History
Wales is a country in the west of the United Kingdom with its own, culture and language. Although small, it is well-known throughout the Christian world as the “Land of Revivals” due to a period in history when there were frequent outpourings of the Holy Spirit. Each revival in time past had God’s unique signature and outpouring of the Holy Spirit.
Here was revival led not so much by the preaching of man but by the Spirit of God lavishly pouring out on all flesh. There were also no advertisements, posters, or huge tents, yet throngs of people flocked to church meetings from England, and even America to experience firsthand the mighty outpouring of God’s presence.
The beginnings of the revival could be traced to church services where ministers like Joseph Jenkins and Seth Joshua sought to share their passion and encounters with the Lord. Simultaneously, long meetings were held to seek the Lord’s presence and empowerment, and many people were baptized with the Holy Spirit. Over the course of less than a year, the Lord moved in Wales, and the rest of the UK, capturing tens and hundreds of thousands of souls for the Kingdom.
The story of Evan Roberts and the Welsh Revival are intertwined and almost synonymous.
In the Welsh revival of 1904-1906, we see another example of people of God thirsty for more of the Lord and longing for others to also experience the presence of God. The revival in Wales started with a group of young people thirsty for a deeper walk with the Lord and a more in-depth knowledge of God. Evan Roberts, the prime catalyst used by God in this revival, was virtually unknown when this great work of the Spirit started. His education was limited due to leaving school at the tender age of eleven to work in the coal mine with his father. Upon his conversion to Christ at the age of thirteen, he began to pray that God would visit his country of Wales in revival. At the age of twenty-six, he was challenged to be a minister, but in the early stages of his ministry, God interrupted his formal training when revival came to a small church in South Wales.
It began during a Sunday morning meeting after the main service among some of the young people in the congregation of the church in New Quay, South Wales. Young Florrie Evans was just a teenager at the time. At this youth meeting in February 1904, she declared publicly that she loved the Lord Jesus with all her heart. The Spirit descended on the meeting, and the young people were reduced to tears. After this meeting, the Spirit of God quickly spread to other young people in the Cardiganshire area. Young people, sixteen to eighteen years old, began traveling with an evangelist, Seth Joshua, who had been praying for revival for some time. His prayer was that the Lord would call a person not from the university or college but the working classes.
Evan Roberts was the answer to his prayer. In the Spring of 1904, Evan experienced a great awareness of God's presence. One night he was awakened from his sleep and led into deep communion with God for hours. This experience was to continue every evening for the next few months until he went away to a preparatory school for the ministry at Newcastle Emlyn. He was there two and a half weeks before he heard of the Spirit descending on the youth in New Quay. He had to return and receive something himself. In a meeting Evan was attending, Seth Joshua, the evangelist, challenged the congregation to allow the Spirit of God to "bend" all those that were attending. The Spirit prepared Evan due to his evenings of prayer; the Spirit descended on him and filled him. It was a life-changing experience for Evan Roberts.
Evan Roberts was given a vision for 100,000 people to be won to the Lord. He went at his task within the month, holding meetings all over Wales. There was very little preaching of the Word of God, many of his critics say that this was the reason the revival petered out within three years. We saw an example of this problem when we brought up the story of the two young ladies in China that wanted to serve the Lord; people were lost to cults because of a lack of discipleship teaching. Churches in an area need gifted people that the Holy Spirit sends to us, “the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds, and teachers” (Ephesians 4:11); otherwise, we won’t learn the lessons of the past.
Evan Roberts’ emphasis was on four things as he went around Wales:
1. Confess all known sin,
2. Deal with and get rid of anything “doubtful” in your life,
3. Be ready to obey the Holy Spirit instantly, and
4. Confess Christ publicly.
From the beginning, Roberts emphasized the importance of reliance on the Holy Spirit. "I never prepare the words I shall speak," he noted. "I leave all that to Him. Why should I teach when the Spirit is teaching? Why should I control the meetings? The Spirit that is in them controls them."
He believed in giving free rein to the Spirit of God, Who was leading the meetings. There was a humble, broken spirit in the Welsh people at this time, with many praying often and then sharing publicly in the meetings what God was doing. Another aspect of the meetings was much heartfelt worship by the congregation, the choir being all the people. Even young people of ten to fourteen years of age were seeking God and involved in their own prayer meetings; such was the spiritual atmosphere in Wales at that time. People were changed in so many ways. The crime rate dropped, drunkards were reformed, and pubs reported losses in trade. Bad language disappeared and never returned to the lips of many. It was reported that the pit ponies failed to understand their born-again colliers who seemed to speak the new language of Zion, without curse and blasphemy. For many, even football and rugby became uninteresting in the light of new joy and direction received by the converts.[4] Over 100,000 people were added to the churches of Wales, just as the Spirit had told Evan Roberts.
