A year ago, revival came to Leicester. It was during the
Chroma Church Leaders Gathering at the beginning of the year. The presence of
the Holy Spirit was so thick, it was hard to stand. People had to be lifted out
of the meeting, unable to walk. Others felt the presence of the Holy Spirit
even as they parked their car in the car park. None remained unaffected.
Through the year that has followed, the Holy Spirit has
continued to move. We’ve seen oil on hands as a common experience, some of our ladies
having oil dripping off them. There have been angels seen regularly – some guarding
doors, others entering into worship with wild dancing. Children have seen
angels in their bedrooms, guarding them. In the children’s meetings, the sound
of heaven has been heard.
We’ve seen 115 people walk to the front of the Sunday meetings
over the year to give their lives to Christ. On top of that there have been
hundreds on the street and in the youth and children’s meetings. 51 have been
baptised. As Rachel says in our New Year message (from about the 1 hour 20
minute mark here) salvation isn’t a prayer, it’s a person. Jesus has been good
to us in our times together. 115 times.
People of other faiths have started turning up to meetings,
hearing that there’s healing to be had. Whole families are coming to Christ
through healing encounters. Sikhs and Hindu’s have come to faith this year,
some having dreams of Jesus that brought them to the church.
We’ve seen people give their lives to Christ where addictions
have instantly lifted off them and they have remained free. We’ve seen new
believers devouring the Bible, reading through the whole book in a short time.
The most dramatic healing was of a young lady with a heart
condition. The doctors were unsure she would live, and certainly would not be
able to work. She and her parents joined in the meetings online and the day we
prayed for heart conditions, she was healed. Today she is active and has her
first job.
There have been many other healings from the young to the
old, sometimes happening in the worship without any prayer or particular emphasis.
Worship has been a key to the revival this year. ChromaWorship have been sensitive to the Holy Spirit and have consistently led us into
God’s presence. Their heart for the Lord has been recognised too and they are
beginning to lead in large international gatherings around the world.
The start of the revival in January a year ago caused us to
start a weekly Revival Prayer meeting on Tuesday nights. These have been especially
precious, with an overwhelming sense of God’s presence causing fear and
reverence one week, outrageous praise on another. The weekly meetings have
gathered others from other churches, including significant leaders of church
networks. One of these leaders who had been particularly involved in the
Toronto Outpouring in the 1990s commented that the revival was ‘like Toronto
but more mature’. We’ll take that!
As 2022 was a year of revival, so for 2023. Revival upon
revival. Every age group, every background, every nation represented. Revival
has come to Leicester.
