Revival in the Congo!*

Jack had just returned from the south where he had seen revival. He opened his Bible and began to speak. Suddenly the building began to shake ...

WHAT was your background before you went out to Africa?

I was saved when I was a medical student - I wasn't very bright, so medicine was a real slog! I did no reading apart from my Bible and the next thing I knew I was out on the mission field! I was a good solid Anglican type, totally unprepared for the revival that came.

What led up to the Congo revival?

Basically, years of committed prayer that became increasingly desperate. Both senior local pastors and missionaries had been praying regularly with a real burden.

What can you remember of the first experiences you had of revival power?

The first day revival came to Ibambi, the actual building shook. We were sitting in the Bible School hall. It was seven o'clock on a Friday night. Jack Scholes, our field leader, had just come back from a trip in the south and he had seen revival down there. He stood up to speak about the revival and started to read from scriptures. Suddenly we heard a hurricane storm. It was frightening!

And not what you expected?

No! None of us stopped to think that this was strange because you don't get hurricane storms in July (we have them in February or March). We heard this hurricane coming and the elders began to take the shutters down - the shutters are not very strong and fall in and can hurt people. We looked out and it was moonlight and the palm trees were standing absolutely still against the moonlit sky. It should have been pitch-black and stormy. Then the building shook and the storm lanterns down the centre of the building moved around. There was a terrific noise and a sense of external power around. We were all frightened - there must have been about five whites and 95 Africans present. You could sense fear all around.

How did you respond?

Jack stood at the front and said to us - "This is of God, just pray - don't fear and don't interfere." It was as if a force came in and we were shaking. There was no way you could control it and some were thrown to the ground off the benches as if someone had hurled them down! But no one was hurt. Everyone ceased to be conscious of anyone else.

What was the strongest sense you had around you at the time?

Conviction of sin. People began to confess publically what you might call 'big sin' (and these were all Christians). They spoke of adultery, cheating, stealing, deceit. One friend, whom I thought too good to be true, was crying out to God for mercy and confessing her sins. I couldn't imagine she'd done anything wrong!

Sounds amazing! How long did all this go on for?

We didn't leave the hall that whole weekend! Most of the time God was dealing with our sins. Some needed help from the pastors who moved around with much wisdom and encouragement. Then joy struck the repentant sinners and the pastors moved on. It was remarkable what discernment was given to these uneducated pastors. I remember they discerned that one lady's confession wasn't real and they urged her to confess what was really inside her.

Anything else to note about the revival moving of power as God's work continued?

Yes! There were amazing visions from people which were often based on Old Testament scriptures - even though they didn't have the Old Testament! I remember one woman standing up with her arms upraised and her face radiant, talking about wheels within wheels and eyes within the wheels and patterns and above it all a great rainbow. It was straight out of Ezekiel. She spoke of the glory and began weeping when she said she saw the glory was in the midst of the Bible School and then it went out of the hall, across the courtyard and into the forest. She broke down, crying, "It's because of our sin, our sin!" 

How did you feel about this?

The white people just sat back and watched at first and the Bible School students held back. It was all right for the village people, but not for us! But God broke into the Bible School. We were soon broken down as well.

It was irresistible!

Yes! There were also amazing visions of hell and people would break down weeping because of unsaved relatives. They carried exhausting prayer burdens. What started off as a ten minute prayer meeting lasted three hours. We didn't discuss anything, we spoke with God. There were waves of outpoured prayer. Some went off at 4am on one occasion and walked twelve miles to a village, compelled by the Holy Spirit, to share the gospel. Many were saved as a result.

DID the revival continue after those early days of God's powerful presence?

Yes, it was amazing. In the years following the initial work, revival blessing came in waves. But I still wasn't being revived myself! I was frantic - there was a coldness in my heart. I was saying the right things, doing the right things and being the right things, but somehow I was outside all that was happening.

So how did that change?

I spent a long weekend crying out to God. There was little of victory in my life. I was frustrated, hurt and empty, knowing the right answers but getting nowhere.

On the Saturday night I went to one of the pastors and his wife and said, "Please help me!" His response was clear although he was very gentle - "We can see so much Helen and we can't see Jesus. Everything revolves around your vision, your work, what you will do."

I knew he was right. That was all he said, but somehow Jesus was there. I spent the following ten days in the presence of the Lord, broken. It was wonderful.

Rebel soldiers frozen What else was special about the effect of God's workings in those days?

One example. There were a number of what we called 'fixations'. During the rebellion of 1964, three rebel soldiers came to my house. The middle soldier was the commander and the one on the right had a spear and the other one had a gun slung over his shoulder.

They demanded money from me and when I refused, they got mad and the commander told the one on the right to strike me down. He raised his spear to drive it through me and I just put up an arm to ward off the blow.

Suddenly I realised that nothing had happened. The man's arm was raised and he was standing there a yard away from me with real hatred in his eyes - I've never seen such hatred, wanting to kill me. But he was rooted to the ground and couldn't move! The three were 'fixed' to the spot.

I said to them that my God in me is greater than their god in them. I then backed through the door and crumpled in a heap. But I pulled myself together and made them coffee and took them some John's gospels and talked to them about Jesus. They listened and then left.

The fire that wasn't a fire And there were other miraculous signs and wonders?

Yes. I remember one time I was visiting the sick wife of one of the evangelists. I was driving through a dirt track and came to the top of a hill and then suddenly saw this forest fire.

The fire was at the village where we were going and it lit up the whole sky. We walked the last few miles but as we got closer I was struck that there was no noise! That was strange. Forest fires have an enormous roar, louder than a plane.

As we got closer there was also no heat! As we entered the village one house was ablaze which was the pastor's house - but there were no people about. Again that was strange because everyone would have been out to beat the fire.

Suddenly, there was this terrifying sense of awe. We went into the 'blazing' house with flames everywhere but nothing was burned.

The people inside were praising the Lord as the pastor's wife had died and gone to be with Jesus. The Shekinah glory had truly come down on them.

How did the rebellion in 1964 affect the movings of the Spirit?

The rebellion came twelve years after the revival first hit us. It was a terrible and appalling time when a quarter of a million people were murdered out of a population of 15 million. Many of them were Christians. The revival made us ready for all this and carried us through the suffering. We didn't mind what happened to us because our hearts were so rooted in Jesus.

What do you feel caused the fervour of revival fire to cool down?

I think over the years the effect of western materialism was damaging.

 We lived a very simple lifestyle. All the money that came to me as gift money I divided equally between the team - it made no difference whether it was my house boy who cleaned the house and cooked my meals or me who did the surgery and cared for the women having their babies or the motor mechanic who kept the ambulance. We were totally equal servants.

But when they got radios they found out how the rest of the world lived and wanted more. Also, salaries with differential scales came in with independence.

 Any big lessons for us to learn out of all this remarkable visitation of God?

You can't live forever on the mountain top. You have to come down into the valley to do the work. You must never look back on the blessing - you must always look on. We contain the treasure of the Lord Jesus. It doesn't matter about the beautiful thin china ware or the cracked old earthen pot - what matters is the treasure within. The key thing is that God and God alone is glorified.
 

* This article has been extracted from Jesus Life, published by Jesus Fellowship.