pacific and surrounding nations

Contents

Foreword                                                                                         9

Preface by Robert Evans: Brief History        11

Introduction                                                                         49

Timor                                                                                       49

Australian Aborigines                                             60

1  Solomon Islands                                                           61

2  Papua New Guinea                                                           85

Bougainville                                                                      133

3  Vanuatu                                                                               153

4  Fiji                                                                                               181

Conclusion                                                                              199

Appendix 1: Revival Examples                      201

Appendix 2: Books                                                 203

Detailed Contents

Foreword                                                                                      9

Preface by Robert Evans: Brief History                                11

Introduction                                                                                      49

Timor, 1965                                                                                      49

Australian Aborigines, 1979                                            56

1  Solomon Islands                                                                        61

Honiara and Malaita, 1970                                            62

Marovo Lagoon, 2000                                                          64

Western District, 2003                                                          71

Guadalcanal Mountains, 2006                                            76

Choiseul Island, 2006                                                          79

Revival Movements, 2007                                                          81

2  Papua New Guinea                                                          85

Enga Region, 1973                                                                        86

Huli Region, 1974                                                                        93

Telefomin Region, 1977                                                          95

Brugam, Sepik Region, 1984                                          101

Solomon Islands Region, 1988                                          104

Kambaidam, Eastern Highlands, 1988                            106

Milne Bay Islands, 1985-1994                                          111

Healing the Land, 2006-2007                                          123

Karawa Village                                                                      123

Makirupu Village                                                                      127

Kalo Village                                                                      132

Bougainville                                                                      133

3  Vanuatu                                                                                    153

Espiritu Santo and Ambae Islands, 1962                            154

Tongoa Island, 1991                                                        156

Port Vila, 2002                                                                     157

Pentecost Island, 2003                                                        161

Tanna Island, 2006                                                                      174

Healing the Land, 2006-2007                                          175

Hog Harbour, Espiritu Santo                                          175

Litzlitz Village, Malekula Island                                          176

Vilakalak Village, West Ambae                                          177

Lovanualikouta Village, West Ambae                            179

4  Fiji                                                                                                  181

Lautoka and Navua, 2007-2008                                          182

Suva, 2007-2009                                                                      184

Healing the Land, 2002-2007                                          188

Nuku Village, Viti Levu                                                        190

Nabitu Village, East of Nausori                                          192

Vunibau Village, Serua Island                                          192

Natalieva, Nailevu North                                                        194

Diaubuta, Navosa Highlands                                          195

Healing the Land Process                                                        196

Conclusion                                                                                             199

Appendix 1: Revival Examples                                                   201

Appendix 2: Books                                                                      203

South Pacific baptisms in the ocean on

South Pentecost Island, Vanuatu

Foreword

Revivals are God pouring out his Spirit in a big way.  They bring large numbers into God’s kingdom. The islands and nations of the South Pacific have seen many revivals and people movements.  Independent churches continue to multiply and some traditional churches find new life in the power of God’s Spirit.

I saw that in the rugged highlands of Papua New Guinea in the 1960s when I taught in schools and Bible Schools as a single missionary.  I met my wife Meg there, also a teacher from Australia.  Our first child, born in the mission hospital, joined us at the newly established central Bible School for the Enga people.  The Enga churches, formed only ten years previously, had already grown to over 20,000 people.

While teaching later in Brisbane at Alcorn College, Trinity Theological College and then Christian Heritage College, I often taught keen young leaders from the South Pacific and other regions.  Many of these students had been involved in revivals, and many became revival leaders.  So I was able to visit some of them in their nations to teach about revival and about Jesus’ final promise:  You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you and you will be my witnesses … to the ends of the earth (Acts 1:8).

Leaders in many nations invited me to teach about revival and the Holy Spirit.  That included the South Pacific as well as in the Philippines, China, Myanmar (Burma), Nepal, India, Sri Lanka, and in Africa.  I describe some of that in my books Flashpoints of Revival, Looking to Jesus: Journey into Renewal and Revival, and Light on the Mountains: Pioneer Mission in Papua New Guinea (see Appendix).

I had the great privilege of leading short term mission teams in many countries, including in the South Pacific.  This book includes some of those stories.  These accounts of revival are just a few of the many mighty works of God throughout the South Pacific.

As you read these stories, you too can pray for revival, including asking God to touch you in new ways.  This is God’s purpose right now, everywhere.  God promised to pour out his Spirit on everyone – not just on good people, and not only on church people.  Jesus promised that the Holy Spirit would fill us with power to be his witnesses.

That can happen as you read this book.  I pray that it will.

South Pacific church and community leaders

pray together at a baptismal service on

South Pentecost Island, Vanuatu

207

Preface: Brief History

Preface by Robert Evans

A Brief History of Pacific Revivals

This is a simple outline of a history of the main evangelical revival movements in the Pacific Islands.  While there is quite a discussion by various experts about the meanings which basic words might have, the meanings adopted here are as follows:

A Folk Movement is a turning toward Christianity by a large group of people who are not tutored in the meaning of what it means to be a Christian, or in the basic components of the faith.  Usually this has occurred amongst uneducated heathen people who have only just come into contact with Christianity for the first time.

An Awakening is a movement where people become concerned about their relationship with God, and turn to Christ, with or without there being an extensive revival amongst the Christians first.  In this sense, a folk movement is a particular kind of awakening.  But, many awakenings occur where a large nominally Christian population already exists.

Revival is a term applying to a deepening and resurgence of the quality of spiritual life, vitality of the Spirit, and effectiveness of witnessing, amongst Christians, which normally arises from much prayer for this new vitality, and involves much heartfelt conviction of sin and repentance by the Christians.  It usually results in a new impact on the surrounding society, and an awakening amongst unconverted people.  It usually results in efforts not only to win the lost for Christ, and to help the poor and needy, but to improve the moral tone of society as a whole.

Revivalism is a more modern term which will be used to apply to organised efforts at evangelism, usually mass evangelism, and often in the hope that real revival will follow.  However, a great deal of revivalism has occurred without any trace of real revival being present at all.

True awakenings and revivals are always the work of the Holy Spirit, where the Spirit has taken the initiative, although many other factors will always be involved.  Human initiative and evangelism may be part of the picture.

When the term "evangelical" is prefixed to awakening or revival, a particular kind of awakening or revival is spoken of, which involves the theology of the evangelical awakenings and revivals in the Eighteenth and Nineteenth centuries, mainly in English-speaking countries.  Reformation attitudes to the Bible are also part of it.  For example, the revival in Fiji was an evangelical awakening for these reasons, whereas a revival which might be linked to Nineteenth century Roman Catholic missionary theology would not be called an evangelical revival.

Background to Awakenings and Revivals in the Pacific

The thrust to send Protestant missionaries to the South Seas arose from a widespread revival movement in England, the United States, and parts of Europe.  This movement is called the Second Evangelical Awakening, and it commenced in England around the year 1792, in answer to the prayers of God's people.

Before considering this second movement, however, it is necessary to say something about the First Great Awakening.  The first awakening started in Germany in the year 1727 amongst a group called the Moravians, led by Count Ludwig von Zinzendorf.  A number of Christians had gathered on the lands belonging to the Count to find refuge from persecution in their homelands.  These Christians argued with each other about their beliefs, and there was very little harmony or Christian love amongst them.  The Count was very concerned about this, and began to pray for God to change this situation.

A great turning point occurred one day when the Holy Spirit came upon these believers, as He came upon the disciples on the Day of Pentecost.  They were filled with love for each other, and a tremendous zeal filled them to take the gospel to the ends of the earth.  They commenced a prayer vigil which went on without a break for one hundred years.  Every hour of the day and night saw someone praying.  And they began to send some of their members to some foreign countries to preach the gospel.  This movement produced an important influence to improve spiritual life in Germany, as well, for many years to come.

The Moravians had a hand in the starting of a similar movement in England, which we normally associate with the names of John Wesley, Charles Wesley and George Whitefield.

John Wesley experienced the assurance of his salvation in a Moravian meeting in London in 1738, and later became the founder of Methodism as he preached the gospel all over England for many years.  John Wesley was an outstanding organiser, leader and theologian.  John's brother, Charles Wesley, was similarly converted at about the same time, and was a Methodist preacher for some years, but is best known as a writer of many famous hymns.  Indeed, the influence of these hymns upon the Methodist movement, and upon the church as a whole, has been enormous.

George Whitefield was the most famous of the three during his own life time, and was perhaps the most powerful preacher and evangelist of all time.  He was a very humble man who depended for all his effectiveness upon the power of the Holy Spirit, instead of upon his gifts as a preacher.  He travelled all over England, Scotland, Wales, and the eastern United States, preaching to enormous crowds of people, and seeing many conversions. Noted non-believers would travel many miles simply to listen to Whitefield's wonderful abilities as an orator, but Whitefield himself was completely sincere in his earnest appeals for people to turn to Christ and be saved.

All three of these men were Anglican priests, before the Methodist Church became a separate identity.  The separation was something that John Wesley steadfastly resisted.  Several famous Welsh preachers figured in the revival, as well, notably Howell Harris and Daniel Rowland.  Over the next hundred years, Wales became known as the land of revivals, because so many of them occurred.  A radical transformation of the whole of Welsh society took place as a result.

A similar movement began in the United States.  Jonathan Edwards saw a revival in his church in 1735 in Northampton, Massachusetts.  But there was a new move of the Spirit in 1740, throughout the whole area, especially when Whitefield visited the various colonies as part of his preaching tour.

This revival spread throughout the country to 1770, and produced a great change.  Jonathan Edwards was a saintly man who possessed enormous powers of mind and intellect.  He preached what has become known as the most famous sermon in modern history at Enfield, during this revival.  It was entitled "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God."  Much more importantly, Edwards wrote books defending the revivals from unfriendly criticism, and he re-stated the whole of Puritan theology.  These writings are of landmark importance in the history of the church.  He was a theologian and philosopher of outstanding ability.

Various local revivals occurred in England as part of Methodist history, but, by the time John Wesley died, a decline had taken place in the degree of spiritual  fervour and effectiveness.  Many of the churches responded to this by calling their members to pray for a fresh outpouring of the Holy Spirit.  In response to these prayers, the English Christians saw a new movement commence in 1792, which spread in its effects to many places, and to other countries.

In the United States, there had been great revivals in Virginia in the 1770's, as an extension of the First Great Awakening, and scattered revivals in other parts.  But serious decline seemed to reign in northern New England for some years before the new century started.  The churches responded to this by calling their people to pray, as had happened in England.  A great surge of life from God began to appear shortly before the year 1800 arrived.

The eastern states of the U.S. saw wonderful revivals which did not contain emotional outbursts, although the ministers were careful to preach and teach in such a way that clear cut and lasting conversions multiplied greatly.

In the "western" states, as they were then called, (Kentucky, Tennessee, Indiana, Ohio, etc.) the revivals were very different, being turbulent and emotional, but also producing enormous changes.  Some of the effects of these revivals can still be seen today, especially in the "Bible-belt" parts of the U.S.

In England, the British and Foreign Bible Society was founded, along with a number of the first British missionary organisations.  Many mission fields were opened up, and many people gave their

lives in carrying out this work for God.  The American churches also began to organise their missionary efforts on a much larger scale after this time.

Other extensive revivals occurred up to about 1830 in various countries, and this developed further the thrust to carry the gospel around the world.  So, although the Moravians had been very missionary-minded for many years, the great push by all the churches to take the gospel to the ends of the earth did not take place until the Second Great Awakening occurred after 1792.

These revivals provided the spiritual impetus for the Protestant missionaries who were the first to come to the Pacific.  Naturally, many of them wanted to see similar "days of Pentecost" amongst the people to whom they went, and they prayed for this to happen, and watched their own personal holiness with these things in mind.

TAHITI

The London Missionary Society sent some missionaries to Tahiti.  Some years of fruitless labour followed, which according to Edwin Orr, was due to the policy of the leaders in London, that the missionaries should teach the natives the civilisation and industries of Europe before preaching the gospel or translating the Bible.

However, one of the kings took a stand for Christianity during a time of hardship for him, and slowly some of the people followed his example.  After a surprise victory in war (which followed much prayer) this king astonished everybody by refusing to take revenge on his enemies.  This incident triggered a mass folk movement toward Christianity in 1815, although many of the people became Christian in name only.

This situation provided great opportunities for the missionaries to teach the faith to the population.  This teaching in turn provided the basis for the great revival movement in 1835, when what had been nominal for so many became a matter of the heart and of deep personal commitment.  Deep conviction of sin was followed by thorough repentance and true holiness of life.

J.  Edwin Orr describes this revival in the following way:

In 1835, a genuine evangelical revival began at Papara on Tahiti.  It was marked by unusual praying, by intense conviction of sin, by repentance and confession.  Groups of people participated, but it was not a folk movement in the accepted sense of the term.

Henry Nott, a veteran pioneer from the first landing, noted that the response fell into three categories: nominal believers who had abandoned heathenism but lacked spiritual experience; teenagers who had been baptised and catechised now registering personal commitment; and backsliders who had been disciplined for misconduct.  They were instructed accordingly.[1]

Even before 1820, however, the first Tahitian missionaries were going out with the gospel to other Pacific islands, especially following the appeals of John Williams in 1817.

TONGA

The Wesleyan missionary, Walter Lawry, opened the work in Tonga, in 1822, but had to leave before the work was properly established.  Londom Missionary society (LMS) Tahitian missionaries also came to another part of the island group, and then again in 1826 when John Thomas arrived.  But the Wesleyan work became firmly established by John Thomas and his co-workers.

The second group of Tahitian teachers from Papara saw the first Tongan converts.  The Wesleyans did not interfere with their work, but started on another island.  Nathaniel Turner saw the

conversion of a Tongan named Peter Vi, who became a vibrant evangelist.  A young chief named Taufa'ahua experienced a radical conversion under this man's preaching, and a turning to God began through several of the islands, with the old idols being destroyed.  Some of the resulting conversions were deep and real.  This happened in 1830.  This folk movement, again, provided a basis for the missionaries to develop their teaching of the faith, and they continued to pray for the Pentecost which would change Christians by name into Christians in fact.

The "baptism of fire" came at last in 1834.

One week day afternoon, 23rd July 1834, a local preacher named Isaiah Vovole was exhorting the people of a little village, Utui, his text the lament of Christ over Jerusalem.  During the sermon, the people were so moved that they began to cry aloud for forgiveness, drowning out the voice of the preacher.  Only nightfall stopped the service, but the people stayed awake all night awaiting the morning prayer meeting.  From village to village the excitement spread until all Vavau was stirred.  In some villages, six prayer meetings a day were held, homes as well as churches being thus used, while schools were suspended.”

Taufa'ahua learned about the excitement and wondered if it was something evil, but Turner assured him that it was another Pentecost, resembling also the happenings of the revivals among Wesleyans in England.  As many as two hundred people lay prostrate on the floor of the church at Feletoa, and this phenomenon was repeated here and there.  The sound of weeping in the churches could be heard some distance away, as could the shouts of joy following upon deliverance.  Taufa'ahua seemed utterly confounded, sometimes kneeling and sometimes standing irresolute.  His consort swooned and was carried to the royal quarters where Taufa'ahua sent a message in the middle of the night to Peter Turner to say that they were overcome with deep feelings of guilt and misery.

Missionaries had been praying for Taufa'ahua since his lapse into polygamy the previous year, and they rejoiced at his true conversion following at a prayer meeting on July 31 when he fell on his knees on a mat in his pew, trembling and wailing until he received assurance of forgiveness.  He was licensed as a local preacher ten weeks later.

The holy epidemic spread to Habaii, central Tonga, with two thousand professed conversions in a few days.  It was somewhat different in Tongatapu in the south, where heathen were still in a majority, where chapels were burned to the ground, gardens plundered, and believers forced to seek refuge in Nuku'alofa.  Yet there were many conversions.

This spiritual awakening to righteousness that followed the mass turning to Christianity bore all the marks of evangelical revival.  It was marked by intense conviction of sin, weeping, public confession of sins and joyous conversions.  The missionaries and their native converts gathered for prayer at noonday, and there were prayer groups in the scattered villages, in one of which they prayed all night.  The life of the villages was disrupted, and then transformed into that of Christian communities.  Public confessions of wrongs were made and old enemies were reconciled; polygamy began to disappear almost overnight.

Turner on Vavau was leading six meetings a day.  Tucker on Habaii was conducting four mass meetings daily, and he recorded a glimpse of the movement: "As soon as the service began, the cries of the people commenced ...  One thousand or more have bowed before the Lord...and praying in agony of soul.  I never saw such distress, never heard such cries for mercy, or such confessions of sin before..."

Missionaries were careful only to receive into the membership those who received instruction and demonstrated a change of conduct.  Even so, by the beginning of 1835 there were 3602 new members in a total of 7838, 3061 in Vavau, 3448 in Habaii, but only 929 in Tongatapu and 400 in Niua Toputapu.  The Tongan Pentecost resulted in nine thousand people becoming full members in six years.  A Tongan convert, Joeli Bulu, observed that the work was carried on from house to house, and from town to town and strangers also from other islands carried it home with them.  Out of this enthusiasm came a host of volunteers for Fiji and Samoa.  For a hundred years, Utui was mentioned with awe in the Christian kingdom of Tonga.

An indication of the results of this revival appears in the numbers of people who became full church members on Vavau.  The number rose from 31 members in 1829, and 3456 in 1833, to 7451 in 1834.  These figures represent tried and tested church members, and not the generally larger number of converts from paganism who were still on trial.

Another revival occurred in Tonga in 1846, when Peter Turner came back to Tonga from Samoa.  Nathaniel Turner describes it in the following way: "For some time previous, our local preachers, leaders, and some of our members had been manifestly growing in grace.  The spirit of piety had been deepening and spreading for two or three months. ...  This was particularly the case at a prayer meeting held with the local preachers and leaders once a week.  At one of these meetings the presence of God was signally manifested."

The revival actually began on Vavau, and spread to the other islands.  Turner describes an ordinary church service in Hihifo as follows: "the most solemn awe pervaded the place..." and there were many suppressed sighs.  "When many chiefs met together for the transaction of business, they were unable to proceed, and were obliged by an influence from above to change the meeting for business into a meeting for prayer."[2]

In this revival many sinners were converted, church members who were in a low spiritual state were quickened, and the ruling class of the chiefs experienced a moral transformation.  The Tongan revivals were a prime factor in sending Tongan evangelists and teachers out all over the Pacific.

SAMOA

The first influences of Christianity came to Samoa from two sources.  Tahitian teachers came to Samoa.  And the Tongan revivals produced results in Samoa, because close ties existed between these two groups of islands.

John Williams of the London Missionary Society wanted to send a large group of European missionaries to Samoa, but more than five years dragged on while this was in the process of being arranged.

Meanwhile, Samoans linked with the Tongans were calling for a missionary from among the Wesleyans.  The European missionaries in Tonga decided to send Peter Turner to Samoa to fill the gap. On his way to Samoa in 1835, Peter Turner and his wife were forced to stop for five months at Niua Toputapu, and an outpouring of the Spirit took place, with many emotional conversions occurring.[3]

When he arrived in Samoa, he found that a part of the country was covered by Tahitian teachers, and the Tongan influence had already gained a hold elsewhere.  During the few years that Turner spent in Samoa, thousands of conversions occurred, partly as a result of his warm-hearted preaching.  A conflict occurred between the LMS authorities and the Wesleyan work, although the Tahitian teachers and Turner got on very well with each other.  This conflict led to the withdrawal of Turner from Samoa around 1839.  Another revival occurred in Samoa in 1840, in response to news about the revivals in Scotland in that year.

HAWAII

At the beginning of the 1830's, there were only 577 church members throughout the Hawaiian Islands.  But the tide of spirituality was rising, and not only were the believers being prepared, but the masses were developing an interest.

All around the world there were people praying for a general awakening.  The missionaries in Hawaii gathered each year for discussion and prayer.  In 1835, they were moved to make an appeal to Christians in the United States to pray for a baptism from on high for the Hawaiian field just as they were praying for the whole world.

At Hilo on the big island of Hawaii there was stationed Puaaiki, a blind preacher, the leader of the 'praying ones' in the Islands.  In 1835, Titus Coan, an associate of Finney and Nettleton, the American evangelists, moved to Hilo also.  It was here that the Great Awakening of Hawaii first manifested itself.  It began in 1837 at Hilo and continued for five years, a total of 7557 being received into one church, 1705 of them on one day.

Titus Coan described some of the scenes in the following way:  "The sea of faces, all hushed except when sighs and sobs burst out here and there, was a scene to melt the heart.  The word fell with power and sometimes, as the feeling deepened, the vast audience was moved and swayed like a forest in a mighty wind.  The Word became like a fire and a hammer of the Almighty, the Spirit, quick and powerful."

All over the islands the movement was felt.  Among the commoner manifestations of conviction, a trembling and shaking occurred, and likewise prostrations to the ground.  Missionaries tried to control the meetings and to prevent them getting out of control.  Sometimes the scoffers were smitten.  On other occasions, weeping drowned out the voice of the preacher.  The New England missionaries frowned upon such manifestations, but Titus Coan seemed unafraid of them, and became greatly beloved by the people.

The movement at Hilo continued into 1838, and news of similar awakenings came in from all the islands.  Attendances at Hilo were so great and so sustained that something like a two years' camp meeting was in progress.  Sometimes the inquirers walked more than fifty miles to attend.

On Molokai, a first sign of revival was noted at Kahuaaha by the rising of intercessors before daybreak to pray for an outpouring of the Holy Spirit.  This voluntary gathering increased in numbers and in solemnity before the blessing came.  The whole church was built up in faith.

On the populous islands of Oahu and Maui, as on Hawaii, the congregations averaged between two thousand and six thousand.  Women held their own meetings in some places, and even little children interrupted their play in the cane fields and banana groves to hold devotional meetings, and often surprised their parents by rising early for prayer out in the fields.

The missionaries were thorough in the care of converts.  They divided the inquirers by age group, and instructed them in the faith and encouraged them in discussion and prayer.  They were placed on probation, and when their testimonies by word and deed were deemed satisfactory, they were admitted to membership.  The number of backsliders was extremely small, possibly one in sixty of the inquirers counselled.

On Oahu, there was a relapse into drinking by some, but this was countered by a day of humiliation and prayer, which was soon followed by another outpouring of the Spirit.  Between 1837 and 1842, more than twenty-seven thousand converts after thorough probation were received into the membership, about one-fifth of the population of the islands.  In 1843 alone, 5296 were admitted; 19,679 were in good standing twenty years later, in spite of the decline in the Polynesian population due to epidemics of alien diseases.  The nation, regarded as Christianised, was granted a Bill of Rights by King Kamehameha III in 1839.[4]

FIJI

Before the coming of the Tongan teachers, and the English Wesleyan missionaries, and in many cases for some years after their arrival, the Fijians were amongst the most ferocious, blood-thirsty and pitiless cannibals in the whole Pacific.  A full description of the cruelty and savagery that typified life in Fiji in those days is almost beyond belief today.

Harold Wood begins the Introduction to his great book on the history of Methodist missions in Fiji with this picture-parable.

In the centre of Suva's bustling main thoroughfare stands a simple cairn in a triangular garden plot.  This cairn is almost unnoticed, and the names on its faded face are unrecognised by most of the Fijians, Indians and Europeans who pass along the crowded street.  The names on this memorial are those of the first Wesleyan missionaries, William Cross and David Cargill.  All the roads on the main island, Viti Levu, are measured from this place.  This is symbolic of what these missionaries began in 1835.[5]

The arrival of the missionaries coincided with a period of wide-spread warfare between the chiefs on the island of Bau and the district of Rewa, along with the other groups over which they each held sway.  The chiefs also ruled as tyrannical dictators.  And this whole scene was awash with an overpowering lust for the taste of human flesh.  So strong was the desire for human flesh amongst the chiefs, warriors and henchmen at Somosomo on the island of Taveuni that a government official claimed the missionaries saved that island from becoming seriously depopulated.

The first turnings to Christianity occurred on one of the outer islands, at Ono.  In the main centres there was strenuous opposition from the chiefs, and very few of the people had enough independence and courage to act differently and become Christians.  It was always very dangerous to get on the wrong side of a chief. The main advance occurred at Viwa, where the main chief was a little more friendly, and where another chief, Verani, was dramatically converted after reading parts of Matthew's gospel.  There were a number of conversions during 1844 and 1845.

The progress at Viwa culminated in emotional revival scenes in 1846.  These resembled the experiences of the Tongan revival in 1834 and clearly showed psychological reactions which Fijians shared with Tongans.  John Watsford was a powerful preacher and his evangelistic methods must have influenced the course of events at Viwa.

John Hunt, emotionally balanced, was, nevertheless, impressed by the genuineness of the results of the revival.  During its progress many were so affected that they wept aloud, some swooned, and a sense of pardon for their sins followed the intensity of their penitence.

In his journal Hunt described the happenings of 1845-6 at Viwa:

“Every meeting became a penitent meeting, and every house, almost every family altar, a penitent form.  This was especially the case at Namosimalua's house (the main chief) in the evening. ...  On some occasions the men were so violent, both in their sorrow and joy, that it was almost dangerous to be near them. ...  Yet there was nothing silly or wild in what they said, indeed in general we were astonished at the manner in which they expressed themselves both in prayer and in praise, and in their exhortations to others after they had found peace.  Our public services were most extraordinary times, especially on the Sabbath morning. ...  To hear the preacher's voice in prayer was out of the question except for the first few sentences. ...  In general, however, they were very still during the reading of the lesson and the sermon.  Many cases of conversion were as remarkable as any we had heard or read of.  ...

When we consider what dreadful cannibals, murderers, adulterers, etc., many of them were only a few months since, who can be surprised that a proper view of themselves should produce such an effect on their minds?  When we saw their agonies and heard their wailings it frequently appeared to us as the most consistent thing we had ever seen.  During the first week of the revival nearly 100 persons professed to obtain the forgiveness of their sins, through faith in Jesus Christ.  Some were exceedingly clear, others not so clear.”

Spontaneous prayer meetings in homes held many times in a day often preceded the regular services at which these emotional scenes occurred.  The people, Hunt said, would have neglected their meals if they had not been forced to consider the needs of their bodies.  Some, especially women, fainted under the strain of their feelings.  Some men were so violent that they had to be held down as they threw themselves to the ground; in a few cases it was necessary for four or five men to hold a man down for hours.  When calmness returned to these excited men they began to exhort others.  Such incidents, naturally, have come under censure from critics, and the psychological nature is obvious.  Nevertheless, the fact was that these former savages were oppressed by powerful feelings of guilt, however these feelings had been aroused, and, under the circumstances, extravagant expressions of penitence and then relief seemed natural to Hunt and his colleagues.[6]

Later, in the 1850s, a much more widespread turning to God occurred in Fiji, although it cannot be described as a spectacular revival movement like the movement in the 1840's.

In 1854, Thakombau, the chief of Bau, renounced the old ways.  This was also part of a power struggle between him and several of the heathen chiefs and leaders.  The struggle reached a crisis point in 1855 when King George of Tonga arrived with 2,000 warriors to accept the gift of a giant war canoe that Thakombau had promised him several years earlier.  No sooner had he arrived than a battle occurred between the Tongans and the heathen chiefs.  The result of this battle was so decisive that it was reminiscent of some of the classic Old Testament victories that God gave to the Israelites, and it broke the power of heathen political influence in Fiji.

Two years after this, Thakombau made a public profession of conversion.  Persecution of Christians still followed because the heathen knew that there would not be any retaliation, and many Christians died for their faith.  But this period also saw many people turn to God, especially now that chiefly opposition to conversion was gone, and numbers of chiefs had set an example by becoming Christians.

Orr provides us with a quotation which describes Thakombau's public declaration.

In 1857, Thakombau dismissed his many wives, and with his queen confessed his faith in Christ in baptism.  Before a multitude he professed to renounce the devil and all his works, the pomp and vanities of this wicked world, and all the sinful lustings of the flesh.  He humbly said: 'I have been a bad man.  I disturbed the country.  The missionaries came and asked me to embrace the Christian faith, but I told them that I would persist in fighting.  Yet God has singularly preserved my life...  I wish now to acknowledge God, the only and the true.”

What a congregation this Fijian chief had!  Before him were the widows whose husbands he had slain; likewise husbands whose life partners he had carelessly debauched; girls whose menfolk he had strangled; boys whose fathers he had eaten; all with hearts of hatred for abuse.  Thakombau spoke with deep emotion asking to be baptised Ebenezer while his consort took the Christian name of Lydia.[7]

Orr goes on to say that the real heroes of the evangelisation of Fiji were the evangelists, mostly Fijian, some Tongan or missionary.  They were men of simple faith.  Of Sefania, it was said that he was deeply nettled when a heathen hit him with an earthen cooking pot - he could better have stood a club.  He thought of taking up a club to avenge the insult, but a voice within him said: "That is not the way."  His eyes fell upon the open Bible, and he read: "Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness' sake..."  With joy he leaped to his feet, took his best cooking pot, and offered it to his persecutor to replace the pot demolished on his head.

THE PERIOD AROUND 1859

Great awakenings and revivals occurred in many parts of the world during this period, and news from other parts produced its results in the Pacific.  Alan Tippett, a missionary teacher and anthropologist, analysed some of these movements.  J Edwin Orr summarised some of these features in his book Evangelical Awakenings in the South Seas.  Both Tippett and Orr were professors together at Fuller Theological Seminary's School of World Mission for some years.

In chapter 9 of his book, Orr discusses at length the decline in membership in New Zealand caused by the Maori wars in the early 1860's.  Then he mentions that news of the awakenings in Britain and Australia caused an increase in the prayer meetings in Tonga, and prompted an increased desire to evangelise in parts of the Pacific which had not been reached with the gospel at that stage.

The year 1859 saw the number of members-on-trial in Tonga grow from 250 to 850, and in three years the total of church members grew by thirty percent.

The Methodists re-entered Samoa in 1857.  After a decline in reported numbers in 1858, a fifty percent increase occurred in 1859, growing to 100 percent in 1860, and the same kind of result occurred amongst the people served by the London Missionary Society.

The Revival touched the training college for Polynesia missionaries at Raratonga in the Cook Islands, which influenced all the Islands.  This was followed up by the work of James Chalmers, who had been converted in a Scottish revival, and who arrived in Raratonga in 1867, and worked there for ten years, before going to New Guinea for the remainder of his life, and being martyred there in 1901.

Christians in Hawaii reported signs of revival in 1860 in Hilo, and in several other places.  In Honolulu, the revival was compared with the great awakening which had occurred twenty-five years earlier.  The results of this revival in Hawaii were such that the American Board handed over all its work in Hawaii to the local Hawaiian Evangelistic Association.  The language had been reduced to writing, the Scriptures had been translated, and Christian worship was as well attended as anywhere on earth, while drunkenness was extremely rare.

Later, with the importing of people from Asia, with mainly a Buddhist background, the religious make-up of the Hawaiian Islands changed, and provided the Hawaiian churches with a new mission field at home.

As a result of this revival in Hawaii, signs of revival also occurred in parts of the Caroline Islands, and stepped up efforts to evangelise other island groups.

In the period up to the beginning of the Twentieth Century, remarkable missionary work was performed, and remarkable church growth occurred, in New Guinea, and in the New Hebrides, led by both Europeans and Islanders.

THE KANAKA REVIVAL. QUEENSLAND

The revival amongst the Kanakas[8] working in the sugar-cane fields of Queensland, in North Australia, seems to have been largely an aspect of the great world-wide revival around 1905.  This world-wide movement had been smouldering for several years, especially in Australia, but was launched into the world's news by means of the fiery Welsh Revival which commenced in December, 1904.

In 1905, and the few years that followed, revival was experienced in many parts of the world.  The Queensland Kanaka Mission had commenced in 1886 in the area around Bundaberg, where several missionaries sought to teach the Islanders who had been brought in (by fair means and foul) to work in the cane fields.

Following much prayer and earnest work a steady stream of converts were baptised, until 1906, when the indentured labour scheme was closed down, and the Islanders were returned to their homes.  Over 5,000 Kanakas were baptised upon profession of their faith in this period.  When the first call was made for Christians to support this work, the first financial gift came from George Muller, who happened to be in Sydney at that time.

The continued success of this work attracted a lot of attention, and visitors came from far and near to see what God was doing.  Over a period of time, these visitors included Hudson Taylor, Mrs Howard Taylor, other C.I.M. workers, and visiting evangelists W.  Edgar Geil, Dr Harry Grattan Guinness and Hugh Paton.

The following excerpt from the Annual Report for 1905 relates to the Hapsburg area, and indicates one way in which revival began to appear.  [Note that “boy” was then the Pigin English term for man.]

