JOEL-NEWS-INTERNATIONAL-400 * 8 APRIL 2002 * WWW.JOELNEWS.ORG
IN THIS EDITION:
JN400-1. Prayer and revival news from around the world
- Prayer takes off in Texas
- Prayer Kids Clubs
- Argentina: 50,000 people mobilized in prayer
- Peru prays
- Venezuela prays
- Youth prayer movement
- The younger, the more evangelistic
- Marriages made whole
- Unity in Latvia
- Leading muslim follows Christ
JN400-2. Lighthouses lead to city transformation
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
QUOTE - "Success is knowing what God made me to do and doing it." (Rick Warren)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
DONATE - Support Joel News with an annual donation. Check out the options at http://www.joelnews.org/donation-jni.htm
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
JN400-1. Prayer and revival news from around the world
PRAYER TAKES OFF IN TEXAS - All over Texas Christian leaders are uniting hearts and hands, reports the Pray Texas initiative (www.praytexas.com). In Austin there have been reports of 24-hour worship and intercession and citywide Praise and Prayer Gatherings. In El Paso a plan has been launched to enlist families and pastors to adopt the nearly 200,000 students and 40,000 teachers and school staff in prayer. Also in other cities prayer initiatives are mushrooming.
PRAYER KIDS CLUBS - Since two years children's prayer initiatives are thriving. Today there are Prayer Kids Clubs across the United States as well as in Ecuador, the Philippines and South Africa. Prayer Kids Clubs are formed when two or more elementary-aged kids get together once a week for prayer. Children's pastors have been amazed at the number of children who have come to pray. Not only that, but they have been commenting on how powerfully children pray. Children have a deep desire for prayer. Their hearts are overflowing with praise, thanks, and petitions for the Lord, according to coordinator Jan Merritt in a report published by the National Pastors Prayer Network. Link: http://www.prayerkids.org
ARGENTINA: 50,000 PEOPLE MOBILIZED IN PRAYER - "Argentina is crying"; that is how a headline in the main Buenos Aires newspaper La Nacion accurately described the current situation in Argentina. In the midst of this crisis a national movement of prayer was started by Rev. Jobst Bittner. Within a period of ten days in the ten most important provincial capitals he was able to mobilize 400 churches and more than 50,000 people to pray for Argentina day and night. The new prayer network is called "Guardas de Oracion" (Prayer Watches) and belongs to the council of evangelical churches in Argentina (FACIERA). Thousands of Argentineans are beginning to take a stand for their nation in prayer. A national group of leaders has been formed that will lead the prayer chain. One of the leading pastors said: "It's like drugs with Argentina - the first shot is free, the second has its price. This time Argentineans will have to pay a price to experience God's grace once again. The prayer chain is God's instrument to bless our land in a new way."
PERU PRAYS - "Peru has the most significant move of prayer that I know until now," reports Amaury Braga of Dawn Ministries. The national movement of prayer has a radio and a television station and is dedicated to mobilise prayer for the country and for the nations. They have nights of prayer every Friday through the radio.
VENEZUELA PRAYS - Thirty leaders from prayer movements from four cities in Venezuela got together in Caracas to launch a national move of prayer, reports Amaury Braga of Dawn Ministries. The growth in the population is currently 1,83% a year, but the church grows 7 to 8% a year. God is moving in a mighty way in this nation.
YOUTH PRAYER MOVEMENT - Southern California preacher Lou Engle believes a new spiritual awakening won't occur in America until Christians respond to what he says is the urging of God for believers to fast and pray corporately. Engle feels Christians could accomplish that by heeding The Call - a radical youth prayer movement, that drew 400,000 fasting youth to the Washington Mall on September 2, 2000. "I believe The Call D.C. was part of a shift in the heavens and that God has thrown a window open," he says. "We have entered a season of time in a massive [spiritual] war. We are in a war, and if we don't win, we lose everything." New Call gatherings are being planned for New York City, Hollywood, Calif., and Dallas. Internationally, organizers are planning Call events in Brazil, England, and the Philippines.
THE YOUNGER, THE MORE EVANGELISTIC - American church planter Larry Kreider tells of an astonishing observation in his 'The emerging house church networks': Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena, USA, examined the link between the age of a church and its evangelistic effectiveness. A church planted over ten years ago needs - viewed statistically - the effort of 85 Christians to lead one person to Christ. A church between four and seven years old needs only seven people, and a church planted less than three years ago needs only three people to lead one person to Christ. The obvious conclusion: the younger the church, the easier it is to win new people for Christ.
