The Elijah Challenge in Australia
Traditional evangelical church and charismatic church minister side-by-side in miraculous healing power and unity
God’s blessing was upon the training sessions in Perth held in a traditional church, the Vietnamese Evangelical Church this past May. During the training, we witnessed some powerful miracles of healing. After the training sessions we began the Crusade meetings. Hundreds of people, many of them non-believers, came from the Vietnamese community. The gospel was preached and the trained believers, both evangelical and charismatic, ministered to the infirm. The Lord did miracles through them, and when the invitation to accept Christ was given, the non-believers responded in numbers as never before.
According to Host Pastor Phong Truong, this was the first time in Australia that such results were achieved in a Crusade to the gospel-resistant Vietnamese.
Moreover, there are only two Vietnamese churches in Perth—one charismatic and the other traditional evangelical—to reach out to a population of well over 10,000. Before the Crusade, these churches did not have good fellowship with one another. But through the efforts of the local pastors and leaders, the churches came together for the training and to minister in the Crusade. In the aftermath of the Crusade, these two churches are now reconciled to one another, and unity has been established among the Vietnamese churches in Perth.
The following is the Report from the leadership of the Vietnamese Evangelical Church:
“Today is Sunday and at church, instead of how we normally worship, we arranged for 1 brother and 3 sisters to testify what they had experienced through the healing, teaching/training and Crusade the Lord has given us through you. Our church members are very enthusiastic and encouraged by the testimonies and in general I have heard all positive responses in regards to the Crusade. In addition there were more brothers and sisters who wanted to testify; however, we went overtime and it was too late in the afternoon.
Subsequently we had our church committee meeting this afternoon and I would like to summarize our feedback to you as follows:
- As a traditional evangelical church we see and feel that there is a significant impact on our current worship and evangelism in regards to your recent teaching/ training in Perth. We pray to the Lord so that we may be able to apply the recent training on our immediate and future evangelistic acts. We fully understand that it is very difficult to convince an unbeliever to become a Christian without showing them that the Lord Jesus Christ can heal his/her sickness. Nowadays, without seeing miracles it is hard to convince any unbeliever to become a believer and find salvation.
- We have done many evangelistic meetings in the past with the Vietnamese community in Perth but we have NEVER experienced more than 3 unbelievers to committing themselves to become Christians. However the recent crusade with you allowed about 36 adults (not including a number of children) to commit themselves to Christ. The Lord used you to achieve a result far beyond our thoughts!
- We have heard comments from the Vietnamese people (community) that they wish for you to come back soon so that they can come hear and feel the presence of God. However in the meantime we will use this new evangelistic method with others which we have learned from you. We strongly recommend the teaching and training through you for many Vietnamese churches.”
The above Report was prepared by Elder Dinh Nguyen ([email protected]), on behalf of the leadership of the Vietnamese Evangelical Church of Australia in Perth.
From Pastor Phong Truong in Perth ([email protected]) we received the following:
”Thanks so much for your ministry. May God continue to use you in greater ways for his kingdom. This is a brief report of your ministry in Perth.
• About 40 people were saved; some came back to church after they were healed. About 100 people were healed from many different diseases. Many were healed from heart diseases and cancer etc… The training and crusades were run by both Vietnamese Evangelical Church and Vietnamese Full Gospel Church (Assembly of God).
After years of prayer and believing for unity, God put these two churches together. I personally believe according to Psalm 133, “when brothers live together in unity, it is like the precious oil poured on the head, running down… For there the Lord bestows His blessing, even life for ever more.” Oil symbolizes the anointing of the Holy Spirit, abundance, celebration and gladness. When we live in unity, God the Father releases the anointing of the Holy Spirit, power and blessing to the church. When the churches stand together the devil will flee from the city. Thanks to The Elijah Challenge, you held a very important role to restore the power, authority and unity to our Vietnamese churches in Perth.
• Many believers are encouraged and growing in faith. They believe the reality that Jesus is the same as yesterday through signs and wonders. They are joyful as God uses them to heal the sick. By doing this, they are able to prove Jesus is the Son of God, the only way to the Father and Jesus can save people from hell.
• After the healing crusades, unbelievers are so amazed. The news about our churches healing the sick, spread around the Vietnamese community. They want you to come back again. Some other people who did not accept Christ through the crusade came back to the church asking us to pray for their families because they believe if Jesus can heal the sick then He can save their families. Hallelujah!”