St Mark’s Gillingham

Delighted to be here at St Mark’s Gillingham today. During my sabbatical 11 years ago I met a former vicar, John Collins, who had been at St Mark’s in the 1950s-60s. 1963 there was a night of prayer in the church hall which led to three weeks of revival - healings, miracles and callings.

St Mark’s Gillingham – When the Spirit Fell

Before David Watson left, he had been excited about Romans 6, and felt it had given him a spiritual breakthrough. John began preaching on the chapter, and came to a fresh understanding of being ‘dead to sin’ which he felt was the key prelude to the filling with the Spirit.

George Ingram had been promoting Nights of Prayer for World-Wide Revival. This led to two men from Rochester approaching John about using the Vicarage Hall for a night of prayer.

John said he’d think about it, unsure he could manage the night after a very full day of work, and promptly forgot about the request. A few weeks later one returned asking if they could have the hall anyway even if the Clergy might be too tired to stay awake! They were themselves manual labourers working full-time, so John ended up feeling he ought to join them. So, on a night thick with snow, he put on the paraffin stoves in the little corrugated iron clad hall, quite convinced no-one would come.

40 people arrived by 10pm, including some who had walked 4 miles as the buses had stopped. The format was simple. Each hour a new leader took over. John Hughes (then 18) remembers someone confessed adultery before midnight which triggered heart-felt repentance around the room. After this there was then a focus on the cross and a half-hour pause for tea! At 2am John spoke on Luke 11 "how much more..." He used the illustration of visiting his young son Dominic in hospital with the promise of a teddy bear and getting the response of "Thank you, thank you, thank you, Daddy" even before the boy had received anything. ‘A few mighty prayer warriors began to ask’ John recalls, ‘but I was struggling hard to keep awake.’ Then around 2:40am an extraordinary outpouring of the Spirit followed, with some present literally dancing for joy. At 3am a group of men and women arrived into a room with an astonishing presence of God. One woman was set free from addictive feelings of jealousy. Others received a special call from God. Several ended up ordained. David and Jean Smith were particularly affected. People left reluctantly at 06:45am as they had to get to the dockyard. For about three weeks they felt like they were living out the early chaptersof Acts.

Read more here.