The outstanding feature in the year's work has been the spirit of prayer amongst a number of the Boys, and their growth in grace in consequence.  The increase of prayer began some time ago, when a number of the Boys joined the Cycle of Prayer for World Wide Revival.  They were, with one or two exceptions, in the habit of spending much of their spare time in making gardens.  One Boy even bought a lamp that he might be able to work before daylight, and so have a lot done before going to work in the fields.  At night, on their return, they either went to look at their gardens or else played cricket; so that prayer and the reading of God's Word were still much neglected.

One night the whistle was blown for school, but only two came, both teachers, Charley Pentecost and Jimmie Tongoa, faithful Christians.  Charley said, "Never mind, Jimmie, you teach me, and then we pray.  I believe God is going to work here through this meeting." So they prayed.

How did the answer come? The Christians became convicted of their deadness.  It was not a case of open backsliding - just lack of appetite for spiritual things, and no zeal for God's work.  A Christian Boy mournfully said, "Altogether Christian too sleepy, they no work for God, they only have meeting when missionary come."

Feeling their great need of quickening, they began having prayer meetings amongst themselves.  One of the Teacher Boys who had been in Melbourne during the time of the Simultaneous Mission (the Torrey, Alexander Mission of 1902.) and had attended some of the cottage prayer meetings, began going from humpy to humpy holding meetings in like manner.  But this was resented, one Boy saying, "I think you cross along me, that is why you come to pray along my house."

Prayer meetings were held at 5 a.m. on Sundays, and three times these meetings were begun and discontinued for lack of interest; but the faithful ones held on; then prayer meetings followed the week night classes.

At first these were dry and heavy, and only a few persevered, but gradually one and another joined the band.  A few weeks later, at a prayer meeting at the Mission house, God's Spirit so fell upon the six or eight present, that one after another fell on their knees and poured out their souls to God, laughing and crying for very joy!  Several now began to ask God to search them and help them lay aside every weight.  They also asked Him to wake them early for prayer.  How things changed!

Before, all slept till the get-up bell rang, and it was time for breakfast, or else got up to dig in their gardens.  Now God wakened them morning by morning before light to hold a prayer meeting, and from many houses might be heard singing and prayer.  Again, in the dinner hour, as soon as their meal was finished, they had a season of prayer.  One of the leaders of this revival of prayer having finished his time, left the district several weeks ago, and the taunt was made, "Oh now you lose Thomas Sandwich, everything will go down," but increased prayer still keeps the fire burning.[9]

From Cairns the following report came: "The key-word for the later part of the year is "Revival".  We hear of floods of blessing in other lands, and a "sound of abundance of rain" in our own midst.  When we were on furlough in Ballarat, we were crying to God to revive the work in Cairns, and the Lord granted our request, for there was a distinct awakening during our absence, in fact, many testified that from the beginning of the present year they have been quickened."

The Annual Report for 1906 was the last to be issued under the name of the Queensland Kanaka Mission, as the whole of the work was transferred to the Solomon Islands, and to Malaita in particular.

The following report comes from Fairymead, one of the main centres near Bundaberg in Queensland.

Christmas 1905 to Easter 1906, was a time of spiritual refreshment amongst the South Sea Islanders at Fairymead, and prayer became deep and fervent.

The Christmas gatherings were held at Fairymead in Mr Davidson's immense tent, kindly lent for the occasion, and erected in a beautiful spot on the river bank.  Mr Reeve of the Poona Mission, was present, and helped both in the services on Sunday, when nineteen men and women were baptised, and also at the picnic on Monday.

All the week there was a spirit of expectancy, and on the 31st God's message came with power from 2 Chron.  29:7,17,27.- the Temple doors shut up - closed to God's will; hence darkness, silence, dirt.  On the first day of the first month they began to open the doors and to sanctify.  Then, "when the burnt offering began, the song of the Lord began also."

The Boys gathered for a Watch Night Service at 7 p.m., and continued without a break until 1.30 a.m.  It was a time of real confession, real prayer, real praise.

Through God's mercy the summer rains held off until these special meetings were over, and then began on January 1st, so New Year's Day was spent by the Christians in small prayer meetings in their houses.  A little company gathered at the Mission house for an hour's intercession before Miss Deck left for the Katoomba Convention.  It seemed as if the heavens were opened; and they were left to carry on the classes alone, with the assurance that God would do great things for them.  So he did, as the following letters testify (one example only is given here):

"Thomas Sandwich and all the Boys came away from Avondale, but his prayers for that place did not fall to the ground.  Within a month God visited the place through an Evangelist, Mr Forbes, who had a Mission there.  One of the twenty-seven men converted, a leading farmer, took a bold stand for Christ; old sores were healed, and lasting blessing has followed.

For two months an intense spirit of prayer prevailed, real expectancy of revival, and then came an element of resistance and check.  Some one has well remarked, "Satan is evidently fighting hard for every inch.  Is the Lord allowing reverses in the campaign to shew that victory is not to be easily won?  More and more we see that in this battle we must advance on our knees.

These times of refreshing led to the outgoing of the Band of New Hebrides Teachers, who have gone to Malaita.  It must be remembered that they have gone to a strange land and to a people speaking a strange tongue.  Their lives are in greater danger than are those of the European Missionaries, and we earnestly ask for continual intercession for them.[10]

It had previously been almost impossible to commence missionary work on Malaita in the Solomon Islands because of the unfriendly attitude of the natives, the rugged terrain, and because of the climate which was very unhealthy for Europeans, unless a proper house and source of food were available.  But, now a church was being established by Islanders returning from Queensland.

BETWEEN THE TWO WORLD WARS

Dr J.  Edwin Orr cites several revivals which occurred in the Pacific area between the two World Wars.  The first of these occurred in New Guinea in 1927.  Several folk movements had occurred beforehand, including one on the north coast of Dutch New Guinea.

The revival movement happened largely amongst the Lutherans in north and east areas of British New Guinea.  Bishop Stephen Neill believed that the reason why this revival took place mainly amongst the Lutherans was due to the fact that one of the missionaries, Christian Keysser, "penetrated more deeply into the mind of the Papuan than any other European" and therefore adopted a policy of "power encounter".  He encouraged his fellow missionaries to engage in tribal evangelism using native evangelists.  The mission organisations were the Neuendettelsau and the Rhenish Mission.

In September, 1933, a revival movement occurred in Tonga, to which the Tongans gave the name "the falling of love".  The Australian Methodist missionary George Harris preached at six in the morning, and then directed a local district meeting of class leaders.  More than a thousand were present when, during the opening hymn, "the love fell".  For more than an hour, people knelt and prayed singly, or in groups, or sang with tears streaming down their faces.  Although a thousand voices were raised, there was a striking sense of order.  The Spirit so swept through the lives of all that wrongs were righted, quarrels mended, and apologies and restitution made, the cleansing and renewing grace of God giving a sense of purity to the very atmosphere.

SINCE WORLD WAR TWO

Several folk movements and revivals occurred in Papua New Guinea, and in West Irian, soon after the war.  The Methodists in the PNG highlands saw one.  And the Christian and Missionary Alliance workers saw a great folk movement in the Baliem River area which they struggled to capitalise upon.

Another such event was seen by the Missouri Lutherans as they pioneered west of Mount Hagen amongst the Enga people.

"But, in 1953, several missionaries in the Fly River field of the U.F.M.  were moved to read of the 1949 Revival in the Gaelic-speaking island of Lewis in Scotland.  The verse which especially impressed them was the one quoted by the Rev.  Duncan Campbell: "Who shall ascend into the hill of the Lord?  He that hath clean hands and a pure heart, who has not lifted up his soul unto vanity. nor sworn deceitfully".

"Despite their prayers, the heavens seemed as brass.  Then a message was given, "Thus saith the Lord, I do not this for your sakes, but for My Holy Name's sake." At a regular conference of missionaries and nationals, there came a spirit of prayer, an intense conviction of sin, and a response of confession, restitution and reconciliation, with not a few professions of faith – a consummating revival" (Orr, 1976, 199).

PALAU

The Caroline Islands in the northern Pacific saw several outbreaks of revival during this period.  One of Dr Edwin Orr's students at Fuller Theological Seminary, Hubert E.  Charles, produced a class paper detailing a revival that occurred on the Palau Islands between 1955 and 1957.

After many years of faithful ground work by members of the Liebenzell Mission, and much prayer by the supporters of this work, the Rev.  Hermann Becker arrived to provide relief for those who needed to go on furlough.  He was aided by Joshua Obak, a young Palauan, who acted as translator for him.  Becker was a man of prayer after the fashion of Hudson Taylor, and who always praised the Lord in every situation.

The revival commenced in the Mission school, notably on one occasion when some loaves of bread were stolen from Pastor Becker's kitchen.  He went to the class room and asked who had done it.  Nobody admitted to it, so he said he would pray and ask God to show him who had done it.  After prayer, he confronted and accused two of the boys, who both denied any guilt.  He replied that he would continue to pray, but that the boys had better confess their sin to the Lord before sunset.

That evening the boys both had painful stomachs, and the dormitory monitor suggested they should go to see the Pastor and confess their sin of stealing, and their fear of telling the truth.  It was an incident something like the story of Ananias and Sapphira in the Acts of the Apostles, and had a similar effect upon those present.

In the public church services of worship, Becker preached many times about the new birth, and the need for forgiveness, cleansing, and the holy life before God.  Making appeals for people to come out the front of a meeting was not customary in Palau, and so many people used to cue up to confer with the Pastor after the service was over.  Sometimes these counselling sessions lasted right through Sunday afternoon until just before the evening service was due to commence.

"Private sins were confessed, broken relationships of many were restored and some couples who were at the point of divorce got saved and were beautifully united again.  Their families became good testimonies in the community.  Others who got saved became honest with their time and responsibilities in their work which made a great impact upon non-Christians."[11]

Groups of people divided according to age and sex travelled about witnessing and preaching.  Becker also introduced the practice of having testimony meetings, where there was opportunity to share what God was doing in personal lives.  The same could be done in prayer to God in the prayer meetings, where a two minute time limit was strictly enforced.  A native ministry also developed out of this revival.

TRUK

Another of Orr's Seminary students, Komber A.  Kumo, wrote about an outpouring of the Spirit in which he was involved, commencing on the Tol island in the Truk District.

The Truk Church Council under the Liebenzell Mission organised a one-week summer youth camp.  Extensive preparations were made, including much prayer, in the weeks before the camp.  The young people who came to the camp included many Christians, as well as numbers of others who did not appear to be practicing Christians.

The first day, Monday, seemed to be dead, spiritually, and we could feel the power of Satan working in our midst.  Acquaintances were made, and rules and regulations were laid out before the campers.  Tuesday, everybody seemed to get acquainted with each other, but the sense of uneasiness was still out probem.  In the morning before dawn, the staff met for prayers and supplication; other believers were praying for us too and all of us were asking and seeking for revival.

On Wednesday, the same routine and schedule was still followed, but lessons on salvation were deeply emphasised.  Questions were opened up which showed the real spritual problem of each camper.  That Wednesday night, the Rev.  Herman Buehler, graduate of the Fuller Seminary School of World Mission, delivered a message concerning the Second Coming of Christ, challenging the campers, asking if they were ever ready to meet the Lord Jesus Christ.  "There is no other way for you to be with Him when He returns, none unless you have found Him, made Him Lord of your life." he said.  He asked those who would like to be with Christ, in spite of their condition, to stand and step forward, and amazingly, there were thirty who stood up, most of them crying and weeping.  We dismissed the meeting that night, but took hold of those who made decision for counselling.

It was really on Thursday morning that a breakthrough for the outpouring of the Holy Spirit finally came about.  I was the speaker that morning, speaking about the end of time: "God has prepared only two places, the first one is the place of torment prepared for Satan and his followers, the second is a place of happiness, prepared for those who are born again, only."  I also emphasised the contrast between conditions in the two places and why God prepared such places.

While I was still speaking, I saw tears falling down the campers' cheeks and knew that the Holy Spirit was working in our midst.  Immediately I gave the invitation, women as well as men rushing forward, crying and weeping like a child crying for his mother's milk.  We could hear the sound of the Holy Spirit, roaring like a mighty wind in our midst.  Truly the non-Christians committed their lives to the Lord.  However, the amazing thing revealed during our counselling of individuals was the concern of the campers over their black magic books and perfume and things that related to the power of Satan.  They asked what they should do and how they should get rid of them.  We requested them to bring everything on Friday night for a special service, anything relating to Satanic power.

On Friday morning, we gave the whole company lessons on assurance and perseverance in times of temptation.  On that Friday night, there was a special service, when many brought their black magic books, black magic perfumes, some even bringing liquor and cigarettes, and many just writing down on pieces of paper what had been possessing them in the past.  We burned all the things before the Lord.  All promised to the Lord not to go back to their former life.  There was real rejoicing, songs of joy were sung, and testimonies were boldly shared"[12] (Kumo,  pages 1-3).

The climax of the camp came on Saturday morning with the Communion service, and the campers returned home for the Sunday.  "It was actually during that Sunday morning's services that revival started in eight churches.  The campers were giving plain testimonies of how they found the Lord when things began to happen."  Kumo describes what happened in each of the eight churches.  But, apart from the business of getting right with God, repeatedly there was response over the matter of having possessions relating to black magic and Satanism.  For example: "They wanted also to get rid of their animistic practices...  We burned black magic books, black magic perfumes, and all the things related to the power of Satan, before the altar of the Lord.  News spread to the whole community of what was really happening at church that Sunday.  On the following Sunday, the church was really packed out, and others were standing outside.  Those who seldom came to church and those who were backslidden came back and wanted to experience the same joy.  The young people of that church went out to other places witnessing and testifying of the Lord Jesus Christ" (page 4).

Similar scenes occurred in the other centres, and the work spread around the other islands in the group, during the next few months.  "It is worth pointing out that the blessing occurred not in only one or two churches but many, and not in only one island but several; and the revival lasted not only one month but continued steadily for half a year.  Last, but not least, thousands of people committed their lives to the Lord and accepted Him as Lord and Saviour.  Some pastors reported that church attendances doubled compared to previous years."

WEST IRIAN

A most interesting folk movement commenced in the highlands of West Irian in the late 1950s.  It commenced with widespread fetish burning in the Ilaga area, where there was a station of the Christian and Missionary Alliance, and it soon spread to other valleys where Dani people lived.  The message was preached by local tribal leaders who knew little of the substance of the Christian gospel, and who added a number of legalistic requirements to be obeyed by those who destroyed and renounced their age-long links with demonism.  This was all done without any sense of conviction of sin, or any knowledge about the place and value of Christ's crucifixion.[13]

THE SOLOMON ISLANDS REVIVAL OF 1970, AND OTHER RELATED REVIVALS

Because this series of revival movements is more recent; because several important books have been written about them, and because many of the people who were involved in them (or in parts of them) are still alive, the Solomon Islands Revival of 1970, and the other movements which flowed from it, can be studied in greater detail, and many useful lessons can be gleaned from this.  Furthermore, we need to continue the task of recording as much information about these movements as we can, while the opportunity still exists, so that other lessons that we might learn are not lost with the deaths of those who were involved.

Several minor revivals appeared in the Solomons, including one a few years before the Japanese invasion.  But it did not spread or continue for long.  The early workers in the Queensland Kanaka Mission were deeply interested in revival, and wanted to see it in their work.  The long-term impact of the Kanaka Revival, and continued interest in revival within the South Sea Evangelical Mission, helped to develop a long-standing deep desire for revival amongst many of the islanders and missionaries, and this desire was finally fulfilled in 1970, at a conference for Mission staff and church leaders at One Pusu.  A deep movement of the Spirit led to many restored relationships, and deep conviction of sin and joy at forgiveness. Those who were present at this conference visited some of the mission stations, conducting minor crusades, and the Spirit came upon the churches everywhere they went, bringing new life and effectiveness.  The day of Pentecost which occurred at One Pusu spread to many other places around Malaita.

The basic sources of information about this revival are found in Fire in the Islands by Alison Griffiths (1977) and Revival - its Blessings and Battles by George Strachan (1975).

Preparations for Revival

George Strachan emphasises three preparatory factors which are of vital importance as a foundation for revival.

(a) Prayer for revival had been an ongoing thing in the Solomons, encouraged by God.  For example, "Crusades, with chosen speakers from overseas, were not new to us, and at such times we saw many people counselled for salvation and restoration.  However, even though some were soundly converted many did not go on with God.  This was a real concern, and it stirred us to seek the Lord for a deep work of the Holy Spirit that would give true repentance.  This sense of need was strong, and Christians shared a deep concern for a lasting work of God.  I remember one prayer bulletin sent around asking for prayer that God would give repentance that would last forever.  People were not pressed with work or tied for time, and this was an advantage.  We would often hear of prayer groups meeting for a day of prayer each week as well as individuals taking time to pray.  Then there was an unusual spirit of prayer in our Girls' Bible School...  The way those girls prayed was most unusual; God was at work, using them in spiritual conflict.  We understand little about prayer and its effect: if we understood more we would pray more" (1975, 10).

(b) Strong leaders who were prepared, willing and able to teach directly from the Bible on all matters relevant to the revival were also of vital importance.  "Revivals have suffered, even to the extent of being discredited, when leaders were not prepared and ready to lead aright.  In the Welsh revival, spiritual leaders were not available to counsel and to feed the young souls converted during those days.  In the Western Solomons, when revival broke out in the 1950's things went wrong for the want of sound Bible teaching and a big breakaway came because the revival was not accepted.  Occult lines were apparently followed, majoring on visions and the like, because of little Bible teaching.  (I mention this both from what I have read and was told by people from that field, and from personal experience when my wife and I spent four years in the Western Solomons)" (1975, 10 -11).

(c) Lastly, there is the preparation and cleansing of the channel through which the Holy Spirit ministers."

National leaders and missionaries gather annually at our head station for a week of fellowship.  In 1970, before the revival, we had invited a Maori team from New Zealand to minister around the Islands.  The Maori visitors..., and some leaders, spent a month travelling around different islands ministering to the people.  Huge crowds had gathered and many were counselled in the usual way and followed over the years, with nothing unusual happening.

From the very beginning of that week together God was in control and did a deep work among us in cleansing us from sin.  God's vessels must be clean and in preparation for blessing; conviction of sin is a vital work of the Holy Spirit.  Those days were sacred, as God dug deep into the past as well as the present.  One dear brother confessed a wrong attitude he took twenty-three years before, which he had maintained through the years.

Wrong heart attitudes, criticisms and the like are common among most of us.  There is no doubt that such as these, which are not considered "big" sins, are the cause of the lack of power in God's service.  This was a necessary preparation.  We attained a fellowship so precious, and we realised it must be maintained at all costs.  For the first time, I knew a fellowship where there was absolutely nothing of darkness between us.  We were truly walking "in the light".

After that week of fellowship when God dealt with us so deeply, we moved on to the next crusade.  From there we started seeing the Holy Spirit working in unusual ways.  There were a few healings, and occasional demon manifestations that we had to deal with.  Something unusual was happening and this encouraged prayer, but we still did not realise that God was about to visit us in a new way."

As we journeyed prayer intensified and during the night different groups went to prayer.  Along with much prayer the Word was preached with great power.  Each crusade lasted for three days, and God's power became increasingly evident.

Conviction of sin became widespread and deep, and the joy of release when forgiveness came was a joy to behold.  God worked in slightly different ways at each crusade, but spiritual transformations of a deep and lasting kind were clearly taking place, so different from what had happened normally beforehand.[14]

One of the main results of the revival was a new emphasis upon building the whole life of the individual, and the church, upon prayer.  The prayer-life of the church mushroomed.  And this has become the basis of the ongoing qualities of church life in the Solomons, and the effectiveness of the revivals in other countries which have come from the witness of the revived Solomon Islanders.

Widespread Effects of this Revival

Groups of Solomon Islanders travelled to other parts of their country, and to other countries, as well.  In many of the places where they went, the fire of God fell, each in God's own sovereign way.  Several papers describing a few of these events are included in a special section at the end of this article on the web page.

There has not only been a very wide impact from this revival in many places, but the effects of it have continued for many years now.  [See the Solomon Islands chapter in this book.]

A Second Revival brings the Next Step

The year 1986 saw the start of a new movement in the Solomons, or perhaps it could be described as a new instalment of the old movement bringing the next step for the people of God.

It certainly broke out in some areas of the Solomons which had not been touched by the previous movement, but perhaps its main importance was to introduce and greater missionary thrust for the Solomon Islanders.

This new thrust arose from asking questions such as: "What can we do to serve and contribute to the countries which surround us?"

No economic advantage or natural resource could answer this question, as the islanders did not have any of these things to give to others.  The answer which they arrived at was - "We can pray."

And this is what they have been doing.  In this way God can use these people to bring His blessings to many other places, even to countries and peoples who seem to " have everything." Not only can they pray at home for others, but they can also visit other countries as God opens the way, in order to share themselves. Indeed, so seriously has this task been taken by one of the Solomon Island church organisations that a former Prime Minister has been appointed to co-ordinate the prayer ministry of that denomination.  This is the great national destiny of the islanders who have been revived.  And, if it could only be recognised, this is the national destiny of every other country, under God, as well.

Rev Robert Evans, an Australian Methodist and Uniting Church minister, writes and compiles resources and books on revival.   See http://revivals.arkangles.com .

Reproduced with permission from his article, “An Outline History of Evangelical Revivals in the Pacific Islands and in Papua New Guinea.”

Great Revival Stories

Contains community transformation accounts from these South Pacific Revivals stories

Transforming Revivals

Also contains community transformation accounts from these South Pacific Revivals stories

207

Introduction

Introduction

This Introduction gives accounts of powerful revivals to the east of the South Pacific in Timor and among Australian Aborigines.  These revivals show what happened in village societies and in towns, similar to what is happening now in many islands of the South Pacific.

Timor, 1965

Don Crawford, investigating the Timor revival for Tyndale Press, gave this report.

Spirit movements of revival influenced many thousands of people in Indonesia during the troubled and politically uncertain times there in the 1960s.  Thousands of animistic Muslims were converted, the biggest Christian impact on Islam in history.

The Reformed Church Presbytery on Timor recorded 80,000 conversions from the first year of the revival there, half of those being former communists.  They noted that some 15,000 people had been permanently healed in that year.  After three years the number of converts grew to over 200,000.  In those three years they formed over 200 evangelistic teams.  On another island where there had been very few Christians, 20,000 became believers in the first three years of the revival.

The Indonesian Bible Institute, established by Worldwide Evangelisation Crusade missionaries in 1959 at Batu in East Java, experienced revival in the sixties. They had deep repentance, confession, renunciation of occult practices, burning fetishes and amulets, and a new humility and unity among staff and students.  Individual students and teams engaged in effective evangelism.

A team of Indonesian students accompanied by a German Lutheran missionary teacher visited Timor during 1965 and saw evidences of

revival beginning which burst into unprecedented power in September 1965.  Christians and new converts burned amulets, pastors and leaders broke with animistic practices, prayer meetings multiplied, giving increased, heavy drinking of palm wine and chewing the narcotic betel nut was curtailed, and youth, traditionally the hardest to reach became the most responsive.  They formed evangelistic teams of their own to take this new-found gospel of deliverance to outlying villages.

This revival spread in the uncertain days following the attempted communist coup on the night of 30 September and 1 October, 1965 in Indonesia when six of the eight Indonesian army generals were killed and mutilated, with only Suharto and Nasution narrowly escaping execution.  General Suharto became acting president, keeping the popular President Sukarno without power till his death in 1971.

At the time of the attempted Communist coup a powerful revival movement had begun in Timor at Soé, a mile high mountain town of about 5,000 people where Rev. Daniel pastored the Reformed Church.  A young man, Nahor Leo, was convicted by a vision of Jesus, destroyed a hidden amulet, and confessed publicly in the Reformed Church on the evening of Sunday, 26 September.  The church experienced a Pentecost style Spirit movement. …

Calls to enter an evangelistic ministry came to young people in unusual fashion.  Nahor Leo, a high school athlete with a reputation as a rebel, was stirred by a dynamic challenge to Christian service given by the headmistress of a Soé school.  Later, studying in his room in Pastor Daniel’s home with two fellow students, he suddenly called out, “Who turned out the light?”  Assured it was still burning, Leo stumbled to his bed.  “I’m going to rest.”

He slept a few minutes.  Then, as if wrenched from the bed, he fell to the floor and appeared to be struggling with an invisible force.  Leo groped his way to his clothes box and thrust his hand to its bottom, then pulled up the root of a plant which was wound with red string.  “Yes,” Leo muttered, as if answering the unseen visitor, “this is my djimat.”

Leo’s companions recognized the strange object as an instrument of witchcraft.  “It’s true,” Leo spoke again.  “I have used it to ask the spirits to help me win races and to attract girls.”  The unusual conversation continued for a moment.  Then Leo collapsed on the floor.

“What’s the matter?  Who were you talking to?” one of the boys shouted.  Leo slowly turned his sightless eyes toward his companions.  At length the white-faced youth replied, “I saw the Lord.  He made me reveal the djimat I had never given up.  He told me he wanted me to serve him alone.  And . . .” his voice trembled . . . “he told me I must have Pastor Daniel pray for me - or I will die.  Would you get him, please?”

Pastor Daniel came swiftly at the desperate summons.  After a prayer of confession, the fetish was burned.  Then, reminiscent of the Apostle Paul when he was ministered to by the man of God, Leo’s sight was restored.  And, like Paul, Leo became a persuasive evangelist, inspiring others to follow the Christian way.

It was the zeal of young leaders like Nahor Leo who formed wide-roving evangelistic teams that fanned the religious fire in Timor, Mr. Daniel told me, and continuing “signs and wonders” have fuelled the flame.  For in every case of a supernatural occurrence, there has followed a significant turning to the Christian faith.[15]

On Sunday night, 26 September 1965, people heard the sound of a tornado wind and saw flames on the church building.  That ‘fire’ prompted police to set off the fire alarm to summon the volunteer fire fighters.  They came running to throw water on the fire, but discovered it was not burning the roof. Many people were converted that night, many were filled with the Spirit including speaking in tongues, some speaking in English who did not know English.  By midnight teams of lay people had been organised to begin spreading the gospel the next day.  Eventually, about 90 evangelistic teams were formed in that community.  Those teams witnessed powerfully using many spiritual gifts.

Nahor Leo, the young man who testified that night in the Reformed Church, chose 23 young people who formed an evangelistic group, Team 1.  They gave themselves full-time to visiting churches and villages and saw thousands converted with multitudes healed and delivered.  In one town alone they saw 9,000 people converted in two weeks.

Another young man, Mel Tari witnessed this visitation of God and later became part of Team 42. He reported on this revival in two widely read books.[16]  Healings and evangelism increased dramatically.  Specific directions from the Lord led the teams into powerful ministry with thousands becoming Christians.  They saw many healings.  There were miracles such as water being turned to wine for communion, some instantaneous healings, deliverance from witchcraft and demonic powers, and some people raised from death through prayer.

Supernatural light sometimes guided the teams at night on jungle trails.  They experienced angelic guides and protection.  Meagre supplies of food multiplied in pastors’ homes when a team ate together there during famines.  Witchdoctors were converted after they saw power encounters when the teams’ prayers banished demons, rendering the witchdoctors powerless.  Don Crawford gives examples:

I had already heard about some of the early Soé miracles from my missionary friend in Kupang, Marion Allen of the Christian and Missionary Alliance.  In visits to Soé during dry seasons he was able to investigate the happenings there.  He had told me that almost every type of New Testament miracle had been repeated in the Soé area.  One evangelistic team, for example, had gotten to their destination by walking across a flooded mountain stream.  At first they had dismissed the feeling that they should walk on the water even though it had come to the team leader after prayer about the problem.  After three successive prayer sessions, with the same apparent answer, the leader took a tentative barefoot step into the water.  When he did not sink, the others followed - to the amazement of stranded travellers who witnessed the strange event from both sides of the stream.

Another team, desiring to celebrate the Lord’s Supper but having no wine, were in a similar fashion instructed to use water from a nearby spring.  As at the wedding Christ attended in Cana, the water, when drunk for the communion celebration, had become wine.  On a hike around the Soé area, Sardjito (the Bible School principal) showed me the spring from which the water-turned-to-wine had come.

An elderly woman among the mourners at the funeral of a young boy felt a strong impression to pray for the lad’s life.  At first she resisted the impulse.  The boy had been dead several hours and in that climate it was imperative that an unembalmed body be buried soon after death.  But her feeling persisted.  When it came time to put the lid of the wooden coffin in place, she felt compelled to act.  She asked if she could offer a prayer.  The ceremony was stopped to humour the old woman.  While she was praying, the boy stirred, then rose up.

To many observers the fact that the ‘dead’ boy is alive today represents a miracle.  But to the believers in Soé the miracle lies rather in how the event was useful in bringing a large number of animist worshipers to faith in Christ.  Sardjito and the Soé church’s two pastors, Rev. Daniel and Rev. Binjamin Manuain, all asserted that such occurrences - as well as the testimony of those who had been delivered from the grip of witchcraft - spurred a remarkable growth of Christianity on the island.  From Indonesian statistical sources I learned that in the first three years of the movement the Christian population of Timor grew by 200,000.[17]

The revival teams were often guided supernaturally through provision of light at night on jungle trails; angelic guides and protection; the multiplication of meagre supplies of food in pastors’ homes when a team ate together during famines; and conversions of witchdoctors who saw power encounters when the teams’ prayers banished demons, rendering the witchdoctors powerless.

The evangelistic teams learned to listen to the Spirit of the Lord and obey him.  His leadings came in many biblical ways:

1. God spoke audibly as with Samuel or Saul of Tarsus,

2. many had visions as did Mary or Cornelius,

3. there were inspired dreams such as Jacob, Joseph or Paul saw,

4. prophecies as in Israel and in the early church occurred,

5. God’s still small voice led many as with Elijah or Paul.

6. the Lord often spoke through specific Bible verses,

7. many events proved to be God-incidences not just co-incidences,

8. often when leadings were checked with the group or the church the Lord gave confirmations and unity as with Paul and Barnabas at Antioch.

The American wife of Mel Tari, Nori, noted that revival phenomena in Timor were neither obvious nor advertised, even though continually occurring, because the people live in greater awareness of spirit powers, do not talk about miracles except to a spiritual advisor or mentor, and do not expect everyone to be healed.

They acknowledge God’s sovereignty, especially in what may happen, when and how it happens and to whom it may happen.

These people movements can be studied from a range of perspectives such as the political, social, economic and historical dynamics involved.  However, the authority and power of the Christians’ God over animistic gods and the confrontation with the authority and the magical powers of witchdoctors had a huge impact.  Significant church growth, people movements and evangelism continually reveal such a power encounter between God’s Spirit and local gods or spirits.

The Indonesian government and the army’s victory over the Communist coup opened the way for the savage killing of 400,000 suspected Communists or sympathizers, so the numbers of nominal Muslims and Christians multiplied.  This external motivation explains part of the rapid growth of the church during this period.  Many nominal animistic Muslims, however, turned to the church not out of fear but out of revulsion toward their fellow Muslim’s slaughter of suspected Communists.

Revival movements preceded the political unrest but were significantly increased in scope and in the numbers involved following the abortive coup and the subsequent violent anti-Communist purges.

Again and again, as accounts in this book demonstrate, God moves in revival in tough times as his people cry out to him, and revival may also precede tough times when God’s people continue to be light in a dark world.

The following boxed example from another island of Indonesia, Sulawesi, powerfully illustrates this aspect of revival.

Children lead Revival

On October 30, 2005, Theresia Morangke (15), Alfita Poliwo (17) and Yarni Sambue (17) were beheaded by militants in the Poso region on the Indonesian island of Sulawesi, an area plagued by sectarian violence. Three men were arrested and convicted in 2007, one being sentenced to 20 years in prison and the others to 14 years.

In the Poso District of Indonesia, where the three Christian school-girls were brutally beheaded in 2007, three children are being used in a special way to bring the Gospel to many people from 2009. An 8 year old girl is exercising a healing ministry with up to 30,000 Muslim, Hindu and Christian people attending her meetings with many getting saved and healed.

An 8 year old boy, Moko Malewa, has been touched by the Lord and is preaching the Gospel powerfully and conducting revival meetings with up to 40,000 people attending his meetings.

Another 11 year old girl began preaching a message of national repentance, and repentance in the churches. It seems that the multitudes of prayers for this area from around the world are bearing fruit.  Tens of thousands are being saved.

Australian Aborigines, 1979

The Lord poured out his Spirit on Elcho Island in northern Australia on Thursday, March 14, 1979.  Rev Djiniyini Gondarra was then the Uniting Church (formerly Methodist) minister in the small community of Galiwin’ku at the south end of the long narrow island.  He had been away on holidays in Sydney and Brisbane, returning on the late afternoon Missionary Aviation Fellowship flight.

