40,000 Revival Prayer Groups Spring Up as Taiwan's Christians Face Beijing's Belligerence

China's saber-rattling has been escalating for months. "Tensions are peaking. Beijing's belligerence is once again making Taipei jittery," said a report from WION News.

China's military recently released a video showing what simulated attacks on Taiwan would look like.

"A war here in Taiwan would have catastrophic economic consequences not just for this island, but for the whole world," warned SkyNews London in a report from Taipei.

The tiny island off the mainland coast is now facing almost daily Chinese military harassment. "Taiwan is beefing up its military and training with new U.S. weapons," reported CBS News, as its military prepares for possible full-scale war.

"To be clear, we do not seek conflict or confrontation, but we will not flinch in the face of bullying or coercion," said a defiant U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin.

While the war drums grow louder by day, Taiwan's Christians are taking to their knees by night.

"The united prayers and fasting prayers of the churches in Taiwan are much more than ever before. It's an unprecedented prayer movement," Brian Lu, pastor of Shekinah House of Bread of Life in Taipei, told CBN News.

All across this island, people are meeting every day, 24 hours a day, to pray for revival, unity, repentance, and protection over their land. 

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"I believe something so simple is starting to have such a huge impact upon people in the church and also the people around the church," said Gordon Huang, a prominent church leader here. 

Huang pastors one of Taiwan's most well-known congregations. His church sits atop the iconic landmark known as Taipei 101 in the heart of the capital city.

He fears war with China is coming and wants Christians to be ready.

"I think one thing for sure is that people are going to be so shaken and people will want to hear the Gospel. Are you ready or are you going to be on the run yourself?" Huang told CBN News.

That theme of shaking gripped Don Young two years ago. "I had heard from the Lord: 'Time is short, the hour is urgent, it's time to pray'," he recalls.

Young served as an American missionary in West Africa for 15 years and has traveled the world teaching Christians how to have a deeper prayer walk with the Lord.

In May of 2021, Pastor Young says the Lord spoke to him and gave him a word that there was going to be a shaking coming to this nation. He brought that message to the church leaders of the island and that gave birth to a prayer movement that has since swept across Taiwan.

The Revival Prayer Group or RPG movement began, made up of a handful of people in groups taking turns around the clock to pray for Taiwan.

"Prayer is the only way that you can get through anything shaking," said Young who now works with the Georgia-based College of Prayer International. "Jesus said everything by prayer. He did nothing apart from prayer. Before it was just kind of a moment with God, we all have them, but now it was shaping up to become a movement for God. There's a huge difference between a moment and a movement."

"Because RPG has two or three people in a group, so if one day a war happens and there are no physical buildings that people can meet in, we can still pray in small groups so the church will not be affected," said Pastor Lu. 

Peter Yang has pastored and planted churches in Taiwan since 1978 and says he's never seen the kind of unity now on display. Churches across denominational lines have been joining the initiative. 

"What's happening today is so rare," said Rev. Yang who leads the Taiwan Christian Alliance. "Every day, every week, I join pastors from other churches, other denominations, and we pray for our cities, for our nation for other countries. It's amazing, it's clearly God's doing. Unity will be the legacy of this movement."

More than 40,000 Revival Prayer Groups have sprouted up, with members of China's underground church movement also taking part. Each group has about 5 members, so that brings the current total to roughly 200,000 participants. 

"We want to have 300,000 RPG groups where we also unite with churches in China, coming together, all the leaders and members, on both sides, so we can pray with the goal of impacting China as well," said Yang.

Russia's invasion of Ukraine last year sent a chill across this island nation of 23 million people with many drawing comparisons between Putin's obsession with taking over Ukraine and Xi Jinping's determination to "annex" Taiwan.

Many fear war can erupt here with little notice and it's prompting some to search for peace in the midst of constant threats from Beijing.

"Many people came and joined RPG because they heard testimonies of how God is answering prayer so you have a lot of unbelieving people joining RPG and as they open their mouths and prayer, they experience the Lord so they are coming to the Lord as well," said Pastor Huang.

CBN News spoke with church leaders who said a potential Taiwan-China war would be like David facing down Goliath, bringing untold devastation and loss of life.

They believe prayer can make the difference between war and peace.  

"We ask churches around the world to pray for this most dangerous place in the world today so that God's peace can come upon cross-strait relations," said Pastor Lu. "Ethnic Chinese should not kill one another, but instead, we should together fulfill the end-time missions' movement, to bring the Gospel back to Jerusalem." 

CORRECTION: The video for this story said there are 100,000 prayer groups, but the number is currently closer to 40,000 groups with roughly 120,000 prayer participants.

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