REVIVAL IN LEICESTER (3)

Full meetings, lots of visitors. Many healed, including verified by doctors. Many finding faith in Christ. Young people coming forward to offer their lives to Jesus, willing to go anywhere for Him. The monthly prayer and worship meeting moved weekly (come and join us on a Tuesday evening). People reporting a Holy Spirit presence that can be felt from the car park. And chaos in the car park with so many cars. A sense of God’s presence in the meetings you can almost touch. Leaders visiting and taking back the blessing – then reporting back that what they experienced appears to have become contagious.

Here's a quote from a much earlier revival – the UK revivals of John Wesley and George Whitfield. The quote is from an attendee at a Wesley meeting in the late 1730s:

“If there be such a thing as heavenly music upon earth, I heard it there: if there be such an enjoyment, such an attainment, as heaven upon earth, numbers in that society seem to possess it. As for my own part, I do not remember my heart to have been so elevated in divine love and praise as it was there and then for many years past, if ever; and an affecting sense and savour thereof abode in my mind many weeks later.”

The description of that John Wesley meeting could well be applied to what I am experiencing at Chroma Church right now.  

The revival in Leicester continues.

REVIVAL IN LEICESTER (2)

Revival has come to Leicester. Saturday afternoon, 8^th January 2022.

The details are on my last blog. In this one, I want to record some of the reasons as to ‘why Leicester’. There will be many more revivals in many more cities, but Leicester has been on God’s agenda for a long time.

Here are some of the key happenings in history and some of the main prophecies over the city of Leicester:

•           John Wesley preached from the castle grounds in 1770 and there is a plaque on the wall to this day. The local businesses were upset so they sent a man to sell fish and cry at the top of his voice. But as Wesley records in his journal, ‘he might as well have spared the pains for none took the least notice of him.’
•           A hundred or so years later, F B Meyer arrived in the city. Aside from building the magnificent Melbourne Hall, he is remembered for rescuing the poor. He stood outside the prison as prisoners were released, determined to stop them leaving with the gang members and the prostitutes. Meyer would buy them breakfast, offer them a bed for the night and find them a job. This was so successful that Leicester became known as a city of Christian businesses where former inmates worked for a decent wage and offered better products than other businesses.
•           Evan Roberts is best known for the Welsh Revival of 1904, with over 100,000 saved through his ministry. What is less known is his move to Leicester after the revival years where he walked the streets praying for God to move in the city.
•           A  1978 Fountain Trust conference in Aberystwyth was interrupted by an American prophet. He explained that many in the States had been praying for a city called Leicester and that they felt God was saying revival was on the way. They had seen a city on fire in a vision. When they checked the geography, it was Leicester.
•          Phil Bennett lived in Concord, North Carolina. In 1997 it was a surprise to hear God call him to pray for Leicester, England. But he was obedient and as a result the Watchman Prayer Wall was established. This was a simple concept – that Christians would each take one hour slots in prayer, thus ensuring the city was prayed for 24/7. The concept later took off around the world, but it started with Phil seeing Leicester in a vision and responding. Many in that first prayer wall for Leicester were from the United States and other countries around the world- all praying for a city they found hard to even pronounce!
•          In the mid-2000s, the prophet Martin Scott spoke at a Leicester meeting. He saw a picture of a twisted spine over the city and felt it needed to be straightened. He had no idea of the history of Leicester. In August 2012, the remains of King Richard III were found in a Leicester car park- the king with the crooked spine. He was given a formal burial and his remains are now enclosed in a tomb in Leicester Cathedral. The dishonour of his death was rectified – the spine was straightened.
•          On Saturday 22^nd November 2014, the prayer warrior Suzette Hattingh finished her National  Prayer School conference in Leicester. The fact that it was in Leicester was a direct intervention from God as Suzette had prayed about it. She had planned – and booked – Birmingham for the conference but felt God wanted it moved to Leicester. At the end of that final day Suzette, who had worked as the chief prayer intercessor for evangelist Reinhard Bonkke, called the pastors forward. My wife Roh and I stepped forward that evening and received a commission alongside other pastors in the city to pray in unity. The result was the Gatekeepers Pastors Prayer Group. Since that day pastors from across the city have prayed regularly for Leicester every Friday, building a unity that had not previously existed.
•           Steve and Juliet Barber arrived in the city in 2007 to start what has become Chroma Church. The church grew so rapidly, just one year later they approached Leicester City Football Club to meet in one of their function rooms. The club said it would be too expensive. Steve continued to push and promised the football club success were they to bless the church. They did, offering a much reduced rate. In May 2016, Leicester City won the English premiership at odds of 5000 to 1. It has been called a football miracle.
•          In the summer of 2019, the American Bishop, Tony Miller was coming to the end of his talk at the national Bible Week, the One Event, held at Lincoln. As he finished, he halted for a moment. “Is there anybody in the room from the city of Leicester? I don’t even know where Leicester is. I just keep hearing it in my spirit. I hear the Lord saying ‘Leicester is about to have a major visitation…. There’s an awakening coming to the city of Leicester.’”
•           In 2020, Caryn Tadeusz, a student with Mission24, had a picture:  “Last night I saw a picture I felt was from the Lord - fish, many fish, followed by a map of the UK with no name places but a red dot in the middle of England. I asked the Lord for a place name but nothing. I guessed Birmingham or Manchester- my geography is terrible, sorry. But no confirmation. So I looked on a map this morning and Leicester looks like the place. When I saw it my spirit stirred and excitement rose up. “

These are just some of the prophetic words over Leicester. Revival has come. Prophecy is being fulfilled.

REVIVAL IN LEICESTER

On Saturday, revival came to Leicester.

I’m a bit of a Christian History geek and have studied revival most of my Christian life. And I’ve been fortunate enough to experience revival out in Argentina. So what I saw and experienced on Saturday at Chroma Church Leicester was, I think, the real deal.

The event was a leaders gathering of around 300 leaders from around the UK, starting the year off with a time to worship, prayer and of encouraging each other. Led by Steve & Juliet Barber and Paul & Sue Manwaring, the two days together were precious. More than that. On Saturday afternoon God came.

I know the theological arguments that God never leaves, but there was a time on Saturday afternoon, 8^th January 2022, when His presence was so thick in the atmosphere, it was hard to stand. It was impossible to stop worshipping. We were in His presence. There were angels in the room. Time became unimportant.

The weekend was not particularly a time for healing, but God healed anyway. 25 confirmed bodily healings and probably many more, some just happening as we worshipped.

Saturday afternoon saw a number of young women spontaneously take the stage and pray and prophesy over the leaders. Generations together meeting Him, receiving His mandate for the year ahead.

Revival is always accompanied by prayer, so it is no surprise that as preparation for this event, the church at Chroma had spent three days in prayer and fasting, with over 100 people turning up to pray each evening right at the start of the year.

Historically, revival comes at moments of crisis. None more so that now, at the end of a worldwide pandemic – something no one living has seen before.

Why Leicester? There are many revival prophecies over this city (there’s a need for a separate blog on that). It’s a city that has embraced a multicultural society in a way few other cities have, so it seems an appropriate place for a new Pentecost. In Jerusalem on that first Pentecost outpouring, there were people from ‘every nation under heaven’ (Acts 2:5). And so for Leicester. The BBC calls it the ‘most ethnically diverse’ city in the region, with well over 50% non-white residents.  Pretty much in the centre of the country geographically, Leicester has become a hot spot for the work of the Holy Spirit.

Revival has come to Leicester.