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JOEL-NEWS-INTERNATIONAL-409 * 31 AUGUST 2002 * WWW.JOELNEWS.ORG

IN THIS EDITION:

JN409-1. TYPICALLY GOD: Love and power among the poor
JN409-2. PRAYER FOCUS: World Summit in Johannesburg
JN409-3. NEWS BRIEF: Youth rallies in England and North America
JN409-4. KINGDOM DEVELOPMENT: Postmodern expressions of Church (3)

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QUOTE - "Pay more attention to your character than your image. Your character shows who you really are, your image only what others think you are." (John Wooden)
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JN409-1. TYPICALLY GOD: Love and power among the poor

Rolland and Heidi Baker minister among the poor in Maputo, Mozambique. In their newsletter of 14 August they report:

The spiritual hunger, physical needs and demand for ministry we encounter are indescribable. Daily and weekly we receive desperate calls for yet more bush conferences in hundreds of locations we have not yet been able to visit ourselves. The nets are breaking, there are so many fish.

We haul in water, pots, firewood and bags of maize, which we pound and cook all day. In areas of famine this will be the only good food many have eaten in weeks, or even months. The people come with nothing but their one set of ragged clothes. They sleep on grass mats or in the dirt, wrapped only in their cloth skirts. They come with their diseases, sores and infections, and the ravages of malnutrition. They come because they want to meet Jesus. They want to be touched by Him. They want to be saved from their oppression and misery. They know there is no one else. Our altar calls often become a mass of people crying out, sobbing and shaking in the hot sun, wind and dust as the Holy Spirit graciously and powerfully moves on them. Jesus is the Deliverer of Africa. He will make a new creation out of each desperate, lost, lonely soul in the remote bush who wants Him.

We are encouraged by displays of His power, which are increasing along with the numbers of our churches. In Malawi an old man with a large, terribly infected ulcer on his foot came for prayer. It looked so ghastly, like gangrene or cancer, I thought amputation was the only natural answer. We returned later and his foot was covered over with smooth skin. He grinned and laughed as he showed me his foot, which he was walking on perfectly normally. In Chimoio a blind man spontaneously received his sight as we worshiped. He had been seeing light, but it was all a blur, and suddenly he could see clearly. He immediately called out and jumped to the platform to testify, completely thrilled. In Dondo a few days ago a man was near death, suffering from a huge parasite in his abdomen. The hospital could do nothing. He couldn't sleep for fear of not waking up. During a time of healing ministry he felt a movement in his body and his pain and condition were gone. During that same conference a little girl paralyzed from the waist down for eight months was healed. Her mother fervently preached to the crowd as the girl walked normally all over the platform.

By now we have had about a dozen resurrections from the dead in our churches. These result in sudden church growth and huge encouragement. Now in this time of serious famine we are asking our leaders to pray over every sack of maize, that the Holy Spirit would multiply the grain. We have seen food multiplied repeatedly before, and now we cry out for supernatural help on a large scale.

LINK: http://www.irismin.org

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JN409-2. PRAYER FOCUS: World Summit in Johannesburg

From 26 August to 4 September 2002 the UN World Summit on Sustainable Development is taking place in Johannesburg, South Africa. Approximately 65,000 delegates are attending this summit. Because there are serious indications that influencers in the UN (and at this summit) are working towards a one-world government and a new world religion (gaiasophy, worship of Mother Earth), international prayer ministries call for prayer. "If the nations accept the concept of sustainability as the key-criterion for all our decisions and activities, then we, in effect, will have to submit our faith to Mother Earth," a Christian researcher states. "This strategy is known as Agenda 21. Apart from giving a number of good plans, it would also want to replace the values of Christianity."

Pray as the Holy Spirit leads for any demonic plan to be exposed and for Gods purposes to be accomplished. Pray for godly discernment for the delegates, that they will not give in to manipulation or peer pressure. Pray that the Christian delegates will be able to speak out and walk in truth.

Source: Several prayer ministries (names withheld)

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JN409-3. NEWS BRIEF: Youth rallies in England and North America

A new generation of Christians is arising and drawn to prayer and fellowship with Jesus and each other. 100,000 people attended The Call New York City on Saturday 29th June. The prayer/worship event ran from 6am until 6pm and was held at Flushing Meadows - also known as the field of dreams. 16,000 people attended The Call England on Saturday 13th July. The prayer/worship event ran from 10am until 9pm and was held at the Madejski Stadium, Reading. 200,000 people attended the Catholic World Youth Days in Toronto between 22 and 28 July.

LINK: http://www.thecallnyc.com
LINK: http://www.thecallengland.com
LINK: http://www.city.toronto.on.ca/wyd2002

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JN409-4. KINGDOM DEVELOPMENT: Postmodern expressions of Church (3)

To communicate to our generation, the Church needs to understand postmodern thinking, learn to express biblical truth in new terms and find structures that appeal to the postmodern way of life. In this third and last contribution on postmodern expressions of Church we offer some more helpful articles on postmodernism, written by experienced missionary thinkers and practitioners.

1. Post-modernity: a global weather change
Jeff Fountain, European director of YWAM, addresses the challenges and down-sides of postmodernism in relation to missions.

LINK: http://www.hfe.org/resource/articles/postmod.htm

2. The Gospel and postmodernism
Ross Rhode, a missionary to Spain, wrote a paper to help pastors and missionaries understand postmodernism and it's implications for sharing the Gospel.

LINK: http://makeashorterlink.com/?Z16345E71 (pdf)

3. Practical considerations for postmodern sensitive churches
Another article by Ross Rhode in which he deals with questions like: What kinds of ministries tend to work in postmodern contexts and which do not? What does a postmodern sensitive church look like? It is based on the Bridges and Barriers Research Project he did in Spain in 1999.

LINK: http://makeashorterlink.com/?W37325E71 (pdf)

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COLOPHON

Joel News International is a leading special interest bulletin on prayer, church growth and revival. We offer a keen selection of the most encouraging news reports, the most challenging developments and the best resources from over 100 reliable sources in six continents. Joel News International is a great help and time-saver for thousands of Christian leaders and intercessors in over 120 nations.

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