By Lee Grady
On the second day of the IPHC’s Global Assembly in Hong Kong, speakers from Botswana, Canada, India, Romania and Turkey told delegates that their mandate from Jesus Christ is truly a worldwide mission. The attendees were also reminded that the task of reaching the nations with the gospel cannot be accomplished without a fresh anointing from the Holy Spirit.
“God has given us the promise of an inheritance in unreached lands,” said Russell Board, who serves as the IPHC’s continental director for Asia and the Pacific. He reminded attendees early in the day that 75 percent of the world’s unreached people live in Asia, and that 60 percent of the world’s population lives in Asia.
Jamie Taylor greets the IPHC Global Assembly
Later that evening, when more than 1,200 people crammed into the Wing Kwong PH Church for a celebration service, an unexpected guest announced that China will likely lead the way in world evangelism in the future. “God has entrusted to the Chinese church a special mandate for the 21st century,” said James Hudson Taylor IV, the great-great-grandson of British missionary Hudson Taylor, who ventured to China in 1865 to launch the China Inland Mission. Taylor reminded the audience that the seeds sown so long ago are now producing an unprecedented spiritual harvest in the world’s largest nation.
“The Great Commission needs to be completed by the global church, across denominational lines,” Taylor said, noting that his great-great-grandfather recruited missionaries from many denominations to reach China.
An international flavor marked each of the day’s sessions, especially in the afternoon when Rev. Timotei Bulzan from Oradea, Romania, closed his message by asking representatives from every continent to come to the stage and pray for the advancement of Christ’s kingdom in their native language.
Other highlights of the day:
Presiding Bishop Doug Beacham, Continental Director Russell Board and People to People Director Matt Bennett pray for Nepal.
- Tara and Ging Bhandari of Kathmandu, Nepal, shared how God protected their congregation during the earthquake that devastated their city on April 25. The IPHC’s People to People Ministries presented the Bhundari’s with a check for $9,000 to help provide relief to victims of the quake.
- A pastor from a predominantly Muslim country shared reports on how God is bringing many Muslims to faith in Christ, often through the witness of lay church members. One woman who is more than 80 years old has led more than 200 people to Christ, he said.
- Sergio Castro from Colombia, Michael John from India and Atilio Chavez from Guatemala gave encouraging reports on church growth in their nations. Then Chris Thompson, director of Evangelism USA, reminded the crowd that the United States is now the third-largest unreached nation in the world, with more than 200 million unsaved people. Delegates had a time of prayer for spiritual awakening in the U.S.
In the evening service at Wing Kwong Church, Turkish church-planter Ismail Serinken shared how he found Jesus Christ as a Muslim—and how his own parents had a powerful encounter with Christ after they heard his testimony. Today Serinken is planting churches in Turkish cities where the gospel once flourished in the first century. “Even radicals are being saved,” Serinken said, adding that he believes a great revival will sweep the Muslim world before Jesus returns.
At the close of the evening service, Sharon Wooten, an IPHC missionary to Africa, delivered a powerful challenge to each delegate to seek God for personal revival. “We need to tarry for the power,” she declared, “and the power only comes through surrender.” Wooten said a return to Pentecost—and to deep intimacy with Jesus—is the only way we can fulfill our global mission.
Photos: IPHC Communication Services