Again, we see in the history of the Welsh Revival that the Holy Spirit fell when a body of people began to pray and be open and thirsty for more of God. They were also ready to lay down sin and be obedient to the Spirit’s working in them and through them. There was a resolve in Evan Robert’s heart that he wanted the Spirit in His fullness while he kept faithfully praying and waiting upon God and attending church. We also see Evan's persistence of faith that would not let God go until he received what he needed, i.e., to be filled with the Spirit.
Of his early years, Evan Roberts later wrote “I said to myself: I will have the Spirit . . . for ten or eleven years I have prayed for revival. I could sit up all night to read or talk about revivals. It was the Spirit who moved me to think about revival.” Because of his unique desire for the Lord, Evan gave himself to fervent prayer and intercession. So much so, that by the time he was twenty-one years old, he was known by some as a “mystical lunatic.” It was during this period that Evan would get so caught up in the Lord that he reported his bed shaking. He would awaken every night at 1:00 a.m. to be “taken up into divine fellowship” and would proceed to pray until 5:00 a.m. when he would fall back to sleep for four hours before waking again at 9:00 a.m. continuing in prayer until noon.
William Davies, the deacon at the church where he grew up in Christ, said one night in the society: “'Remember to be faithful. What if the Spirit descended and you were absent? Remember Thomas, Jesus' disciple, what a loss he had by not being there when Jesus turned up after the resurrection!" I said to myself, “I will have the Spirit”; and through every kind of weather and in spite of difficulties, I went to the meetings. Many times, on seeing other boys with the boats on the tide, I was tempted to turn back and join them. But, no, I said to myself: “Remember your resolve,” and on I went. I went faithfully to the meetings for prayer throughout the years I prayed for a Revival. It was the Spirit that moved me thus to think. At a particular morning meeting which Evan Roberts attended, the evangelist in one of his petitions prayed that the Lord would "bend us." The Spirit seemed to say to Roberts: "That's what you need, to be bent." He described his experience in this way: "I felt a living force coming into my bosom. This leading of the Spirit grew and grew, and I was almost bursting. I fell on my knees with my arms over the seat in front of me; the tears and sweat flowed freely. I thought blood was gushing forth."
Meanwhile, he was crying out, "O Lord, bend me! Bend me!" Then suddenly, the glory broke. Mr. Roberts adds: "After I was bent, a wave of peace came over me, and the audience sang, 'I hear your welcome voice.' And as they sang, I thought about the bending at the Judgment Day, and I was filled with compassion for those that would have to bend on that day, and I wept.”
God, in His mercy, chose Pastor K.E. Abraham as the founder of The Indian Pentecostal Church Of God. Born on March I, 1899 to Godly parents of Jacobite faith at Mulakuzha, boy Abraham was saved at the age of seven in 1906 and was baptised in water on February 27, 1916 by Mahakavi K.V. Simon. As a young man Brother Abraham ministered among the youth and many young people were saved. As a minister of the Gospel he had built a small place of worship adjacent to his house at Mulakuzha in 1920. Those who were saved through his ministry were baptised by him and the congregation began worshipping in this place.
Some American missionaries who had come to South India in the early years of the century had published some Gospel tracts about the baptism of the Holy Spirit before they left India in 1914 when the First World War began. Brother Abraham got some of these tracts and came to know about the doctrine of the Baptism of the Holy Spirit. The Lord filled Brother Abraham with the Holy Spirit on Sunday April 22, 1923. As this experience was new to the congregation with Brother Abraham, it was hard for them to accept it. After about six months of waiting and praying, the Lord did a great miracle in their midst which convinced the people about the power of God and about the Baptism of the Holy Spirit. The majority of the congregation received the baptism of the Holy Spirit by the end of 1923, and the Lord enabled Bro. K.E. Abraham to start afresh his congregation as a Pentecostal gathering in January 1924. This was the origin of the great Pentecostal Movement in India.
