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JOEL-NEWS-INTERNATIONAL-412 * 24 SEPTEMBER 2002 * WWW.JOELNEWS.ORG

IN THIS EDITION:

JN412-1. TYPICALLY GOD: Dreaming about your boss
JN412-2. PRAYER FOCUS: Reconciliation in Sudan
JN412-3. KINGDOM DEVELOPMENT: New wineskins for the prayer movement
JN412-4. RESOURCE: Barna responds to Christianity Today

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QUOTE - "The primary issues of church health and growth are: Who is our Master? What is our message?, and What is our motive? Everything else is secondary." (Rick Warren)
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JN412-1. TYPICALLY GOD: Dreaming about your boss

Christian Eggeling of the Freien Christlichen Jugendgemeinschaft (Free Christian Youth Fellowship) in Ludenscheid, Germany, reports:

Silke, a member of our commune, recently had a dream about her boss and her boss's boyfriend. She wondered whether the dream was from God, and prayed that if so, she would receive the same dream again. The following night, she had the same dream. She was nervous, because what she had dreamed was difficult to speak about. Soon afterwards, she had to call her boss on the telephone, and also mentioned her dream: "You know that I believe in God, and, well, I had a dream. I believe that God can speak through dreams, and think that Jesus wants to say something to you..." Her boss listened, and was totally astonished. "And so that you believe that this dream is from God, I will describe your boyfriend as I saw him in the dream..." Her boss was amazed, and replied "That's exactly right! Now I believe that God really did speak to me. It fits my situation exactly, and I now know what to do. Thanks!" One week later, Silke had the opportunity to speak to all the employees in the company about Jesus.

Source: Unser Weg (Our Way), FCJG

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JN412-2. PRAYER FOCUS: Reconciliation in Sudan

In January this year 450 participants from 15 denominations in Sudan came together in the southern part of their nation to seek the Lord for the healing of the land. Participants repented for denominational and tribal divisions. Deep brokenness gave way to times of jubilation and dancing as faith rose to apprehend the fact that God was answering prayer and would bring peace. At the same time a ceasefire for the Nuba Mountains was agreed in Switzerland, calling for a six month ceasefire in one of the most war-ravaged areas of the country and giving humanitarian agencies access for the first time in 20 years. The latest news is that the peace talks between Sudan's government and rebel force SPLA were broken off after the rebels captured a key southern town.

Let's continue to pray for Sudan:

1. Pray that the rebel forces will come back to the negotiating table and will agree on a ceasefire throughout the whole country, to continue the positive movement towards peace and healing of the nation.
2. Remarkably, since the prayer initiative, some Muslim leaders in Khartoum are now saying it is time for reconciliation and that they should apologize for all the suffering they have caused the southern Christians. This is not easy for them. Pray they will follow through and that it will be the beginning of true reconciliation and religious freedom.
3. The removal of an extremist elite from the government who are controlling the nation and benefiting from the current situation of war.
4. The ending of Islamization of Christian children in schools and the Islamic control of the churches in the north.
5. Unity of the churches along with faithful leadership and the development of a strong united prayer movement in both north and south.

Source: John Robb (World Vision) through Joel News

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JN412-3. KINGDOM DEVELOPMENT: New wineskins for the prayer movement

These days we are hearing a lot about 'new wineskins', new approaches and formats to fit a new work of God's Spirit. The worldwide prayer movement is also burgeoning and branching out. Joel News' Marc van der Woude sees six important shifts take place:

1. from private kingdoms to God's Kingdom;
2. from prayer lists to Spirit-inspired warfare prayer;
3. from individual intercessors to praying churches;
4. from old faithfuls to young radicals;
5. from programs to living altars;
6. from miscellaneous hits to a prayer saturation strategy.

The full report can be retrieved by sending an empty e-mail to lyris@xc.org with only this command in the body of your mail:

get joel-news-international vanderwoude-new-wineskins

Source: Joel News

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JN412-4. RESOURCE: Barna responds to Christianity Today

Well-known American researcher George Barna responds to the August cover story of Christianity Today, an article that caused a lot of public reaction.

Barna revealed that research shows the leading influencers in American society to be movies, television, the Internet, books, music, public policy and law, and family. The Christian church is not among the top dozen influencers these days - a far cry from the way things used to be. He wants to provide information to be used for developing a strategy that will enable Christians to have greater effect on society through those sources of influence.

In his response Barna offers a brief glimpse of what that effort might look like. "Imagine what could happen if we had a chance to identify the thousands of Christian teenagers and college students whom God has called into those industries of influence. What would happen if we provided each one with a mentor - a person of mature faith and who understands the sector that young person will be entering - as well as a team of prayer partners to support them, from age 13 on? What would happen if we pulled every string we could to ensure that they get into the best schools and training programs so that they are highly-skilled professionals, with great experience and extensive contacts, ready to hit the ground running by the time they're in their early or mid-twenties? What would happen if those emerging players were intimately connected, through their mutual faith in Jesus and a series of annual training events, to all of the other rising stars in those fields who are their age, and thus could work together rather than constantly compete? Think about the impact of having a mass of intelligent, Christ-committed people whose moral code precludes them from creating garbage for the masses."

About the future of the Church Barna comments: "There are a number of high profile pastors who have been saying that the local church is the only hope for the future. As emotionally comforting as that may feel, it's just wrong. Jesus Christ is the only hope for the future; the local church is a human institution that God may or may not work through. In the near future we will inevitably see new models of the local church that don't look or behave at all like the congregational church we have historically fostered. Those new models, as far as they enable us to love God with all our heart, mind, strength and soul, are just as valid and viable as existing models. The more we can place our faith in Jesus Christ and follow the teachings of the Bible, rather than devote energy and resources to saving institutions and structures we created, the better off we'll be."

LINK: http://makeashorterlink.com/?V5A4144D1

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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.

Editors: Branko Bjelajac, Adriaan van der Hoeven and Marc van der Woude. You can contact the editorial office at joel-news@xs4all.nl.

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