MARRIAGES MADE WHOLE - An unlikely love story has Finnish cinema audiences in tears. It's not a typical Hollywood fairytale, but the real-life experiences of two couples piecing together their broken marriages through forgiveness and reconciliation, report Charisma News Service and Friday Fax. "Some people are weeping in the street after the movie," says Kari Torma of the 90-minute "Journey Towards Light", made about the work of Whole Marriage Ministries (WMM) International, which he leads with his wife Terttu. Made by a recently divorced TV producer, the documentary has been screening at theaters across Finland and is due to be shown on television this year. The film follows two non-Christian couples who save their relationships through WMM's biblical program. "The documentary's extreme openness reveals the dynamics of marital faithfulness - and unfaithfulness - in a shocking manner," said Torma, who founded the ministry in 1974. WMM programs are now being run in 16 countries, most recently in India. The courses are also a church growth strategy, said, Torma, for non-Christians who attend "experience what a healthy church is about. The participants also learn necessary interpersonal skills and attitudes that are very helpful in every church context."
UNITY IN LATVIA - Latvia is one of the nations in Europe where God is strongly moving in the area of unity. The Church is discovering that when she speaks with one voice, also the government is willing to listen. Levi Graudins reports: "One recent fruit was that the Lutheran and Catholic archbishops, with the Baptist leader and the Adventist leader signing, sent a public letter to the prime minister about abortion, Church involvement in welfare, teaching Christianity in the public schools, etc. In the past they sent individual letters that were rarely answered. But, now it's front page news in the newspapers. Also the prime minister for the first time started having monthly meetings with the archbishops and other leaders. So there is a breakthrough to continue and expand by prayer."
LEADING MUSLIM FOLLOWS CHRIST - An ex-Professor for Islamic History at Cairo's Al-Ahzar University - the world's most important Islamic university - has left Islam and become a Christian, according to the American magazine 'Charisma'. "Mark Gabriel" knew the Koran by heart by age 12, and was second best of a class of 6,000 students. His historical studies also led him to the dark side of Islamic history; he could not understand why the Islamic nations were so hostile to each other, and struggled with the many contradictions in the Koran and between the Koran's teaching and Islamic practise. "I was never allowed to question anything - nobody is," he remembers. His questions led to his suspension and subsequent imprisonment. Through a Christian he received a Bible and he decided to follow Christ. Today, he is a religious refugee in the USA, and despite the danger to his life, wrote a book refuting the idea that Islam is a peaceful religion ("Islam and Terrorism", Charisma House, USA).
Source: Joel News
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
JN400-2. Lighthouses lead to city transformation
By Alvin VanderGriend
The prayer movement that God has raised up in America today has within it several recurring themes and initiatives: unity, reconciliation, prayer evangelism, fasting with prayer, prayer rooms, warfare prayer, prayer for revival, and citywide prayer ministries. This paper will focus on a particular kind of citywide prayer ministry - Lighthouses - and their potential for transforming life in the city.
Lighthouses are individuals, families or small groups that pray for, care for and share Christ with family members, friends, classmates, coworkers or neighbors, especially those who are unsaved. As Lighthouses proliferate in a city by means of church training seminars, media communication, dissemination of training resources and Lighthouse-to-Lighthouse multiplication a prayer climate permeates the city that begins to change the quality of life of its citizens.
There are several reasons why Lighthouse praying brings transformation in a city.
First, God takes initiative when his people pray. Prayer evangelism is evangelism in which God takes the initiative to do what only he can do because his people 'go to their knees' in intercession. When believers get serious about interceding for those in their spheres of influence God begins to do things for those prayed for that he wouldn't have done if his people hadn't prayed. The prayers of his people move his hand. Blessings flow from his throne to touch the lives of prayed-for persons for good. His grace and power are released in increasing measure. Government officials are given wisdom and guidance. Businesses are blessed. Crime rates go down. Healthy churches impact their communities. Finding intercessors, God extends his mercy afresh and undeserving sinners are spared (Ezek. 22:30-31).
There is mounting evidence of transformation in cities where prayer is mounting up. As Lighthouse believers have prayed, cared and shared Christ drug centers have closed, prostitution rings have moved out of neighborhoods, bars have shut down, crime rates have dropped, fractured neighborhood relationships have been healed, suicides have been prevented, marriages have been restored, workplaces have changed, lax Christians have gone back to church and individuals have given their lives to Christ. These things will happen on a larger scale and in increasing numbers of cities as increasing numbers of believers accept their God-given responsibility to pray for, care for and share Christ with neighbors.
