China 1930s to 1990s – Mission Advance Persecution & Revival
Rees Howells had led the staff and students of the Bible College of Wales in prayer for China on many occasions. In 1936, he sold land and gave it to evangelise one thousand villages in China. Meanwhile, after World War II (1939-1945), whilst the West was occupied with threats from the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR), a small group of revolutionaries swept themselves into power in China, as Satan sought to capture the souls of one-fifth of humanity!
The College notes for 29 January 1948 record: ‘Prayer for missionaries and Christians who are being persecuted by the Reds.’ Ten months later the concern needed to be engaged at a deeper level as Rees Howells called them to ‘the beginning of prayer for China.’ The burden continued for years and after Samuel Rees Howells became Director of the Bible College, the intercession proceeded to a further untapped level.
10 February 1955:
We were thinking of Abraham pleading with the Lord for the cities of the plain. Concerning Isaac God said, “Is anything too hard for the Lord?” We believe He spoke those words to us too. In the Far East…we are believing for revival
– Samuel Rees Howells
11 February 1955:
There are countless millions outside of the fold. We ask Thee to lay their burden upon us. We thank Thee for the prayer Thou hast given us this week for the millions in the Far East. We thank Thee for the many parts Thou hast already visited with revival and Thou wilt (will) visit these places again!
– Samuel Rees Howells
After a month of prayer, Samuel Rees Howells challenged those at the Bible College of Wales to prepare for the battle ahead:
Paul stood out for the Gentiles. Christianity was dependent on the revelation of this man. They were coming out of heathenism. He had seen the atonement and he knew there was enough power to keep these converts without any outward restraints
– Samuel Rees Howells
Just as Paul had stood for the Gentiles, the College had to stand in the gap for China. Samuel stated:
Special meetings are starting tomorrow for prayer. As we pray these things we want Him to inspire those servants of His who are praying for revival in China. If there is a release of the Spirit in one place, He can be released in other places
– Samuel Rees Howells
Samuel Rees Howells was speaking of the principle of a gained intercession. Once a position of intercession has been gained, the Lord can apply it again for any other situation that He chooses.
Another month of prayer passed, calling out for many nations, and Samuel reminded the College how the principle of death and resurrection in intercession had worked in the lives of the early British missionaries to China. He declared:
Hudson Taylor, founder of the China Inland Mission was at his extremity. How could the millions of China be reached? Their burden had come upon him and he felt helpless and broken. God spoke to him. He was going to raise that mission and he believed the Lord’s word. His wife sensed he was a new man. It was a meeting with God, like Jacob at Peniel. In China, he had periods of disappointment and setbacks and unless the Lord would meet him afresh, he could not go on. He entered into that realm of full surrender and faith in the God of the impossible
– Samuel Rees Howells
Samuel Rees Howells carried a burden for China throughout his life and the intercession was all uphill.
Mao Zedong, who had become the President in 1949, commenced his reign of terror with the disastrous Great Leap Forward. Even before the full extent of the fatal events that were to follow, the Holy Spirit was revealing where the spiritual battle lay and the final victory that would be realised. By 1966, Mao had organised his Red Guards and the Cultural Revolution soon gained momentum, with terrible consequences for any semblance of the West.
The horrific reports of children betraying parents and witnessing their barbaric executions, of church leaders being publicly humiliated, of intense daily indoctrination classes for the people and of families being separated for life, shocked the staff and students of the Bible College who resorted to prolonged periods of intercession.
The hard-lined Communists blamed all their problems on the West and introduced calamitous policies which led to forty million Chinese deaths and mass starvation. China had never suffered to this extent in all history; but the Communists’ anger was directed towards local Christians and churches, because of their connections to foreigners.
Missionaries had already been expelled from China (1949-1951) and their buildings were confiscated for government purposes or demolished. The situation seemed to strike a heavy death blow for the Church. In history, Christianity had tried to gain a hold in China, but each time it was persecuted until Chinese Christians were almost wiped out.
Intercession was long, hard and continuous. Ten years had passed since Samuel Rees Howells had led staff and students of the Bible College of Wales to pray in the 1950s, but the burden continued. Samuel declared:
During the past year, the Lord has definitely led us in the College to spend long sessions in prayer for some of the countries that at present are in a state of affliction and upheaval, such as China and Tibet
– Samuel Rees Howells
Deeply burdened by the spread of Communism worldwide, Samuel stated:
Today the Communists are flooding the different countries with propaganda. Millions of people…have nothing to read but this atheistic material. Everything possible should be done to get the Scriptures to these people before it is too late. Millions of people are living in these lands without ever having seen a Bible or even a portion of the New Testament. We are deeply exercised about this crying need
– Samuel Rees Howells
It was during the darkest of days in China that Samuel welcomed Gladys Aylward, the then-famous missionary to visit the College to preach. Gladys had commenced her missionary career in Swansea, at the Gospel Mission in 1930 and had then made her way across Siberia to China after being declared unsuitable for mission work by a famous mission society!
