In the 1930's the Holy Spirit fell upon Baptists in China in an out-pouring reminiscent of the Book of Acts. Mary K. Crawford, an American Baptist missionary who witnessed that wonderful event, wrote her friends at home:
Chefoo, Shantung Province, China, July 4, 1932, Dear Brother Pastor, Brethren and Sisters: In Our annual Missionary Conference here these last few days someone exclaimed: `Oh, that our Baptist people at home could hear and see what has come to our ears and eyes these past months!' ... Numbers of Christians and churches are being revived ... Sick are being healed, devils cast out, men and women, boys and girls are preaching with a power hitherto not known ... Average Christians became dissatisfied, put themselves on the altar anew, were filled with the Spirit ... They have a new joy in the Lord and a vigor in their work hitherto not known ... God's power came mostly during prayer services while studying earnestly the Holy Spirit and His work ... There were then special manifestations of the Spirit's power and great rejoicing. Nothing like it has been seen in old Tsinan ... To make a long story short, from September 1931 to June 1932, at least twenty-four missionaries and many Chinese leaders had a definite experience of the baptism in the Holy Spirit and were rejoicing all through the year as they saw new light and life coming into the churches.
"My whole being seemed to be going through a great change. It seemed like a strong electric current was going through my body ... I was absolutely unafraid and conscious that it was God's Holy Spirit's work. He took right hold of me and shook me physically as I would shake a rag, then He opened my mouth so wide that my jaw bones seemed like they would break. The room was filled with wind and it literally rushed into me until I felt that I would burst. This happened four or five times. Then a great burst of joyous laughter that was different from any laughter that I had ever experienced came right from deep inside me. This happened over and over."
Mary’s experience and that of her missionary friends is not new to Baptist history. Baptists in early America experienced similar manifestations of the Spirit’s power. Before them, the Anabaptists of medieval Europe, from whom modern Baptists have sprung, also witnessed the miraculous works of God. These original Baptists had no buildings, no organizations, no congregational singing; worship consisted of hidden prayer meetings and secret preaching. There were no Mission Boards, no Sunday Schools, no Seminaries, no Christian literature. Very few had copies of Scripture. Most Bible knowledge was committed to memory. Even so, these churches experienced the Holy Spirit’s phenomenal power; power that far exceeds that of Baptists today. Their enemies begrudgingly admitted a holy “Presence” in them. Conversions took place even though new believers knew they might be disowned by families and burned alive at the stake. Such was the awesome strength of Anabaptist preaching. In a word, Anabaptists had tapped into the power of the Holy Spirit. All new believers were re-baptized--hence the name “ana” baptist.
