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A CLOSELY KNIT NETWORK OF FELLOWSHIPS
FULFILLING THE VISION
What vision are we fulfilling?
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In 1952, a successful Californian businessman and evangelical Christian, Demos Shakarian, felt led by God to start an 'international' layman's ministry. The concept of the ministry was for laymen to share their testimony of how they came to have a personal relationship with the living God, bearing witness to the life changing love of Jesus and transformative power of the Holy Spirit. Demos faithfully held a weekly meeting in Clifton's Cafeteria in Los Angeles, but instead of flourishing, the original group of people dwindled in number. In 1953, disheartened, Demos decided to close the ministry. On the night before the intended final meeting, on his knees in prayer, God gave Demos a powerful vision. At first he saw millions of people around the world, in every country, their heads down, their faces lifeless, downtrodden, each locked in their own private death. God spoke, "Now, what I am about to show you will happen soon." He looked at the people again, in every country, and this time their heads were pointed towards heaven, their faces filled with life and joy, their hands raised to heaven in worship. Death and disconnection had been replaced by life and fellowship.
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The Full Gospel Business Men's Fellowship
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The ministry flourished from that day forward. A printer approached Demos to say that the Lord had prompted him to offer his printing press for testimonies to be printed. The Voice magazine was born! New FGBMFI groups started throughout California, then throughout the USA, then throughout the world. The groups met in hotels, restaurants and cafeterias for breakfast, lunch and dinner outreach events. The groups became synonymous with evangelism, fellowship, business mentoring, healing ministry and people being baptized in the Holy Spirit. By the 1980s, Full Gospel Business Men's Fellowship International had become the largest laymen's ministry in the world, as noted in the above video, by the then president of the USA, Ronald Reagan, heralding the impact of the fellowship.
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The Vision Intensified
Towards the end of his life, Demos Shakarian anticipated an end-time wave of revival and holiness. He describes this move of God in his prophetic book: The Vision Intensified. In this God-given Vision to reach multitudes of men for Christ, Demos emphasises: ”The Spirit seemed to say, ‘I do not want a big central organisation. Come together on occasions as a collective group to inspire and encourage each other, to light a fire bright enough for many to see. But in your day-in, year-out work, I want you small, local and sensitive to Me! I do not want uniformity. I will never take two men or two places in just the same way. Give Me outlets for my infinite variety.” Since this revelation was received, the de-centralising spoke of in the prophetic word has occurred in every continent. Members of the Fellowship around the world, sensitive to the prompting of the Holy Spirit, have progressed the fulfilment of the vision through new initiatives such as Business Men's Fellowship, Lifestories, Gatekeepers, Christen Im Beruf and Full Gospel Business Men's Fellowship America. Each Fellowship is fulfilling the vision through a wide variety of means such as prayer, teaching, mentoring, discipling, conferences, testimony, outreach dinners, business lunches, fellowship breakfasts, worship, camps, magazines, social media evangelism and live zoom outreach meetings. In 2012, these new initiative Fellowships joined together with Fellowships such as FGBMFI Nigeria, AFIHNEC Costa Rica, FGB Canada and FGB UK & Ireland to form the Full Gospel Global Forum, a closely knit network of Fellowships fulfilling the vision. The fellowship between these organisations is sweet, the unity is tangible and the co-labouring in the harvest field is fruitful. To God be the glory, the honour and the praise for all of this.
Listen to The Vision Intensified by clicking the play button below.