He was travel weary and just wanted to unpack and go to bed early.  Many of his people, however, had been praying for months, and some of them had prayed together every day while he had been away.  They wanted to have prayer and Bible study with him in his home.  This is his account of that Pentecost among Aborigines in the Arnhem Land churches across the north of Australia:

After the evening dinner, we called our friends to come and join us in the Bible Class meeting. We just sang some hymns and choruses translated into Gupapuynu and into Djambarrpuynu. There were only seven or eight people who were involved or came to the Bible Class meeting, and many of our friends didn’t turn up. We didn’t get worried about it.

I began to talk to them that this was God’s will for us to get together this evening because God had planned this meeting through them so that we will see something of his great love which will be poured out on each one of them. I said a word of thanks to those few faithful Christians who had been praying for renewal in our church, and I shared with them that I too had been praying for the revival or the renewal for this church and for the whole of Arnhem Land churches, because to our heavenly Father everything is possible. He can do mighty things in our churches throughout our great land.

These were some of the words of challenge I gave to those of my beloved brothers and sisters. Gelung, my wife, also shared something of her experience of the power and miracles that she felt deep down in her heart when she was about to die in Darwin Hospital delivering our fourth child. It was God’s power that brought the healing and the wholeness in her body.

I then asked the group to hold each other’s hands and I began to pray for the people and for the church that God would pour out his Holy Spirit to bring healing and renewal to the hearts of men and women, and to the children.

Suddenly we began to feel God’s Spirit moving in our hearts and the whole form of our prayer suddenly changed and everybody began to pray in the Spirit and in harmony. And there was a great noise going on in the room and we began to ask one another what was going on.

Some of us said that God had now visited us and once again established his kingdom among his people who have been bound for so long by the power of evil. Now the Lord is setting his church free and bringing us into the freedom of happiness and into reconciliation and to restoration.

In that same evening the word just spread like the flames of fire and reached the whole community in Galiwin’ku.  Gelung and I couldn’t sleep at all that night because people were just coming for the ministry, bringing the sick to be prayed for, for healing. Others came to bring their problems. Even a husband and wife came to bring their marriage problem, so the Lord touched them and healed their marriage.

Next morning the Galiwin’ku Community once again became the new community. The love of Jesus was being shared and many expressions of forgiveness were taking place in the families and in the tribes. Wherever I went I could hear people singing and humming Christian choruses and hymns! Before then I would have expected to hear only fighting and swearing and many other troublesome things that would hurt your feelings and make you feel sad.

Many unplanned and unexpected things happened every time we went from camp to camp to meet with the people. The fellowship was held every night and more and more people gave their lives to Christ, and it went on and on until sometimes the fellowship meeting would end around about midnight. There was more singing, testimony, and ministry going on. People did not feel tired in the morning, but still went to work.

Many Christians were beginning to discover what their ministry was, and a few others had a strong sense of call to be trained to become Ministers of the Word. Now today these ministers who have done their training through Nungilinya College have been ordained.  These are some of the results of the revival in Arnhem Land. Many others have been trained to take up a special ministry in the parish.

The spirit of revival has not only affected the Uniting Church communities and the parishes, but Anglican churches in Arnhem Land as well, such as in Angurugu, Umbakumba, Roper River, Numbulwar and Oenpelli. These all have experienced the revival, and have been touched by the joy and the happiness and the love of Christ.

The outpouring of the Holy Spirit in Arnhem Land has swept further to the Centre in Pitjantjatjara and across the west into many Aboriginal settlements and communities. I remember when Rev. Rronang Garrawurra, Gelung and I were invited by the Warburton Ranges people and how we saw God’s Spirit move in the lives of many people. Five hundred people came to the Lord and were baptised in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

There was a great revival that swept further west. I would describe these experiences like a wild bush fire burning from one side of Australia to the other side of our great land. The experience of revival in Arnhem Land is still active in many of our Aboriginal parishes and the churches.

We would like to share these experiences in many white churches where doors are closed to the power of the Holy Spirit.  It has always been my humble prayer that the whole of Australian Christians, both black and white, will one day be touched by this great and mighty power of the living God.[18]

We invited a team from Elcho Island to minister at a combined churches Pentecost weekend in 1992 in Brisbane.  Over 20 Aborigines paid their airfare to come, saying they rarely had such opportunities in white congregations.

When I asked them to pray for those who responded after their messages, they said, “We don’t know how to pray for white people.  We haven’t done that.”

They soon learned, and prayed with the faith and gracious insights typical for them.  Asked why white churches did not invite Aborigines to minister to them, and why the revival did not touch white churches they replied softly, “You are too proud.”

I visited a small Aboriginal community of about 30 adults with their children living at the far northern end of Elcho Island, accessible by four wheel drive over a 50 kilometre dirt track.  For more than 20 years that community has prayed daily for revival in Australia and across the world.  They continue to pray together daily.

Features of this revival continue to occur in many aboriginal communities in Australia, particularly in North Queensland from July 1999.  Christians repent and pray.  God’s Spirit brings widespread confession.  People find freedom from addiction to social vices including drunkenness, immorality and gambling.  Family life becomes harmonious and happy.  Increasing civil order produces widespread peace and joy.

Aborigines baptised at Elcho Island (2010)

207

Solomon Islands

Chapter 1

Solomon Islands

Sir Peter and Lady Margaret Kenilorea,

the first Prime Minister of the Solomon Islands and his wife

The South Seas Evangelical Church and the Methodist Church (now the United Church) experienced strong revivals in the Solomon Islands.  Revivals also produced many independent churches and movements including many Pentecostal churches.

Honiara and Malaita, 1970

Muri Thompson, a Maori evangelist from New Zealand, visited the Solomon Islands in July and August, 1970, where the church had already experienced significant renewal and was praying for revival.  Many of these Christians were former warriors and cannibals, gradually won to Christ in spite of initial hostility and the martyrdom of early missionaries and indigenous evangelists.

Beginning at Honiara, the capital, Muri spent two months visiting churches and centres on the islands.  Initially the national leaders and missionaries experienced deep conviction and repentance, publicly acknowledging their wrong attitudes.  It was very humbling. A new unity and harmony transformed their relationships, and little things which destroyed that unity were openly confessed with forgiveness sought and given.

Then in the last two weeks of these meetings the Holy Spirit moved even more powerfully in the meetings with more deep repentance and weeping, sometimes even before the visiting team arrived.  That happened on Sunday morning, August 23, on the island of Malaita where the whole congregation was deeply moved with many crying even before the team arrived from their berth in the ship the Evangel which carried the mission team of 40 people.

Muri preached powerfully.  Then he said, “If anyone wants to come forward ...” and immediately the whole congregation of 600 surged forward across the dirt floor under the thatched leaf roof. Most people, including pastors, cried with loud sobs of repentance, which soon gave way to outbursts of joy.  Many saw visions of God, of Jesus on the cross or on his throne, of angels, or of bright light.  Some spoke in tongues.  Some were healed.  Most came into a new experience of God with a deep awareness of the need for humility and being sensitive to the Holy Spirit.

The following Thursday, August 27, at another village on Malaita the team found a people well prepared through many weeks of repentance, unity, and a growing longing to be filled with the Spirit.  After preaching Muri asked for a time of silent prayer and the 2,000 people bowed in prayer.  Then he heard a growing sound.

“At first,” he said, “I thought it was audible prayer among the congregation, but realized it was above, in the distance, like a wind, and getting louder.  I looked up through an opening in the leaf roof to the heavens from where the sound seemed to be coming.  It grew to be roar - then it came to me: surely this is the Holy Spirit coming like a mighty rushing wind.  I called the people to realize that God the Holy Spirit was about to descend upon them.”[19]

Three praying leaders in a nearby prayer house heard the silence, and then the roaring sound.  They came outside and heard it coming from immediately above the church.  In the church people broke into wailing, praying and strong crying.  Conviction of sin increased, followed by deliverance and great joy.  Weeping turned to joyful singing.  Everywhere people were talking about what the Lord had done to them.  Many received healings and deliverance from bondage to evil spirits.  Marriages were restored and young rebels transformed.

Everywhere people were praying together every day.  They had a new hunger for God’s Word. People were sensitive to the Spirit and wanted to be transparently honest and open with God and one another.

The South Seas Evangelical Church Bible School constantly abandoned normal lectures as the Spirit took over the whole school with times of confession, prayer and praise.

Teams from these areas visited other islands, and the revival caught fire there also.  Eventually pastors from the Solomon Islands visited other Pacific countries, seeing similar moves of God there also.

Marovo Lagoon, 2000

Methodist missions established strong churches in New Georgia a hundred years ago.  These are now part of the United Church of the Solomon Islands.   Munda, on the south-west of New Georgia where the pioneers began, has the church’s headquarters with its administration, hospital and schools.  It lies 50 miles from Seghe on the south-east coast in the Marovo Lagoon with its 70 kilometres of lagoon with 1,000 islands.  Seghe Theological Seminary is the national Bible College for the United Church.

James Mitchener in Tales of the South Pacific said, “I think Segi Point, at the southern end of New Georgia, is my favourite spot in the South Pacific.  Behind the point, hills rise, laden with jungle.  The bay is clear and blue.  The sands of Segi are white.  Fish abound in the nearby channel.”  Seghe (formerly spelt Segi) in the south east of the island and Munda in its south west both have airstrips built with crushed coral during World War II.  That makes it easy to visit these areas.

Revival movements spread through the western Solomon Islands, especially in the Marovo Lagoon, beginning at Patituva.

Patutiva is a large village at the southern end of the lagoon, just across the lagoon from Seghi.  Ashleigh Ngirah wrote a thesis on the Pautiva Revival in the Marovo Lagoon.  This is an edited excerpt.

History of the Church in Patutiva

The church in Patutiva occurred as a result of the people's quest for lasting peace in the lagoon. First, they wanted peace with their deities that may have been angry over murders in 1908 which caused the natives to encounter disaster and disperse all over the lagoon. Second, and more significantly, they wanted to restore friendship with the British Government officers who continued to haunt for the suspected murderers of the English trader Oliver Burns.

Ngatu, one of the prime suspects, found Methodism a prerequisite for peace. He went to Kokeqolo mission station, established at Munda in 1902, and soon become a protégé of Rev John Goldie, the Australian missionary pioneer. Later he was a devoted follower of Methodism. From time to time, he would visit his relatives remaining at Podokana and talk to them about the Christian faith and the advantages of schools and medical treatment. At first he got very little encouragement until Jeko sought guidance in the old ways and decided to accept the new religion. Eventually, on May 12, 1912, the Methodists established a base in the south of the lagoon. Then a new sense of security and confidence began to spread throughout the lagoon. The refugees of the aftermath of the 1908 violence returned to their native lands. The fear of the government revenges faded and conversion into Methodism was encouraged.

The Development of Revival

The spiritual experiences of Jeko, prior to the arrival of the Gospel, are a significant piece of history in relation to revival experiences. In instituting the ‘old way’ of seeking guidance from their ancestral spirit, he was in a trance. His hands pointed horizontally and his body shook drastically. Next he disclosed spirit messages to the people. This action articulated that their ancestral spirit was pleased with the establishment of the Methodist mission in the Marovo Lagoon.

Many spiritual experiences occurred in the course of the development of Christianity in Patutiva. The spiritual experiences of Silas Eto are significant for he was the first indigenous convert to claim such experiences as from the Holy Spirit.

So this paper begins with his experiences and later examines contemporary figures with their experiences. They are Elison Peter and the children experiencing revival.

Silas Eto, 1930s

The first indigenous Christian claims and record of the Holy Spirit infilling experiences occurred in the 1930s, with Silas Eto. He was then a student at Kokeqolo mission school. His experiences began in a particular Sunday at Rev. John Goldie's veranda.  He reported:

My body was shaking and l could feel as though my body was broken. I felt as though l hadn’t any arms or legs. Starting from the soles of my feet up to the hairs of my head and inside my body, I felt joy. When I walked to the church, my whole body was shaking. At the service my head swayed back and forth and my body moved. During the service, I always looked up. It seemed to me that I saw a very beautiful person full of light waving his hands to me.

Some weeks later, another student named Sam Rove from Roviana also had a similar experience. However he equated it as similar to that of local spirit experiences rather than from the Holy Spirit.

Eto’s tatsru (spirit experience) reflected both traditional and Christian manifestations of the spirit. Both Eto and Rove were among the first converts undergoing Christian leadership training. Therefore they must have had some fair ideas and convictions of the missionaries’ beliefs.

These experiences eventually led to the formation of the Christian Fellowship Church (CFC) in 1960. This was due to the continuous tension between Eto and Rev. George Carter as to what spirit possessed Eto. Eto said it was the Holy Spirit but Carter classified it as demonic. Even to date, this tension remains between the CFC and the United Church (formerly Methodist).

There is no clear distinction as to which is which. It is still a very sensitive and complicated issue that calls for special attention in the church today. Failure to do so will cause even more complications that will also result in creating more divisions in the church.

Hellen Vaevosi, 2000

Hellen was a grade five pupil at Patutiva Primary School in 2000. Her father is from Malaita and mother from Marovo. Probably, they were economically or socially uncounted in the community. They were living at the periphery of the societal structure. But a new chapter in life began as she had a special spiritual experience. She called it a ‘Gift’. In her experience the drama unfolded this way:

I could not sleep that particular night. So I decided to sit around our veranda. Later, I made myself to sleep in the veranda. While sleeping, I saw a bright light surround me. That light caused me to start preaching. Then I felt someone kicking my legs. I woke up but found myself still preaching. That was the beginning of my spiritual experiences.

Hellen’s spiritual experiences continued for at least three months. Besides being in a state of ecstasy, special ministry like preaching, teachings, healings and deliverances were also done. The teaching subjects included moral living and repentance. Interestingly, all her presentations were done in the English language. Healings included physical, psychological and traditional exorcism. There were a lot of positive results from her ministry. There were instant healings and deliverances taking place. Her prophecies were fulfilled immediately and even later. One of her unique prophecy goes something like this. “After this, there will be a similar experience on a cripple, should you not believe. But later, fire will fall on your children.”  [Later interpreted as, a cripple and children will experience revival fire.]

She encountered a lot of opposition. Some people doubted the infillings she had. Others assumed her as demonic. This was an off shoot of the previous tensions still unsolved in the church.

Elison Peter, 2001              \

Elison Peter was born a disabled son of Kola. Being disabled, he was confined to his immediate surroundings. He could not attend Sunday School or primary education. However, he received the impartation of spiritual, moral and necessary information at home. He was isolated, unknown and uncounted in the community. But a new story began when he had a very unique experience. Then he was prominent in the community and abroad. He reported his spiritual experience:

That year (2001), I was very sick. One particular night while sleeping with pain, I saw a European like figure descending from heaven with an open book. In it was a picture of Jesus. Next I could hear a sound that said, “Come and confess to Jesus.” In the next day, I told my mother about the vision. She then confirmed that the picture was indeed Jesus. Since then I started preaching repentance to young boys and girls. Later I formed a ministry to assist me due to a lot of needs received.

Elison’s spiritual experience was indeed unique. First, he was dumb but he was able to preach clearly the message of repentance. He spoke like any normal preacher in the pulpit. Second, he was crippled but travelled greater distances purposely to do healings and deliverances. Furthermore, his ministry was supported by a good number of people. This was a sign of partnership in mission. This group used to meet for prayer meetings at his residence and accompanied him for mission.

He had a powerful ministry. There were healings and deliverances taking place. In some villages, he also formed similar ministries which actively participated in intercessions for the group. As a result, the group was qualitatively and quantitatively growing. Unfortunately he also encountered direct or indirect discriminations and condemnations from others. There was evidence of being disliked, doubted and accused as demonic. Consequently, the team gradually disintegrated but Elison, with a few others, persisted.

Children’s Revival, Easter 2003

Another spiritual experience in this new millennium was the ‘Children’s revival’. This account uses this term in order to respect all the children, who in small or bigger ways, participate in this great awakening. This revival began with the children involved in Elison’s ministry. They gathered at an afternoon prayer meeting at his residence on Easter Monday, 2003.

In this meeting, about a dozen youths were present. While they were in an attitude of praying, a cloud-like figure enveloped them. Eventually they were in a trance. Some began to cry, others shouted while others prayed even louder. As a result of this phenomenon, the vicinity was filled with noises. It was so powerful and strange that the whole village was pulled to witness the event. At the scene a lot of bystanders also experienced the inexplicable joy the children felt. Then the numbers grew rapidly as more and more children and elders joined in.

They called their experience, ‘Revival’ and ‘Revival service’ was the name of the fellowship group. They had many revival experiences with Pentecostal characteristics. For instance, it was a noisy fellowship. It was associated with members shouting, singing and speaking in strange tongues. It was also timeless. The fellowship often went for a long time. It used to prolong even to late nights. Their emphasis was not liturgical but experiences. It was their wish that everybody must at least experience the infillings of the Holy Spirit. It was also a children’s and youth fellowship. The majority of the group was children. The elders were not so committed in their attendances. Next still, the worship was full of collective messages and visions from the children. In this worship every one could be a preacher as every body had messages to disclose. Finally, they used spiritual choruses rather than hymns. These choruses were accompanied with power instruments to make them alive. Without them, the worship seemed to be pronounced as dead.

In the course of this experience, a lot of children also claimed to have possessed certain spiritual gifts. Some of them are described in 1 Corinthian 12. “To one is given through the Spirit the utterance of wisdom, to another knowledge, faith, gift of healing, working of miracles, prophecies, ability to distinguish spirits, gift of tongues, interpretation of tongues” (RSV). Others included warnings, directions, and others were very complicated but resembled some Davidic religious and professional actions. These are elements such as playing unseen harps, violins, trumpets, or using a catapult, bow and arrow, etc. Some of these gifts were manifested in the revival services and others were seen outside.

Like the previous individual experiences, they also ventured into mission and evangelism. They did physical and mental clearances in the village. The former involve removal of all the traditional objects which the people feared or suspected as the resident of the devil. The latter involved counselling and praying over the sick. A lot of people acknowledged their spiritual experiences as from the Holy Spirit. Thus positive and anticipated results were evident. On the contrary however, there is still evidence that it cannot all be equated to God, but some things from demons.

An interesting aspect of these experiences was the fulfilment of Hellen’s prophecy. Definitely, it happened as she said, except that its manifestations were confusing. Some equated it to the Christian Holy Spirit’s characters while others rejected it because it appears as syncretism, so it is difficult to determine its essence.

This significant revival kept spreading in the western Solomon Islands.  Youths and children loved to worship and pray.  They experienced many gifts of the Spirit not usually seen in the traditional churches, and they became keen evangelists seeking to lead others to know Jesus and to be free from other spirit powers.

Western District, 2003

Some leaders in the Solomon Islands invited me to come and teach about revival.  Ethnic tensions, fighting and vandalism had flared up in the Solomon Islands during 2002-2003.  Their government invited Australia to intervene with the ‘Helpim Fren’ (to help a friend) deployment of the Regional Assistance Mission, Solomon Islands (RAMSI). Australian soldiers and police helped to curb lawlessness and assisted local police to apprehend criminals.

Dr Ron Ziru, then administrator of the hospital at Munda, invited me to visit the western region to teach about revival and the Holy Spirit.  Cultural tensions were still high, so the Hon. Augustine Taneko, the government Minister for Police and National Security, met me at the airport, in an old taxi.  Someone hit it with a stone as we drove. No limo for the honourable Member!  In Honiara, the capital, I stayed with Augustine Taneko, the Member for the Shortland Islands.  During the ethnic tensions (civil war) police had relocated his family to Honiara in the large guest house then owned by Ron Ziru.

We had a prayer meeting there with his relatives including the Assistant Commissioner for Police, Johnson Siapu. I spoke at their meeting and washed the feet of them and their wives and children, led by the Lord to honour and serve them.  Both men are strong Christians, Catholic and Anglican, and Augustine had been a key government minister negotiating Australia’s intervention.  He rose early every morning praying for an hour or two with his relatives.

Revival was spreading in spite of, and perhaps as one result of, the ethnic tension for two years.  Rebels armed with guns had caused widespread problems.  The economy failed with wages of many police, teachers and administrators unpaid.  But the Holy Spirit moved strongly in the Solomon Islands.

The weekend following Easter, from the end of April, 2003, youth and children in the huge, scenic Marovo Lagoon area, filled with the Spirit, had seen many lives transformed.  Revival spread with the Spirit moving on youth and children in village churches. They had extended worship with revival songs, many visions and revelations and lives being changed with strong love for the Lord.  Children and youth began meeting daily from 5 or 6 p.m. for hours of praise, worship and testimonies.  A police officer at Seghe in the Marovo Lagoon told me that the number of reported crimes had been reduced and that former rebels attended daily worship and prayer meetings.

I visited the area in July 2003, and first saw this revival on Nusa Roviana Island near Munda.  We rode an outboard motor canoe with Rev Fred Alizeru from Munda. Fred had previously been in my classes at Trinity College in Brisbane.

Two weeks previously, early in July, revival started there with the Spirit poured out on children and youth, so they just wanted to worship and pray for hours.  They met every night from around 5.30 p.m. and wanted to go late every night.  I had to encourage them to see school as a mission field, to pray with their friends there, and learn well so they could serve God better.  So they need to get to bed early enough to do that!

I visited Seghe and Patutiva in the Marovo Lagoon where the revival had been spreading since Easter.  Some adults became involved, also repenting and seeking more of the Holy Spirit.

The revival included these effects:

Transformed lives - Many youths that police used to check on because of alcohol and drug abuse became sober and on fire for God, attending daily worship and prayer meetings.  A man who rarely went to church was leading the youth singing group at Seghe.  Adults publicly confessed hatreds and many were reconciled after years of longstanding divisions and strife.

Long worship – The worship often included prophetic words or actions and visions.  I visited Sunday services in July in Patutiva village in the lagoon.  About 200 youth and children led worship at both services with 1,000 attending.  They sang revival songs and choruses accompanied by their youth band.  I prayed individually for over 200 people from 9.30 to 11.30 p.m.  They just kept coming - mostly adults.  On the Monday night at Seghe the congregation there worshipped from before 6 p.m. to after 9 p.m.  After that, I taught and then prayed with each of the family groups there.

Visions - Children see visions of Jesus (smiling at worship, weeping at hard hearts), angels, and hell (with relatives sitting close to a lake of fire, so the children warned them).  Some children saw Jesus reigning over heaven and earth.  One boy preached (prophesied) calmly and softly for 1½ hours, Spirit-led.

Revelations - especially words of knowledge about hidden things, including magic artefacts and good luck charms.  Jesus will have no rivals!  Children show parents where they hid these things.  If other adults did that there would be anger and feuds, but they accept it from their children.  One boy told police that a man accused of stealing a chain saw was innocent as he claimed, and the boy gave them the name of the culprit, by a ‘word of knowledge’.

Confusion - Adults asked many questions at teaching sessions.  My study in renewal and revival for over 30 years helped me understand aspects of the revival that confused them, such as traditional and revival worship, deliverance, discernment of spirits, gifts of the Spirit, understanding and interpreting visions, tongues, healing, Spirit-led worship and preaching, and leadership in revival.

Revival continued to spread throughout the region.  Revival movements brought moral change and built stronger communities in villages in the Solomon Islands.  Ashley Ngirah summed up the effects of the revival with these observations:

1. Revival brought higher moral standards.  People involved in the revival quit crime and drunkenness, and promoted good behaviour and co-operation.

2. Christians who once kept their Christianity inside churches and meetings talked more freely about their lifestyle in the community and among friends.

3. Revival groups, especially youth, enjoyed working together in unity, including a stronger emphasis on helping others in the community.

4. Families were strengthened in the revival.  Parents spent more time with their youth and children to encourage and help them, often leading them in Bible readings and family prayers.

5. More people began using new gifts and ministries including revelations and healing.  Even children received revelations or words of knowledge about hidden magic artefacts or ginger plants related to spirit power, and removed them.

6. Churches grew.  Many church buildings in the Marovo Lagoon have been pulled down to be replaced by much bigger buildings to fit in the crowds.  Offerings and community support have increased.

7. Unity.  Increasingly Christians unite in reconciliation for revival meetings, prayer and service to the community.

Confusion and suspicion continue however, as seems typical of all revivals.  Genuine manifestations of the Holy Spirit are sometimes mixed with excessive human reactions or demonic intrusions.  So we have been involved in helping people to understand and participate in these powerful outpourings of God’s Spirit.

As we keep praying for people to be filled with the Spirit, and as they learn to step out in faith and pray for others, revival spreads.  We don’t make it happen.  God does.  We co-operate with him.

Our revival mission teams constantly saw God touching people, and us, in powerful ways.  Many are filled with the Spirit.  Many discover new gifts of the Spirit in their lives.

Revival mission team, December 2003

South Pacific revival mission team at the home of

Sir Peter and Lady Margaret Kenilorea

A team of law students from the University of the South Pacific Christian Fellowship in Port Vila, Vanuatu, joined me with some others in Honiara and the Western Solomon Islands in December 2003.  Sir Peter and Lady Margaret Kenilorea hosted the team in Honiara.  Sir Peter was the first Prime Minster of the independent Solomon Islands, and was then the Speaker in the Parliament.

Dr Ronald Ziru, then administrator of the United Church Hospital in Munda in the western islands hosted the team there, which included his son Calvin.  The team had to literally follow Jesus’ instructions about taking nothing extra on mission because the airline left our luggage in Port Vila!  We found our bags at Honiara two weeks later after our return from the western islands.

The team first experienced the revival on Nusa Roviana Island across the lagoon from Munda.  We took the outboard motor canoe with Rev Fred Alizeru from Munda.  Children and youth lead the worship in a packed church.  Then many of them slept on the floor during the speaking and while the team prayed for the people.

We held meetings in the main church at Munda and in surrounding villages and churches as well.  Children and youth always responded freely.  They usually led the worship with revival songs.  Their simple, strong faith and ardent love for Jesus touched us all.  I really appreciated some of them praying for me with humble prophetic insight.  So many revival leaders are very young.

We taught in morning sessions about revival and answered questions.  One mother, for example, asked about the meaning of her young son’s vision of Jesus standing with one foot in heaven and one foot on the earth.  What a beautiful, powerful picture of Jesus’ claim that all authority in heaven and on earth has been given to him (Matthew 28:18), seen in a child’s vision.

Those powerful, yet simple and natural effects of revival in strong worship, visions, revelations, healings and deliverance continued to spread throughout the Solomon Islands.

Guadalcanal Mountains, 2006

I led a different revival mission team of 22 visiting the Solomon Islands for a month in November-December 2006.  Most of them came from Pentecost Island, Vanuatu, on their first international mission. The rest came from Brisbane – an international group of Bible College students (from Holland, England, Korea, and Grant Shaw who grew up in China) plus Jesse Padayachee, an Indian healing evangelist originally from South Africa, now in Brisbane, who joined the team for the last week.  Jerry Waqainabete and his wife Pam (nee Kenilorea), participated in Honiara.  Rev Gideon Tuke, a United Church minister, organized the visit.  Gideon had been one of my students at the Uniting Church Theological College in Brisbane and joined me in revival mission trips to churches in South Australia as well as in Queensland, and also in Vanuatu.

In the Solomon Islands the revival team of 15 from Vanuatu and 6 from Brisbane visited villages in the Guadalcanal Mountains, three hours drive and seven hours trekking from Honiara.  We held revival meetings in November 2006 to encourage revival leaders.   The team trekked up mountain tracks to where revival was spreading, especially among youth.  Those young people went in teams to the villages to sing, testify, and pray for people.  Many gifts of the Spirit were new to them.  The team prayed for the sick and for anointing and filling with the Spirit.  They prayed both in the meetings and in the villages.

Mathias and Grant with leaders on Prayer Mountain in the Guadalcanal Mountains of the Solomon Islands

Revival in the Guadalcanal Mountains started at the Bubunuhu Christian Community High School on July 10, 2006, on their first night back from holidays.  They took teams of students to the villages to sing, testify, and pray for people, especially youth.  Many gifts of the Spirit were new to them - prophecies, healings, tongues, and revelations (such as where adults hid magic artefacts).

South Seas Evangelical Church (SSEC) pastors Joab Anea (chaplain at the high school) and Jonny Chuicu (chaplain at the Taylor Rural and Vocational Training Centre) led revival teams.  Joab reported on this revival.

We held our prayer in the evening.  The Spirit of the Lord came upon all of us like a mighty wind on us.  Students fell on the ground.  I prayed over them and we were all praying for each other.  The students had many gifts and saw visions.  The students who received spiritual gifts found that the Lord showed them the hidden magic.  So we prayed about them and also destroyed them with the power of God the Holy Spirit.  The students who joined in that night were speaking and crying in the presence of God and repenting.

We also heard God calling us to bring revival to the nearby local churches.   The Lord rescued and released many people in this time of revival.  This was the first time the Lord moved mightily in us.

Pastor Jonny Chuicu teaches Biblical Studies and discipleship at the Taylor Rural and Vocational Training Centre.  He teaches about the gifts of the Holy Spirit, and is using the book Understanding Our Need of Revival, by Ian Malins.

Some of the people (who are all students) have gifts of praying and intercession, worship, healing, preaching, and teaching.

Our international mission team visiting the villages in the Guadalcanal mountains saw the zeal and commitment of these young people.  We were blessed to be able to teach and encourage them.

Choiseul Island, 2006

The National Christian Youth Convention (NCYC) in the north-west of the Solomon Islands at Choiseul Island, two hours flight from Honiara, brought over 1,000 youth together from all over the Solomon Islands.  Most of them arrived by outboard motor canoes.  The group coming from Simbo Island in two canoes ran into trouble when their outboard motors failed.  Two of their young men swam from noon for nine hours in rough seas to reach land and get help for their stranded friends.

I participated for five days with Gideon and Grant.  The Friday night convention meeting saw a huge response as Grant challenged them to be fully committed to God.  Most of the youth came out immediately so there were hundreds to pray for.  The anointed worship team led the crowd in “He touched me” for nearly half an hour as we prayed for them, including many wanting healing.

Here is Grant’s description of that youth crusade night:

We were invited to speak for their huge night rally.  Geoff began and God moved on the young people in a special way.  Then he handed it over to me at about half way and I gave some words of knowledge for healing.  They came forward and we prayed for them. Most of them fell under the Spirit’s power and they testified that all the pain left their body.  After that I continued to speak for a bit and then gave an altar call for any youth who choose to give their lives fully to Jesus, no turning back!

Most of a thousand youth came forward.  Some ran to the altar, some crying!  There was an amazing outpouring of the Spirit and because there were so many people Geoff and I split up and started laying hands on as many people as we could.  People were falling under the power everywhere (some testified later to having visions).  There were bodies all over the field (some people landing on top of each other).  Then I did a general healing prayer and asked them to put their hand on the place where they had pain.  After we prayed people began to come forward sharing testimonies of how the pain had left their bodies and they were completely healed!  The meeting stretched on late into the night with more healing and many more people getting deep touches.

It was one of the most amazing nights.  I was deeply touched and feel like I have left a part of myself in Choiseul.  God did an amazing thing that night with the young people and I really believe that he is raising up some of them to be mighty leaders in revival.

A young man who was healed that night returned to his nearby village and prayed for his sick mother and brother.  Both were healed immediately.  He told the whole convention about that the next morning at the meeting, adding that he had never done that before.

A study group at the National Christian Youth Convention

At Choiseul Island in the western Solomon Islands

The delegation from Kariki islands further west, returned home the following Monday.  The next night they led a meeting where the Spirit of God moved in revival.  Many were filled with the Spirit, had visions, were healed, and discovered many spiritual gifts including discerning spirits and tongues.  That revival has continued, and spread.

Youth from the Kariki at the national convention

saw revival begin in their islands straight after the convention

Revival Movements, 2007

Many revival movements continue to spread in the Solomon Islands.  Visiting teams have participated and encouraged leaders.

Honiara, the capital has seen many touches of revival.  A week of evening revival meetings spontaneously erupted in Wesley United Church in Honiara in September 2007.  That was the first time they had had such a week of revival meetings, including joining with youth of other churches.  Calvin Ziru, their youth leader had been worship leader in the law student team we hosted in Brisbane in 2002.  He was then legal advisor to the parliament in the Solomon Islands, ideally placed to lead combined churches youth revival meetings and also help in the parliamentary Christian fellowship.

Seghe lies at the south east point of New Georgia in stunning scenery.  We held revival meetings at the Theological Seminary at Seghe in the fantastic Marovo Lagoon – 70 kilometres with hundreds of tropical bush laden islands north and west of New Georgia Island.  Morning teaching sessions, personal prayers in the afternoons and night revival meetings, with worship led by the students, filled an eventful week in September 2007.  That was the first time the seminary held such a week.  Meetings included two village revival services in the lagoon, including a long one at Patutiva village, where revival started in Easter 2003.  That meeting went from 7 p.m. to 1.30 a.m. with about 1,000 people!  We prayed personally for hundreds after the meeting ‘closed’ at 11 p.m.