Now this diminutive figure, her face barely visible above the lectern of the platform of the Conference Hall, on the Derwen Fawr Estate pronounced with a resounding declaration of faith:
China WILL open again
– Gladys Aylward
Outwardly, the Communist takeover of China was the greatest spiritual failure, but in God’s eternal Kingdom, the first-fruits and the first-born always belong to the Lord. The first-fruits of the intercession for China and of the missionary work were publicly dying and placed on the altar. As the Church went through the fire, they were purified like a precious metal and the resurrection power of Christ was released amongst them. Even the dictatorial leadership found themselves as King Cyrus, being mere instruments in the hands of God.
Little did people realise then how Mao Zedong’s determined efforts to create one language throughout China to improve communications and to drive the true Church underground, would one day turn for the furtherance of the Gospel within that awakening giant. Mao’s violent policies brought a spiritual vacuum into the nation, which Christianity began to fill; whilst the cruelty and catastrophe of the Cultural Revolution cured many of the Chinese of any hope in Communist theory.
Samuel Rees Howells continued in his intercessory ministry for China; supporting Chinese radio broadcasts into the nation in 1966, and constantly brought this great land before the College. Into the 1970s, Samuel rejoiced as their prayers were being answered:
We prayed for China constantly with no results, but now millions are responding!
– Samuel Rees Howells
Throughout the next few decades, Samuel Rees Howells and the staff and students of the Bible College of Wales continued to intercede. Correspondence confirms how Samuel sought to support agencies and individuals who were engaged in providing Bibles and New Testaments for the greatly oppressed, but growing, company of believers. Speaking in 1982:
There’s a man in Hong Kong that is ministering in a large scale in mainland China. It’s a great privilege to be behind these people (in intercession and with financial assistance)
– Samuel Rees Howells
A few years later Samuel presented another report from several Chinese Christian leaders and explained how these men and women were living lives of sacrificial faith:
They are expecting another Church growth explosion. Why don’t they fold their arms and say everything is over? This is the word of faith in the midst of the storm and clouds, declaring that God is going to fulfil His purposes. Don’t you think that this brings great glory to God? They are looking to God. God has heard the word of faith and will fulfil it. Are you inspired tonight? Are you entering into this? If we are entering into it, we will be identified with it
– Samuel Rees Howells
In 1989, the Communist government of China shocked the world by massacring their own people in Tiananmen Square; but Christian revival continued and Chinese Christian leaders now testify that God has used this harsh system to purify the Church, to protect them from the Laodicean spirit that has gripped the West (Revelation 3:13-18). Samuel declared:
Reports we are getting from China are astonishing. After the massacre, many students who were very hardened proclaimed that they would turn to Christ as the only hope for China. The brutal killing of the students has pushed them to despair, disillusionment and grief. They know that politics are not the answer to China’s many problems. They have seen the total corruption of human nature and see Christ as their only hope
– Samuel Rees Howells
The ministry and training at the Bible College continued. In 1991, Samuel said:
We have letters (and gifts) ready for mainland China. The people in China are yearning for the Word of God. There are restrictions still in mainland China, but now the dear people are taking as many copies of the Bible and the New Testament as is practical to do in these difficult days. Isn’t a ministry like that worth supporting? The Word means everything to us. In the New Testament, we read of what our Saviour did for us. It’s all in the Word and when the Holy Spirit quickens that Word we appreciate it. Well, these people are in the same situation. It’s our desire for the Lord to enlarge (our ministry of giving). God will open China again
– Samuel Rees Howells
As the years went on, Samuel rejoiced as their prayers and that of many other believers around the world were being answered:
In China, when the missionaries were expelled from the country (1949-1951) there were hardly one million believers across China. Now they say nearly 100 million! Isn’t this the work of God? God has been exalted. The Holy Spirit, undoubtedly in fulfilment of the words of the Master, has taken possession of some of these Chinese believers. He’s clothing Himself with them. They are just His garments. What about Peter and Paul, they were just garments of the Spirit
– Samuel Rees Howells
The intercessions of those days were contributing to the overall plan for the blessing of China and the results today are a vibrant expanding Church of millions, still experiencing severe persecution, with evidence of the power of the resurrection and the reality of Christ living among His people.
Adapted article by Mathew and Paul Backholer and used with permission from Samuel Rees Howells, A Life of Intercession by Richard Maton and Paul Backholer, edited by Mathew Backholer.
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