Dear Friends and Praying Saints,

Easter Week is always a significant time for millions around the globe. It is a celebration of God's victory of light over darkness, love over hate, and life over death. And in today's increasingly unstable world, John the Baptist's exhortation in John 1:29 to "Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!" makes a powerfully relevant appeal to a wider and wider audience. 

It is no coincidence, then, that the Gospel is being proclaimed in surprising new ways and places—from Hollywood to Capital Hill, from Kyiv to Rwanda. Christianity is making inroads into cultures that have been resistant for centuries until recent years. And even in some countries, such as Iran, people are experiencing supernatural encounters with Jesus without anyone evangelizing them. Yet at the same time, there are other places where there is violent and deadly resistance. The powers of darkness are outraged but it only makes the light of the Lamb shine brighter as in my friend Peter's painting here!

On the local front, last week I  heard from a friend about the "Quiet Revival" here in a report produced by the UK Bible Society. You can read the report in its entirety at this link, and it is very heartening to read. Because we are out in a very rural part of Wales we don't see at lot going on with our natural eyes, and it is good to get such great news! 

This chart included in the report shows statistics of church attendance over the last 6 years and much of the information is astonishing. I quote, "Co-author of The Quiet Revival Dr Rhiannon McAleer says the report shows that what people believe about Church decline is no longer true. ‘These are striking findings that completely reverse the widely held assumption that the Church in England and Wales is in terminal decline,’ she said. 'While some traditional denominations continue to face challenges, we’ve seen significant, broad-based growth among most expressions of Church.'"

Last Friday Gadys and I visited Ffald-y-Brenin, the nearby retreat center we've mentioned many times over the years. Sitting on a bench I was taking in this view with all the trees in the floor of the valley filling out the tops with the first of new leaves.  It just seemed to speak volumes of what we'd been hearing about the "Quiet Revival" going on. As so easily happens there, I got into a conversation with a young man who had come with his friend just the weekend there. And it turned out that they are both on staff at a large Anglican church in London.

He was saying that three years ago when he started, their youth group was all of about nine people strong, and they are now over 200. So there I was out there in this valley having a little revelation about this news, and then this young guy walks up and he is living that very experience in his church. They're just starting a three year school to train people for ministry and they're excited but tired and needed a little break.

We swapped a few stories, and you just thrill at what God is doing around not just the UK and Wales, but around the nations. He'd never heard of the 10,000 people getting baptized during Easter week a year ago in France, and was fascinated to hear about the 800 strong prayer meeting up in mid Wales, and on and on. And the more we hear these stories of glory, our hearts just swell with encouragement and excitement as God continues to do what He is so great at doing.

May God bless you and your loved ones as we behold the Lamb of God and His workings throughout the earth today,

Dick & Gladys