Simbo.  A tsunami ravaged Gizo and Simbo islands in April 2007.  It smashed all the Simbo canoes, except Gideon’s and his brother’s which were then on the ocean on the two hour trip from Simbo to Gizo.  Strong moves of the Spirit continue on Simbo.  Tapurae village on Simbo has hosted many revival meetings.  It was wiped out by the tsunami, so the villagers relocated to higher ground.  Those villagers have a revival prayer team of 30, and no one from that village needed medical help from the clinic in three years since they started regularly praying for the sick, laying on hands and casting out spirits.

Gizo, the provincial capital of the Western Region, is the Solomon Islands’ second largest town.  Its unique airstrip fills a small island near the town, with its pressed coral runway covering the whole length of the island.  Travellers ride in a canoe or a launch across to the town.  The central United Church hosted revival meetings in October 2007.   The Premier of the region asked penetrating questions and joined those who came out for prayer.  He testified that he was immediately healed from stress-related head pain and tension.

Healings and testimonies have been a normal part of revival movements in the Solomon Islands and in the South Pacific.  People see these as usual and to be expected when the Spirit of God is moving among them as in revival meetings or in personal prayers for one another.

Gizo’s small island airstrip

Taro. The regional centre for Choiseul province in the west Solomon Islands hosted an amazing week of unprecedented unity among all the churches, the United Church, SDAs, Catholics and Anglicans.  The meetings included 30 leaders from Kariki in the Shortland Islands region, further west.  Revival started in Kariki the day after leaders returned from the National Christian Youth Convention in Choiseul Island the previous December.

The region’s premier and officials attended a meeting at the regional parliament house, which included praying with people afterwards.  So did the director for medical services and his staff at a meeting at the hospital.  Others gathered at the Catholic Church for a meeting and personal prayer there.  Each night we held combined churches revival meetings on the soccer field, with huge responses for prayer every night.  Pastor Mathias from Vanuatu shared in speaking and led worship in the prayer groups.

In all these places people made strong commitments to the Lord, and healings were quick and deep. Both in Vanuatu and in the Solomon Islands the people said that they could all understand my English, even those who did not speak English, so they did not need an interpreter.  Another miracle.

International mission team at Honiara airport

Gideon (Solomons), Jerry (Fiji), Jesse, Grant (Australia), Sunim (Korea), Christopher, Marry, Arjen (Netherlands)

207

Papua New Guinea

Chapter 2

Papua New Guinea

Papua New Guinea

Revival spread throughout the rugged, isolated tribal communities of Papua New Guinea, often sparked by visits from Solomon Island pastors, following their revival of 1970.

Enga Region, 1973

Enga village baptisms in the PNG highlands

During September 1973 pastors from the Solomon Islands visited Enga Baptist churches in the highlands of New Guinea.  They conducted meetings throughout the area including sessions with village pastors.

Revival broke out in many villages on Sunday, September 16, when the village pastors returned to their churches.  Hundreds of people, deeply convicted of sin, repented and were reconciled to God and others with great joy.  Pastors in one area held a retreat from Monday to Wednesday in a forest which previously had been sacred for animistic spirit worship.  Others joined the pastors there.  Healings included a lame man able to walk, a deaf mute who spoke and heard, and a mentally deranged girl who was restored.

Work stopped as people in their thousands hurried to special meetings.  Prayer groups met daily, morning and evening.  Most villages established special places for prayer such as groves near the village where people could go and pray at any time.  In the following months thousands of Christians were restored and thousands were converted.  The church grew in size and maturity.

The revival began among the Engas in the areas around Baiyer River and Lumusa, two strong mission centres where pastors gathered regularly for training.

Missionary Rob Thomson observed:

“Enga religion, as with all animistic religions, is basically materialistic.  Much thought and energy are given to manipulating and placating spirits so that they will bring material success – in gardening, trading, hunting, fighting – or stop causing sickness, ill-fortune, crop failure and other calamities.  Against this background came the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  Much of the message was baffling to the Enga mind.  It was natural that they would grasp at the things they did understand.  A life of joy and peace, free from disease, death and sorrow, was something the Engas were interested in.  To the animist the world over, obtaining help from the spirits is through correct performance of ritual.”

Rob said that many saw baptism and communion in this light. They believed that if they did these things properly, God would be pleased and bestow his blessing.  It is not surprising then that there was a certain amount of disillusionment, for the Engas found that even though they were baptised and took communion, Christians did not seem to be exempt from sickness and poverty.  Added to this were the changes being brought about by the impact of a new lifestyle and the preparation for self-government in 1975.  Many turned back to old ways.  Others, however, showed a wonderful maturity in dealing with the situation.  Many young people had no conception of the need for personal decision and discipleship; their parents had made the decision to follow Christ and they accepted that they too were Christian.

Into this situation came the soul-shaking events of the 1973 Enga Revival!

There came a powerful moving of God’s Spirit in the churches.  Many Christians were challenged to reconciliation and rededication in deeply moving services which saw an outpouring of the Holy Spirit.  There was confession of sin, and a new joy and conviction apparent in the lives of many church members.  Long-standing quarrels were resolved in an atmosphere of Christian love, and many people gave their lives to Christ.  In the first six months the movement in the main was confined to a recommitment to Christ by church members.

Many of the older people said it was like the time, 25 years before, when the Enga church was born.  This was a direct answer to the prayers of many of the Enga people.  Some years before, Solomon Island pastors visited the area and encouraged the Enga leaders to pray that a revival should take place in their church.

In August 1973 Baiyer pastors held a retreat and invited Solomon 1sland pastors studying at Banz to speak.  During the final days of the retreat, many pastors were moved by the preaching of the Solomon Islanders.  In the joy that followed their experience, they arranged for the speakers and other students at Banz to visit the churches at Baiyer, Lumusa, Kompiam and Lapalama in September.  Thus began a ministry which brought so much blessing.

A missionary wrote, “The whole movement is very timely as there has been a lot of inter-tribal fighting lately.  Also the Lumusa missionary staff will be greatly reduced next year and we now believe that the Church will confidently face the future in the power of the Holy Spirit.”

Some of the pastors and several leading women were commissioned by the church in a special service to move out to visit other churches in the area.  Each group was led by a stable senior pastor. There were mixed feelings about some of the manifestations of the movement but both Engas and missionaries and others who visited the area from Australia, looked on it as a movement of the Spirit.  Miracles of healing and reconciliation were seen.

Enga revival meeting

Missionary Seton Arndell, principal of the Bible College, made these points after seeing the happenings of those days:

1. The Movement has taken place in response to Enga prayers.

2. The Solomon Island pastors’ preaching was straight Bible preaching with no emotion and little emphasis on revival as such. The emphasis was on the greater need for dedication to Jesus Christ.

3. The response to the preaching was mainly weeping, confession of sin, reconciliation and praising God. The pastors were encouraged to counsel those who were convicted.

4. There were a few isolated instances of speaking in tongues in one congregation, some of visions and prophecy, miraculous healings, and of demons being cast out.  The general pattern was for this to be followed by a quiet waiting on further teaching from God’s Word.

One of the miracles of the whole movement was the completion of the New Testament in the people’s tongue at the time these events were taking place in 1973, and its presentation to a people thirsty for new life and more knowledge of the God of glory.

The result in subsequent years has been a stepping up of work among pastors and in the Bible schools.  At Lumusa and other places the newly blessed Christians kept up their ‘prayer-houses’ on the top of the ridges where they met at dawn and evening to pray and to speak of the things of God. Prayer has been an important factor in the great changes that have come.  Since 1978 for example, individual and communal prayer grounds have been established.  These are beautifully tended and are often located on sites which were significant to the Engas in their pre-Christian days.

As welI as the positive aspects, there are some that might be considered ‘neutraI’ like noisy methods of showing joy and involvement.  This seems neither to hinder nor to help the church life.  Other aspects, however, are causing concern among the church leaders and missionary colleagues.  In some cases, younger men, untrained in Bible truth and Christian leadership, showed a tendency to assume leadership.  That was a worrying feature of the revival, but now the movement is towards openness and hunger for teaching.  Pastor Sai (respected senior pastor) has asked the Australian church to pray unceasingly that God will give his people gifts of discernment so that they may know what is from the Holy Spirit, and what is from malign spirits which are fighting to turn the people from the true path.

Miss Josie Bungsep was one of the Australian Baptist Missionary Society (now Global Interaction) centenary visitors to Australia during 1981.  Josie trained at Banz in the Christian leadership Training College.  She was the leader of the Baptist women in Papua New Guinea.  Her vibrant story of the way God is using his people told to Australian audiences, jolted them out of smug, affluent, uncaring selfishness!  As her listeners heard her stories of praying congregations, of praying the dead back to life, of the laying on of hands to heal the sick in the power of God and of the sheer joy and ebullience of her witness, they realised how far behind these Enga folk they were in their day to day walk with God.[20]

Missionary Rob Thompson gave this review:

When we first saw the revival, we approached it with caution, but as it progressed we have seen that the Holy Spirit is speaking to the people and expressing Himself in a way quite natural for the Enga people.  We are cautious about the extreme displays of emotion.  But these people display emotion very freely.  When the Spirit of God moves in them there is often a great deal of weeping and loud wailing as people are convicted of their sins.  Sometimes there is a violent physical reaction by people so convicted.  Again, when they are released from their sins they display a great deal of joy and happiness – singing and loud shouting.  In all this we rejoice that the Enga Church has been so strengthened and renewed in a way that has made a tremendous difference to the whole community.[21]

This was followed in the eighties and nineties by tough times.  Tribal conflict, destruction and bloodshed erupted.  Revival often precedes hard times and equips God’s people to endure, or even to suffer for him.

Enga revival prayer gathering

Enga Sing-sing

Enga vine bridge

Huli Region, Southern Highlands, 1974

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.

The 60,000 Huli live among scattered villages in the highlands south of Mt Hagen.  Methodist missionaries began work three from 1953, and like other highland areas, soon met with widespread acceptance and saw many conversion.  By the 1970s, around 80% of the people attended church services regularly, and two thirds of the Huli had been baptised, mainly with the United Church, formerly Methodist.

Previously renowned for their fierce tribal fighting, payback killings and scorched earth policies of revenge, the Huli gradually changed with their acceptance of Christianity.  Following independence in 1975, violence and crime accelerated in the highlands, but the Huli people remained more peaceful, in contrast to their former traditional lifestyle, and also in contrast to many other highland regions where crime increased.

Three men from Homa village, two days trek south of the main mission station at Tari, saw revival at Lake Kutubu in the Asia Pacific Christian Mission area (APCM) and on their return one of them, not a committed Christian, began revivalist meetings at Homa in March 1974.  He emphasised spirit exorcism, but mixed it with tribal spirit rituals, including beating ‘possessed’ people.  An older man who objected to the beatings was accused of being possessed and was beaten to death.

When APCM missionaries heard of this weird aberration they came to investigate and strongly condemned the practices as being a cult, and not Christian.

However, many Huli church leaders and missionaries did acknowledge that true revival included people being filled with the Spirit and being set free from evil spirits.   There was a lot of discussion about revival, and teaching about the Holy Spirit.  Village people had a growing anticipation, and prayer groups increased in numbers and zeal.

During August in 1974, revival spread rapidly through the area.  God’s Spirit convicted people of sins.  Many Christians made public confession and restitution.  Warring or estranged groups made peace.

As in other highland revivals, the national pastors led the revival meetings, and people gathered in large numbers to worship and pray.  Some of the meetings were noisy, with many cries, groaning and tears.

At times, deliverance from evil spirits became very noisy, but those set free usually showed great joy and new love for God.   The revival brought new life into the village churches and new power in their preaching and praying.

It not only spread among the Huli people, but many of them carried it elsewhere, such as to surrounding areas and into meetings or groups in towns such as Mount Hagen.

Those revival meetings in the towns also fostered greater fellowship and unity among different denominational groups.  They discovered their unity in Jesus more fully.

Telefomin Region, 1977

Diyos Wapnok

Pastors from the Solomon Islands spoke about their revival at a pastors and leaders conference at Goroka in the highlands of Papua New Guinea in 1974. Pastor Diyos Wapnok attended from the Baptist Mission area at Telefomin.  He heard God call his name in the night there and realised that the Lord was drawing his attention to some special challenge.  He told the story this way:

I married a Christian girl who has been a help and support to me: we pray together when we seek the Lord’s guidance, and she speaks in tongues.  After Christian Leaders Training College, we returned to Telefomin and Eliptamin, where we began a Bible School and worked in the churches.  God blessed the work and 500 people were baptised there between 1961 and 1963.  With five or six others, I decided to build a good house in my village.  We used sawn timber, had several bedrooms as the white people do, and a stove and water tank.  Nothing like it had been constructed in the village before, and I was very happy indeed with the idea of living in a really good home.

During this time (January 1974), I visited Goroka in the highlands, for a conference attended by several hundred pastors from different countries.  It was a challenging time.  One night I heard someone calling me, but I drifted off to sleep again before anything further occurred.  Twice more this happened, but on the third occasion I realised that it was God calling me, and that he wanted to draw my attention to some special challenge he had in mind for me.  But I did not know what it was.  I was still thinking about this, and perplexed, as I stepped into the twin-engine plane that was to take me back home. On the way, as we drew near Oksapmin, one engine stuttered and stopped.  We were terrified!  But then God calmed me with a realisation that he had called me, three times, at Goroka.  He yet had work for me to do before my life ended.  We landed safely at Wewak and I flew on to Telefomin the next day, sure of God’s call, but still ignorant of the details.

Back in my own village, in my fine new house, I became increasingly but reluctantly sure that God was calling me to go to Duranmin to work for him there.  Duranmin was a valley some five days’ hard trekking over the mountains among clans who had been enemies of my people!  I feared that I might be killed if I appeared there!  But the conviction became so strong that I set off for Duranmin, leaving my fine house behind, and arranging with my wife to follow when an airstrip had been made.

One Thursday afternoon while I was preaching at Duranmin, 50 people present became filled with God’s Spirit, and experienced a flow of joy in their hearts.  That was the beginning of the Revival. Some of those people had made decisions as Christians before that time, and some had even been baptised, but not all had been true to God and his commandments.  They had not had much teaching, and the old pressure of the community with its reliance on the spirits, had proved too much for them.  There followed a lengthy period of confession of their unfaithfulness to God, as a wave of new conviction and assurance gave depth to their decision to follow their Lord afresh.

There was much rejoicing and we began to see wonderful things that the Lord was doing.  Many lives were completely changed.  And the Revival did not stop there.  From Duranmin it spread to Telefomin and Tekin and other churches, infusing new life and a new sense of commitment throughout the Baptist church communities.

Now our whole area is alive!  No longer are we worshipping dead ancestral bones; no longer are we crippled by fear of the spirits; our taro crops still grow and flourish, improved by the better tools we can now purchase; there is no longer a Haus Tambaran, where secret items and fetishes are stored and feared.  There are no more wars, prompted and impelled by fears of witchcraft, as in days gone by.

And on top of this, we see that our ministry must move farther out to non-Christian communities still under the power of these fears.  As we are commanded in Matthew 28, we must give the life-saving message to others throughout P.N.G.  People are drawn by good houses, by cars, and by other things that the white man has brought, but more important than these are clean hearts.

We used to recognise and fear many false gods: now we worship only One, the true God.  For twenty-seven years I have followed him, and I plan to do so always.  If you will listen for him, he will come to you too.  He will call you to do big things for him, and he will fill your life with satisfaction and adventure. He will save you from wandering around aimlessly in the dark.  He will guide you into all truth, and will make your life meaningful and exciting.  I know.  I have proved him over a long period of years.  I hope that you will too.[22]

Diyos achieved three aims when he began at Duranmin in 1975:

* To build an airstrip which would give the area contact with other parts of the West Sepik Province.

* To evangelise the Duranmin people.

* To run an effective Bible College to train leaders for ministry.

Following that significant Thursday afternoon, March 10, 1977, at Duranmin when great light filled the room, those 50 people went out in powerful mission, filled with the Holy Spirit and great joy.

Village pastors and leaders returned to their homes with new zeal and a deeper relationship with their Lord.  The revival spread into all the surrounding areas.

The revival spread to Tekin and the Oksapmin area across the ranges from Telefomin in 1984 when Diyos came to the area to preach and teach.  Missionaries there reported:

Many have been blessed and are stronger because of this movement of God’s Spirit.  There has been a deepening work in the lives of many individuals, and some churches, which were almost dead, are now very much alive.  It has brought real life to their worship and has given many a sense of urgency for prayer and study of ‘The Word’, as well as an increased openness to God working in power among them, and of understanding Christ within their culture, perhaps for the first time.  For us, as missionaries, our approach has been generally to stand back a little and let the nationals lead, although there have been times when it was appropriate to help with talking things through.  The whole movement has been a challenging and stretching exercise for us all, as we have had to let God broaden our understanding of him and his ways.[23]

A pastor in a remote village in the Tekin area prayed all night for his mother who had died without believing in Christ.  Two of his friends joined with him, laying hands on her body and praying in their own language and in tongues.  By dawn they noticed that his mother had a faint heart beat and shallow breathing, so they kept praying in faith.  Eventually she opened her eyes and sat up, asking for water.

She told them she had seen Bikfela God (Big Fellow God), in great light.  She wanted to go to him but did not know how.  God told her that her son was praying for her and that he, God, would send her back to find the way to him.  She asked her son about the way to God.  His son reminded her that he had been telling her and everyone about the way to God by believing in Jesus, but she would not respond before.  Now she did respond and committed herself to Christ, trusting in him.  Then she said she was ready to go to him and wanted to go, so lay down and died quietly.  This time her son, the pastor, did not pray for her to return!

Revival had come to Duranmin and the Min people.  This glimpse of God’s greatness gave a new dimension to the preaching.  The movement spread beyond the churches to their unreached neighbours and to most of the villages in the whole area.  Local evangelists and pastors established many churches of new believers and in the next three years more than 3,000 new believers were baptised.

By 2000 an estimated 15,000 people belonged to the church in the Min District.  The old spirit houses for secret men’s business in each village gradually disappeared, being no longer used.  Former rituals to placate spirits, and the fear and curses linked with that, have been replaced with life in the Holy Spirit.  Now communities celebrate the peace and joy of living in the light of the gospel together.

Min warriors

Village baptisms among the Min people

Brugam, Sepik Region, 1984

In the Sepik lowlands of northern Papua New Guinea a new visitation of God burst on the South Seas Evangelical Churches at Easter 1984, sparked by Solomon Island pastors.  It was characterised by repentance, confession, weeping and great joy.  Stolen goods were returned or replaced, and wrongs made right.

Australian missionary Ray Overend reported:

I was preaching to an Easter convention at a place called Walahuta during the recent Sepik revival in Papua New Guinea.  The words the Lord gave us were from Isaiah 6 ...  After the last word of the message the whole church rose to its feet and clapped loudly - something completely new to me!  I knew they were not applauding me.  They were acknowledging to God in praise the truth of his Word. ...  Then I sat down in the only spare little space in the overcrowded church and the whole congregation began to sing - one song after another. ...

Many faces were lifted to heaven and many hands raised in humble adoration.  The faces looked like the faces of angels.  They were radiating light and joy.  And then I noticed something.  Right beside me was a man who had heard the Word and now he just watched those radiant faces lost in praise.  Then he hung his head and began to sob like a child.  He was ministered to.  Demons were cast out.  And he received the Lord Jesus right into his heart.  Then he too began to clap in gentle joy.

But who was he?  A pastor came over to tell me that he had been until this moment the leader of the Tambaran cult in the Walahuta area - that Satanic cult of which the whole village lived in mortal fear - and traditionally the whole of the Sepik feared that cult.

The man who was second-in-charge of the Tambaran cult in that area was also converted that day while listening to the worship from a distance as God’s love and power overcame him.  Revival began to move through the area, until eventually it impacted the main mission station at Brugam.  Ray Overend reported:

I will never forget Thursday, June 14th, 1984.  Revival had broken out in many churches around but Brugam itself, with many station staff and many Bible College and Secondary School students, was untouched.  For a whole week from 8th June a well known preacher from New Zealand (Fred Creighton) had brought studies on “Life in Christ by the power of His Spirit.”  There was much very thorough teaching.  On Tuesday afternoon in prayer I had a real peace that the Lord would break through in Brugam.  Then early on Thursday night, the 14th, Judah Akesi, the Church Superintendent, invited some of us to his office for prayer.  During that prayer time God gave him a vision.  In the vision he saw many people bowed down in the front of the church building in the midst of a big light falling down from above just like rain.

So after the ministry of the Word that night Judah invited those who wanted to bring their whole heart and mind and life under the authority of Christ to come forward so that hands might be laid on them for prayer.

About 200 people surged forward.  Many fell flat on their faces on the ground sobbing aloud.  Some were shaking - as spiritual battles raged within.  There was quite some noise...

The spiritual battles and cries of contrition continued for a long time.  Then one after another in a space of about three minutes everybody rose to their feet, singing spontaneously as they rose.  They were free.  The battle was won.  Satan was bound.  They had made Christ their King!  Their faces looked to heaven as they sang.  They were like the faces of angels.  The singing was like the singing of heaven.  Deafening, but sweet and reverent.[24]

The whole curriculum and approach at the Bible School for the area changed.  Instead of having traditional classes and courses, teachers would work with the school all day from prayer times early in the morning through Bible teaching followed by discussion and sharing times during the day to evening worship and ministry.  The school became a community, seeking the Lord together.

Churches with a strong biblical witness in the area continued to stay vital and effective in evangelism and ministry, filled with the Spirit’s power.  Christians learned to witness and minister in spiritual gifts, praying and responding to the leading of the Spirit.

Many people used spiritual gifts they had never experienced before.  One such gift was the “word of knowledge” whereby the Lord would show Christians exactly where fetishes of sanguma men were hidden.  Sanguma men (who subject themselves to indescribable ritual to be in fellowship with Satan) are able to kill by black magic.  The power of the sanguma in the East Sepik province was broken.

In 1986 a senior pastor from Manus Island came to the Sepik to attend a one year’s pastors’ course.  He was filled with the Spirit.  When he went with a team of students on outreach they prayed for an injured child who couldn’t walk.  Later in the morning he saw her walking around the town.  The revival had restored New Testament ministries to the church, which amazed that pastor because he had never seen that before the revival.

A significant feature of these Pacific revivals is the ministries of indigenous people.  Most revivals begin among the local people, led by local people.  Many are young.  Later, indigenous leaders have often turned to missionary teachers to explain the revival phenomena biblically, including teaching about the Holy Spirit.

Solomon Islands Region, PNG, 1988

Jobson Misang, one of my former students at the Uniting Church Theological College in Brisbane, was an indigenous youth worker in the United Church in PNG.  Revival broke out at leaders’ conferences and camps he conducted in the Solomon Islands District in eastern islands of Papua New Guinea.

He reported in a letter on this revival movement:

Over the last eight weekends I have been fully booked to conduct weekend camps.  So far about 3,500 have taken part in the studies of the Living in the Spirit book (see Appendix).  Over 2,000 have given their lives to Jesus Christ and are committed to live by the directions of the Spirit.  This is living the Pentecost experience today!

These are some of the experiences taking place:

1. During small group encounters, under the directions of Spirit-filled leadership, people are for the first time identifying their spiritual gifts, and are changing the traditional ministry to body ministry.

2. Under constant prayers, visions and dreams are becoming a day to day experience which are being shared during meetings and prayed about.

3. Local congregations are meeting at 4 a.m. and 6 a.m. three days a week to pray, and studying the Scriptures is becoming a day to day routine.  This makes Christians strong and alert.

4. Miracles and healings are taking place when believers lay hands on the sick and pray over them.

5. The financial giving of the Christians is being doubled.   All pastors’ wages are supported by the tithe.

6. Rascal activities (crimes) are becoming past time events and some drinking clubs are being overgrown by bushes.

7. The worship life is being renewed tremendously.  The traditional order of service is being replaced by a much more lively and participatory one.  During praise and worship we celebrate by clapping, dancing, raising our hands to the King of kings, and we meditate and pray.  When a word of knowledge is received we pray about the message from the Lord and encourage one another to act on it with sensitivity and love.

Problems encountered included division taking place within the church because of believers’ baptism, fault finding, tongues, objections to new ways of worship, resistance to testimonies, loss of local customs such as smoking or chewing beetlenut or no longer killing animals for sacrifices, believers criticized for spending too many hours in prayer and fasting and Bible studies, marriages where only one partner is involved and the other blames the church for causing divisions, pride creeping in when spiritual gifts are not used sensitively or wisely, and some worship being too unbalanced.

Revivals in the South Pacific typically involve these blessings and problems.

This is a further example of a strong indigenous Spirit movement needing biblical teaching and guidance to avoid becoming a cult or sliding into error.

Note the common themes in these revivals, and indeed in the whole world, as we respond to God’s Spirit.  We pray, constantly.  We repent, often with bold changes, reconciliation and open confession.  We rediscover biblical truth about living in the holiness and power of the Spirit of God.  We have a new capacity to forgive and love others.  We search the Scriptures and live according to them more fully.  We worship with newfound freedom and joy.  We welcome and move in many spiritual gifts, praying for people in simple faith.

We are not perfect, yet.  But we have a perfect Lord, who continues to transform us by his Spirit within us.

Kambaidam, Eastern Highlands, 1988

Johan van Bruggen, a missionary at the Lutheran Evangelist Training Centre at Kambaidam near Kainantu in the Eastern Highlands of Papua New Guinea, wrote in his circulars:

Tuesday afternoon, August 2, 1988:  I was by myself watching a video of Bill Subritzky, an Anglican Evangelist in New Zealand, who has been mightily blessed by the Lord with ministries of healing and of deliverance from demons.  A large group of Anglican Christians had been baptised in the Holy Spirit and were on the point of receiving gifts of the Spirit.  I watched quite unemotionally when Bill said: “I will mention the gifts slowly and then just let the Holy Spirit impress on your mind which gift(s) he will give you.”

He had just started with the first one: Words of Wisdom - when suddenly I was surrounded by Divine Presence.  When it started I wanted to run away, scared stiff!  But back came the words: Don’t hold back, do not fear!  So I stayed and said, “Come Holy Spirit, fill me completely.”

Now I know what it is to be drunk in the Spirit.  I couldn’t stand on my feet.  I slumped on the bed, hands raised, trembling all over, tingling all over.  I felt something moving up my gullet and I just said, “Out, out,” and I literally threw up.  Don’t worry, I didn’t make a mess.  I just got rid of the spirit of fear and doubt!  And oh, I felt absolutely fantastic.  I cried and laughed and I must have been quite a sight!  It rained hard and that rain was a solid muffler!  Nobody knew.  I came around again because there was the noise of the video set with a blank screen.  The programme was finished and I did not know how.  I have had earlier fillings of the Holy Spirit but nothing like this time with that sense of being overwhelmed.

Then came Thursday, August 4, a miserable day weather wise, although we had great joy during our studies.  Evening devotions - not all students came, actually a rather small group.  I too needed some inner encouragement to go as it was more comfortable near the fire.  We sang a few quiet worship songs.  Samson, a fellow who by accident became one of our students last year, well, this Samson was leading the devotions.  We had sung the last song and were waiting for him to start.  Starting he did, but in an unusual way.  He cried, trembled all over!

Then it spread.  When I looked up again I saw the head prefect flat on the floor under his desk.  I was praying in tongues off and on.  It became quite noisy.  Students were shouting!  Should I stop it?  Don’t hold back!  It went on and on, with students praying and laughing and crying - not quite following our planned programme!  We finally stood around the table, about twelve of us, holding hands.  Some were absolutely like drunk, staggering and laughing!  I heard a few students starting off in tongues and I praised the Lord.  The rain had stopped, not so the noise.  So more and more people came in and watched!

Not much sleeping that night!  They talked and talked!  And that was not the end.  Of course the school has changed completely.  Lessons were always great, I thought, but have become greater still.  Full of joy most of the time, but also with a tremendous burden.  A burden to witness. …

What were the highlights of 1988?  No doubt the actual outpouring of the Holy Spirit must come first.  It happened on August 4 when the Spirit fell on a group of students and staff, with individuals receiving the baptism of the Holy Spirit on several occasions later on in the year.  The school has never been the same again.  As direct results we noticed a desire for holiness, a hunger for God’s Word which was insatiable right up till the end of the school year, and also a tremendous urge to go out and witness.  Whenever they had a chance many of our students were in the villages with studies and to lead Sunday services.  Prayer life deepened, and during worship services we really felt ourselves to be on holy ground.

We have been almost left speechless by what God is doing now through our students. We realize that we have been led on and are now on the threshold of a revival.

A young student, David, in his early twenties, from the Markham Valley, had a growing burden for his area of Ragizaria and Waritzian, known and feared as the centre of pagan occult practices.  He prayed earnestly.  As part of an outreach team he visited nearby villages and then went to his own people.  He was concerned about the low spiritual life of the church.  He spent a couple of days alone praying for them.

He was invited to lead the village devotions on the Saturday night at Ragizaria.  Johan van Bruggen told the story in his circulars:

Since most of the Ragizaria people are deeply involved in witchcraft practices, David made an urgent appeal for repentance.  Two men responded and came forward.  David put his hands on them and wanted to pray, when suddenly these two men fell to the ground.  They were both praising the Lord.

Everybody was surprised and did not know what to think of this.  David himself had been slain in the Spirit at Kambaidam in August 1988, but this was the first time that this had happened to others through him.  The next morning during the Sunday service scores of people were slain in the Spirit.  Said David, “People entered the church building and immediately they were seized by God’s power.  They were drunk in the Spirit and many could not keep standing.  The floor was covered with bodies.”

It did not only happen to Lutherans, but also to members of a Seventh Day Adventist congregation (former Lutherans) that were attracted by the noise and commotion.

David reported that there was a sense of tremendous joy in the church and people were praising the Lord.  Well, the service lasted for hours and hours.

Finally David said, “And now the people are hungry for God’s Word and not only in my village, but also in Waritzian, a nearby village.  And they want the students to come with Bible studies.  Can we go next weekend?”

We all felt that some students together with Pastor Bubo should go.

Pastor Bubo told me, “Acts 2 happened all over again!”  For three days all the people were drunk in the Spirit.  God used the students and Bubo in a mighty way.  On Saturday night the Holy Spirit was poured down on the hundreds of people that had assembled there.  From then on until the moment the school car arrived on Monday noon, the people were being filled again and again by the Spirit.  There was much rejoicing.  There were words of prophecy.  There was healing and deliverance.  And on Monday morning all things of magic and witchcraft were burned.  Everybody was in it, the leaders, the young, yes even little children were reported to be drunk in the Spirit. The people did not want to go and sleep, saying, “So often we have had drunken all-night parties.  Now we will have a divine party until daybreak.”

Papua New Guinea highland warriors

This area had been a stronghold of evil practices.  Many people received various spiritual gifts including unusual abilities such as speaking English in tongues and being able to read the Bible.  People met for prayer, worship and study every day and at night.  These daily meetings continued to be held for over two years.

That revival kept spreading through the witness and ministries of the Bible School graduates.

In November 1990, Johan van Bruggen wrote:

This is what happened about two months ago.  A new church building as going to be officially opened in a village in the Kainantu area.  Two of our last year’s graduates took part in the celebrations by acting the story in Acts 3: Peter and John going to the temple and healing the cripple.

Their cripple was a real one - a young man, Mark, who had his leg smashed in a car accident. The doctors had wanted to amputate it, but he did not want to lose his useless leg.  He used two crutches to move around the village.  He could not stand at all on that one leg.  He was lying at the door of the new church when our Peter and John (real names: Steven and Pao) wanted to enter.  The Bible story was exactly followed: “I have got no money, but what I have I give you.  In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk!”  Well, they acted this out before hundreds of people, among them the president of the Goroka Church District and many pastors and elders.  Peter (Steven) grabbed the cripple (Mark) by the hand and pulled him up.  And he walked!  He threw his crutches away and loudly praised the Lord!  Isn’t that something?  What a faith!

Their testimony was given at a meeting of elders when Kambaidam was discussed.  Mark was a most happy fellow who stood and walked firmly on his two legs.  He also had been involved in criminal activities, but in this meeting he unashamedly confessed his faith in the Lord Jesus.

Later I talked with them.  Steven (Peter) told me that the Lord had put this on his heart during a week-long period of praying.  “I had no doubt that the Lord was going to heal Mark, and I was so excited when we finally got to play-act!”  And Mark?  He told me that when Steven told him to get up he just felt the power of God descend upon him and at the same time he had a tingling sensation in his crippled leg: “I just felt the blood rushing through my leg, bringing new life!”  Mark is now involved in evangelistic outreach and his testimony has a great impact.

Milne Bay Islands, 1985-1994

Dr David Lithgow and his wife Daphne were Bible translators and medical missionaries with Wycliffe Bible Translators for over 30 years, mainly in the Milne Bay Islands of Papua New Guinea. These edited selections from newsletters tell a little of their work for the Lord and their experience of revival.

