Heidi Baker reflects on ‘joy and persecution’ through lens of terror in northern Mozambique

Charismatic healing ministry leader and author Dr Randy Clark recently interviewed Mozambique-based missionary Heidi Baker on a subject which he said is not talked a lot about in Charismatic circles — suffering. The full interview which spans just over 90 minutes can be viewed in two parts on YouTube (part 1 and part 2). Below is an introduction to the interview

Veteran missionary and revivalist Heidi Baker has inspired multitudes of believers with testimonies of what she and her husband Rolland have seen God do through their ministry in Mozambique over nearly two decades.

The couple began their married life serving as missionaries in the slums of Hong Kong and other eastern nations in the early 80s. In the early 90s they ministered to the poor in London while doing their PhDs. But it was in Mozambique — especially after they were both touched deeply by the Holy Spirit during the Toronto Blessing revival in the mid 90s — that God took their ministry to the poorest of the poor, Iris Global, beyond their wildest dreams.

The Bakers have seen more than a million people come to Christ in Mozambique, they have seen many powerful miracles, and together with locals and volunteers from around the world they have established a network of church-based orphanages throughout the country and planted more than two thousand churches in northern Mozambique among people considered unreached and unreachable.

While the couple have had to overcome many hardships, including poverty, serious illness and being shot at and stoned, they have experienced God’s provision, healing and protection.

In her recent interview with her friend and ministry associate Randy Clark, who she met during the Toronto Blessing, when he prophesied about her future ministry in Mozambique, Heidi said that after years of going from village to village in northern Mozambique, reaching out to people with the Gospel of Jesus and seeing God exceed their expectations, they absolutely believed that the revival was just going to keep on getting bigger and better.

But then suddenly, a few years ago, persecution and suffering came, beyond anything they could ever have imagined. This, she said, challenged a mindset that in Christ joy and suffering are separate from one another — a mindset that can cause believers to become depressed and lose their hope, trust and dreams in God when great suffering comes

But she says as village after village was burnt by Islamist insurgents, their people were martyred, crucified and beheaded — and hundreds of thousands of people were displaced — slowly they came to understand that when you take up your cross for Christ you discover that the cup of joy and the cup of suffering are the same cup.

You can view the full interview below: