First Hugs & Forgiveness in India

Two ILSOMS (International Leaders School of Ministry) were held in October / November 2022, in the cities of Nagpur, and Hyderabad.

Nagpur, at the very centre point of India (it is sometimes called the Heart of India) means “place of the snake” and Hyderabad went from being called ‘Garden City” to “Lion City”. This was prophetically significant, as we started in the Heart, dealing with the effects of what the snake (serpent) did in the garden, but now the Lion is roaring. We felt a shift in the atmospheres in both places, and believe the impact will be huge for the nation.

In Nagpur, 127 pastors, leaders and Bible college students attended the ILSOM.The Atmosphere at the Nagpur conference was initially very difficult, with pastors unused to such freedom, and the Father Heart message was very new to them. However, as the week went on, the level of openness increased dramatically, and by the end of the week their freedom in worship was beautiful, to the extent that these formerly stiff and rigid leaders were laughing, crying and dancing!

Many (most) responded to the teaching on forgiveness, and this brought huge breakthroughs for them, which were visible. Several instantaneous healings were testified about, and a number of significant deliverances too.

Perhaps the highlight of the week was during the Father Heart teaching, the speakers offered a prophetic action, whereby the delegates could come a receive a hug from the team, as a symbol of Heavenly Father’s embrace. This prophetic activation took about 90 minutes to complete, with the vast majority of them in floods of tears and reporting inner healing as a result. Most explained that they had never been hugged before!

In Hyderabad, 97 pastors attended and unlike Nagpur, the atmosphere in Hyderabad was very open from the beginning, due in part to the pre-existing relationship Christopher Bird has built up with many of the Pastors here over a number of years. However, just as with Nagpur, the Father Heart message was new to most, if not all of the delegates, and again here the impact on them was astounding.

The testimonies during the week were incredibly powerful, with many reporting physical as well and inner healing. Many forgave family members, and the results for them were immense. Again, to see the spontaneous outbreak of joy, and having to explain to them what was happening was beautiful. The presence of God was tangible and powerful all week, and many testified to experiencing the Father’s love for the first time. One particularly powerful testimony came from a Pastor who for years had wanted to kill his dad, due to the way the dad had treated him and the family all of his life. During the conference, we was able to forgive his dad, and afterwards went to see him, to ask his forgiveness for bitterness toward, to express forgiveness and to be reconciled to him.

An important breakthrough moment came from praying for Pastor Paul, the overseer of this network of churches, who had publicly said in the conference he had only ever had one or two tangible encounters with Holy Spirit. When we prayed for him, we was overcome by the presence of God, and rested on the floor for about 45 minutes. Afterwards, when we asked him what had been happening for him, he said that he had been taken up into Heaven, and Jesus had shown him many things, and he felt like a different man afterwards. For the pastors seeing their leader open up in this way was a catalyst for the rest of them.

The pastors in Hyderabad really embraced soaking, after some efforts to fully explain it to them! This was culturally very new for them, but after they had tasted it, they all practised every night back in their rooms, and came each morning with fresh testimonies of their encounters with Father as a result. There is tremendous hunger from these leaders to go deeper, and we are actively exploring how to facilitate a follow up trip(s), to take these same 97 pastors deep in the journey of inner healing, and the Father Heart message, and equipping them to lead their churches and other leaders into the same experience, as this will radically transform their lives, ministries and their cities.