11-THE MIZO OUTPOURING
India When news of the Welsh Revival of the early nineteenth century reached India, many Christian missionaries began praying for a similar outpouring on their own field of service. As a result, a significant revival broke out in the Khasi Hills which eventually brought an end to paganism in that region. It was news of that indigenous Indian revival that first stimulated interest in revival among the Mizo Christians in Lushai, India.
Early in 1906, ten dedicated young Christians hiked through a mountain jungle for two weeks to get to an outlying district church. When they arrived, they quickly became disappointed, because the entire ministry was in Khasi, a language which none of the Mizo Christians understood. They observed and sensed a strange power at work in the meetings, but with no one to explain what was happening, it had little apparent impact on their own life. They left the meetings to return to their homes, pausing at Chatlang to pray. During that prayer, they "felt their hearts filled with a strange joy." Some regard this as the beginning of the Mizo outpouring. When they got home, they gathered Christians every night to pray for revival. After a week of intense prayer, nothing had happened. "Perhaps God would not send revival after all," they reasoned. It was easy to assume God would withhold revival blessings because of the widespread paganism in their region. As the Mizo Christians were saying farewell to three friends, revival came. As the group sang the hymn, God Be With You Till We Meet Again!, "the Spirit was poured upon them in a remarkable manner." Others living nearby joined them as they continued in a time of prayer and praise. God had not abandoned them! Revival had come! The outpouring quickly spread throughout the region "creating extraordinary interest." Missionary D. E. Jones prophesied that revival would break out in Phullen, a large village several days away. A teacher was sent to be a carrier of revival to Phullen. When he arrived, he discovered the revival had already begun. It apparently began about the time of the missionary’s prophecy. This initial Mizo outpouring resulted in an increase in church membership and inquirers. It was primarily marked by conviction of sin among church members and adherents. It also helped prepare the church for difficult days ahead.
Pagan village chiefs responded to the threat from the revival by severely persecuting the church. Christians were awakened at midnight and driven into the jungle by angry neighbors. The 1907 persecution was followed by a "revival of paganism" which mocked the Christian revival with their own pagan hymns and festivals. This anti-revival "spread like wildfire, with demonstrations in every village."
Church leaders despaired as they saw their church decline under intense persecution. Life for the believers in the Hills got worse before it got better. In the winter of 1911-12, the flowering bamboo attracted hordes of rats. The rats devoured their stores of grain and the grain growing in the fields almost overnight. Believers subsisted on roots. Multitudes died of starvation, they poured out of the hills to the plains, looking for something to eat.
Missionaries responded with help. Relief offerings were collected in Wales and distributed throughout the Mizo church. Despite the persecution they had experienced, the Mizo Christians chose to share their food ungrudgingly with their hungry pagan neighbors. These acts of kindness demonstrated in the midst of distress brought an end to the pagan revival and created a renewed interest in the Christian gospel. In 1913, revival fires were rekindled. The Mizo church was once again energized for evangelistic ministry. Six years later, "an even greater revival broke out," rapidly sweeping through the region and impacting the neighboring states of Tipperah and Manipur. At the end of the twentieth century, Mizoram (formerly Lushai) is undoubtedly India’s most Christian province. Despite its poverty, it is also the most zealously evangelical region in India. This province first visited by missionaries only a hundred years ago now sends out hundreds of its own missionaries to other provinces in India and neighboring nations throughout Asia. Commenting on the effect of the Mizo outpouring, one observer notes, "The Hill Tribes set forth in indisputable evidence, the power of the gospel to transform a primitive people."