Being a school – teacher, Bro. Abraham was confined to school work during week-days. But during week-ends he used to visit other places and preach the full Gospel. By his ministry in different places, many had come to the saving power of Jesus Christ and the baptism of the Holy Spirit and small assemblies were established at Vettiyar, Pandalam, Punthala, Kumbanad, Elanthoor and other places, besides Mulakuzha. Though the congregations in these places had fellowship one with the other, they had not taken a name, but were known as “Brothers at Kumbanad”, “Brothers at Vettiyar”, “Brothers at Pandalam” and so on.
Monthly fellowship meetings of these assemblies were held regularly from April 1924. Representatives from these assemblies began to meet from time to time and discuss about the progress of the work. As the founder and leader of the fellowship, Bro. K.E. Abraham presided over the monthly meetings and the meetings of the church representatives.
In July 1924 a marriage had to be performed in this fellowship for which they needed a marriage register of a church. So, guided by the Spirit of God, Brother Abraham chose the name The South Indian Pentecostal Church of God. Marriage Register was printed and the first marriage in this church was solemnized on July 31,1924.
God raised other ministers in this fellowship. Most of them were baptised in water or led to the Baptism of the Holy Spirit by Bro. K.E. Abraham. Some of the ministers were Bros. K.C.Cherian (Mezhuveli), K.C. Cherian (Vettiyar), P.M Samuel (Keekozhoor), K.C. Oommen (Kumbanad), K.M. Zachariah (Punnakkad) and P.T. Varghese (Chethakkal). By the end of 1926 there were over 20 local churches and 25 ministers in this fellowship
The first convention of this fellowship was held at Ranni during April 1 to 5, 1925. Pastor K.E. Abraham, the leader of the fellowship was the main speaker along with Pastor A.J. John.
Though The South Indian Pentecostal Church of God had fellowship with The South Indian Full Gospel Church led by Pastor Robert F. Cook and also with the brothers from Ceylon during these early days, The South Indian Pentecostal Church of God under the leadership of Pastor K.E. Abraham always kept its identity and stood for Biblical truths and Apostolic pattern.
In May 1930 Pastor K.E. Abraham and family moved from Mulakuzha to Kumbanad. The Lord gave Pastor Abraham the vision about a Bible school to train up young people for the ministry. So in June 1930 he started the Hebron Bible School.
The Pentecostal work began to spread to other parts of Travancore as well as neighbouring States of Cochin and Tamilnadu. To co-ordinate the small assemblies in all these places a governing body comprising of 12 ministers in the fellowship was formed which was called ” The South Indian Pentecostal Church Ministers Council” (SIPC Ministers Council). This Council had no President but only a Secretary. Pastor K.E. Abraham was chosen as the Secretary. On December 20, 1933 “The South Indian Pentecostal Church of God” was registered at Aranmula with the Government of Travancore.
Within a short period the work spread to Mysore, Madras, Hyderabad and some places in North India. Hence the Body of Representatives that met in May 1934 found it necessary to change the church-name to “The Indian Pentecostal Church of God” after deleting the word “South” from the original name.
In 1935, at the end of the Bible School term (June, July and August) Pastors K.E. Abraham and P.T. Chacko, after a tour of North India reached Eluru on the east coast of erstwhile Hyderabad State; Pastor P.M. Samuel, after his tour of Tamilnad, met them at Eluru. “The Indian Pentecostal Church of God” was registered with the Government of India under the Societies Act XXI of 1860 at Eluru on December 9,1935 with the Registration Number 9/1935-36. Brother B.S. Lukeson, a clerk in the Registrar’s office and Bro. K.R. John, a supdt. in the Irrigation Department at Eluru assisted Pastors K.E.Abraham, P.T.Chacko and P.M .Samuel for the registration.
Pastor P.M. Samuel who was in Andhra Pradesh most of the time was chosen as the President; Pastor K.C. Cherian who had moved to Karnataka as Vice-President; Pastor P.T. Chacko representing Travancore as Secretary. The expenses for the registration was met by Pastors K.E. Abraham, P.T. Chacko and P.M.Samuel.
In 1936, at the invitation of the Swedish Pentecostal Churches, Pastors K.E. Abraham and K.C. Cherian visited Sweden and other Scandinavian countries and a few other European countries for about two years. During that time the Lord gave a deeper vision to IPC Ministers about the work in India. From the State of Travancore, Pastor P.T. Chacko and family moved to Eluru and then to Secunderabad; Pastor P.M. Samuel and family to Vijayawada; Pastor M.K. Chacko and family to Delhi; Pastor K.J. Samuel and family to Lahore; Pastor Kurian Thomas and family to Itarsi; Pastor P.J. Daniel and family to Allahabad. These were the pioneers of IPC work outside Travancore, the cradle of Pentecostalism in India.
