G12 Spotlight: Reverend Dennis Balcombe

Hi Reverend Balcombe, how has the G12 conference been for you so far?

It’s very good and I enjoy it especially because I see many Chinese here. Many of them know me, actually as I’ve been to China so many times.

You spent 33 years in China in ministry work. But why did you choose to go to China instead of other parts of the world?

The Lord’s given me a vision for China. My dream is that I can directly and indirectly lead 20 million Chinese to the Lord. That sounds like a lot of people, but in China, that’s not a lot of people. A city like Chongqing has 37 million people. Shanghai has over 22 million people. So, my goal is to get as many people into the Kingdom of God as possible. I do go to other nations all over the world, but 90% of my time now is in China. Someone said this, “It’s not right that anybody should get to hear the gospel twice when many have not heard it once.”. Many people in China have never heard of the gospel once.

Please share some of your thoughts about the Holy Spirit’s movement and the revival in China?

Most people in China have access to outdated information by ten to twenty years. They might read books written for the church in the eighties or nineties, not for the twenty-first century.

God has been moving in this nation in the leadership of the government and the leadership of the official church, known as the three-self church. At one time, it was a politically-controlled church. They were not allowed to preach certain doctrines. The communist did not like the resurrection, or praying for the sick, or speaking in tongues or casting our devils or miracles.

That’s all changed in the last few years because there’s a new leadership in the three-self church and the government isn’t really concerned about what people believe. They recognise Christianity as a positive force of the nation and realise Christians are hardworking. Christians obey the law, pay their taxes and they have morals.

Now, everything we have is made in China. Thus, the population is moving from the rural areas to the cities like Guangdong, Fujian and Shanghai to work in the factories. This is a tremendous opportunity for the gospel. China has relative freedom. Some internet sites like Facebook and Twitter are censored but they don’t censor most religious sites. For example, our church’s website is not censored. On Sunday, people from all parts of China watch our whole service on the Internet. People who have computers and technology can be exposed to the gospel.

So, China has seen a tremendous growth and revival. The churches are growing and we estimate a single 20,000 to 30,000 new believers every single day! The church is actually growing faster than the population.

What do you think is the main way people in other parts of Asia can contribute to China?

People need to go to China. We can talk, have conferences and pray about it, but people need to be there physically. They need to be involved and go personally.

What we need to do is to maintain and support them, give them bibles and teaching materials, have people go in and train the leaders. What they also need is someone to teach them about worship and praise as well as the gifts of the Holy Spirit. Working with these people will allow them to become effective in reaching their nation.

My one message is to we need to get into the harvest field. So, my goal is to see as many Chinese saved and Singaporeans should go and be there.

Do you see this happening for Singapore in the near future?

Yes. It’s possible right now. In fact, don’t wait. You can go next week.

When I first went to China, I didn’t know what I was going to do. I only knew that God called me to China. Then I met some Christians and I found out that they needed bibles. So, since we began in 1978, we’ve given over 12 million bibles. Everyday, there’re people taking bibles.

So, even though you don’t know what you’re doing, just go anyhow. Something will happen. So many people have been praying for China for so many decades. It’s almost like a reservoir of miracles waiting to happen. But it only happens to people who go.