* In one place it seemed that everyone turned to the Lord and was baptised in the sea. The same happened on two more islands. Rev. David Kuwab burnt lots of magic paraphernalia which was brought to him.

* Seven sick people were prayed for in Jesus' name, and all were healed.  Other people kept their sick relatives hidden inside their houses, preferring to trust their own magic and spirit cures.  No one among these people was healed.  This has been a demonstration of the power of Jesus.

* A woman who had been crippled for years got up and walked immediately, and was doing normal garden work in a week.  The people here were convinced that Jesus is the Strong One, and this report spread through the whole area.

* The Lord has worked some surprising miracles, like multiplying the one remaining antibiotic capsule for treating an infection to become twelve - enough to complete the cure.

* After the studies and worship services many of the people came for prayer for the Lord’s cleansing from sin, and to receive the Holy Spirit.  At Wabunun they came in a continuous stream, many weeping, for one and a half hours.

* The Lord moved powerfully through healing miracles and casting out evil spirits, demonstrating that his power is greater than that of local spirits and magic.

In 1972 the Muyuw New Testament translation was virtually complete, so we moved to Dobu Island to help in the Bible Society project to retranslate the Dobu New Testament into modern Dobu.  There the house had a sawn timber floor, bush material walls and an iron roof.

In 1978 our doctor advised against David returning to Papua New Guinea because of incipient cancer.  It seemed David could expect about another two years of normal health.  Our plans were examined closely but there seemed no need to change any of them.  We also sought healing through prayer in Jesus’ name.  Since then David has had better health then he had before.  After such a sentence of death, every day is valued as a special gift from the Lord, and it gives an added sense of urgency to the task.

From 1982 we were at Dobu or Diwala Translation Centre, helping with the translations and doing literacy work.  In 1985 the Muyuw New Testament was revised and reprinted.  We travelled in S.I.L.’s new 24 foot boat with the minister, Rev. David Kuwab, who had been the main translation helper.

We visited every island and village selling Scriptures and hymn books, and re-establishing literacy work where it was needed.  Near the beginning of this trip the Lord moved powerfully through healing miracles and casting out evil spirits.

The new Dobu New Testament was dedicated in 1986.  It is now used widely alongside the old Dobu Bible.  Over 10,000 copies have been sold.  As the Lord worked in Muyuw, he has also worked strongly in the Dobu speaking area, leading individuals and groups to renounce traditional magic and to trust in Jesus' name for salvation and healing.

In 1991 the Bunama New Testament was printed and dedicated.  It was distributed by three groups of three Bunama speakers who gave Bible studies from the new Scripture in twenty different villages.  In almost every village there were people who sought the Lord’s salvation - older folk, young men, girls, school children.  We were amazed at the many different ways in which the Holy Spirit spoke to people's needs.

David described a few events on the mission patrols in the decade from 1985 to1994.  These included strong revival movements in the islands of Milne Bay, just east of the main island of Papua New Guinea.  His reports tell of powerful moves of God’s Spirit, thousands baptised, and innumerable healing miracles, such as those as summarised on the previous page.

Here are selections from David’s reports.

Muyuw Patrol, 1985

The 600 Muyuw New Testaments, first printed and sold in 1977, are worn from heavy use, tattered and discoloured.  Some have lost their cover.  People were eager to buy new ones for themselves and their children.  Those who had no money traded canoe paddles, shells, ebony carvings, turtle-shell ear-rings, or baskets of food.

The main Muyuw translator Rev. David Kuwab, with his wife Dasel came with us on the seven week’s patrol by boat to all the inhabited islands and villages where this language is spoken.  On one island David Kuwab baptised 90 people and married five young Christian couples.

At another island an old man asked if he could take his wife with us on the boat to the next island where they wanted to get strong Papuan magic.  Hospital staff had told his wife that the basis of this sickness was witchcraft, so they could do nothing and said she should go home and get Papuan treatment.  All Papuan treatments had failed and they wanted to try stronger traditional magic.

David  Kuwab and I went to her house and prayed for her.  We asked if she believed Jesus could heal her, and she said “Yes”.  So we helped her to her feet and started her walking.  Soon she walked unaided doing heavy work in the food garden.

At the Government Administration Centre the wife of the Provincial Member for Health had been bed-ridden for three years.  They believed this was from witchcraft.  He had employed all the local methods to appease the witches and cure the sickness but she only got worse.  He asked us to pray for his wife and we did so.  When David Kuwab asked if she believed Jesus could heal her he got a lethargic response.

Daphne visited this woman to pray with her daily.  She was improving, so the Provincial member asked David and me to pray for her again.  After prayer this time, she got up and walked.  We noted that she was quite anaemic and gave her iron tablets and advice on diet and encouraged continuing prayer and trust in Jesus.  David warned them strongly against reverting to Papuan magic.

On our last day at Woodlark a man brought his mentally disturbed wife.  David had told them to stop doing anti-witchcraft magic and to pray in Jesus’ name.  The previous night they had done that and she told us she was now all right.  They agreed to another prayer but as soon as Jesus’ name was uttered she screamed and stiffened and talked of bad things put in her abdomen by a witch.

I rebuked the evil spirit in Jesus’ name and we prayed strongly.  When Kuwab asked if she believed in Jesus she gave a definite ‘No’.  I felt led to pray in the Spirit.  David asked her again and she now said that she believed Jesus could save her.  She seemed normal, though lethargic, when we left.  She did recover.

One day was free to visit another village so the deacon took me there by canoe.  We were not able to tell the people that I was coming, so the deacon and I prayed for the Lord to prepare the people.  Normally they would have been scattered in the bush, in their food gardens, or at creeks and beaches getting fish and shell-fish; but we found almost all the people sitting in the church.  One Tuesday each month they have a devotional meeting.  This was that meeting.

They had just finished their devotions so they invited me to speak about the New Testament, hymn book and other Muyuw books.  They bought them eagerly.  Then the youth leader showed me their study paper on the Holy Spirit from a youth convention and asked me if I could help them understand it.  So after a lunch break we went into the church again.  I read and explained the Muyuw Scriptures about the Holy Spirit and they responded very positively.  Many asked for prayer for the filling and empowering of the Holy Spirit.

There was much sickness in another village, especially children.  They have no medical help.  I had few medicines suitable for children.  We gave them what medicines we had and prayed for all the sick.  As in all places, they bought New Testaments eagerly.  Many people came under conviction of sin, coming forward for prayer for Jesus to cleanse and forgive them.

At the Sunday service at Wabunun, where we as a family had lived and worked for eight years, after Scripture had been expounded David Kuwab invited people to come for prayer for sickness, or cleansing from sin, or for the Holy Spirit.

People came forward in a solid stream, some weeping.  David's own son, now a grown man and getting into bad ways, came forward with bowed head and his father prayed for him.  David had never before prayed for people who were under such conviction of sin and desiring salvation.

After a Bible study for preachers and leaders the next day more people came forward for prayers.  It took half an hour to pray for them all.  On the third and final day, after a straight Bible study no appeal was made but during the final hymn people began to come forward for prayer, mostly sick folk who had been brought from more distant places.

West Woodlark Patrol, 1989

We visited the islands of west of Woodlark in October.  After two days of rough weather we limped in with a broken rudder attachment.  The Lord provided an ex-plumber on the island who had some tools in his village house and was able to fix it.

We really admire the teachers of the English Curriculum Government Schools.  Through their work many children become literate in English and Muyuw, but as not all children go to school there are many illiterate teenagers and adults who now want to learn to read.  To try to meet this need we trained 26 new village literacy teachers.

Four places with a total of over 1200 people were still without any medical service despite government efforts to get Aid Post Orderlies to work there.  We heard that people of one island were saying, “You don’t recover if you pray but you will recover if you use magic.”

When we arrived at that island 80 people were sick with malaria, some desperately ill.  All recovered with prayer and chloroquine treatment.  The people of one island complain more about having no minister than they do about having no medical help.  For most, the value of Christian leadership is rated very high.

As well as the Muyuw New Testaments and hymn books we took Kiriwina and Dobu New Testaments for sale.  We found that the Holy Spirit’s blessings are not restricted to one way of ministry or to one language.

People from a number of languages live at the commercial centre for Woodlark Island.  The new United Church minister does not know Muyuw but has a powerful and effective ministry through the Dobu language.

The dialect on one island was a mixture of two main languages.  There we found the strongest church on all of these islands.  However, a matter of concern is a prophetess who is visited by a spirit from time to time and gives confusing teaching, but she has a large following.

After we returned from the Woodlark area Daphne stayed in our house at Dobu catching up with household matters and weeding our yam garden while I did a survey of another area with Peter from Holland.  He and his doctor wife are looking for a language in which to begin translation work.

Family in-fighting which is worsening, destruction of villages, and criminal activities among some of those people are causing widespread concern.  The police recently made a large number of arrests.

There are, however, faithful Christians there in the United, Catholic, and Seventh Day Adventist Churches.

On the patrol we had hard hiking in rain and flooded rivers.  I had been having intermittent malaria and some other problems, but improved during the patrol and returned feeling strong and fit.

Bunama Patrol, 1991

The Bunama New Testament is now with the people, and the Lord blessed the distribution patrol.  Of the 600 printed only 40 were left unsold.

I went with the nine Bunama speakers in the distribution team.  We spent two days in preparation, praying and studying 1 Timothy, the book we were to use for village Bible studies.  Then we set off in groups of three, each group to a different village.

The emphasis was on teaching, and at some stage in most places at the end of a session the team leader or the local pastor would invite people wanting help from the Lord to remain behind.  The manifold working of the Holy Spirit was amazing to all of us.  Together with the local pastors we prayed in pairs for the people who requested help.  Several times the boat captain was teamed with me.  Two years before he was illiterate but Daphne taught him from a Dobu primer.  Now he reads the Dobu Bible and his prayers were spiritually sensitive and powerful.

Even among the most distant of the dialect groups, they understood the Bunama Scripture and teaching quite well and many of them responded to the Lord.  They all had individual and different needs, and the Holy Spirit worked in their hearts.

In another place a team leader was hesitant about making an invitation and did so rather tentatively.  Later he felt rebuked for his reluctance because many responded.  He discovered the agony of soul of one woman who needed the Lord’s help, as well as seeing two boys of 10-12 years who had waited back in the distance but were strongly convicted of their need for forgiveness.

There were failures too.  After church one Sunday a number of people went back inside the church and sat quietly.  Too late, the members of that team realised they were probably wanting help.  Often after uplifting experiences, team members and local people would sing all night.  This was good for the local people but I felt it left team members unable to give of their best the next day.

Half of the team members and some of the village pastors are people the Lord had touched in Dobu Bible studies as we have visited these areas in previous years.  It is wonderful to see the Lord’s work being multiplied.

All team members spoke clearly against the use of traditional magic and spirit practices.  This is a break-through and a key to the Lord's blessing on their ministry.  Ten years ago it was considered wrong to mention these things in church.

In the second week the engine of our boat was getting harder to start, taking up to an hour with the crank handle.  So before trying one day we prayed and it started first crank.  Next morning a team member prayed for the engine.  It started by battery power just with the starter button.  It has kept starting that way ever since.

The language used at another village was not Bunama and I was undecided about calling there, but called in anyway.  There were lots of people about, and they wanted a Bunama Bible study.  A team member led it and made an invitation at the end.  I could see six young men hanging back in the shadows and listening from a distance.  They responded, each with a strong desire to leave his old ways and be a true Christian.  The pastor was away, but his wife was delighted.  She told us that those young men had been a heavy burden on their hearts.

Our trip finished on the island where it began.  They wanted a Bible study from the Bunama New Testament and afterwards several of them bought it.  The response for prayer was mainly from men aged 25-30.  Some were so moved by God's Spirit that they could hardly speak.

Woodlark and Marshall Bennett Patrol, 1994

This trip took three months.  Revival is now spreading through these islands.

We arrived soon after a mission led by a United Church minister.  During the mission at the main population centres hundreds sought salvation through Christ and were baptised in the sea, surrendering their equipment for magic and sorcery.  One witch admitted having killed over 20 people, and she collapsed physically as the power of the Lord came on her.

Two local ministers travelled with us on the Summer Institute of Linguistics (SIL) boat, continuing this ministry to the more remote places.  Rev. Bili Wilson went with us to the Lachlan Islands and the eastern end of Woodlark.  Rev. David Kuwab, co-translator of the Muyuw New Testament, was with us in visiting the rest of Woodlark and the Marshall Bennett Islands.

The people gave Bili Wilson and us their full attention for five days so we gave them the Good News and sold lots of Scriptures.  They responded in an amazing way.  On Friday I gave the main study in the church and invited people during the last hymn to come into the fenced section near the pulpit for prayer.  That area was soon full and most of the rest of the congregation were crowding forward.  Bili and the Pastor worked as one team; Daphne and I as a second team.

On Sunday people were invited to give up their equipment for doing magic, so after church the older men brought wood, gum, ginger, stones, and bones and eagerly released it to be burnt.  Rev.  Bili, using a metaphor, said, “If you have any death in your house bring it here and burn it.” On Sunday afternoon Bili baptised 18 young adults in the sea.

There was widespread response to the Lord.  Hundreds more were baptised in most places, and lots of equipment for magic and sorcery was burnt.  Hundreds also sought prayer for special needs.  One woman came to Bili Wilson and said, “This is my heaviness - I am a witch.” Then she collapsed, and two other women held her onto her feet while we asked the Lord to take away this evil spirit and give her the Holy Spirit.

We went to another island where the enthusiasm was the greatest yet.  Older folk there, as well as the young folk, are very keen for the Lord.  There was another baptism of many people in that area.  Two leaders prayed for each candidate before their baptism.  Afterwards the newly baptised Christians stood in a line and all who wished to do so shook each by the hand and gave words of encouragement or prophecy as the Spirit led.  The biggest prayer need of the young people was to learn to read so as to read the Bible and hymn book.  We prayed for them, gave them primers, and instruction for those who can read to help them daily in their homes.  I also told them that betel nut gums up their brains.

There is a strong Pentecostal church in one island we visited.  They had just finished a mission.  They all speak Holy Spirit tongues and have no tobacco, betel nut, traditional mortuary feasts or kula trading.  Whether they are right or not on these issues, it frees them to worship the Lord with such joy that I have never seen before.  Their faces shine with a happy peaceful radiance.  When you meet them along the road they talk enthusiastically about the Lord and his return.

They baptised 42 people on Sunday, many of them being United Church followers who will continue in the United Church.  The United Church there follows the Pentecostal worship pattern in most ways.  I preached at the United Church mid-day service.  The singing praise session at the start turned into a congregational prayer meeting, all praying together.  It seemed they would never stop!

We were delayed a day leaving there by a cyclone.  Everything got wet.  At least it was cool when the cyclone was around.  After it cleared it was terribly hot.  On almost every trip we caught fish including some big ones.  One pulled my attaching knot undone and got away with the whole line.  If you have any weakness in your tackle you lose all those big ones, and your tackle.

At the next island it seemed as though everyone turned to the Lord and was baptised in the sea.  It was the same in two more islands.

Frightening gossip preceded us in some places.  People were told that if they are baptised in the sea and then commit sin again they will die.  Some people wanted to stay with the ways of worship and life practices to which they were accustomed.  These people saw the revival movement as a new and different religion.

However, in each of the opposition strongholds ten to twenty people sought baptism and new life in Christ.  One was a healing magician who found that after practising his art he had terrible dreams, so he wanted to be rid of his magic.  Another man testified in church that he was finished with his various sorcery practices.

Rev. David Kuwab’s youth was spent in the midst of sorcery and magic.  He dramatically explained the use of items for magic and sorcery and physical poisons as he threw them into the fire, shouting, “These are Satan’s things.” The people showed no sign of embarrassment; just relief and joy.  The young people sang praises to the Lord during the long baptism procedures.  Mature Christians prayed for each person before they were taken down into the water, and another Christian prayed for them when they came back to the shore.

When the Gospel of Christ was proclaimed in one place a famous spirit healer was one of the first to respond.  He was quite willing to give up his healing and killing practice.  He told Rev. Kuwab, “I have only used sorcery to kill bad people, never good people.”

Spiritual hunger generated a great demand for Muyuw Scriptures.  We had to get fresh supplies, and we still ran out of New Testaments at the last island.  The new large print New Testament was very popular with people of all ages.  In a population of some 4,000 people we sold 700 New Testaments, 150 hymn books, and 300 booklets on Spiritual Warfare which David Kuwab had translated.

The Marshall Bennett Islands at the end of a three months trip were exhausting.  That is where we ran into opposition.  There is no medical worker for over 2,000 people.  The three main islands are flat-topped craggy limestone, 500-600 feet in elevation with no water supply where the people live on the tops of the islands, except what falls from the sky.  There are few good anchorages.

With no medical services the people have depended heavily on healing magicians.  On one island there was hostility between members of the church, and many were suffering from malaria, coughs and scabies.  The plight of some small children was pathetic.  We were carrying medicine for malaria and pneumonia but nothing for scabies.  David Kuwab worked hard to help the church leaders overcome their differences through the power of Christ.

Although people were resistant there, at one smaller preaching place 60 were baptised.  At another place 20 were baptised and gave up their magic.

We had planned and prayed for the Woodlark trip for a long time.  Since 1963 we have been praying that God’s Word would bear fruit among the Muyuw people.  What is now happening exceeds our greatest expectations.  To our Lord Jesus be the glory.

Healing the Land, 2006-2007

Walo Ani

Rev Walo Ani and his wife Namana describe community transformation through revival and Healing the Land (HTL) on the south coast of Papua New Guinea.

Karawa Village

It was a very exciting week in August 2006 where we saw the Lord move mightily in the lives of the village elders, chiefs, church leaders and the people.  A group of dedicated young people’s prayer ministry team started praying and fasting from 1st of July for the HTL Process. We witnessed repentance, forgiveness and reconciliations between family and clan members, and between individuals.

The Lord went ahead and prepared the hearts of people in every home as we visited.  They were ready to confess their sins and ask for forgiveness from each other and reconcile.  In some homes, members of families gave their hearts to the Lord.  Visitation of homes took two days.  On the third morning, after the dedication of the elements of salt, oil and water, the village elders and chiefs publicly repented as they identified with sins of their forebears; and each of them publicly gave their clans to the Lord.

Three dinghies and a big canoe with people all went in different directions up several rivers and along the nearby coast to anoint specific places for cleansing that had been defiled through deaths and killings in the past.

That night there was a time of public confession and renouncement of things that were a hindrance in the lives of the people around a huge bonfire.  It was a solemn night; the presence of the Lord was so powerful that people were coming forward and burning their witchcraft and charms publicly.  No one could hold back, even the deacons and church elders, village elders, women and young people were all coming forward.  Young people started confessing their sins and renouncing and burning drugs, cigarettes and things that were hindering their lives from following Christ.

A young man, who had murdered another young man about 11 years ago, came forward and publicly confessed his sin and asked for forgiveness from the family of the murdered man.  That was a big thing; there was a pause and we waited and prayed for someone from the other side to respond.  Only the Lord could do this.

The younger brother of the man who was killed came out finally, and offered forgiveness.  We could hear crying among the people; it was a moving moment where God just took control.  Mothers, brothers and members of both extended families became reconciled in front of the whole village.  We could sense the release upon both families and village.  It was an awesome time; the meeting went on into the early hours of the next morning.  At the end of all this at about 2am the pastor stood up and said the prayer to invite Jesus into the community.

The village is not the same; you can sense the release and freedom of Christ in the lives of the people.  The Holy Spirit is still moving in people’s lives and they are coming to their pastor for prayer.  Recently, a young man surrendered two guns to the pastor.  News of what God has done and is still doing has spread to neighbouring villages.  God birthed a new thing in our area and I believe that many more villages will see the transforming power of God because they are hungry and desperate to see change in their communities.

Update, February 2007

Walo did three nights of HTL follow up in Karawa village and reported that the meetings in the village were packed.  He spoke on the bow and arrow concept – reliable bows enable reliable arrows to hit the mark (reliable parents are like the bows).  The people were asked to bring their bows and arrows.  They brought their bows but interestingly no one had any arrows.  That was really a challenge and eye opener to everyone.  The HTL prayer team has taken on board the bow and arrow concept and they are going to do house to house visitation to explain this concept.  Three widowers and several widows were rededicated to the Lord. They were anointed with oil and prayed that untimely death will not occur in the village any more.

Walo reported that there were a lot of testimonies arising seven months after the HTL Process.  Two water wells which had a salty taste were anointed with oil and now have good fresh water in them.  One of the rivers that was anointed and prayed for now has fresh water instead of salty water half way up the river.

Alukuni, one of the villages which experienced their pigs being stolen by the Karawa young people over the years, testified that since HTL in Karawa none of their pigs had been stolen so far.  Righteousness is rising up in the village.

The king tides in January to March usually caused floods in the middle of Karawa village dividing the village in two.  After the HTL Process last August, the 2007 king tides have not caused any flooding.  Praise the Lord!

A barren woman conceived after one of the visitation teams dealt with the generational curses holding her in bondage for sixteen years.  Nine months after the Karawa HTL Process she gave birth to a beautiful baby boy named Simon.

There is abundance of fruit and garden food and two harvests of fruit on the orange trees have been observed so far.

A hunger for prayer has risen among the young people.  Straight after the HTL Process young people from one of the clans started a prayer group which is still going on.  Two other clans started prayer groups after a lot of struggle to get going over the years.  The HTL team was the main support behind “Kids Games” which were held December 2006 in the neighbouring village of Keapara.

The studies were on Joseph and when they came to the section on forgiveness the Lord moved in a powerful way and revival started among the children.  They stood and asked for forgiveness from their parents.  There was crying and reconciliation between children and parents.  The Lord is arresting the hearts of the young, the old and the children and there is no holding back.

One Year Thanksgiving, October 2007

Karawa is still experiencing the blessings of God with abundance of crabs, fish and garden produce.  The economic life of the village is growing stronger.  There have also been some challenges.  A week before we arrived there had been a murder of one of the Karawa men who was living in his wife’s village nearby.  He went missing for three days on his fishing trip.  All the Karawa people prayed during this time and search parties went out to look for him.  On the third day they found his body and thanked God, as in the past people missing on fishing trips were never found.  The testimony from this is the Lord kept all the Karawa young men calm although the urge to take the law into their own hands was there.  They testified that if it had not been for the transforming work of the Lord in their lives since the HTL Process, they would have caused trouble in the nearby village.

One of the things prayed for was good education for their children, especially the smaller ones who do elementary schooling and did not have proper classrooms.  Nine months after the HTL Process, Karawa which was the second last on the list of applications for school funding, was brought up to second priority and their application was approved.  A semi-trailer loaded with building materials for two classrooms worth K75,000 (Kina, about AU$35,000) arrived in the village.  The classrooms have now been built and the children are using them.  Only the Lord could have done this.

Makirupu Village

Makirupu is about 2 hours drive east of Port Moresby, with a population of about 600.  The United Church was the established church there and CRC and AOG have also planted churches there in recent years which caused a lot of offences between families.

In March 2007, we had eight days for the HTL Process, two teaching sessions in the mornings and one at night.  From 2-5.30 pm for four days the prayer team did house to house visitation of all of the 126 homes in the village.  The HTL team of seven and the prayer team all fasted and prayed for those eight days.  The teaching was done in the language people understood very well.  The Lord moved in a mighty way convicting people of land disputes, immorality and fornication, fear of witchcraft and sorcery (fear was at its peak when the HTL Process began), lies, gambling, stealing, marriage problems, witchcraft, sorcery and charms and many other issues.  Miracles of healing started from day one; people who were deaf began to hear, their ears were healed.

From research I had done we discovered that the mission land was defiled by three previous pastors who had ministered in the village and who had committed adultery and fornication in the last 30 years, the last one about 18 months ago.  This involved the last pastor and a young girl in the church behind the pulpit areas in the church building.  That pastor was suspended from ministry.  There was a court case between the family of the young girl (who defended her saying she was innocent) and the deacons of the church.  There was actual physical fighting as well.  This case involved the whole village; almost all the young people left the church.  Because of this, the life and attendance of the services were affected.  The life of the church was slowly dying away.  This issue was never resolved properly; it was like a dark shadow hanging over the whole village.  Our first focus of prayer would be the cleansing of the mission land.

On the second night of prayer this evil manifested itself in a snake that lay across the doorway of the current pastor’s house.  The prayer team killed it on the spot.  The next morning I spoke on Roots and Foundations and how curses come into communities and defile the land and people.  That night we had a time of identification repentance and the current pastor came forward and repented on behalf of the three former pastors of adultery and fornication.  Something happened in the heavenlies.  A deacon came forward and repented on behalf of the deacons, followed by a women’s leader all repenting of the same sin and their involvement in it.  More people came out and confessed.

The presence of the Lord was very heavy in the church.  I asked if there was anyone to repent on behalf of the young people and the young girl who had committed fornication and adultery with the last pastor came forward, trembling and crying, confessing, repenting and asking for forgiveness from God and the whole village.  The people were amazed at what God was doing.  Only He could do that.

The girl who had denied outright what she had done 18 months ago was arrested by God’s presence and could not hide any more.  A Sunday School representative came forward and repented and asked for forgiveness.  A former deacon could not hold back.  He came forward and confessed that he had been the messenger boy for the pastor and the girl and he said sorry to the Lord for denying Him.

Because of this incident 18 months ago, all the young people had left the church but when the air was cleared, the next day all the young people came and the church building was full to capacity.  The fear of the Lord entered the hearts of the people.  That same night the anointing elements were mixed and the mission land was anointed, cleansed and rededicated to God.  It was an awesome time.  The AOG pastor also asked for forgiveness from the United Church for leaving the church and causing division.  He and his wife and all his church members were part of the prayer warrior team right from day one of the Process.  A couple of days later the CRC members started joining us and by the end of the Process all three churches were united to see change in the community. The prayer warrior team grew from 7 to 40.  Praise God!

The next day news of what had happened had reached everyone in the village and the nearby villages and more people came for the meetings.  They were hungry to hear the Word of the Lord.  The next few days people were seeing signs and wonders, something they had never experienced before.  Revival had started and the fear of God came upon the people.  Also on the third day the village chief invited Jesus into the community.

On the last day the whole village gathered at the spot where the village was started some five or six generations ago.  Anointing oil was mixed and all the chiefs and village elders were anointed and reinstated.  After that, groups of people and prayer team took oil to certain places previously defiled because of bloodshed in the past on garden land.  They anointed these places while deacons took oil to the boundaries of the village and the beach and dedicated the land back to God.

After lunch everyone came back to the village and started a bonfire.  Church deacons and leaders were the first ones to come forward with confessions of adultery, immorality and witchcraft.  Families with land disputes came out and reconciled with people they had taken to court.  Young people came out with charms and magic and burnt them in the fire.  A mother came out with her ten year old daughter and confessed she had handed down her sorcery and magic to her and said she was sorry, asking for forgiveness from God.  Both were prayed for.  Husbands and wives reconciled, artefacts of magic and idolatry were burnt.  God was doing His cleaning up in the lives of the people.

The next day we had a time of celebration and you could see the release and freedom in people’s lives; singing was coming from their hearts and joy was bubbling over.  The Lord had again touched people’s hearts and His presence was so evident that the people did not want to stop celebrating, although it was getting dark and there was no light.

The land and the people are being healed.  The day after the Process a couple of men went crabbing and caught bigger and more crabs than usual.  A week later a lady went to her garden to find that the bad weed which had been a problem to most gardens had started to wither and die.  She went back to the village and told everyone.  The fear that had gripped the hearts of the people had also been broken in prayer and now women are going to their gardens on their own – something they could not do before.  A few days after the HTL Process, men began to go fishing and to their surprise they were catching more and bigger fish than before.

There has been a case of instant healing of a patient with a stroke after the AOG pastor and his wife shared with her family about Roots and Foundations and how curses come into lives.  The whole family confessed, repented and reconciled with each other.  The pastor’s wife had some of the oil that was mixed in the village the week before and began anointing the lady while they prayed.  To their surprise, she was healed instantly.  She began to speak and eat on her own.  The pastor said he had never experienced anything like this before.  The presence of the Lord was so great they all started worshipping Him and time was not an issue any more.  Praise God for this miracle!

During the Process, the pastors of the AOG, the United Church and an Elder of the CRC church, standing on behalf of the pastor, all repented of all the offences and misunderstandings between them in the past.  So now the three churches have decided to have a combined service once a month in the middle of the village.  The young people from all three churches are already having combined prayer meetings and they are in the process of building a big shelter in the middle of the village for the combined church services.

Update 6 months after the HTL Process

A couple of months after the HTL Process a security firm from the city turned up in the village and recruited all the young men who had been stealing and causing problems.  These young men had been stealing pigs and other things and then reselling them in the city.  One of them could not fit into city life so he went back to the village.  He stole a pig and when his family found out they chased him out of the village.  He went to stay with relatives in another village and in the process found the Lord there!

The villagers reported there has not been any stealing since the men were employed.  There has also been increase in their garden produce, fruit and nut trees.  The people are able to see their own produce come to maturity and sell it, whereas in the past it would have been stolen.

Makirupu and one of the nearby villages are known for getting floods during heavy rains.  One month before we got there, it had been raining heavily but the Lord has kept the floods away.  This is an answer to the people’s prayers.  However, the other village got the floods and we got to see some of the houses still surrounded by flood waters when we were there.  It surely is amazing!

The sea is dedicated to God

Kalo Village

Kalo is the village where in 1881 four Cook Island missionaries and their families were killed.  The killings were led by the chief of one of the clans.  Walo had three meetings with the clan leaders and the history was told and confirmed.  Since the killings this particular clan has been under a curse and the whole village is also affected by it.  The leaders and the people of this clan know that they are under a curse and they are desperate to be freed from it.  There have been unexplained deaths, not many of their children go beyond high school; those that go to work in towns don't last long and they lose their jobs.

The outcome of the talks is that the leaders of this clan called all their families together, from far and near to come and start the repentance and reconciliation Process.  This was supported by the pastor and all the Church and clan leaders of Kalo.  It was a moving occasion and the leaders agreed to proceed with the HTL Process and a bigger reconciliation event with the relatives of the Cook Island missionaries present in the near future.

Every year at their Church anniversary the Kalo people used put on the play of the landing of the Cook Island missionaries and their killings but straight after putting on this play, someone always died.  They cannot explain it and they don’t put it on any more.  After talks with Walo, they have decided to do the play again but this time including a time of repentance, forgiveness and reconciliation after the play.[25]

Healing the Land involved community repentance, reconciliation and rededication of all the people to God, along with acknowledging our stewardship under God for the land and the sea.  This commitment continues to spread throughout the South Pacific islands, especially in Fiji, Vanuatu, Papua New Guinea and also the Solomon Islands.

207

Bougainville

Bougainville

Bougainville, 1987

Royree Jensen[26] tells the story of powerful revival in Bougainville, east of Papua New Guinea.  Revival flared during the decade of war from 1988, sparked by the Bougainville Revolutionary Army (BRA) to defend their land and culture from devastation caused by mining.  Spiritual leaders were worried about the Western evils that arrived with the mining; pornography, alcohol abuse, drugs, smoking and immorality.

Friday, November 6, 1987 marked the first supernatural revival event. It was at this time that the crisis was about to boil over. The stories of that day and the period of time that followed have been told to me by Papa Luke, a genteel man - white haired, 73 years of age, a school teacher, world-travelled. He lives on Saposa Island, 30 minutes by banana boat from Buka Island.

Papa Luke outside his home

Papa Luke now spends most of his days sitting with God.  When we finally found him, he was sitting by the ocean reading his Bible.  Both teacher and story-weaver, he began to talk, vividly recalling the day the revival began, in the circular story-telling style of the Melanesian people.

“Before revival came up, I wrote a drama about God that mixed the culture with the Word of God. We had a drama group of young people who travelled around Buka area.

“Around this time, nine people got sick from black magic.  Out of the nine, five died and four were left.

“My cousin Salome was one of the four people who didn’t die.  She was brought to the hospital in Buka but she didn’t recover, so she was referred to Arawa General Hospital. She didn’t recover there.  The Indian doctor told her and her husband that he had seen witchcraft in India and knew that this poison came from the witchcraft.  The doctor discharged her and she came home.

“They had a ritual ceremony where they asked for the sorcerers to release her by making a sacrifice to free her. She was meant to get better but didn’t improve.  After black magic failed, her brother, the chief, requested for the drama group to come back to our village and pray.

“By Sunday morning, my cousin was still sick.  My family brought her to the Lotu (church service).  They prayed for deliverance and healing.  She got healed immediately along with the other three who were still sick.  Five dead.  Four healed.  On that Sunday, many spiritual gifts fell.  Everyone received a spiritual gift - all different kinds of gifts.