From 1939 onwards Pastor K.E. Abraham held the office of the President, till his Home-call in December 1974. Pastor Abraham was succeeded by Pastor P.M.Samuel and then Pastor T.G. Oommen followed by Pastor P.L. Paramjyothi. When Pastor Paramjyothi entered glory in 1996, Pastor K.M. Joseph, the Vice President assumed office as President at the decision of the General Council. Pastor P.T.Chacko was the General Secretary at the time of the Registration of the Church.
Other ministers who had served as secretaries in latter years were: Pastors K.C.Oomen, K.J.Samuel, T.N. Abraham, P.M. Philip, V.A. Thomas and George Varghese. Pastor T.S. Abraham serve as the General Secretary of the Church from 1990 to 2000. Pastor John D. Sunder Rao is the Vice – President and Bro. Thomas Vadakekut is the General Treasurer.
The Lord began to bless the work and churches were established in the various parts of India. In due course of time, IPC believers who went to the Arabian countries, the United States of America and Canada established local churches there also. At present, The Indian Pentecostal Church of God has nearly 4200 local churches spread throughout the various states of India and places outside India.
From the year 2000 onwards there were influx of Indians, especially the Keralite nurses into United Kingdom for work. These nurses settled with family in various cities of UK had been struggling to find Malayalam language worship places. Kerala Traditional Pentecostal Churches were in scarcity in the country except few churches in main cities. Discussions were started in 2007 to form an IPC region with existing few churches in UK and Ireland which was further advanced during the visit of Pastor K.C. Thomas (then Kerala State Secretary). However, it took few more months to reach an understanding and the region came into reality on 10th May 2008. At the initiative of Pr. Jacob George, an inaugural meeting was organised at Bethany Pentecostal Church, Birmingham and IPC UK & Ireland Region was inaugurated and dedicated for the glory of His Kingdom by Rev. Dr. T. Valson Abraham (then IPC General Secretary). There were five churches from the cities of Derby, Glasgow, Edinburgh, Bristol and Dublin in the formation of the Region.
The Region has since been registered as a Church Charity on July 2008, under Charity Number 1131252. The current Trustees on board are Pr.Jacob George, Pr.Babu Zachariah and Br. K.T.Thomas. Antecedently Br. T.O.John, Br. Kunjumon George and Pr Babu John were also adorned as Trustees.
The initial administrative team were; Pr.Jacob George (President), Pr. Babu Zachariah (Vice- President), Pr. C.T.Abraham (Secretary), Br. Sam Mathew (Joint-Secretary) and Br. G.Samuel, (Treasurer). Since then, Br. K T Thomas (Babychayan) had taken over as treasurer. Pr. T.S.Mathew and Pr. Babu John too served the region as Promotional Secretary. During the year 2015 Br.John Mathew and Pr. Seejo Joy have joined the team as Treasurer and Promotional Secretary respectively.
In July 2019, under the supervision of Rev. Dr. K.C.John (then General Secretary), Region had selected new working team with Pr.Babu Zachariah as President together with Pr. C.T.Abraham (Vice-President), Pr. Jacob George (Secretary), Br. Mathew Sam (Joint-Secretary) Br.John Mathew (Treasurer) and Pr.Wilson Baby (Promotional Secretary). There are additional 34 council members selected from different churches. Pr.Jacob George and Br.Sam Mathew continued to be region representative to the General Council, Kumbanad, Kerala.
The Region started in 2008 with just 5 churches has grown into 28 churches in 2020 with twenty five ordained ministers and six evangelists. The Region regularly conducts annual conventions in different cities. The region has Sunday School; PYPA (Youth); Evangelism and Prayer Boards actively involved in their departmental responsibilities. The women too play their role with regular meetings called Sahodari Samajan.
“The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few” (Luke 10.2). Therefore, it is our prayer that the Lord may help us to send more workers out into the field which is already ripe for the harvest. Please join us in prayer so that we may be able to save the last soul from perishing.
IPC Swansea is a Pentecostal church located in Swansea, Wales, United Kingdom. We are a part of IPC UK and Ireland Region.
We exist to connect people to Jesus and each other. Our hearts desire is to see an end time revival fall on the land, as in the times of the 1904-05 Welsh Revival.
We welcome you to our church, a place of worship, evangelism, discipleship, prayer and fellowship.