| JOEL-NEWS-INTERNATIONAL-447 * 8 JULY 2003 * WWW.JOELNEWS.ORG IN THIS EDITION: JN447-1. TYPICALLY GOD: Jesus and rebellion don't go together JN447-2. PRAYER FOCUS: Prostitution of children in Russia JN447-3. KINGDOM DEVELOPMENT: Natural Church Development JN447-4. RESOURCE: Leadership Network JN447-5. RESOURCE: Young Leader Alliance JN447-6. RESOURCE: Preaching like Jesus --- QUOTE: "It's the friends you can call up at 4 AM that matter." (Marlene Dietrich) --- JN447-1. TYPICALLY GOD: Jesus and rebellion don't go together A church planting ministry is believed to be partially responsible for forcing communist rebels to leave an area in the Philippines. Steve Wheeler with White Fields says rebels used a meeting house to promote their cause at night, while a pastor used the same meetinghouse to conduct Bible studies during the day. Both groups would leave their literature for the other to read. The people in the village who came to the rebel propaganda meetings in the evening picked up the tracts laying there and began coming to the Bible studies instead. Over a period of time many received Christ. Unable to find new members, the rebels are now gone and a new church has been established. Source: Mission Network News --- JN447-2. PRAYER FOCUS: Prostitution of children in Russia The difficult economic situation of many Russian families and poor laws fuel the growth of sexual exploitation of children. According to specialists, in Moscow alone there are more than 50,000 children between ages 3 and 14 years, involved in this sexual 'business'. Experts say that the main reason for this is the extremely liberal legislation. In Russia there are about 42 million families. More than 24 million Russian families have children but only in 2 million of these is the income of one working person higher than the living standard (minimum wage). Financial support by the state for families is very small. For some families, prostitution began as a means to survive. Let's pray for the protection of children in Russia. Pray against child prostitution and for laws which will protect children from sexual exploitation. Source: Russian House of Prayer --- JN447-3. KINGDOM DEVELOPMENT: Natural Church Development German church growth researcher Christian Schwarz's book 'Natural Church Development' (NCD) contains the results of a survey of churches in 32 nations. The book overturned many myths of traditional church development thinking. Since its publication, churches in many nations are reconsidering the aims of church growth: it's neither about mere numbers, nor is it about the endless search for quality in the church - but about both. The process developed by Christian Schwarz and Christoph Schalk, known around the globe as 'Natural Church Development', starts with creating a 'church profile' based on a careful analysis of eight basic principles. Following that, the church starts a 'therapy process' tailored to help improve their minimum factors and thereby to naturally grow in quality. By December 2002, some 15,000 churches around the world had created a church profile. Eighty-five percent of the churches which embarked on the subsequent therapy and development process and examined their new profile also experienced quantitative growth. There are Natural Church Development Partners offering consulting services in fifty nations. LINK: http://www.ncd-international.org --- JN447-4. RESOURCE: Leadership Network Leadership Network bills itself as the advance scout for the emerging church. It has a good article archive and offers some cutting edge perspectives. LINK: http://www.leadnet.org --- JN447-5. RESOURCE: Young Leader Alliance Throughout history God has been using young leaders to change the world. Imagine that every young leader in all of America's 350,000 churches is connected with the right people and is utilizing the right resources and training experiences needed to fulfil his or her leadership destiny with excellence. Imagine the impact Christian young leaders will make in all categories of society - the marketplace, the church world, in media, education, entertainment, government and beyond. In order to see this vision become reality, Mission America launched a Young Leader Alliance. LINK: http://www.youngleaderalliance.com --- JN447-6. RESOURCE: Preaching like Jesus There has never been a more appealing and interesting preacher than Jesus. Why not model him? This article by Rick Warren is a basic primer on preaching for changed lives. LINK: http://makeashorterlink.com/?Y48A31035 --- 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: 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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