“Now the group went to the island where Salome and the others got sick.  They were going to heal the island of the witchcraft that had killed the people.  They put their hands into the ground without having to dig and they pulled out the poison.  Their hands went through the ground to the exact spot of the bones or whatever artefacts had been used for the witchcraft. Their eyes were closed but the Holy Spirit led them to these places.”  (As he told me this, he shaped his hand as they had shaped theirs - like a rigid blade extending straight from the arm.)

Walking on water

“Now things became wild, exciting and interesting.  Supernatural things began to happen.  By the power of the Holy Spirit, my cousin Salome discerned that there was some witchcraft poison on another nearby island (a burial site) that was put there by a sorcerer.  We began to pray.  While we prayed, fifteen people stood with their eyes shut.  Still with their eyes shut, they began walking on the water from our island to the nearby island.  The Holy Spirit led them while they walked.  When they reached the other island, they put their hands into the ground and pulled out small parcels of scraped human bone.  This powder was being used by sorcerers in their witchcraft rituals.  They brought these parcels of scraped bones back to our island, still walking on top of the water with their eyes still shut.  They did not swim.

“We prayed over the parcels and threw them away into salt water.  This broke the power of witchcraft.  We don’t know how they did the walking on the water except by the power of God.  Plenty of people saw them walking on the water.  There were plenty of eye witnesses.  The distance between the two islands is one kilometre.

“The effect that this had on the island was that we became very excited about God. Many became Christians and worshipped God.  It didn’t stop there.  Some of our school boys and girls, including my son, visited another island.  All the mothers prepared food for them to share out.  My son climbed a tree leaving his plate of food for a friend.  The friend ate the food and died, along with eight other children and their teacher.  My pikinini only got sick.

“This was not the only group to visit that island and die so we were waking up to the fact that the island had something no good on it.  We notified all the ministries around us.  For one week, we fasted, prayed and read the Bible.

“First we went back to the island where our 15 people had walked. We found more black magic - enough to fill a 10kg bag of rice.  We prayed over it and threw it in the water.  A big flying fox with legs like a man settled on top of the house where I was staying with another pastor.  We could feel the wind from his wings.  We rebuked this evil, black magic.  It was powerful and even those who were praying fell down.  This battle went on for quite a while but the people in our church were skilled in deliverance and intercession and eventually we started to win over this black magic.

“Two days later, we visited the island where the school children had died.  We circled the island in a small boat worshipping God.  We were all a little bit afraid.  First people who could discern black magic went ashore.  Then those who could fight black magic went ashore.  Then we all went ashore.

“We stood together and worshipped God.  Then we split into two groups, heading around the island in opposite directions.  Just before we joined up, one team stood under a tree and looked up.  They saw a live bird that they knew was part of black magic.  They said, ‘In the name of Jesus come down.’  The bird died and began to fall.  By the time it hit the ground, only the skeleton of the bird was left.

“One month before, some plantation workers had been on the island.  A man had sat under that tree to rest.  He took sick, went to hospital and died.  However, after we fought the black magic, it was okay.  Even today, 20 years later, people live there and no one gets sick.  There is good food, good fish and everything grows.  It is no longer a witchcraft island.

“These things marked the beginning of the revival.  Demonic spirits were being chased out of our land.”

He continued telling stories of the crisis and revival beginnings.  “We didn’t just sit around during crisis. We went around the atolls preaching.  We preached to the BRA. The good news is for everyone.  I went with my wife and a nun to the mainland for peace meetings.  The BRA were telling us to leave the meeting place.  It was a set up and the meeting was just a front to flush some PNGDF [PNG Defence Force] out.  Salome’s brother, a PNGDF soldier, was shot dead in front of me at this peace meeting.  To get away, we got into our banana boat but the oars were missing.  We grabbed coconut branches and used our shoes to paddle away.  We had to leave the dead body of Salome’s brother behind.”

Our time together came to an end. Papa Luke thanked me for being interested in his stories. There are so many stories, he said. The fact that I was asking to hear them helped him.

Albert was a young Christian during the crisis.  He adds:

“I now see, feel and walk in the power of God.  I didn’t know these things when I was a young Christian but I saw it in others.  There were those who were operating on the high voltage power of God.  These were people who would walk through a hail of bullets and not get hit.  I would say that the host of heaven caught some of the bullets for me.

“There was one instance in 1993 when I was leading a group of chiefs from up in the mountains to sign a peace agreement.  I was not doing this job of my own accord but because it was my job to do.  I prayed to my God, ‘The fighting is all around us and I am a Christian.  If You are going to go with me, talk with me tonight, Papa God. I don’t want to lead them through the bullets.’

“At 2 a.m., my elder son who was three spoke in English.  He did not know English.  He said, ‘Daddy, Daddy, Daddy, you can go.’  He was fast asleep.  Fifteen years later, the memory still brings tears to my eyes and a reverent awe of God.  This was not the time of meetings, conferences, mobile phones or encouragement.  This was a hard time and we only had God.

“I woke up in the morning with peace.  That day, 15 of the chiefs started to run back to the mountains.  I told them that God was with us and that not one single man must run away even if there is gunfire.  I told them that, if one runs, then the guns will get us but that if no one runs, we will all be safe.

“There was a place called Ambush Corner always maintained by BRA.  They knew where I was taking these chiefs and why.  They didn’t want anyone to sign peace papers.  I was in the front of the line.  The Holy Spirit stopped me and I heard a voice tell me to take the chiefs to one side.  I stopped them and said, ‘We are about to enter Ambush Corner and I am afraid that there are people ready to kill us.  However, last night, I felt the peace of God.  Don’t run but stand strong beside me.’  We walked ahead and the BRA descended upon us.  I said to them, ‘In Jesus’ name, I am a servant of God.’

“They pointed their weapons to the sky and fired them off, then they pointed their guns at us but the guns wouldn’t fire.  The chiefs kept following me saying that the peace must come from God.  The peace we enjoy today in Bougainville is because of that document.

“One time, I was holding my son on my shoulders going for a tramp.  We came to a flooded river which was odd because there had been no rain so we took another route.  Later I found out that there was an ambush waiting to kill us.  The unnatural flood changed our direction.”

During the late 1980s when war erupted, life was going on in its exotic daily routines in the jungle.  Yet there was one clan leader who decided to stay in his village, 2 kilometres from the coastline and about 80 kilometres from Panguna Mine.  Such villages were caught between flying bullets.  Pastor Ezekiel built a home base called Aero Centre.  Here are just a few stories that have been told directly to me some ten years since the guns were laid down.

A boy’s story: “During the crisis, PNGDF men entered the little house I lived in with my mother.  I was 12 years old.  They demanded kerosene and food at gunpoint.  My mother was a Christian and so she began to pray.  They held a gun to her head but she said, ‘No’.  Kerosene was more valuable than gold for us.  Without it, we couldn’t run our home.  The soldier pulled the trigger.  The gun didn’t go off.  All this time, I watched my mother.  They pulled the trigger a second time.  The gun didn’t go off.  The soldier went outside our hut, pulled the trigger and it went off.  The gun was loaded and it exploded.  These soldiers realised that God was with my mother.  They quickly ran away.  We kept our kerosene.”

By the time that 12 year old boy told me this story, he was a young man, yet the awe of God was still on him.  He had witnessed his mother’s faith in God and he is still walking in the fear of God.

Ruth, a vivacious school teacher recalls her experiences of being a woman during the crisis and the revival: “In the time of the crisis, God helped my family in a big way.  We had no money to buy clothes, food and soap.  God showed us how to use coconut and lemon to wash our clothes to make them white as snow.  He showed us how to use coconut oil from our own coconut trees for our lamps.  Before the crisis, we used to buy kerosene for our lamps.  Now there was no money and no kerosene.  Salt was also not available so He showed us how to cook our food in salt water from the ocean, adding grated coconut for our flavours.  Sometimes we would boil the ocean water until all we had left was the powdery salt.  In these ways, God showed me that He loved women in their domestic situation; that even in a crisis He could provide all we needed by looking after our clothes and our bodies.

“When it was time for us to have babies, He made sure there was someone around to act as a midwife.  As soon as we knew we were carrying a baby, we would pray that God would be with us at the time of birth and that our babies would come out easily.  We want to give God glory and thanks.  Women who didn’t have Him with them often died along with their babies at their time of birthing.

“God also blessed the ground during the crisis.  Food that we hadn’t planted appeared – sweet potato, yam, taro, casava, chinese taro, banana and other fruit.  This didn’t just happen in one place.  It happened all over the island.  In fact, there is now a category of sweet potato called crisis kaukau!”

Jane: “When the crisis came, people ran away to the mountains leaving their chickens behind. It seemed that those chickens found their way to our village so we had plenty of meat for a long time during the crisis.”

With no help from the neighbouring giant, Australia, and with the confusion and betrayal of brother fighting brother, they turned to God, sometimes praying from 6 in the morning to 6 at night.  As the saying goes, “When God is all you have you find that He is enough.”

Ezekiel and Jane Opet

The head of the clan living in the village at Aero Centre was, and still is, a remarkable man known everywhere as simply ‘Pastor’ and rightly so.  Ezekiel is softly spoken and powerful in word.  His wife is beautiful, equal to him in every way.

Pastor Ezekiel and Jane Opet

I asked Ezekiel, “Why did you stay in the village during the crisis instead of fleeing to the mountain jungles?”

He replied, “It was my pastoral responsibility.  The presence of God came so close to us during those times.  We had never experienced God before like this.  It became a very big encouragement.  It filled in the space where perhaps our neighbours - village by village and nation by nation - could have and should have been.”

Ezekiel was a tough man of drunkenness and black magic.  He was hardly a catch as a husband.  But he had seen Jane, a beautiful young 14 year old girl from the Solomon Islands.  They knew each other for a couple of years when he asked her to marry him. She protested, saying she wasn’t ready for marriage.  She looked to her parents for protection and support. They simply replied, “He has come a long way to get you.  You must not disappoint him.”

So it was that 16 year old Jane sailed across the waters between their two islands and began married life with the wild man, Ezekiel.  Those early years were joyless.  Ezekiel takes up their story.

“I was working at Panguna mine.  I was a truck driver and an equipment operator.  In my home area where people knew I was a drunkard, we were still worshipping idols.  A dwarf - a real life person - lived in the bush and he protected our houses.  He carried black magic power.  I would cut off his hair and use that hair to do black magic.  I was able to cross rivers regardless of the current and swelling of the river propelled by black magic.  We would also ask the dwarf to give us great success with our hunting.  I was skilled and powerful with black magic.

“A group of people came to the Panguna area.  They were from Christian Life Centre in Australia.  We would throw stones at them and mock them.  Then, one time, they were speaking at a meeting and I ran out the front and gave my life to Jesus Christ.  I spoke in tongues immediately.  It was 1st December, 1977 - the turning point in my life.

“I began to say to people, ‘Can you give me an opportunity to preach the Gospel?’  They were reluctant to let me because they knew my past.  Finally, when I got the opportunity to preach, people began to give their lives to Jesus Christ, not like the once-on-Sunday religious experience.

“This experience affected the other miners.  Also, as I preached in my village, it began to affect the whole community.  After that, real prayer began to intensify.  Many began to give their lives to Jesus Christ.”

Jane’s conversion to Christianity came 3 years later.  They soon realised that God had called them to be pastors and so left Bougainville for Banz, near Mt Hagen, PNG, where they began studies at Christian Leaders’ Training College.

“We came back from Mt Hagen for six months practical ministry as part of our training.  At this time, we saw miracles.  Because I had been a key player in black magic, it is not surprising that God used me to bring people out of the darkness of black magic.  We dug holes in which people threw their fetishes.  It was a big cleansing.

“There were strong reasons why my old friends wanted me to recognise the power of black magic.  They told me that I was silly to let so much power go.  Now, during this 6 months of practical ministry, I told them that I was able to work by the power of another spirit - the Holy Spirit.

“They responded to this by getting the dwarf to come to the house where we were staying and put black magic symbols under my steps.  In the morning, I came out of my house, picked up the magic and threw it away.  I no longer needed his protection.  My testimony was that I threw away old power because I now had the power of the Holy Spirit.  On the basis of my testimony, they brought their artefacts to be burned and buried.

“I am sad that people from my clan still relate to the dwarf, not having recognised the power of Jesus Christ.  I take great care to maintain the power of the Holy Spirit, keeping my relationship with Him whole.”

Ezekiel’s wife Jane shared fully with her husband.

In the eight years that I have known Jane, she has only risen in my estimation.  She is a valiant woman and, like her husband, sees herself only as a servant of God.  Although she is from the Solomon Islands, she has paid a great price for Bougainville, laying her life down again and again for her adopted people.

Jane’s story followed a similar theme of devotion to God and experiences of the miraculous.  Before she settled into the narrative of her story, she said quietly and simply, “I give God the glory for what has happened on Bougainville.”

She spoke to me first as a mother of three daughters and one son.  “I was worried about my girls. I wanted to be with them all the time and wouldn’t want to send them out, even to friends.  I was hearing lots of stories about what was happening to the girls.  Threats to girls came from any men - the BRA or PNG soldiers or from those who were taking advantage of the conflict to rape and pillage.  It is not so much because they were bad men but because of the hopelessness that comes into a nation when there is conflict such as this.  Even now, fear has gone but concern continues.  The threat of fear is not far away.

“In 1982, while still in Bible College near Mt Hagen, we came back to Bougainville to do six months of practical ministry assignment as part of our training.  Two weeks before we finished this practical ministry, one of my children died, our third born.  She was one year old.  I believe that this was the foundation of the revival.

“Ezekiel was at a camp during which many artefacts of witchcraft were being burnt.   While this was happening, I was in hospital with baby.  At the end of the camp, he returned to the village and on that day our baby died.  He even prayed for his daughter to come back to life.

“His pain was so great that he said that we were not going back to Bible College because our daughter, Bethel, was in this ground.  We went back anyway.  We completed our studies and then returned to Aita.

“For Ezekiel, he had not only lost a daughter, but now had the unanswerable question of ‘why’.  He had prayed for others who had been raised from the dead.  Why not his own daughter?

Then she spoke as a wife.  “I stayed with Ezekiel during the early years of the crisis. Then, in 1992, I went with the children to the Solomons.  While I was in the Solomons, Ezekiel was beaten up in our village because he refused to close the Bible School.”

“Over 500 students have gone through Bible College at the Aero Centre.  They are now pastors, elders and missionaries.  Many of these are women.  None of them are our daughter, Bethel, but as ‘Bethel’ means ‘house of God’, so the house of God has been enlarged by the women who have come under my influence - as a teacher and as a mother in the faith.

“I paid a big price for this to be so.  “Another price was giving away a piece of ground where we were to grow our crops for much money.  Instead of keeping it for our own needs, Ezekiel gave it to God.  For me, giving away the land took a long time to accept.

“The third price is the price of a place to call my home.  I would never have had a problem giving away a building, but what we gave away was my home.  It was before the crisis that we gave away everything.  After being in the Solomons and Fiji, we came back to our village and had no place to stay.  We lived for a while in a small house in our village.  Now I live in a small room under our village’s guest house.  There are times when I would like a bigger nest, but I wait.  I am still waiting for a home.”

Child, land and home.  Jane has chosen to find the goodness of God in these three great losses.

During one visit, I heard another story from Albert.  Albert was in charge of some of the military men who wanted to kill Pastor Ezekiel.  Albert told them, “Do not touch him.  I have seen fire coming from him.”

Those who refused to listen to his warning and who went ahead with their plans were dead before sundown, caught in the crisis cross-fire.

These remarkable experiences were not isolated to Aero Centre. Christians all over the island were also experiencing both the thrill of protection and the horror of loss.

Another extraordinary side effect of the crisis was the subsistence diet.  Many times I have heard it said that they came out of the crisis 10 years younger than they used to be because all the refined food was taken out of their diet.  They ate from the soil. “Our bodies got healthy and strong.”

The vibrant and capable Francesca told me of the harrowing lifestyle of the crisis.

Prayer Mountain

Pastor Ezekiel’s strength and focus on God encouraged others to become giants in faith also.  David Gagaso is one such giant.  This strong and good looking young man with a soft, melodic voice was the one who received the word from God about this mountain.

David made a choice as a young man to live an uncompromising life of faith in Jesus Christ.  He was diligent in his pursuit of spiritual things leading him to a series of miraculous experiences.  Phenomena in the night sky, visions, and voices helped him locate a certain mountain on which he, his brother and friends built a bush house for prayer.  This became known as Prayer Mountain.

He said, “In that bush house, the presence of God came down.  The place was totally covered and filled with thick fog and smoke.  We could hardly see other people in this little house.  Pastor began using Prayer Mountain, hosting prayer seminars and prayer programs.

“We began to see manifestations of God. People began to receive songs and others saw angels.  We were lost in prayer and fasting.

“If Pastor was going out to speak at a crusade, we would first go up the mountain to pray. Then, while he was speaking, people would stay on the mountain praying.  My older brother saw an angel dressed in white.

“When people were disobedient, lightning would appear and wrap itself around the people. For instance, God had showed us how to build the house on Prayer Mountain.  It was hard work.  We cut the trees down the mountain and then carried the wood up the mountain to the place where we were building.  One day, three men decided to go hunting instead of doing this hard work.  The lightning appeared and wrapped itself around them.  They nearly died.  They smelt bad and could hardly speak.  They were out of their senses.  After an hour, they began to talk to each other, asking how they felt about the lightning.  My brother told them the reason for the lightning - that they didn’t follow instructions.

“In 1999, we replaced the bush house with one that had a tin roof.  At the opening service for that house, I felt the presence of Jesus Christ as we were worshipping.  Everyone was flat on the ground, face down.  Even the musicians were on the ground with their instruments.  It was an awesome incredible experience for me that I will never forget.  We had to stop the whole service because we enjoyed God’s presence so much.  It took us a very long time to come back to the rest of the service.  We could not pray or dance or sing but could only be flat on the ground before the presence of God.

“Normally before people set foot on Prayer Mountain, the sky would be clear.  When people entered the prayer house, cloud would cover up the whole place even though there were no other clouds in the sky.

“We never slept at Prayer Mountain, but would always come back to the foot of the mountain to sleep.

“By 2004, we were not using Prayer Mountain any more.  Until this present day, pig hunters who go up there still see footprints in the dusty floor of men walking inside the house of prayer.  This is at least six years after the time of serious prayer.  These are the footprints of angels who still enjoy the presence of God in that house.”

David added, “Today, it is hard for me to leave Jesus Christ because I have tasted Him.  I want to give my whole life to serve Jesus Christ and to be used by him to help preach the word of God to those who don’t know him.  Most of the people who were in the Prayer Mountain era are still active for God today.

“I think about those times and experiences and wish that we were still living the lifestyle to know and worship Jesus Christ.  During revival times, we forgot about kaikai (food).  The longest worship I have gone through is a service that started at 9 in the morning and finished at 11 at night.

“Our experience in the crisis produced people who can be involved in missions.  We are not scared about any situation.  We learn language easily; we eat anything or nothing; we sleep anywhere; we need nothing; we carry fire.

“I personally believe that God is going to raise up very aggressive missionaries from our island.  One of the things I believe is that the church should be involved in mission.  Our church in Bougainville is now reaping what we were planting up there in Prayer Mountain. We prayed for Africa and now we have missionaries there.  Same with Indonesia.  We are becoming the answer to our own prayers.  I myself am about to go to a place that is not safe for Christians.”

Jane took up the story.  “Prayer Mountain was where the Spirit of God fell.  Things happened that are foreign to the Western mind.

“It started when we took Bible School students up to Prayer Mountain for a retreat.  We planned to be there for two weeks, praying and fasting, before sending them out on a ministry trip.

“At the time of this two week stay on Prayer Mountain with the students, we were not thinking in terms of a revival.  We were just being obedient to why we believed God had established Prayer Mountain.

“Soon, people were lifted up off the ground during worship and prayer.  One girl was lifted up, flew past me and landed outside the building.  Other students went through the wall, breaking it on their flight, landing outside.

“We tried to stop them; to quiet them down; to bring them back inside the building.  But there was a fear of God and a fear of the unknown.  We were afraid that if we stopped it, we would be touching something that was God.

“One time Ezekiel was up Prayer Mountain.  On his way back to Aero Centre, he met two ‘white men’ who were glowing.  They asked him where he was going.  He said, ‘Home’ and then passed them.  He turned around.  They were gone.

“Another time a group were cleaning the building at the top of Prayer Mountain.  They arrived to find footprints all around the house.  You must understand that this is not a place where anyone lived and those on cleaning duty would have seen anyone leave the house on their way up the mountain.  They knew straight away that these were the footprints of angels.

“I have to say that, even though we do not now go up the Prayer Mountain, the impact still remains.  When we meet for worship, we don’t need to be gee-ed up.  Rather, we begin to worship God from the start.  We are aware of the danger of following a routine or a program.”

There is no doubt that this mountain played a crucial part in both the revival and in the beginning of the end of the crisis. Ezekiel’s stories weave in and out of those already told by David and Jane.

“Before Prayer Mountain, and into the second year of the crisis, people were singing worship songs to God.  The sound of the singing was heard around the mountains.

“When it was time to be in church, people would run to the front of the church, casting themselves down on the smooth rocks that were alongside the front of the church.  There were times when the dirt floor of the church was indented by the banging of heads in repentance and worship.

“Then came Prayer Mountain.  We stopped at the bottom of the mountain to confess our sins and if we didn’t do this well enough on the first stop, such conviction would come on us that we would stop again.  Finally we would reach the prayer house at the top of the mountain and the presence of God would come down.  We wouldn’t talk but could only whisper because of the awareness of the Holy Spirit.

“The day came, after the building was completed, for its dedication. I put a big ceremony on the doors and then we went inside.  When we were about to sing the first song we found that we couldn’t stand.  We were prostrate on the floor before God.  Prophecy after prophecy came.

“We had not expected this.  The prophecies spoke against the war.  In fact, when the Peace-Keeping Forces arrived in Bougainville, God reminded us of the prophecies from that meeting.  What is more, we were praying on Prayer Mountain when they arrived in Bougainville.

“Another time, the Holy Spirit showed Himself by thunder and lightning.  I became aware that we needed to keep ourselves holy while on Prayer Mountain.  Twice, lightning came and hit the ground.  People tried to run away but a lightning bolt picked them up and rolled them all over Prayer Mountain.  Seeing these things increased the fear of God.

“It was during this time, around 1995, that I returned from Fiji where I had completed a divinity degree at the theological college.  A big hit of revival was happening at the mountain.  One of the ladies, an unschooled woman who could not read or write, stood and told me to put knowledge aside and to learn from the Holy Spirit.  Straight away, my ears were opened to hear the voice of the Holy Spirit.  This was now 1996.  When thunder came, she would write.  When the thunder was over, she would stop writing.  People would have to stand beside her to keep paper up to her, so fast was she writing.  I was asked to read what she was writing to the people.  I remember saying that these were words of encouragement to us during the time of crisis and that it was biblical.”

Pastor Ezekiel told me of its final days.  “By 1999, a prophetic message came that we had to leave the mountain.  God began to speak from John 4:21-24.  The message of those verses came to me as, “I am no longer just in that mountain.  Meet me here as you met me on the mountain.”

“This process of obedience gave us further understanding of the holiness and presence of God.  “We began to question God. “Why are we not experiencing what we experienced before?”

“Then God began to give us the understanding that Prayer Mountain was not just for ourselves but was for taking the Gospel to other people.  He spoke to us about mission.  Now we were to plant churches and experience things that used to only happen on Prayer Mountain.  We have done this.  For instance, we now even have missionaries in Africa.

“In 2000, we launched Christian Missionary Fellowship in Bougainville.  We are now sending missionaries into PNG and to the rest of world.  2002 was the last visit we made to Prayer Mountain.”

Cease fire

The women throughout the jungle began to intercede in prayer to God. Culturally and traditionally, the women are the land owners and now they began to pray for their land and their children’s inheritance. Stories of angels began to circulate.

One such story:  Some island men were walking up a mountainside.  They met two men who were wearing long white robes, whiter than they could ever imagine; so white that they later said that these two men were wearing light.

The island men became afraid.  As they passed these two men who stood either side of the mountain path, one spoke and said, “You need to go back to that little church and they will tell you how to be born again.”  The Bougainvilleans did just that.  They sped down the mountain side, went to the church and became Christians.

Pastor Ezekiel spent an intense time in prayer, asking God what it would take to end the war.  He told me this story.

“The Holy Spirit said two words, “You walk.”  I grabbed five friends and we began to walk.  A road block was moved and we arrived in rebel area.  I was asked to show my clearance.  I told them that I had come to visit with the rebels and to preach the Gospel.

“My explanation was not accepted.  The BRA said to me, ‘You are not going back until you explain to us why you have come.’  I told them that I would stay as long as they wanted but would they please allow me to preach the Gospel.

“I began to preach and 30 rebels gave their lives to Jesus Christ.  Then I told them that I was going to cut their dread-locks and then baptise them.  The BRA all had dread-locks that were a sign of their rebel life.

“News spread through a few rebel camps and so the meetings went on.  Worship began in the bush - a pleasant change to death.  The men in charge were not so interested in keeping me now and were happy to let me go.

“The next thing I did was take a boat around to where the PNGDF and Police Force were stationed.  That night, the whole army camp came.  We sang and preached the Gospel.  I noticed one rough looking person and became afraid.  Then the Holy Spirit said to me, ‘Ezekiel, preach because beyond that ugly looking face is a vacuum.’  He gave his life to Jesus Christ that night.  He was a changed person who I later found out was a policeman.  For a week, we met everyday and every night.  Many army people gave their lives to Jesus Christ.  That Sunday, we baptised nine army officers.

“While I was baptising them, power like lightning sunk them into the water taking those of us who were baptising with them.  They had to be carried out of the water to the shore.  They began to testify to those around, ‘Guns won’t finish the war.  It won’t be stopped by guns.’  There was a deep witness in their bellies of this truth.

“During this time, I saw the power of the authority in Christ that every Christian has over such situations.  I received from God a plan to bring healing to those who have been destroyed in body, soul and spirit by the crisis.”

The Autonomous Bougainville Government (ABG) was established with United Nations involvement after the arms were laid down. Although autonomous, the PNG government is represented in this Parliament.

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Vanuatu

Chapter 3

Vanuatu

Vanuatu village pastors pray in revival meetings

Pastors Rolanson and Owen pray for leaders on South Pentecost

Vanuatu, formerly called the New Hebrides, is a nation of over 80 islands between the Solomon Islands and Fiji.  It has seen many revival movements.

Espiritu Santo and Ambae, 1962

Australian Apostolic Church missionary pastor and teacher, Paul Grant, saw early stirrings of revival in Vanuatu.  He described this in an unpublished report:

It is important to note the following components in the lead-up to later visitation and reviving:

1. A shared concern of missionaries for revival.

2. A significantly developed interest in the quickening power of the Spirit among west Ambae church members and leaders through teaching of the Scriptures and news of revival and the power-works of the Spirit in other parts of the world, e.g. a Series of talks on the East Africa revival, the Welsh revival, signs and wonders and healings as reported from the Apostolic Church in Papua New Guinea, and inspiring records in other magazines.

3. An emphasis on prayer meetings, both between missionaries and in local churches.

4. Regular and frequent prayers for a visitation of God's Spirit by Apostolic Churches around the world.  The first Monday night of each month was observed as a prayer night for worldwide missions.

5. Concentrated, sustained Scripture teaching in the classrooms of the primary school where students later would experience the power of God.

By 1961 I had spent nine years among the people learning many valuable lessons in cross-cultural service and feeling myself being incorporated into their ‘family’ stage by stage.  Church services were free and open for much congregational participation.  During 1961 in the construction and opening of a new school building a spirit of prayer was noticeably intense.

A week of prayer prior to the special ceremonies for the dedication of the school building was a markedly powerful time.  On Santo Island in the town of Luganville a non-professional missionary of the Apostolic Church, a builder, was experiencing a surge of power in the local church fellowship consisting principally of people from Ambae working in this urban situation.  Then came a series of significant episodes.

Beginning in the Santo church on August 15th 1962 and continuing there and in churches on Ambae (commencing in Tafala village in October) over a period of about 12 weeks the power of God moved upon young people.  There were many instances of glossolalia, healings, prophetic utterances, excitation, loud acclamations to God in public services, incidents of deep conviction of sin, conversions, restitutions, and other manifestations of holiness of life.

From diary and report records I have the following observations:

1. Shouts and liberty and outstretched arms, fervent praying by all ... for one hour (24 August).

2. I’ve never seen such passionate fervency (7 September).

3. Abraham (young man) through the day had sought the Lord ... at night he was filled with the Spirit (8 October).

4. ... these baptisms (in the Spirit) have produced a reverence and spiritual quickening of depth and sincerity (14 October 14).

5. ... reverence is prominent.

6. ... Stanley (young man) in the classroom broke forth in other tongues during a Bible lesson on 2 Corinthians 4 ... prayer ... four students committed themselves to Christ (2 December).

7. Thomas (an older man) told me he was drawn by the Spirit to the school building to listen (3 December).

8. Williamson ... has thrown away his cigarettes ... agitated over temptation ... asked for prayer (3 December).

9. ... infusion of new life and power in the weekly meetings (2 January 1963).

This visitation resulted in a liveliness not known before.  Initially it was mainly among young people.  In later months and years it spread among all age groups and to my present knowledge was the first such visitation in the history of the Christian Church in Vanuatu.  To me the gratification I gained centred upon the following particulars:

1. The Holy Spirit had animated and empowered a people who were well taught in the Scriptures.  Records show a lift in spiritual vitality in all the village churches.

2. It brought the church as a whole into a more expressive, dynamic dimension and also a charismatic gift function.  They were much more able to gain victory over spirit forces so familiar to them.

3. It began to hasten the maturation processes in developing leadership.

4. The reality matched the doctrinal stand of the church.  There was now no longer a disparity.

5. It confirmed to me the very great importance of being “steadfast, unmovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord forasmuch as you know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord” (1 Corinthians 15:58 AV).

6. It led to significant outreach in evangelism, both personal and group.

In the following years some of the young men and women served God in evangelistic teams, school teaching, urban witness, government appointments, and as pastors and elders to their own people.  One of them has with his wife been an effective missionary in Papua New Guinea.

Similar Spirit movements such as this characterise revival in the islands with their animistic involvement in spirit activity.  Christians affirm the power of the Holy Spirit over traditional and occult spirits.

Tongoa Island, 1991

More recently, fresh impacts of the Spirit have stirred Vanuatu.  One example is a letter from Ruth Rongo, of Tongoa Island, one of my former students at the Uniting Church Theological College in Brisbane.  She wrote on August 28, 1991:

I’ve just come back from an evangelism ministry.  It lasted for three months.  God has done many miracles.  Many people were shocked by the power of the Holy Spirit.  The blind received their sight, the lame walked, the sick were healed.  All these were done during this evangelism ministry.  We see how God’s promise came into action.  The prophet Joel had said it.  We people of Vanuatu say “The Spirit of the Lord God is upon us because he has anointed us to preach the Gospel to the poor people of Vanuatu.”  Praise God for what he has done.

In where I live, in my poor home, I also started a home cell prayer group.  Our goal is that the revival must come in the church.  Please pray for me and also for the group.  Our prayer group usually meets on Sunday night, after the night meeting.  We started at 10.30 pm to 1 or 3.30 am.  If we come closer to God he will also come close to us.  We spent more time in listening and responding to God.

These revival movements continue to increase in the Pacific, especially as local leaders and youths minister with the Spirit’s fire.  The church grows stronger, even through opposition.  Indigenous Christians live and minister in New Testament patterns from house to house, from village to village.

Port Vila, 2002

The Lord moved in a surprising way at the Christian Fellowship (CF) in the School of Law in Port Vila, Vanuatu on Saturday night, April 6, the weekend after Easter 2002.

The university’s CF held an outreach meeting on the lawn and steps of the grassy university square near the main lecture buildings, school administration and library.  God moved strongly there that night.

Romulo Nayacalevu, President of the Law School CF reported:

The speaker was the Upper Room Church pastor, Jotham Napat, who is also the director of Meteorology here in Vanuatu.  The night was filled with the awesome power of the Lord and we had the Upper Room church ministry who provided music with their instruments.  With our typical Pacific Island setting of bush and nature all around us, we had dances, drama, and testified in an open environment, letting the wind carry the message of salvation to the bushes and the darkened areas.  That worked because most of those that came to the altar call were people hiding or listening in these areas.  The Lord was on the road of destiny with many people that night.

Unusual lightning hovered around in the sky that night, and as soon as the prayer teams had finished praying with those who rushed forward at the altar call, the tropical rain pelted down on that open field area.

God poured out his Spirit on many lives that night, including Jerry Waqainabete and Simon Kofe.  Both of them played rugby in the popular university teams and enjoyed drinking and the night club scene.  Both changed dramatically.  Many of their friends said it would not last.  It did.

