Where is the power? - 1 Thessalonians 1

I've been thinking all morning about 1Thess1:5 "for our gospel did not come to you in word only, but also in power and in the Holy Spirit and with full conviction..." I think I experience this verse a lot more in China. Just for example, I was working in an office, and my boss' mother was in the last days of cancer, fully spread, could die any day. God told me to speak to him, a few friends went to his home to pray for his mom, his mom got healed instantly. The healing of her heart was even more incredible than her physical healing. I saw salvation, miracles,etc all the time, it would be very odd that we went to a weekly meeting without sharing any miracles. Here it's the opposite, the same me, but it would be very odd that I go to a weekly meeting having some testimony to share. I know of a pastor couple here in Sydney. When they go to Malaysia, in one meeting it could be 20 people raised up in wheelchairs, 2000 people baptised in the Holy Spirit, but they have a church here for 20 years, still the same size, very few miracles. Reinhard Bonke had a million salvation in Africa in one meeting, but I highly doubt that he can get the same number here. The question is why? Why there's more power manefested in third world countries? Spiritual strongholds over the nation? It seems there must be more strongholds over there than here. Leadership? There are all kinds of witchcraft and idol worship and antiChrist stuff over there. Poverty? knowledge? What can the churches and Christians do to bring the power level back?

What I find the most different to me personally is the structure and system of the church. In a big church here like Hillsong, there are 10,000 members roughly. But how many preachers? a handful. In a cell group, it's supposed and also only allowed to study already printed material. and the pattern is same.The cell leader has very limited freedom as how he runs and explains the material. If anyone tries to do something according the promptings or the Holy Spirit or share his own message, he'll get this look, "who do you think you are," and worse, he'll think this for himself, just like what you thought when you had the urge to raise your friend from death. And if he doesn't change, he'll be regarded as disobedient. In China, it's different. Every believer from day one is regarded as a minister. And the system and structure of the church support that belief. The leaders believe that for the believers, and the normal believers believe it for themselves. Everyone's required and encouraged to preach. If you can't preach for an hour, you can start with 5 minutes, and the leader will help him. And the whole group is very supportive.If he says something wrong, the group will correct him, but won't stop him from preaching. In countryside, a lot of the times are, if you've been a Christian for one week, you'll be sent out as a pastor. I've mentioned this before, a country boy in our group, only polishing shoes in the street to make a living, he has heaps of problems in the first year, like he was still trying to kill someone, steal, terrible temper, fights, but everyone believes in him and encourages him as a minister, then the second year he went back to his villages healing everyone. When he left some of the diseases would come back, but when he went back to the villages, they'd be healed again. I doubt he'd get very far in a church here. He doesn't have the look, and he doesn't have the communication skills, nor any education and intellegence. The persecusion keeps the church sizes small, but the small size releases the ministers in everyone. But in western churches, the Holy Spirit in everyone is persecuted and limited by the set pattern and system of the churches.