Dr. Billy Wilson called on evangelicals to open their hearts to being “accelerated” by the Holy Spirit to witness for Christ to keep pace with a fast-changing world grappling with speedy developments in areas of general knowledge, technology, inventions and science.
The fourth president of Oral Roberts University and a key leader in the contemporary Pentecostal movement, serving in the Empowered21 global relational network for believers, Wilson spoke on “The work of the Holy Spirit” as a morning plenary speaker at the Fourth Lausanne Global Congress on World Evangelism in Incheon, Korea.
As the global population surges upwards, with latest figures showing eight billion people on the planet in 2022, the growth of Christianity remains “stagnant” and this is a major concern, he said.
Wilson calculates that Christianity makes up for 31 percent of the world population and, despite a boost in the 19th century, there was a drop in the number of Christians in the 20th century, as a percentage of the total population. “Now, during this time of global acceleration, we also must have an acceleration of our mission and evangelistic effectiveness,” Wilson says.
The first believers did not have access to the technology tools of mass communication today, such as social media and cell phones and yet the Holy Spirit “accelerated” through them and turned the ancient world, from Jerusalem to Rome and beyond, upside down with the gospel.
For Wilson this “wildfire of resurrection energy” came from five qualities for supernatural acceleration, as the Holy Spirit carried the early followers of Jesus “to the ends of the Earth with amazing effect and speed.” He believes that evangelicals need those same qualities for effective witnessing in the 21st century, to experience the same “Holy Spirit acceleration.”
Firstly, the first believers were utterly convinced that Jesus was alive, after the crucifixion. They believed in the exclusivity of Jesus as the only way, truth and life – and salvation lay with him and no one else.
“There was no optional way, no alternative root,” says Wilson. “Jesus was the absolute answer, and they were completely committed to declaring that good news to the world. They lived and died with this conviction, which fuelled the spread of the gospel.”
Secondly, a level of flexibility allowed the first church to move forward “aggressively” but in unexpected ways. Wilson opines that as the first church was the new wineskin for the fresh experience of God, there was a need for flexibility and taking advantage of difficult situations.
Persecution was seen as giving opportunities to evangelize by preaching the gospel. Trials, for example, gave space for believers to give public testimony to the saving power of Jesus Christ.
“Christian killers became Christian missionaries,” says Wilson. “Deacons became evangelists, shipwrecks became salvation. Campaigns, visions, dreams, and impressions – all moved them forward. The unexpected came to be expected, and in just one generation, a predominantly Jewish church became a predominantly gentile church.
“They were able to experience supernatural acceleration because they were flexible and expandable. New flexibility will be required in the 21st century if we're going to experience an acceleration of our mission.”
Thirdly, the first disciples were obedient to “numerous unusual directives” as the gospel advanced in the ancient world. Various protocols were broken time and again, to obey the calling of God. Wilson gives examples of paradigms with a Jewish temple becoming a place for Christian healing and a jailhouse being reworked as a prayer house. He cites the example of Phillip the evangelist leaving a revival in Samaria to “enter the desert of personal evangelism, just because God said so.”
Wilson calls this an “Obed obedience”, positioning Phillip for supernatural acceleration as he is transported by the Holy Spirit from his desert to his next evangelism assignment.
Wilson compares this example of paradigm shifting to what David Yonggi Cho achieved by building his renowned 900,000-member Yoido Full Gospel Church in South Korea, just 20 miles away from the Seoul-Incheon 2024 Congress. When Cho was asked how such a large church was built, he replied simply: “I pray and I obey.”
Fourth, the first disciples had a radical dependence on the Holy Spirit: “His guidance, his empowerment, and his strength simply put, they refused to do God's work without God's presence. They discovered that the Holy Spirit was God's greatest evangelist and that he is moving every single minute, every single second, to reach the lost.”
As the first followers were joined to the Holy Spirit and relied on him, the results were both “history making and world changing,” according to Wilson.
Fifthly, the earliest disciples had supernatural synergy from enjoying spiritual unity. Wilson uses an analogy that one person could chase a thousand, but two people working together can chase 10,000.
“Their unity brought God's favor and positioned them for supernatural acceleration. In Jesus' prayer in John 17, he prayed that we would be one, as he and the Father are one, that we would have relational unity, but it would have a missional intent that the world might believe that God had sent him. Unity, then, must be relational, missional, and spiritual.”
Empowered21, as a relational network, was adopted in 2013 by spirit-empowered leaders with a vision for everyone to have an authentic encounter with Jesus through the power and presence of the Holy Spirit. An “Everyone Initiative” and “Everyone Fund” was launched last year 2023 to support frontline evangelistic efforts to give each person on Earth the opportunity to be saved before judgment comes.
“We did not and do not believe in universalism that everyone will be saved, but we just believe that everyone on earth desires that opportunity to be saved,” says Wilson, adding that the aim is that by Pentecost 2033, this evangelism effort, which requires an all-out unified effort by evangelicals, will be achieved.
“Providentially, the Year 2033 has captured the imagination of leaders across the kingdom of God, beyond Pentecostal and charismatic movements, there are now multiple initiatives targeting the year 2033, many of them without prior knowledge of other 2033 efforts.”
Wilson believes that evangelical Christians stand at the tipping point of an historic Holy Spirit empowered moment, with the potential of being the most significant effort in fulfilling the Great Commission in the entire history of Christianity.
“Could it be on the 2,000th anniversary of the death, burial, resurrection, and ascension of Jesus; and the 2,000-year anniversary of the giving of the Great Commission; and the outpouring of the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost at the birth of the church; that together we might do what has never been done in human history, and that is assure that every person on earth has an opportunity to know Jesus Christ?” Wilson asks.
At the very least, by 2033 Wilson hopes evangelicals will be participating in the “most pervasive missional and evangelistic thrust” since the first century. “The eternal destiny of millions depends on it,” he adds solemnly, pointing to a stark statistic that every day 150,000 or more die on the planet. If a third are Christian, it means that 100,000 people die every day without knowing Christ. That calculation means 4,000 people per hour, or 37 million per year, facing a Christless eternity.
“God's word says that God is not willing that any should perish, but that everyone comes to repentance,” says Wilson. “ Personally, I believe that the greatest injustice of the 21st century is that God's church now has the technology, the manpower, the money, and the capability to reach every person on earth with the gospel. And yet millions have not heard the good news or had an authentic encounter with Jesus.”
Wilson believes that God is now calling the Church to unite together to rectify this injustice in our generation. The Holy Spirit is moving a fresh vision for reaching the lost, he says. The Great Commission is “emerging” in the body of Christ.
“Nothing is as important as this,” adds Wilson. “The main thing must be the main thing. None of us can do this alone. We need each other, and most importantly, we need a fresh encounter with the Holy Spirit that will accelerate the gospel to the ends of the earth.”
Wilson finishes by expressing hope that delegates will “rise from here” at the Lausanne Congress and “take the good news of our savior Jesus, the Son of the living God to everyone.”