Later, Jerry became prayer convenor at the CF and Simon its president.  Most of the CF leaders attended the lively, Spirit-led Upper Room church in Port Vila, where pastors Joseph and Sala Roberts, Jotham Napat and others encouraged and nurtured them.

The University of the South Pacific, based in Suva Fiji, has its School of Law in Vanuatu (because of the unique combination of French, English and local laws in Vanuatu).  Students come from the many nations of the South Pacific Islands to study law at Vanuatu, many being sons and daughters of chiefs and government leaders.

The very active CF at the School of Law regularly organised outreaches in the town and at the university.  About one third of the 120 students in the four year law course attended the weekly CF meeting on Friday nights.  A core group prayed together regularly, including daily prayer at 6 a.m., and organised evangelism events.  Many were filled with the Spirit and began to experience and use spiritual gifts in their lives in new ways.

A team of eleven from their CF visited Australia for a month in November-December 2002 involved in outreach and revival meetings in many denominations and as well as in visiting home prayer groups.  I drove them 6,000 kilometres in a 12-seater van, including a trip from Brisbane to Sydney and back to visit Hillsong.

The team prayed for hundreds of people in various churches and home groups.  They led worship at the daily 6 a.m. prayer group at Kenmore Baptist Church, with Calvin Ziru on guitar.  That followed their own 5 a.m. daily prayer meeting in the house provided miraculously for them.

Fijians Romulo and Seini pray for Australians

Philip and Dhamika George from Sri Lanka bought that rental house with no money and made it freely available.  They had befriended a back-packer stranger who advised them to buy a rental property because Brisbane house prices then began to increase rapidly in value.  They had no spare money but their new friend loaned them a deposit of $10,000, interest free, to get a bank loan and buy the house.  They sold the house two years later for over $80,000 profit, returned the deposit loan to their back-packer friend, and used the profits for Kingdom purposes especially in mission.

The law students from the CF grew strong in faith.  Jerry, one of the students from Fiji, returned home for Christmas vacation after the visit to Australia, and prayed for over 70 sick people in his village, seeing many miraculous healings.  His transformed life challenged the village because he had been converted at CF after a wild time as a youth in the village.   The following December vacation, 2004, Jerry led revival in his village.  He prayed early every morning in the Methodist Church.  Eventually some children and some of the youth joined him early each morning.  By 2005 he had 50 young people involved, evangelising, praying for the sick, casting out spirits, and encouraging revival.  By 2009 Jerry was a lawyer and pastor of a church in Suva and had planted a new church in his village as well.

Simon, returned to his island of Tuvalu, also transformed at university through CF.  He witnessed to his relatives and friends all through the vacation in December-January, bringing many of them to the Lord.  He led a team of youth involved in Youth Alive meetings, and prayed with the leaders each morning from 4 a.m.  Simon became President of the Christian Fellowship at the Law School from October 2003 for a year.

Raised from the dead

Grant with Leah in Port Vila

In Port Vila the capital, on our way to Pentecost Island in 2006, Grant Shaw and I attended the Sunday service at the Upper Room church.  That night Pastors Joseph and Jotham were away in Tanna Island on mission so the remaining leaders felt God sent these two Australian visitors to preach that night.  Great warning!  Always be ready to take every opportunity!  It was fantastic, with strong worship and waves of prayer ministry for healing and anointing.

At sharing time in the Upper Room service Leah Waqa, a nurse, told how she had been on duty that week when parents brought in their young daughter who had been badly hit in a car accident, and showed no signs of life - the monitor registered zero – no pulse.  Leah felt unusual boldness, so commanded the girl to live, and prayed for her for an hour, mostly in tongues. After an hour the monitor started beeping and the girl recovered.

The faith of ordinary people in the Upper Room church continues to inspire me.  They go to the islands, especially Tanna, and see God move in power as they preach the Word and pray for people.

Their worship in the service is usually inspiring, full of faith and joy.  They respond at the Spirit moves on them, and the worship often leads into times of prayer for people and testimonies of God’s grace.

Pentecost Island, 2003

In May 2003 a team from the CF joined me on Pentecost Island in Vanuatu for a weekend of outreach meetings on South Pentecost.  The national Vanuatu Churches of Christ Bible College at Banmatmat on South Pentecost island stands near the site of a native Christian martyrdom there.

Tomas Tumtum had been an indentured worker on cane farms in Queensland, Australia.  He was an early convert there (before the revival of 1905, see page 30) and returned around 1901 to his village on South Pentecost Island with a new young disciple from a neighbouring island.

They arrived when the village was taboo because a baby had died a few days earlier, so no one was allowed near the village.  Ancient tradition dictated that anyone breaking taboo must be killed, so they were going to kill Tomas, but his friend Lulkon asked Tomas to tell them to kill him instead so that Tomas could evangelise his own people.

Just before he was clubbed to death at a sacred mele palm tree, he read John 3:16 then closed his eyes and prayed for them. Tomas lived to evangelize and start churches on South Pentecost island

Pastor Jerry at the Mele palm, site of Lulkon’s martyrdom

The church on Pentecost Island was strongly evangelical, founded by native leaders converted by the Churches of Christ mission to indentured labourers in Queensland.  They were then called ‘kanakas’ and had been brought from the islands to work on sugar cane farms in the nineteenth century.

Many national church leaders on Pentecost Island became filled with the Spirit in a series of indigenous revivals in the 1980s and 1990s.

God opened a wide door on Pentecost Island (1 Corinthians 16:8-9).  The weekend with the CF team brought new unity among the competing village churches.  The Sunday night service went from 6-11 p.m., although we ‘closed’ it three times after 10 p.m., with a closing prayer, then later a closing song, and then later a closing announcement.   People just kept coming for prayer and singing.

Another team of four students from the law school CF returned to South Pentecost in June 2003 for 12 days of meetings in many villages.  Again, the Spirit of God moved strongly.  Leaders repented publicly of divisions and criticisms.  Then youth began repenting of backsliding or unbelief.  A great-grand-daughter of the pioneer Tomas Tumtum gave her life to God in the village near his grave at the Bible College.

We held evening rallies in four villages of South Pentecost each evening from 6 p.m. for 12 days, with teaching sessions on the Holy Spirit every morning in the main village church for a week.  The team experienced a strong leading of the Spirit in the worship, drama, action songs with Pacific dance movements, and preaching and praying for people.

Mathias, a young man who repented deeply with over 15 minutes of tearful sobbing, is now the main worship leader in revival meetings.  When he was leading and speaking at a revival meeting at the national Bible College, a huge supernatural fire blazed in the hills directly opposite the Bible College chapel in 2005, but no bush was burned.

By 2004, the Churches of Christ national Bible College on Pentecost Island became a centre for revival teaching.  Pastor Lewis Wari and his wife Marilyn hosted these gatherings at the Bible College, and later on Lewis spoke at many island churches as the President of the Churches of Christ.  Lewis had been a leader in strong revival movements on South Pentecost as a young pastor from 1988.

Don and Helen Hill, friends from Brisbane, participated in some visits.  Don repaired the electrical wiring at the Bible College and supplied needed portable generators and lawn mowers.  Helen recorded the revival teaching sessions on DVD for international use by our friends in many nations who also experience revival.

We saw the Spirit of God move on local pastors and leaders as we prayed together.  They in turn saw God’s Spirit moving on their people in the village churches when they led revival meetings and prayed for their people.

South Pentecost Bible College

Chapel at the Bible College on South Pentecost Island

Every weekend the team from the college led revival meetings in village churches.  Many of these village revival meetings went late as the Spirit moved on the people with deep repentance, reconciliation, forgiveness, and prayer for healing and empowering.

Another law student team from Port Vila, led by Seini Puamau, Vice President of the CF, had a strong impact at the High School on South Pentecost Island with big responses at all meetings.  Almost the whole residential school of 300 responded for prayer at the final service on Sunday night October 17, 2004, after a powerful testimony from Joanna Kenilorea.  The High School principal, Silas Buli, has prayed with some of his staff for many years from 4 a.m. each morning, praying for the school and nation.

The church arranged for more revival teaching at their national Bible College for church leaders.  Teams from the college held mission meetings simultaneously in seven different villages.  Every village saw strong responses, including a team that held their meeting in the ‘nakamal’, the chief’s meeting house of their village.  The first person to respond for prayer in the nakamal was a fellow from the ‘custom’ traditional village called Bunlap.

Those Bible College sessions seemed like preparation for further revival.  Every session led into ministry.  Repentance went deep.  Prayer began early in the mornings, and went late into the nights.

Chief Willie Bebe, host of most revival teams at his Bungalows, asked for a team to come to pray over his home and tourist bungalows.  Infestation by magic concerned him.  So a prophetic and deliverance team of about six prayed there.  Mathias reported this way:

“The deliverance ministry group left the college by boat and when they arrived at the Bungalows they prayed together.  After they prayed together they divided into two groups.

“There is one person in each of these two groups that has a gift from the Lord that the Holy Spirit reveals where the witchcraft powers are, such as bones from dead babies or carved stones.  These witchcraft powers are found in the ground outside the houses or sometimes in the houses.  So when the Holy Spirit reveals to that person the right spot where the witchcraft power is, then they have to dig it up with a spade.

“When they dig it out from the soil they pray over it and bind the power of that witchcraft in the name of Jesus.  Then they claim the blood of Jesus in that place.

“Something very important, when joining the deliverance group, is that everyone in the group must be fully committed to the Lord and must be strong in their faith because sometimes the witchcraft power can affect the ones that are not really committed and do not have faith.  After they finish the deliverance ministry they come together again and give praise to the Lord in singing and prayer.  Then they close with a Benediction. “

Village evangelism teams from South Pentecost continue to witness in the villages, and also visit other islands.  Six people from these teams came to Brisbane and were then part of 15 from Pentecost Island on mission with me in the Solomon Islands in 2006.

Pentecost on Pentecost

Grant Shaw joined me on Pentecost Island in Vanuatu in September-October 2006.  Grant grew up with missionary parents, saw many persecutions and miracles, and had his dad recounting miraculous answers to prayer as a daily routine. They often needed to pray for miracles, and miracles happened often.  From 14 years of age Grant participated in mission teams travelling internationally in Asia. Then he attended a youth camp at Toronto Airport Christian Fellowship which has seen revival since 1994.  He then worked there as an associate youth pastor for 18 months before studying at Bible College in Brisbane and then being a youth pastor in a large Brisbane church. So he is used to revival - all his life!  In Vanuatu he had clear words of knowledge, and saw people healed daily in meetings and in the villages. That inspired and challenged everyone.

Our revival mission trip on South Pentecost Island was based in the village of Panlimsi where Mathias was then the young pastor.  The Spirit moved strongly in all the meetings. Repentance.  Reconciliations.  Confessions.  Anointing.  Healings every day.  The healings included Pastor Rolanson’s young son able to hear clearly after being partially deaf from birth.  Rolanson leads evangelism teams, and helped to lead this mission.

South Pentecost attracts tourists with its land diving – men jumping from high bamboo towers with vines attached to their ankles.  Grant prayed for a jumper who had hurt his neck, and the neck crackled back into place.  An elderly man no longer needed his walking stick to come up the hill to the meetings.  Grant prayed for a son of the paramount chief of South Pentecost from Bunlap, a ‘custom’ village.  He was healed from a painful leg and later he invited the team to come to his village to pray for the sick.  No white people had been invited there to minister previously.

The revival team, including the two of us from Australia, trekked for a week into mountain villages.  We literally obeyed Luke 10 – most going with no extra shirt, no sandals, and no money.  The trek began with a five hour climb across the island to Ranwas on the eastern side.  Mathias led worship, and strong moves of the Spirit touched everyone.  We prayed for people many times in each meeting.  At one point I spat on the dirt floor, making mud to show what Jesus did once.  Marilyn Wari, wife of the President of the Churches of Christ, then jumped up asking for prayer for her eyes, using the mud.  Later she testified that the Lord told her to do that, and then she found she could read her small pocket Bible without glasses.  So she read to us all.  Meetings continued like that each night.

We then trekked through the ‘custom’ heathen village where the paramount chief lived, and prayed for more sick people.  Some had pain leave immediately, and people there became more open to the gospel.  Then the team trekked for seven hours to Ponra, a remote village further north.

Glory in a remote village

Revival meetings erupted at Ponra.  The Spirit just took over.  Visions.  Revelations.  Reconciliations.  Healings.  People drunk in the Spirit.  Many resting on the floor getting blessed in various ways.  When they heard about healing through ‘mud in the eye’ at Ranwas some wanted mud packs also at Ponra!

One of the girls in the team had a vision of the village children there paddling in a pure sea, crystal clear. They were like that - so pure.  Not polluted at all by TV, DVDs, videos, movies, magazines, and worldliness.  Their lives were so clean and holy.  Just pure love for the Lord, especially among the young. Youth often lead in revival.

The sound of angels singing filled the air about 3 a.m.  It sounded as though the village church was packed.  The harmonies in high descant declared “For You are great and You do wondrous things.  You are God alone” and then harmonies, without words until words again for “I will praise You O Lord my God with all my heart, and I will glorify Your name for evermore” with long, long harmonies on “forever more”.  Just worship.  Pure, awesome and majestic.

The team stayed two extra days there - everyone received prayer, and many people surrendered to the Lord both morning and night.  Everyone repented, including us, as the Spirit moved on everyone.

Grant’s legs, cut and sore from the long trek, saved the team from another long trek back across the island.  The villagers arranged a boat ride back around the island from the east to the west for the team’s return.  Revival meetings continued back at the host village, Panlimsi, led mainly in worship by Mathias, with Pastor Rolanson organising things.  Also at two other villages the Spirit moved powerfully as the team ministered, with much reconciliation and dancing in worship.

Some people in the host village heard angels singing there also.  At first they too thought it was the church full of people but the harmonies were more wonderful than we can sing.

We Australians returned full of joy on the one hour flight to Port Vila after a strong final worship service at the host village on the last Sunday morning, and we reported to the Upper Room church in Port Vila on Sunday evening.  Again the Spirit moved so strongly the pastor didn’t need to use his message. More words of knowledge.  More healings.  More anointing in the Spirit, and many resting in the Spirit, soaking in grace.

One result of those impacts of the Spirit was national teams going on mission.  A team from Pentecost Island visited the Solomon Islands on mission later that year in 2006 (see pages 38-40).  Other teams visited villages on Pentecost Island and nearby islands in Vanuatu to lead revival meetings and pray for people.  The youth from Ponra village had a strong impact on other youth and village churches and communities in South Pentecost.  Some of them were part of the mission to the Solomon Islands, and some also participated in meetings in Brisbane, Australia, in 2006 and 2010.

Return to Pentecost

21 year old Andrew Chee (Grant Shaw’s cousin) came with me on a three week mission to Vanuatu in June-July 2012.  We saw God’s blessing and many miracles.

Andrew sensed God telling him to go on this trip, and he booked his flights only one week before we left when flights were full so he was wait-listed but the next day seats became available.

Andrew and Grant (photo) love praying for the sick because they see God constantly taking away pain and healing people.  They has strong faith in God’s Word, such as Mark 16:17-18.  Jesus said, “these signs will follow those who believe: In My name they will cast out demons; … they will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover.”  We saw all that in Vanuatu, literally.  Daily.

Andrew, from Hawaii, once lived to surf.  Now he lives to serve – for God.

We flew into Port Vila, the capital, late on a Friday night and stayed at the Churches of Christ transit house above the church there.  Next morning at 6am we heard young people worshipping in their beautiful island harmonies, so we joined them.  They welcomed us and invited us to speak briefly and pray for anyone sick.  Andrew had words of knowledge about people with pain who then came out for prayer immediately.  Our praying continued for everyone wanting prayer after the closing prayer.  Nice fast start to our mission!

That morning we flew for an hour in a very small plane on the windy trip to Pentecost Island – the bumpiest I have had on my dozen visits there.  So now I was returning again, with another keen young firebrand for God.

This long, narrow island was sighted and named on the Day of Pentecost, 1764, by explorer Bougainville, and also seen by Captain Cook in 1774.

Pastor Rolanson met us at the airstrip and we walked 300 metres to the beach to ride for half an hour in the outboard canoe 10k south to Pangi village.  There Rolanson’s boys met us to carry our bags along the muddy track half a kilometre inland to their village, Panlimsi.

We had our first meeting there in the village church, partially lit by a couple of old fluorescent lights when the generator was started, usually after everyone has arrived – to save fuel!  So most meetings begin in the dark with torch light or candles.

Early in the worship Andrew again had words of knowledge about people’s pain so worship included praying for the sick.  Their pain left.  After we both spoke that night, we prayed for many more.

So began three weeks of such night meetings.  During the day every time we went out into the villages people asked for healing prayer.  So like Jesus sending out the 12 and 70 (Mark 6:7; Luke 10:1) in pairs, we too went through the towns and villages proclaiming the kingdom of God, healing the sick and casting out spirits.  Many illnesses there result from curses or witchcraft.  Often we had to break curses, bind afflicting spirits and cast them out in Jesus’ name.

The first time I went there, in 2003, my host Chief Willie asked me to throw out an afflicting spirit giving him a headache, literally.  He said that ‘enemies’ had cursed him.  So we prayed together, bound and cast out attacking spirits, and he felt fine.

At other times people asked me to help them get rid of strong invading spirits such as one that haunted a house by ‘jumping’ onto the stones on the floor at night.  We prayed and it was gone after that.  However, that impudent one ‘jumped’ on the stones in my bungalow that night, so I had to cast it out in Jesus name, and it never returned.  Rather weird to hear someone ‘jump’ into your dark room at night!

This time we experienced strong witchcraft.  On our last day there, when Andrew and I were weary, Andrew was hit by severe aches and headache.   That night I saw a strange dull light, like a reddish torch light, moving horizontally just outside our village hut.  We began praying against powerful spirits.  God’s Spirit reminded Andrew to bless those who curse you and pray for your enemies.  He did.  The strange spiritual connection was immediately broken, and pain started easing off.  It took a day to recover from that one.  “All hail the power of Jesus’ name …”

One Sunday there we shared in a combined churches service in the packed village church.  Before the service Andrew had words of knowledge about pain in a man’s shoulders and the right side of a woman’s face.  Both came for prayer while people were gathering in the church.  We then sidcovered that the man was the leader of the service and the woman preached that day!  Many times, the words of knowledge Andrew received were for pastors and leaders first, and then later we prayed for others.

At that Sunday service I was strongly led to call people out for prayer during communion.  That was a first for them.  It never happened in communion.  A large number came for prayer and the healings were fast and strong.

One night Andrew felt led to wash everyone’s feet.  That took the whole service!  We put a bucket of water near the door (regularly refilled) and Andrew washed everyone’s feet as they arrived while we worshipped, prayed, spoke and called people out for healing and empowering prayer.  I was led to wash the leaders feet that night also [Photo: Andrew washes the chief’s feet].

Our adventures included another outboard motor canoe trip an hour north for a combined churches youth rally on the beach with a large campfire at the end of the meeting.  We joined forces with another Australian mission team from Gladstone staying there.  That night we also prayed for many people after the service.  Healings were the fastest and strongest we had seen till then.  We realized that people’s faith was rising and God was especially blessing unity.

Bunlap

The heathen village of Bunlap on the east coast is famous as the spiritual centre for pagan witchcraft and curses.  I went there with Grant in 2006 on a five hour trek across to Ranwas village and then via Bunlap on a seven hour trek to Ponra village where we saw the power of God at every meeting and I head angels singing in the night, like the church was full, although no people were there.  Grant had prayed for the paramount chief’s son whose groin was healed at Pangi village on the west coast, so we offered to go to Bunlap and pray for the sick.  A couple of days later we heard that the chief had invited us to come and pray – the first white people to ever be invited to pray for people there.

This time Andrew and I were swimming off the jetty near Pangi when one of chief’s sons from Bunlap and his friends wandered onto the jetty.  Two of those young men had pain so Andrew prayed for them and the pain left.  The chief’s son told us they would be there when we came to Bunlap the following Saturday to pray for sick people again.

This year we enjoyed the luxury of a four wheel truck trip across the island through the dense green mountains.  We had three nights of meetings at Ranwas village, Friday to Sunday, including the Sunday morning service there.  On Saturday we trekked half an hour through the jungle to Bunlap.

People were even more welcoming this time at Bunlap.  We prayed for dozens of people, and their pain left.  We talked about the kingdom of God and how Jesus saves and heals.  Some of the people told us they believed that and when the chief allowed it they would be part of a church there.

The paramount chief once burned a Bible given to him by a revival team from the Christian villages.  Now he is willing for a church to be built on the ground where he burned the Bible.   Hallelujah – what a testimony to God’s grace and glory.  For the first time ever that paramount chief asked for prayer.  He wanted healing from head pain.  Andrew placed his hands on the sides of the chief’s head and we prayed for him in Jesus’ name.  The pain left.

Then another chief there prepared lunch for us so the pastors in the team and Andrew and I ate in his house – again the first time ever for white people on mission there.

Like Jesus’ disciples, we returned to Ranwas village church rejoicing that afflicting spirits were cast out, people were healed in Jesus’ name, some believed in Jesus, and they now plan to have a church there.  Our host chief told Rolanson he can bring his guitar and have meetings in the chief’s house anytime.

Some Christians at Ranwas were amazed to hear the reports.  They have endured witchcraft and curses from Bunlap for a century.  Again, during communion on Sunday large numbers came for prayer for healing, and healings were fast and strong.  They had never done that in communion before.  At all the meetings Andrew had specific words of knowledge about healings, and pain left quickly.  In the beginning we had to pray for some people two or three times before the pain left, but as the weeks passed and faith rose, healings were much quicker and stronger.  By the end of the mission trip people in the congregation were praying for each other in faith and seeing God touch their friends.

Andrew encouraged leaders to pray with him for people’s healings, just as he had learned from leaders in his church.  Soon those village leaders and others were praying more strongly in faith.  Many of them do that constantly anyway, so we were just encouraging them to believe and take authority in Jesus’ name even more fully.

Santo

The largest island in Vanuatu is Espiritu Santo (usually just called Santo) with Luganville the second largest town in Vanuatu, after Port Vila the capital.  That’s the island where Pedro Fernandes de Queiros in 1606 named the island group La Australia del Espiritu Santo – the great south lands of the Holy Spirit, from which Australia gets its name.

We flew from Pentecost Island to Santo Island.  here I met again two of their leading pastors who had worked with me in previous visits to Vanuatu, and they invited us to the youth meeting at the church on our last night in Vanuatu.

What a beautiful end to the mission trip.  About 30 youth practiced a new song to sing on Sunday, and the leader invited us to speak briefly and pray for them.  Again, Andrew’s words of knowledge proved to be for their leaders first who were immediately healed.  Then we prayed for other needs and finally asked all who wanted to be filled with Spirit and empowered by God to come out.  Everyone came!  What a wonderful atmosphere of faith and expectation.

Tanna Island, 2006

The Upper Room church continues to move strongly in the Spirit and they have seen many touches of God in the islands, especially on Tanna Island.  They planted churches there in ‘custom’ villages, invited by the chiefs who saw their people healed and transformed.

Pastor Jotham wrote,

We have just returned from north Tanna for the opening of another centre in that area. We had the opening of the church on Saturday and ordained nine leaders, followed by a night crusade where many gave their lives to the Lord.

There is a shift that we noticed, that more and more young people are giving up their lives totally for the preaching of the Gospel. A sweet anointing on Tanna is the passion for worship and we noticed young musicians waiting upon the Lord to write new songs, mostly in local dialects.  One elderly man gave his life to the Lord as a result of the songs.

During missions there in 2006, many young boys asked to be ‘ordained’ as evangelists in the power of the Spirit.  They returned to their villages and many of those young boys established churches.  They just told Bible stories and sang original songs inspired by the Spirit.  People responded, believing in Jesus.

Village churches in Tanna continue to multiply as mission or revival teams move about from village to village conducting evangelistic or revival meetings and talking and praying with people in the villages.

Healing the Land, 2006-2007

Pastors Walo Ani and Harry Tura[27] tell how revival transformed whole communities in Vanuatu, including healing of the land.

Hog Harbour, Espiritu Santo

The island was named Espiritu Santo because that is the island where over 400 years ago in May 1606 Ferdinand de Quiros named the lands from there to the South Pole the Great Southland of the Holy Spirit.

After hearing about the Healing the Land stories of Fiji, Pastor Tali from Hog Harbour Presbyterian Church invited the Luganville Ministers Fraternal to run a week of HTL meetings in Hog Harbour village.

In April 2006 the Fraternal, under the leadership of Pastor Raynold Bori, conducted protocol discussions with the Hog Harbour community leaders and explained to them what the Process involves.  In May 2006 six pastors from Luganville did the HTL Process and God’s presence came on the people that week.

Here are some of the stories of Healing the Land in a village of 800 people:

    Married couples were reconciled.

    Schools of big fish came to the shores during the reconciliation.

    A three year old conflict, bloodshed and tribal fighting that could not be stopped by the police, ended with reconciliation.

    The presence of the Lord came down on the village.

In June of 2006, 12 pastors from the Luganville Fraternal were invited by the Litzlitz village on Malekula Island to do the HTL Process there.  These pastors spent three weeks teaching and doing the Process during which many instances of reconciliation and corporate repentance were witnessed.  Village chiefs and the people committed their community to God.

One year later the President of Vanuatu re-covenanted the Nation to God on the island of Espiritu Santo.

Pastor Harry Tura, then pastor of Bombua Apostolic Church in the main town of Luganville Espiritu Santo Island, adds these stories of transforming revival in Vanuatu.

I wish to indicate to you what God is doing now in Vanuatu these days as answers to your prayers, and ask that you continue to pray for us.

Litzlitz Village, Malekula Island

I went to Litzlitz village community on the island of Malekula on Sunday, June 4, 2006, and the Transformation activities started on the same day.  The study activities and the process of healing the land closed on the following Sunday, June 11.  The presence of the Lord was so real and manifested and many miracles were seen such a people healed, dried brooks turned to running streams of water, fish and other sea creatures came back to the sea shores in great number and even the garden crops came alive again and produced great harvests.

Miracles happened three days after the HTL Process:

    The poison fish that usually killed or made people sick became edible and tasty again.

    The snails that were destroying gardens all died suddenly and didn’t return.

    As a sign of God’s transforming work a coconut tree in the village which naturally bore orange or red coconuts started bearing bunches of green coconuts side by side with the red ones.

    A spring gushed out from a dried river bed and the river started flowing again after the anointing oil was poured on it when people prayed and repented of all the sins of defilement over the area.

    A kindergarten was established in the village one week after the HTL Process took place.

    Crops are now blessed and growing well in their gardens.

Vilakalak Village, West Ambae Island

On Tuesday June 20, 2006, I flew to Ambae Island to join the important celebration of the Apostolic Church Inauguration Day, June 22.  After the celebration I held a one-week Transformation studies and activities of healing the land at Vilakalak village community.  It began on Sunday June 25 and closed on Saturday July 1, 2006.  A lot of things had been transformed such as people’s lives had been changed as they accepted Christ and were filled with the Holy Spirit for effective ministries of the Gospel of Christ.

The Shekinah glory came down to the very spot where we did the process of healing the land during the night of July 1.  That great light (Shekinah glory) came down.  People described it as a living person with tremendous and powerful light shining over the whole of the village community, confirming the Lord’s presence at that specific village community area.  On the following day people started to testify that a lot of fish and shell fish were beginning to occupy the reefs and they felt a different touch of a changed atmosphere in the village community.  I flew back to Santo on Tuesday, July 4.

The lands and garden crops then started to produce for great harvests, and coconut crabs and island crabs came back in great abundance for people’s daily meals these days.  The people were very surprised at the look of the big sizes of coconut crabs harvested in that area.  I went there a month later to see it.  You can’t believe it that the two big claws or arms were like my wrist when I compared them with my left wrist.  That proved that the God we serve is so real and he is the owner of all the creatures.

We started the Transformation studies and activities at my church beginning on Monday, July 17, and closed on Sunday, July 23, 2006.  After the Transformation studies and activities had been completed, we did the final process of healing the land on Sunday, July 23.  As usual the Shekinah glory of the Lord’s presence appeared the following night of Monday, July 24.  The people were amazed at the scene.  That confirmed that God is at work at that specific area.  A lot of changes are taking place at our church base and its environment - the land, the sea, and the atmosphere above us.  People experience the same blessings as the others had been through.

On Sunday, August 13, 2006, I took a flight to West Ambae again because the Walaha village community had requested me to carry out the Transformation studies and activities and healing of the lands in their area.  The Transformation studies started on Monday, August 14.  Again the presence of the Lord came down (Shekinah glory) on the whole village community early on Wednesday night and they all witnessed the scene the following day.  They were very excited and began praising God all over the place. I took a flight back to Santo on Tuesday, August 22.

The revival is now taking place at that particular community and lives are totally changed and people turned out to be experiencing a mighty difference of atmosphere and have been transformed to people of praise and worship.  All sorts of fish are coming back to the reef and garden crops came green and are now beginning to produce a great abundance of harvest at the end of this year by the look of it now.  This is all the hand of the Lord who does the work which is based on the transformation key verse in 2 Chronicles 7:14, which reads: “If my people who are called by my name shall humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and forgive their sins and heal their land.”

Lovanualikoutu Village, West Ambae

Walo Ani and a team conducted more of the HTL Process in Vanuatu.

In 2004 Walo was invited by a pastor in West Ambae to do the HTL Process there.  It wasn’t until May 2007 that a small team consisting of Pastor Walo Ani, Deryck and Nancy Thomas of Toowoomba Queensland and Tom Hakwa from Lovanualikoutu village (who then worked for Telekom Vanuatu in Port Vila) flew to West Ambae to do the HTL Process.  The protocol was done by Tom some months before the team’s arrival and a prayer team was already praying and fasting a month before the actual event took place.  Deryck and Nancy coordinated the home visitation teams and saw many miracles of people restored to the Lord and witchcraft destroyed.  The Chief said the sinner’s prayer on behalf of the community one night and they all surrendered their lives to the Lord as he invited Jesus into the village.

In the morning of the last day one of the teams was trying to pray down a stronghold in the bush when a bone fell through a hollow tree, taking them by surprise.  They all jumped back but then stepped forward and dealt with it once and for all.  Many taboo (sacred) places were demolished and items of witchcraft and idolatry were burnt in a bonfire as reconciliations flowed till after midnight.

Also on that morning a team of people swam out to sea with the anointing oil to worship there and dedicate the sea and reef back to God.  The day after the team’s departure from the village a pastor who went out spear fishing saw a large migration of fish.  He in fact reportedly speared two fish together at one stage.  When he reported this to the Chief there was dancing and rejoicing under the cocoa trees where the Chief and some young people had been working.

During the reconciliation when the Chief began to speak, a light shower fell from the sky. There were no clouds but only a sky full of millions of stars. Surely God was in this Process!  The prayer team continues to see visions and witness miracles of more reconciliation and repentance.  Harvests from sea and land have begun to be more abundant than ever before witnessed.

Great Revival Stories, compiled from Best Revival Stories and Transforming Revivals (see www.renewaljournal.com)

207

Fiji

Chapter 4

Fiji

Burning artefacts used for witchcraft during Healing the Land

with repentance, reconciliation and rededication

Fijians have seen many powerful moves of God’s Spirit such as when churches joined in unity and repentance in 2001 following the coup and rioting in 2000.  See the Sentinel Group’s DVD, “Let the Seas Resound.”  Here are a few more local examples of touches of revival.

Law students from the Christian Fellowship (CF) of the University of the South Pacific experienced strong touches of revival at their Christian Fellowship (CF) in 2002 at their Law School in Vanuatu.  The leaders were mostly from Fiji.  They grew strong in faith.

Jerry Waquainabete, one of the Fijian students, returned home after their mission visit to Australia, and prayed for over 70 sick people in his village, seeing many miraculous healings.  His transformed life challenged the village because he had been converted at CF at the law school after a wild time as a youth in the village.   The following year, 2003, Jerry led revival in his village.  He prayed early every morning in the Methodist Church.  Eventually some children and then some of the youth joined him early each morning.  By 2004 he had 50 young people involved, evangelising, praying for the sick, casting out spirits, and encouraging revival.

By 2009 Pastor Jerry, then a lawyer, led a church in Suva, the capital, and also one in his seaside village of Kiuva, just north of Suva.  The Spirit of God moved strongly in those churches.

I appreciated opportunities to lead revival mission teams, which included Jerry, in Australia, Vanuatu, the Solomon Islands, and Fiji.

Lautoka and Navua, 2007-2008

I also appreciated being part of the combined Kenmore Baptist Church (KBC) and Christian Outreach Centre (COC) teams in Fiji in 2007-8.  Team leaders returned many times after that also.  The teams, led by senior pastor Ric and Anne Benson and pastor Jesse and Cookie Padayachee, worked with the COC churches in Lautoka in the west and Navua on the Coral Coast in the south east.  We saw many saved and healed in morning visits to villages, as well as at the large night meetings.

