d. She spoke in tongues and prophesied. Then in the month of June that same year the Holy Spirit came upon the believers mightily. They were filled with the Spirit of God and God blessed them with gifts of the Spirit, especially the word of wisdom and the word of knowledge. By this, lost money was found, lost souls traced, sick healed and sin uncovered.
The revival took place in a small fellowship of newly converged souls in Sikkim. The Spirit fell on all the believers, and that village become the centre of evangelism. Today much of Sikkim is evangelised. There are more than 300 churches in the small state of Sikkim with a population of less than 5,000. If the growth rate remains undiminished Sikkim will be a Christian state should Jesus tarry.
Many miracles took place in the ministry, even raising of the dead. The work faced a lot of opposition in the beginning but the changed lives of first Christians made their mouths shut. Many missionaries are working now in Nepal or Bhutan and different parts of India like Assam, Manipur and Nagaland. Not only the Nepalese among whom our major work was concentrated but also tribes like Bodos, Santhals, Nagas, Rajbansis, and many other tribal people got saved.
This revival continues. This resulted in the worlds fastest growing church. The Lord said many things about our people, the Nepalese: “I love the Nepalese very much; I will send you throughout the world to preach”; and so on. Once the Lord told me: “All my children will see Me. That is, they would see the Lord with their physical eyes.” This was fulfilled to the last letter. The Lord said: I will send even greater revival than before. We are praying to Him who is a covenant keeping God.
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1962 – August: Santo, Vanuatu (Paul Grant)
Australian Apostolic missionary pastor-teacher, Paul Grant, saw early stirrings of revival in Vanuatu. He commented in an unpublished report: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 Ambai 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, restit