| JOEL-NEWS-INTERNATIONAL-440 * 30 APRIL 2003 * WWW.JOELNEWS.ORG IN THIS EDITION: JN440-1. TYPICALLY GOD: Multiplication of stadiums in Africa JN440-2. PRAYER FOCUS: India's Dalits JN440-3. KINGDOM DEVELOPMENT: Most encouraging news of the 1990's JN440-4. RESOURCE: America's faith is changing beneath the surface JN440-5. RESOURCE: How to help your group pray in one accord JN440-6. RESOURCE: Covenant marriage --- JOIN OUR TEAM - Joel News would like to get in touch with editors for our international edition. Do you have proven writing skills and good insight in the worldwide prayer movement, church growth and church planting, revival and transformation, then contact Marc van der Woude at joel-news@xs4all.nl. We would also like to get in touch with people who have a calling/vision to make Joel News available in their own language, especially in French, German, Portuguese, Spanish and Japanese. --- JN440-1. TYPICALLY GOD: Multiplication of stadiums in Africa In 2000 a business man in Cape Town, South Africa, watched a copy the Transformations video. He was encouraged and challenged. One night he woke up, with a clear instruction from the Lord to go and rent Newlands Rugby Stadium and to bring the Christians in Cape Town together for a day of prayer. For 100 years this stadium had been used for nothing else but rugby. Against all odds permission was given for a day of prayer on 21 March 2001. Some 42,000 Christians gathered in the stadium with another 15,000 joining the event in different churches all over the city, because there wasn't enough place in the stadium. The following year, on 21 March 2002, 8 stadiums were rented throughout South Africa and some 140,000 Christians gathered for prayer. An hour and a half of the 4 hour programme was broadcasted on national television and via satellite into 12 other African nations, Europe and over the GOD Channel. This year on 1 May 2003 75 stadiums in South Africa (linking about 400 cities and towns) will gather for a day of prayer and repentance in again a 4 hour programme. Another 61 stadiums in 27 African countries will do the same. Even in North Africa, Christians will pray with the rest of the continent on 1 May. Bennie Mostert, a South African prayer leader, writes: "It is extremely encouraging for us that on 1 May also North and South America will have a day of prayer. Hundreds of TV networks and radio stations will broadcast a 3 hour concert of prayer all over the Americas. When we in Africa compared notes with the organisers of the concert of prayer in the Americas, we discovered that both groups felt led to a) focus on prayer and repentance, b) use 2 Chron. 7:14 as the key Scripture and c) use an arm band as an outward sign of dedication or prayer commitment. LINK: http://www.transformationafrica.com (Africa) LINK: http://www.nationaldayofprayer.org (North America) --- JN440-2. PRAYER FOCUS: India's Dalits The outcastes and backward classes that comprise one-fourth of India's massive population are 'Dalits', a Sanskrit word meaning 'crushed' or 'broken'. An estimated 90% of Dalits are landless agricultural workers. In one village, Dalits are required to live on the downwind side of the community because the upper castes think they will be contaminated by wind that has touched Dalits. Dalits are not allowed to hear Vedic Scriptures or to worship at many Hindu temples. Many are considering changing their religion because of Hinduism's caste oppression. Do you feel how God's heart breaks for the millions of lost Dalits? Ask the Lord to send witnesses to share the message of hope with Dalits. Pray that multitudes of Dalits soon will hear the good news that God welcomes them into His presence. Source: Advance --- JN440-3. KINGDOM DEVELOPMENT: Most encouraging news of the 1990's The American mission agency GMI asked Patrick Johnstone, author of the prayer handbook 'Operation World', to list the seven most encouraging developments of the 1990's. This is his list: 1. Accelerated growth: in the 1990's, the Evangelical movement grew faster than ever before. 2. The AD2000 movement: the most effective and best-targeted global network for promoting world mission which ever existed. It helped initiate church planting projects among unreached people groups, created synergy in the Body of Christ and was instrumental in the birth of many missions initiatives. 3. The collapse of the Iron Curtain and the end of the USSR. This created completely new opportunities for mission in Central Asia. Brother Andrew's challenge to pray for 7 years for the fall of the Iron Curtain was taken up and, to the astonishment of an unbelieving church, fulfilled. 4. Thousands of Muslims turn to Jesus. In 1991, Brother Andrew called for ten years of prayer for the Islamic world to open to the gospel. The attack on the World Trade Center on 11th September 2001 was a key moment for a divided Islamic world looking for an alternative belief system. 5. China's Christianity. Starting with only 4 million Christians in 1949, the Body of Christ in China grew to over 90 million in the year 2000. The development of truly indigenous forms of Christianity, despite growing persecution at the end of the 1990's, is one of the most important factors in 21st Century Christianity. 6. The astonishing and mostly undocumented growth of the church in India. The official numbers (2.34% Christians in 1991) are far lower than the truth, deliberately hiding the true extent of Christianity in the nation. The true figures are certainly far more than double, and look like only the beginning. The 'untouchable' Dalits have started leaving Hinduism, which could lead to an immense growth of Indian churches. 7. Christian media's decisive contribution to the faith and worldview of millions. Significant examples are the Jesus Film, satellite television such as SAT7 in the Arab world, Christian radio in China and India and the explosive growth of interest in using the Internet for evangelisation and discipleship. LINK: http://www.gmi.org/ow --- JN440-4. RESOURCE: America's faith is changing beneath the surface A recent report by the Barna Research Group reveals some important shifts taking place beneath the surface of American Christianity. Among the changes identified are a substantial redefinition of faith among blacks, with many traditional Christian beliefs and practices losing ground; the slow but steady acceptance of organized religious activity and Christian orthodoxy among Baby Busters; and the gradual departure from organized religious activity by the two oldest generations, the Builders and Seniors. LINK: http://makeashorterlink.com/?M31B42E14 --- JN440-5. RESOURCE: How to help your group pray in one accord In this article Eddie Smith gives suggestions how to grow in united, Holy Spirit-led prayer. "In the computer world, there is a technique called 'morphing'. This term refers to the amazing ability of computer graphics to seamlessly dissolve one image into another. 'Morphing' is the best way I've found to describe what I see happening when true corporate prayer occurs: a group of people gather, discover together the Holy Spirit's assignment for prayer, and approach God's throne as one person. The focus moves, seamlessly, from individual identities to corporate interdependency. Praying with many different groups in recent years, I have learned that this process doesn't just happen. We must prepare ourselves for true corporate prayer - otherwise it will slip into the more common form of individual prayer in a corporate setting." LINK: http://www.usprayercenter.org/articles/A040.html --- JN440-6. RESOURCE: Covenant marriage The Covenant Marriage Movement includes many churches, ministries and couples who cooperate together to restore churches and society to an understanding and practice of marriage as a covenant, not a contract. The third Sunday of February has been established as Covenant Marriage Sunday. The goal is to have 50,000 congregations across the USA and around the world corporately affirming marriage as a covenant relationship during their morning worship hour(s). LINK: http://www.covenantmarriage.com --- 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, Alex ten Cate and Marc van der Woude. You can contact the editorial office at joel-news@xs4all.nl. Joel News International is distributed weekly by e-mail on the basis of an annual donation. For more information see http://www.joelnews.org/donation-jni.htm#options. Has this bulletin been forwarded to you? Then subscribe directly by sending an empty e-mail to: subscribe-joel-news-international@xc.org. |
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