A ‘magic man’ in one village came for prayer after seeing healings in his village.  Three women and a man who had done fire walking from another village made commitments to Christ, renounced their spirit involvement and were healed from constantly itchy skin irritations on their legs.  Jesse prayed for 11 people in the Suva hospital who were then sent home soon afterwards.

I worked with a team each day as we visited homes, spoke in village gatherings, and then prayed for the sick.  I was especially touched watching Andrew Cotterill from KBC, a paediatrician, pray for the sick, often with tears.  Many reported immediate improvement.  Team leader Ric Benson taught pastors and leaders in morning sessions, and I taught them about revivals in the South Pacific.

The team shared together in night crusades in the Garden of Joy COC church.  Jesse preached and gave his testimony, and prayed for everyone who came forward, assisted by the team.  We prayed first for salvation and repentance, and the team gave follow-up materials to first time believers.  Jesse moved strongly in words of knowledge and authority.  Many meetings went late.  In both Lautoka and Navua crowds grew as the meetings progressed.  Reports of healings and deliverance spread.

One Sunday I spoke at the Assembly of the Lord Jesus Christ church in Suva, an independent Spirit-filled congregation of around 100, half of them youth.  Romulo (leader of the 2002 law student team in Brisbane) joined me with Jimmy a medical university student from Vanuatu.  The Spirit moved strongly.  Romulo called youth out for prayer during the worship.  He then shared in the preaching and called people out again for ministry at the end.  That went for some time, as so many responded.  After the service we shared food together including a lovo, food cooked in the earth oven.

That night I spoke at Sigatoka COC, an hour’s drive from Suva, with 100 attending, sitting on the ground.  They had a temporary iron roof cover for instruments and the ‘platform’ area on the ground.  We prayed personally for most of the congregation, and saw beautiful healings and many delivered and saved.  A couple of young children with hearing problems told their mothers that after the man prayed for them they could hear well.  We thanked Jesus together.

In spite of political turmoil in Fiji, and perhaps because of it, God is moving strongly in many communities and churches.  Even the police in Fiji have been involved in evangelism, with police bands leading worship, and Christian police preaching, all in uniform.  Some of them argue that where they are involved in evangelism the crime rate has dropped dramatically!

Suva, 2007-2009

Lawyers and leaders at Navua revival meetings

Seini and Jerry with Mathias (from Vanuatu) in centre

I visited the young lawyers I had hosted for a month in Brisbane in November 2002 when they were students.  In Australia, I drove them around and took them to meetings, and now they drove me around and took me to meetings!

I visited an early morning prayer group of the Graduates Christian Fellowship, another group of young leaders in the nation, and prayed personally for each of the 20 there.  That afternoon on Saturday 7-7-07, I shared in the memorial service for the Nigerian founding pastor of the Redeemer Christian Church of God in Fiji.  Jerry (another of the lawyer team) and his wife Pam are now pastors of that church as well as lawyers, a common arrangement in the Pacific for smaller churches with honorary pastors.  Romulo is another leader in that church, and continues to impact many churches and youth groups through his networks of leaders in Fiji and in other nations.

The following year, I spoke at the combined inter-tertiary Christian Fellowships prayer rally weekend in October 2008.  The Fiji School of Medicine Christian Fellowship organised and led it.  Over 500 tertiary students met for two nights of worship and prayer.

The Fiji School of Medicine Christian Fellowship has about 200 doctors in training with some trainee dentists.  They impressed me.  Their leaders seek God, and respond strongly to him.  Their worship team led the combined campuses rally on the Friday and Saturday nights.  Buses brought in groups from the various universities and colleges.  Different Christian Fellowship (CF) groups presented powerful Pacific dances to strong Christian songs.  The prayer team prayed personally for over an hour at the end of each meeting for the hundreds of tertiary students who responded, while the School of Medicine CF continued to lead appropriate and anointed worship.

Romulo reported:

“Inter-tertiary went very well at Suva Grammar School that was hosted by Fiji School of Medicine CF.  It was an awesome two nights of fellowship with God and with one another.  The Pacific Students for Christ combined worship was a huge blessings for those that attended the two nights of worship. Pastor Geoff spoke on Obedience to the Holy Spirit - this being a spark to revival and power.

“Students came in droves for prayers and the worship lit up the Grammar School skies with tears, repentance, anointing and empowerment. The worship by Fiji School of Medicine students brought us closer to intimate worship with the King. It was a Pacific gathering and each and every person there was truly blessed as young people sought a closer intimate relationship with the King. We were blessed beyond words. Thank you all for the prayers, the thoughts and the giving.”

Roneil, a Fijian Indian, added, “It was all so amazing, so amazing that words can’t describe it.  For me, it was obvious that the glory of God just descended upon the people during the Inter-tertiary CF.  I’ve never seen an altar call that lasted for way more than an hour.  I myself just couldn’t get enough of it.  It was and still is so amazing.  God’s anointing is just so powerful.  Hallelujah to Him Who Was, Who Is and Who is to Come.”

Similar scenes have been repeated in the following years as well.  University and college students responded in huge numbers.  We prayed for hundreds of them.  Their leaders do that constantly also.

I was deeply moved to see God’s Spirit powerfully present at two congregations of the Redeemer Christian Church of God.  Pastor Jerry is senior pastor of their churches in Samabula, Suva, and in his seaside home village of Kiuva north of Suva. Romulo described part of our visit in 2009 this way:

Two of the memorable highlights were the washing of leaders’ feet at RCCG Samabula and the worship service on Wednesday at RCCG Kiuva village.  In fact I remember picking up the pastors on Sunday morning, and seeing Pastor Geoff carrying towels, I said to myself, “This is going to be fun.”  And fun it was.

God was teaching the church the principles of servanthood, demonstrated not just by words but by actions.  It was a moving experience as Pastor Geoff on his knees started washing feet, drying them with a towel and speaking into the lives of leaders.  Powerful also was the fact that Pastor Geoff’s leading was to wash the feet of leaders.

That Sunday former PM Rabuka, who heard of the Pastor’s visit, came to church for prayer.  Of course the leading for Pastor Geoff to pray for leaders meant Rabuka would get his feet washed too.  One of the acts that will be embedded forever in my mind was seeing Rabuka sit on the floor, remove his coat and wash the feet of Pastor Geoff and KY Tan.  He then dried their feet with his ‘favourite’ Fiji rugby coat (he played in their national rugby team).  I was blown away by this act of humility, as demonstrated by Christ on his final night with the disciples before his arrest and execution.

On Wednesday night, (their last night in Suva), we were at Kiuva village in Tailevu.  The powerful and angelic worship of young people and kids in Tailevu made the atmosphere one of power with a tangible presence of the Lord in the place.  We saw a glimpse of revival and the power of God at work in such a simple setting.  I was blessed to witness for myself the prevalent hunger in the body as lives connected with God. In all, it is purely refreshing being in the presence of God and being touched and filled by the Holy Spirit.

Mighty moves of God continue to amaze us when we seek after him. The visit by Pastor Geoff and KY Tan was for many of us an opportunity to move in our gifting.  It reminded me of the divine encounter we had in Vanuatu many years ago where as student leaders in the university’s CF group we were in need of direction and to hear God. Many years later today we continue to witness the greatness of God and his willingness to use our lives as we remain available and yielded to him. Indeed miracles and wonders have followed us and the best part of it all is just seeing the power of the Word of God bring life to them that believe.

The commitment and dedication of so many of the law students from 2002 impresses me.  Now they are strong Christian lawyers and leaders in many nations.  We served God together on short term revival missions in Australia, the Solomon Islands, Vanuatu, and Fiji.  I tell those stories in this book, expanded from stories in Flashpoints of Revival and Looking to Jesus: Journey into Renewal and Revival (see Appendix).

Healing the Land, 2002-2007

Vuniani Nakauyaca

Transforming revival continues to spread globally.  DVDs produced by The Sentinel Group (www.sentinelgroup.org) report on community transformation around the world, especially in Transformations I and II, and reports from Fiji in Let the Seas Resound.  This brief update describes recent revivals in the Fiji islands, similar to revivals multiplying in the twenty-first century with significant healing of the land.   Rev Ratu Vuniani Nakauyaca reports here on many communities transformed in Fiji, through repentance, reconciliation and unity.

One of the first instances of this occurred in 2002, when Chief Mataitoga of Sabeto village (between Nadi and Lautoka) had a dream from the Lord.  The village had a lot of social problems as well as enmity and divisions.  As a result of the dream, he called his people together to pray and fast to seek God for answers and healing.  Over a period of two weeks, many of the clans spent time with the Chief to sort out their differences.  They had meetings every night and God brought about reconciliation and unity in the church and village, many relationships being healed.

There had only been one church in the area until the Pentecostal revival of the 1960s which spread across the cities and towns and into the rural areas during that period.  Because of the rejection of the Pentecostal experience by some people, many villages had two churches, one Methodist and one Pentecostal.  This caused division between friends and family, with many people not communicating and carrying bitterness and resentment for decades.

When Ratu Mataitoga directed his people to come together as one, there was a move of the Holy Spirit with real repentance and forgiveness.  Unity in the village was restored.  The long term results of this action were only revealed with the passing of time.  Productivity of the soil increased and long absent fish varieties returned to the reef.  Mangroves that had died and disappeared have begun to grow again.  The mangroves are very important for the ecology, providing shelter and breeding grounds for all kinds of fish and crabs, which were part of the staple diet of these villages.

Burning items of idolatry

The Healing the Land (HTL) Process, as it is now officially recognized, really started on the initiative of Pastor Vuniani Nakauyaca.  For him it was a personal journey that resulted from an accumulation of various events.

The Pacific Prayer movement had a desire to see that prayer, repentance and reconciliation were carried out where necessary on location - where missionaries had been killed or where tribal conflict had taken place.  These were all based on a bottom up or grass roots approach to bring healing and reconciliation.

Vuniani had visited Argentina and seen the beneficial results of reconciliation with the British over the Faulklands war.  He also visited Guatemala to see the Almolonga transformation (see Transformations 1 DVD).  This was a singularly dramatic community change.  Jails and public bars closed, land fertility increased and crop production levels had to be seen to be believed.

What he saw brought a deeper desire in his heart to see this happen in Fiji, to give room for God to bring about community and national transformation in similar ways to what he had seen overseas.  He saw the need to appropriately respond to the circumstances and use the spiritual tools available to see the nation transformed.

Nuku Village, Viti Levu

After returning to Fiji, he called some people together to seek God for solutions.  They felt they should begin at Nuku, and this took place on April 1-10, 2003.  Nuku is about 65 kilometres north of Suva, on the main island of Viti Levu.

The inhabitants of Nuku had been suffering feuds, infertility, mental illness and social problems for decades.  The water of the stream that flowed through the village had been polluted since a day 42 years previously, the water and banks being filled with slime.  At that time, children were swimming in the stream when the water suddenly turned white and they all ran for their lives.  Fish died and grass died.  Vuniani, as a child, was swimming in the river when this happened, so he knew the background story.  It was believed that the polluted water caused blindness, infertility, madness and even death.

Vuniani and the team went up to Nuku to activate the Process.  The key Scripture they went with was 2 Chronicles 7:14, “If my people, who are called by My name, will humble themselves and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, will forgive their sin and will heal their land”.

They had two weeks of prayer meetings, the Methodist, Assemblies of God and Seventh Day Adventist churches being represented.  They spent time studying Bible references on defilement and Healing the Land.  This lead them to repent and confess their sins and the sins of their forefathers, in the same way as Nehemiah did.  These included killing and cannibalism, idolatry, witchcraft, bloodshed, and immorality.

They went to the high places in the area to cleanse them of the sinful acts that had taken place there.  The elders confessed sins of their forefathers.  Reconciliation first took place within families, then clans and finally within the tribe.  The chief of the area led a corporate prayer of repentance with the whole tribe.

On the third day of the Process, some women came running and shouting into the village, announcing that the water in the stream had become pure again.  It is still pure today.

Nuku village had been heavily populated, but because of feuds and disputes, people were chased out or just left and went to live in other villages.  Deputations were sent out to these to apologise for the past offences.  A matanigasau (traditional apology) was sent to two villages, inviting the people to return if they wished.

The whole community now counts themselves as very blessed.  The productivity of the land has increased.  The stream water is pure and since that time shrimps and fish have returned to the waters.  The fertility of the banks and agriculture has radically improved.  Some people have even reported that the water has demonstrated healing properties.

Nabitu Village, East of Nausori

What occurred in this village was very much a follow on from what was happening around the country at the time.  There was a split in the tribe and there were a lot of unresolved issues.  During a business meeting in the local church, which was situated right in the middle of the village, a fist fight broke out.  There was always a heaviness in the village, like a hovering dark cloud.  This affected people negatively and there were not a lot of jobs available.

On the advice of chiefs, the people came together on their own initiative for a time of corporate repentance.  A lay preacher in the Methodist Church facilitated the Process.  There was instantly a change in the atmosphere.  The heaviness that had been there had lifted and everyone could feel it.  The division in the church was healed.

The lesson learned from there is that Satan’s hold over people and places is tenuous to say the least.  It only takes one man to lead many into forgiveness and healing.  Satan has to leave, along with the oppression and curses.

Vunibau, Serua Island, at the Navua River

The HTL Process in this place was scheduled over a 14 day period.  During the Process the mixture of elements was poured out onto the sand on the beach.  Later that day, an elderly lady and her son went fishing on the beach.  They cast the net out but when they tried to haul it back in, it seemed to be stuck.  They thought that perhaps it had been caught on a stump or rock, but they found that the net was actually so full of fish that they could not pull it in.

They started walking back to the village to tell everyone, and the lady was following her son walking along the beach.  Wherever his footprints were in the sand a red liquid appeared.  As she walked in his footsteps she was healed of migraine, knee ailments and severe back pain, all of which she had suffered for many years. This healing has been permanent.  As soon as they returned to the village she told the whole community what had happened.

All the people rushed down to the beach to see this phenomenon, including the HTL team that was still there at the time.  To their amazement, right on the spot where the elements had been poured onto the sand, there was blood coming out of the sand and flowing into the sea.  A backslidden Catholic man gave his life to the Lord on the spot.  Photos were taken.  Vuniani was called from Suva (about an hour away) and he also witnessed the blood coming out of the sand.  This actually happened twice.

It was understood to be a confirming sign from the Lord that He was at work in the reconciliation and healing Process:  1 John 5:6-7, “There are three that bear witness on earth, the Spirit, the water and the blood.”  This was similar to the miracle of the healing of the waters in Nuku, which was also recognized as a sign of God’s cleansing and healing that was taking place amongst the people.  God is authenticating what he is doing.

At Vunibau many other signs quickly followed.  Large fish returned to their fishing grounds.  On one occasion, considerable quantities of prawns came ashore so that people could just pick them up.  Crabs and lobsters have also returned, and they have been able to sell the large lobsters for up to $25-$30 each.

After this sign of the blood, Pastor Vuniani recalled the scripture in Acts 2:19 where the Lord had spoken through the prophet Joel that “I will grant wonders (signs) in the sky above, and signs on the earth below, blood, and fire and vapour (pillars) of smoke” (NASB).  He wondered what would come next after the sign of the blood and felt that the next sign would be fire.

Nataliera, Nailevu North

In Nataliera village there were four churches.  There was no communication between their members, affecting even closely related families within the village.  Traditional witchcraft was still being practised and there were about eight sorcerers there.  In addition, there had been many more deaths than would be normal.

After forgiveness and reconciliation, the members of these four churches would meet every Wednesday for prayer and fasting.  On the first Sunday of every month, the four congregations would combine for one large gathering.  An Eco Lodge, previously closed, is now prospering after the HTL Process.

For many years the fishing on the reef had become lean.  Large fish were very scarce and for many years the catch had only ever comprised “bait fish” – the very small ones.  Much of the coral reef was dead and what was left seemed to be dying.

After reconciliation, on two separate occasions fire was seen to fall from the sky onto the reef.  After this, large fish returned in abundance.  The coral is now regenerating and new growth can be seen in abundance.

When stormy weather strikes and the boats can’t go out, the women pray and large fish swim in close to the shore and become trapped in a small pond so that the women are able to just wade in and catch them.  When women from neighbouring villages heard of this, they tried praying for the same provision, but without the same result.

Draubuta, Navosa Highlands, north of Sigatoka

Vuniani’s son, Savanaca, was working with two teams in the highlands.  While they were there, pillars of smoke descended on the villages.  This was seen by many neighbouring villagers who described it as thick bloodstained smoke.  This sign was seen at almost exactly the same time as fire was seen to fall on the reef at Nataliera.

In this area there were many marijuana plantations.  The Nadroga council had been trying to prevent the plantings. During the HTL Process, a deputation of marijuana growers approached the team and asked what the Government would do for them if they destroyed their crops. They had a list of demands which they presented to the team.

The marijuana crop was large, and estimated to be worth about $11 million.  There were 9 growers involved.  The team leaders told the farmers that it was their choice, that they should obey God and trust him for their livelihood, without any promises from anyone to do anything for them.  If they could not, then they should not participate in the Healing Process.

By the time the Process had finished, the people had destroyed the crop as part of the reconciliation Process.  After the HTL ministry, a total of 13,864 plants were uprooted and burnt by the growers themselves.  There were 6,000 seedlings as well.

These are a few of the many miraculous events that have occurred in Fiji since 2001.  Every week, more such events are happening as the forgiveness, reconciliation and HTL processes are being experienced.

The following summary gives an outline of the Healing the Land (HTL) Process.

Healing the Land Process

Essential requirements for Healing the Land, used by HTL teams, include these practical steps, as explained in A Manual for Healing the Land.

1. The Protocol.

Discuss protocol, select a “man of peace” to lead, form a council of elders, a community leader invites Jesus into the community, assess the needs of the community, and recognise and work with the men or women of peace.

2. Teaching on Healing the Land

Six days of teaching concerning commitment to the land, dealing with sin in the church, and dealing with hidden agendas in the community.  This involves teaching about the land belonging to God, fallen stewardship, defilements of the land (idolatry, immorality, broken promises, and bloodshed), bow and arrow concept (Psalm 127), roots and foundations of curses, salt of the earth, forgiveness and healing, healing and transformation from Jesus, inheritance and consecration, obedience to the word of the Lord for the community, men and women of peace, and unity in the Body of Christ.

3. Activities of the HTL Process

Have Protocol discussion, form a council of elders, use the sinners prayer and invitation of Jesus, research and assess and profile the community, teach the Word of God, lead into corporate repentance, allow repentance and forgiveness and reconciliation to flow, develop a prayer team for the village, cover the village in prayer and fasting, organise teams for home visitation, prepare the anointing oil.  Final day activities (may involve oil, water, and salt): anoint and reinstate community chiefs and village leaders, public worship after anointing the land, and public repentance, reconciliation and burning of witchcraft items.

4. Celebration

Celebration may be in dancing, feasting, singing and in taking the Lord’s Supper together as the climax of the week.

5. Allow God to Continue the Process of HTL

Prayer teams stay active, a mid-week united prayer service sustains transformation, share testimonies, share with others usually in teams.

6. Follow-up Ideas

These include recognising those who made new commitments to God (as in baptisms or prayer for them) and an on-going review each three months, with a thanksgiving event a year later to celebrate the goodness of God on the land and the community.

7. Warnings!

Four strong powers always at work are lies, fear, shame and secrecy.  Possible attacks include people speaking discouraging things against transformation – usually from outside, opposition by the devil, criticism by other Christian leaders, complacency, unbelief, and lack of prayer to sustain the transformation.

A Manual for Healing the Land by Vunami Nakauyaca and Walo Ani, gives further details of the process of Healing the Land. It is available from Toowoomba City Church,

PO Box 2216, Toowoomba, Qld 4350, Australia.

Website:  www.tcchurch.com.au

Email: tccemail@tcchurch.com.au

The Healing the Land stories in this book (with some HTL photos) have been gratefully reproduced here, with permission, from the book A Manual for Healing the Land.

The community celebrates with a feast

These reports of transforming revival confirm that God’s purposes for us include far more than personal, family, or church renewal and revival.  They also include community transformation, including social and ecological renewal and revival.

The accounts of transforming revival continue to multiply in the twenty-first century, calling us all to deeper repentance, reconciliation, renewal and revival.

207

Appendix

Conclusion

Western Christians believe in Jesus and live for him, but I found that many overseas Christians and leaders were more responsive to the Lord and his Spirit, more aware of the spirit realm, and more convinced that Jesus’ ministry and New Testament life still happen now just as it did then.  They cast out spirits more than we do!  They are more likely to pray and obey as the early church did: “In the name of Jesus, be healed.”

They expect signs and wonders and pray for God’s supernatural intervention amid opposition, like Christians in the early church: “Now Lord, consider their threats and enable your servants to speak your word with great boldness.  Stretch out your hand to heal and perform signs and wonders through the name of your holy servant Jesus” (Acts 4:29-30).   Revivals often restore New Testament church life today.

Christians in many other cultures seem less distracted than we are by media such as TV and DVDs.  That applied to Australian Aborigines also, although now the media increasingly bombards them as well.  We may know more about our own culture’s gods, such as Hollywood and singing idols, than we do about Jesus’ life with his disciples.

In the South Pacific particularly, and in many developing countries, they have a much stronger sense of community and commitment to one another than we do.  That can promote unity, serving one another and praying with and for each other as a regular lifestyle, once they repent of typical human jealousies and rivalries.  Like the early church, people in revival today still have human faults and failures and need to constantly repent.  When they do, God moves more powerfully among them.

However, there’s hope for us too, if we, like them, will humble ourselves and pray, and seek God’s face and turn from our wicked way.  God promises to hear from heaven his dwelling place, forgive our sin, and heal the land (2 Chronicles 7:14).

We too can discover the power of God’s Spirit, as Jesus promised.

Characteristics of Revival from Acts 2

Note these revival principles, which still apply to us today.

1.    God’s sovereignty – Acts 2:1-2 – Pentecost came suddenly.

2.    Prayer – Acts 1:14; 2:1 – they prayed constantly.

3.    Unity – Acts 2:1 – they were together, in one accord.

4.    Obeying the Spirit – Acts 2:4 – they were filled with the Spirit.

5.    Preaching – Acts  2:14 – Peter preached, powerfully anointed.

6.    Repentance – Acts 2:38 – they repented and were baptised.

7.    Evangelism – Acts 2:40-41 - three thousand added in a day.

8.    Miracles – Acts 2:43 – many signs and wonders occurred.

9.    Community Transformation – Acts 2:44-47 – needs were met.

10.                      Church Growth – Acts 2:47 – the Lord added to them daily.

Church Growth in Acts

Consider the steady and amazing growth of the early church, as is typical in revivals.

Acts 2:41              - 3,000  added.

Acts 4:4                - 5,000  believed.

Acts 5:14               - multitudes of both men and women.

Acts 6:7                - the number multiplied greatly in Jerusalem.

Acts 8:1                - persecution arose, so they were all scattered.

Acts 9:31                - churches were multiplied.

Acts 11:21                - a great number believed.

Acts 11:24                - a great many people were added to the Lord.

Acts 12:24                - the word of God grew and multiplied.

Acts 16:5                - the churches increased in number daily.

We call that revival.  It has its problems, as did the early church.  Most New Testament letters addressed the many problems in the church.  Yet the church continued to grow in numbers, depth, and power.  So can we.  Jesus promised it.  His last words before he ascended were: You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you, and you will be my witnesses … to the ends of the earth (Acts 1:8).

Appendix 1:  Revival Examples

Page      Examples of Repentance and Revival

16              Tahiti, 1835, revival with mass repentance.

18              Tonga, 1835, revival with Tahitian missionaries

21              Samoa, 1835 revivals with Tahitian and Tongan missionaries

22              Hawaii, 1837 revival with Titus Coan, Finney’s associate

26              Fiji, 1845-46 revival at Viwa with John Watsford & John Hunt

31              Queensland, 1905 revival among Kanakas

42              Solomon Islands revival of 1970 with impacts in other islands

49              200 teams, 200,000 converts in 3 years in Timor, Indonesia

51              Nahor Leo’s djimat confessed, fire on church roof, teams

Evangelize in Timor

54              Timor teams led supernaturally with biblical phenomena

55              3 children preach to 30-40,000 in Poso, Sulawesi, Indonesia

57              Spirit falls on aboriginal prayer group in Elcho Island,

Australia; powerful evangelism in communities

67              Hellen Vaevosi, Peter Elison, Patutiva revival, Solomon Islands

69              Children’s revival, Marovo Lagoon, west Solomon Islands

78              High School and village revival, Guadalcanal Mountains,

Solomon Islands

79              National Convention for Youth at Choiseul, west Solomon

Islands; healings and anointing

86              Enga revival, PNG; prayer groves in villages

93      Huli region, Southern Highlands, PNG revival

95              Telefomin region revival, PNG; light fills Bible School; pastors

empowered

101              Sepik revival; SSEC Brugam; leaders of Tambaran converted

104              Solomon Islands region, PNG; revival conferences;

communities changed

106              Kambaidam, Lutheran area; Bible School students empowered

110              Crippled youth healed at Lutheran district meeting

111              Milne Bay, PNG, patrols; revivals and miracles; crowds

baptised in the sea; healings; antibiotic tablets multiplied

123              HTL reconciliations and miracles, south coast PNG

135              Supernatural events in Bougainville

145              Prayer Mountain in Bougainville, awesome presence of God

154              Revivals at Espiritu Santo and Ambae, Vanuatu

156              Tongoa Island, Vanuatu, revival on evangelism mission;

healings and miracles

157              Spirit poured out on law students, Port Vila, Vanuatu

161              Nurse prayed for girl killed in accident; she lives

164              Pentecost Island, Vanuatu, Bible School

174              Revival and boy evangelists on Tanna Island, Vanuatu

176              HTL reconciliations and miracles in Vanuatu islands; huge

coconut crabs appear; food gardens flourish

185              University of the South Pacific Christian Fellowships

188              HTL reconciliations and miracles in Fiji

190     Poisoned stream healed in Nuku village, Fiji

192     Huge fish caught; red footsteps in sand, Vunibau, Fiji

194     Fire fell on reef; then abundant fish and reef regenerated at

Natalieva, Fiji

195     Marijuana crops worth $11 million burned in Draubuta, Fiji

200              Pentecost revival and church growth in the early church

Pentecost Island team from Vanuatu prays together on mission.

Daisy, Joshua, Mathias, Evelyn and Rolanson pray in Brisbane

Appendix 2: Renewal and Revival Books

Discounted at www.renewljournal.com

Details at ‘Geoff Waugh’ on www.amazon.com

Free postage at ‘Geoff Waugh’ on www.bookdepository.com

Looking to Jesus: Journey into Renewal and Revival (2009)

Light on the Mountains: Pioneer Mission in PNG (2009)

Flashpoints of Revival (2nd ed., 2009)

Revivals Awaken Generations (Korean, 2006)

Revival Fires: History’s Mighty Revivals (2011)

South Pacific Revivals (3rd ed., 2012)

Anointed for Revival: Histories of Revival Pioneers (2011)

Great Revival Stories (2011), compiled from 2 books:

Best Revival Stories, and Transforming Revivals

Renewal and Revival (2011), compiled from 2 books:

Renewal and Revival

Body Ministry: The Body of Christ Alive in His Spirit (2011)

Compiled from 2 books: The Body of Christ, Parts 1 & 2

Church on Fire (1991, 2009).

Living in the Spirit (2nd ed., 2009)

Your Spiritual Gifts (2011)

Fruit and Gifts of the Spirit (1992, 2009)

The Leader’s Goldmine (1990, 2009)

Kingdom Life in Matthew (1992, 2009)

Kingdom Life in Mark (1990, 2009)

Kingdom Life in Luke (1991, 2009)

Kingdom Life in John (2011)

A Preface to The Acts of the Apostles (2011)

Keeping Faith Alive Today (1977, 2010)

Exploring Israel (2011)

Inspiration (2011)

Discovering Aslan: High King above all Kings in Narnia

(2012)

Renewal Journal

Issues 1-20 now available on www.renewaljournal.com

1.  Revival                                          11.  Discipleship

2.  Church Growth                            12.  Harvest

3.  Community                            13.  Ministry

4.  Healing                                          14.  Anointing

5.  Signs and Wonders              15.  Wineskins

6.  Worship                                          16.  Vision

7.  Blessing                                          17.  Unity

8.  Awakening                                          18.  Servant Leadership

9.  Mission                                          19.  Church

10.  Evangelism                            20.  Life

Revival Articles

The Moravian Revival, by John Greenfield (Issue 1)

Prayer and Revival, by J Edwin Orr (Issue 1)

Speaking God’s Word, by David Yonggi Cho (Issue 8)

Worldwide Awakening, by Richard Riss (Issue 8)

Revival in China, by Dennis Balcombe (Issue 9)

The River of God, by David Hogan (Issue 9)

God’s Awesome Presence, by Richard Heard (Issue 10)

A Touch of Glory, by Lindell Cooley (Issue 11)

The Spirit told us what to do, by Cari Lawrence (Issue 12)

Snapshots of Glory, by George Otis Jr. (Issue 17)

Revival articles by Geoff Waugh:

Issues  1, 2, 6, 7, 13, 14, 15, 16, 20.

Details on: www.renewaljournal.com

Email: geoffwaugh1@gmail.com

Book Images: see ‘Geoff Waugh’ on amazon.com

for details, reviews, and photographs.

Renewal Journals – bound volumes

www.renewaljournal.com

207

[1] Orr, J Edwin, 1976, Evangelical Awakenings in the South Seas.

Minneapolis, Bethany Fellowship, p. 32.

[2] Orr, 1976, pp. 28-30.

[3] Wood, Harold, Overseas Missions of the Australian Methodist Church." Volume One: Tonga and Samoa. Melbourne, Aldersgate Press, 1975, p. 270.

[4] Orr, 1976, p. 33-34.

[5] Wood, A Harold, 1978, Overseas Missions of the Australian Methodist Church,.Volume Two. Fiji.  Melbourne, Aldersgate, p. 1.

[6] Wood, 1978, pp. 82-83.

[7] Orr, 1976, p. 41.

[8] Kanaka (Hawaiian) was the term used for an indentured worker from various Pacific Islands.

[9] Queensland Kanaka Mission, "Not In Vain."  Annual reports and other publications of the Queensland Kanaka Mission, Bundaberg, between 1886 and 1906.

[10] Queensland Kanaka Mission reports.

[11] Charles, Hubert E, "Revival that Took Place on Palau Between 1955 and 1957." A class paper at Fuller Theological Seminary, presented to Dr J. Edwin Orr. From Dr Orr's personal papers.

[12] Kumo, Komber A, "The Outpouring of the Spirit in Truk."

A class paper at Fuller Theological Seminary presented to Dr J. Edwin Orr. From Dr. Orr's private files..

[13] Horne. Shirley, 1973, An Hour to the Stone Age: A Movement Amongst the Dani Tribes of Western New Guinea.  Chicago. Moody Press. 1973.

[14] Strachan, George, Revival - its Blessings and Battles: An Account of Experiences in the Solomon Islands. South Sea Evangelical Mission. 1984, pp. 10-11..

[15] Don Crawford, 1972, Miracles in Indonesia, pages 22-24.

[16] Mel Tari, 1971, Like a Mighty Wind, and Mel and Nori Tari, 1974, The Gentle Breeze of Jesus. See also Kurt Koch’s undated book The Revival in Indonesia.

[17] Don Crawford, 1972, Miracles in Indonesia, pages 25-28.

[18] Djiniyini Gondarra, www.renewalJournal.com – Issue 1.

[19] Alison Griffiths, 1977, Fire in the Islands, page 175.

[20] Jess Redman, 1982, The Light Shines On, pages 164-166.

[21] “Vision” magazine, May 1974, page 8.

[22] Norm & Sheila Draper, 1990, Daring to Believe, pages 157-160.

[23] Norm & Sheila Draper, 1990, Daring to Believe, page 174.

[24] Ray Overend, 1986, The Truth will Set you Free, pages  9-10, 36-37.

[25] Vuniami Nakauyaca & Walo Ani, 2007, A Manual for Healing the Land, Toowoomba City Church, pp. 77-82.

[26] Edited from Royree Jensen, 2009, Sons of Thunder, Royree Jensen Ministries, Brisbane.

[27] Nakauyaca & Ani, 2009, A Manual for Healing the Land, Toowoomba City Church, pp. 82-83, and personal prayer letters by Harry Tura.

Table of Contents

Copyright

Dedication

Detailed Contents

Foreword

Preface by Robert Evans A Brief History of Pacific Revivals

Introduction

Chapter 1 Solomon Islands

Chapter 2 Papua New Guinea

Chapter 3 Vanuatu

Chapter 4 Fiji

Conclusion

Appendix 1: Revival Examples

Appendix 2: Renewal and Revival Books

Renewal Journal