Second, intercession changes the intercessor. Call it sanctification, spiritual growth or personal spiritual transformation - it's all the same. It's change for the good by God's grace that happens in the hearts and lives of the pray-ers. One Lighthouse believer testified: "As I prayed... I started to notice a change, not in John (his neighbor) but in myself. I began to feel genuinely concerned for him... Little by little God's love for John worked its way into my heart. God showed me that he was concerned for his eternal destiny." That kind of change is foundational for real city transformation.
Christians who pray for those in their circle of influence also find themselves caring more. They are moved to reach out in love to the people they are praying for. Their caring prompts deeds of kindness and activities that bring positive change in neighborhoods, workplaces and campuses. Relationships grow stronger. Needs are met, and a sense of community develops. Some Christians, stimulated by intercession, take action beyond their neighborhoods and begin to address social, economic and political issues in the city so that its citizens begin to "live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness" (1Timothy 2:2).
Third, a developing Lighthouse strategy will increase the spirit of unity in a city. As the congregations in a city begin to plant Lighthouses it is natural for them to begin to work cooperatively in order to cover every neighborhood, institution and workplace. Church members, who for years related only to their own particular congregation, meet each other on their blocks or at their workplaces and begin to pray in concert for neighbors and neighborhood needs. A positive grassroots unity develops that cannot help but impress the non-Christian community. As members of various congregations get to know each other and collaborate in ministry, pastors are also more apt to find common ground for meeting, planning harvest events and praying together. The end result is increased unity.
Fourth, active Lighthouse congregations will experience spiritual renewal. Christians who spend more time with God in prayer cannot help but grow closer to him. Those who become channels of God's love to neighbors will themselves be touched by that love. Believers who verbally give witness to Christ will experience the joy of co-laboring with Christ and his Spirit. Congregations with increasing numbers of members who pray, care and share will inevitably feel the spiritual uplift. One pastor reported that his congregation experienced more dynamic worship, more powerful prayer meetings; increased numbers of visitors; more conversions; better fellowship and larger offerings after 100 percent of his people committed to praying for neighbors.
Fifth, increasing numbers of Lighthouses result in increasing numbers of conversions and numerical growth of the cities congregations. An Orlando congregation challenged their people to reach out to neighbors using the Lighthouse strategy. In 6 months they had 350 registered guests at worship, 165 professions of faith (conversions) and 42 family units join their church. An Hispanic church in South Dade County, Florida, credited 90 converts to their Lighthouse ministry. A Baptist congregation in Miami recently added 12 new families after initiating a strong Lighthouse emphasis.
Conversions, of course, mean life transformation-a kind of transformation that is basic to all true city transformation. Conversions mean more people interceding, more people giving, more people caring and more people letting their light shine. Converts from the business world will bring change in their world. At a workplace in Seattle, Washington, 60-70 people come together every Monday morning to pray. Their leader reports: "It is the highlight of the week... miracles from the Lord are happening... it has affected everything even our jobs." Lighthouses affect neighborhoods too. A neighborhood Lighthouse in Gresham, Oregon reported that their prayers led to one person being baptized, another being saved through a neighborhood Bible study, and three others who first accepted the Lord in their teen years rededicating their lives fully to Christ. One Lighthouse member wrote: "This Lighthouse strategy really works! We are experiencing a revival in our neighborhood as a result of praying, caring and sharing.
God is interested in cities. He, more than anyone else, wants to see them transformed. And he has his ways. Prayer must be part of it. After the children of Israel were exiled to Babylon, God instructed them, "Seek the peace and prosperity of the city to which I have carried you into exile. Pray to the Lord for it, because if it prospers, you too will prosper" (Jer. 29:7). The apostle Paul commanded believers to make, "requests, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving for everyone", noting that this would lead to "peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness" (1 Tim. 2:2). Evangelism has its place too. God sent Jonah to plead with the wicked city of Nineveh and rejoiced when its people repented (Jonah 3:10, 4:11). God thinks in terms of city. So should we.
Our ultimate future is to live in a transformed city. We, with Abraham, look forward to "the city with foundations, whose architect and builder is God" (Heb. 11:10). This will be a new city: "the heavenly Jerusalem, the city of the living God" (Heb. 12:22). Until that day, however, God mandates that we work for the transformation of the cities right where he has placed us. He's given us some pretty clear directions. What are we waiting for?
Source: http://www.cityreaching.com |