Brian Mills (InterPrayer)

"We are your spiritual children.   Your forefathers came to Brazil at the turn of the century to bring the Gospel.   They were among the first missionaries to come to our country.   Many of them and their sons and daughters died in our country.   Now we are returning to our spiritual fathers and grand-fathers to say "thank-you" and to bless and pray for you".  

Amaury Braga, one of the leaders of the "Go to the Nations" ministry in Britain, articulated the feelings of the 180 Brazilian church leaders and intercessors who had come to England and were going to fifteen other nations of Western Europe to say the same.   Many of them were pastors of large churches or leaders in nationwide intercessory ministry.   Some were poor people, ordinary Christians, whose heart God had touched to come and pray.    Some had sacrificed much to find the air-fare to come.   They came with tears, with heartfelt prayer, with an overflowing love and with an expectation that their visit would help to bring to birth the revival that many of them expect to occur in Europe.



This prayer journey had been planned and prayed over for more than a year. Amaury Braga and Brian Mills (leader of InterPrayer - a ministry committed to creating partnerships of prayer across the nations) had joined forces in partnership to facilitate the visit.   Their first assignment was to be together at the British "Go to the Nations" Conference in Manchester from 1-3rd October.   From there visits were planned to Edinburgh, Cardiff, Dublin, Belfast and London in groups of 30-40 people.   From there they split up into smaller groups to visit Bergen, Stockholm, Amsterdam, Vienna, Bonn/Aachen, Zurich, Brussels, Paris, Madrid, Lisbon, Rome and Milan.  Spending five days in each capital, they were hosted by churches and leaders of prayer movements, who arranged a programme of on-site prayer, seminars, civic and government receptions and prayer concerts.   Whenever possible they stopped and prayed - over places and for people.   A day was spent in the churches on each of the Sundays.   Many of them had preaching opportunities. 

Everywhere they went, European Christians were overwhelmed by the love and prayer they encountered.   "We touched a depth of love we never knew existed", commented a German church leader.   "They unlocked in us an expression of love we had not known before", said a Dutch prayer leader.  In Dublin 29 church leaders prayed for 29 Brazilian leaders.    Then the congregation gave a standing ovation that lasted many minutes.   All were in tears.

Alan Costa, one of the Brazilian Pastors, told how his grandfather was converted through a British trader who sold him some china, but enclosed with the package a tract, through which his grand-father was converted.   Today Pastor Costa leads a church of many hundreds.

Cirenio prays for Brian Mills

 
A leader from an Amazonian tribe, resplendent in his tribal headdress, described how British missionaries had come to his tribe, and had given their lives and that of their daughter to bring the Gospel to them.   Today out of a tribe of 32,000 people, 16,000 of them are born-again Christians! The group visiting Italy found that among them was one whose family had been converted through the witness of an Italian/American - so they were able to thank Italian Christians for missionaries sent to them.

Cirenio - 16,000 born-again Christians in his tribe

As well as saying "thank-you", they also wanted to pray for revival in Europe.   Isa 37.3 and 66.9 had been shown to Amaury and Brian at different times.   There was something waiting to be brought to birth in Europe, but there was not enough strength to deliver.   So the Brazilians had come like spiritual midwives to give strength and to pray.   They wanted to take back with them what they had learned and feed it into the prayer networks of Brazil.   Prior to the visit over 3,000 intercessors had fasted and prayed for 40 days for Europe.  

"For years we have prided ourselves on being a missionary-sending nation.  But now we have to realise we are also a missionary-receiving nation.   We already have missionaries here from scores of nations, but have failed to connect with them, welcome and receive them.   Now we have to humble ourselves and begin to create partnerships of prayer, relationships and mutual ministry to reach the lost of all nations in our midst.   We need their help.   This visit is the forerunner of many other visits already being prayed about from the nations to which we have sent missionaries.  Now our grand children and children are returning to bless us.   Are we able to welcome them in love and in the spirit of Malachi 4.6 and Luke 1.17?"

Brian Mills.

26.10.97