| JOEL-NEWS-INTERNATIONAL-449 * 29 JULY 2003 * WWW.JOELNEWS.ORG IN THIS EDITION: JN449-1. TYPICALLY GOD: From China back to Jerusalem JN449-2. PRAYER FOCUS: Peace and order in Liberia JN449-3. NEWS BRIEF: Campus Crusade founder Bill Bright dies JN449-4. NEWS BRIEF: IPC adopts Joel News International JN449-5. NEWS BRIEF: Romania plans for 10,000 new churches JN449-6. RESOURCE: Current Thoughts and Trends --- QUOTE: "It's not enough to simply proclaim, 'Christ is the Answer.' We must show the unchurched how Christ is the answer. Sermons that exhort people to change without sharing the practical steps of how to change only produce more guilt and frustration." (Rick Warren) --- JN449-1. TYPICALLY GOD: From China back to Jerusalem The Chinese house church movement's vision is to 'bring the gospel back to Jerusalem', by sending 100,000 missionaries to the unreached Muslim, Buddhist, and Hindu nations along the Silk Road. They pursue this vision from God at great personal cost. Most leaders in the house church movement have been tortured and spent years in prison because of their fearless preaching of the Gospel. One of the main leaders, Chao (not his real name), sensed that God wanted to unite the house church networks to face up to the challenge of world mission. Before his imprisonment, Chao had a 3-year-old daughter. On his release she was already 16, and a zealous evangelist in the house church movement. Chao was released in 1996. In 1997 God blessed him and his wife with another daughter. In December 1997, the leaders of the various house church movements gathered for three days to discuss how their movements could cooperate in world mission. On the morning of the first day, Chao's elder daughter was hanging the washing outside the window of their fourth-floor apartment, with the baby on one arm. It wriggled with such strength that it fell out of her arms, dropping the four storeys onto a concrete slab, breaking its skull open - dead on the spot. Chao ran down the stairs and picked up what was left of his daughter, praying "Lord, heal my daughter. If you don't, my ministry for you is over, because I will not be able to stand the loss. And if this missionary vision is from you, heal her. If you do not, I will know that the vision is not from you." Chao laid his daughter's body on the couch in his apartment, and went to the meeting. When he returned home that evening, his daughter showed no signs of life, but her skull was in one piece again. The following morning, she was still dead. Chao prayed the same prayer again. On his return that evening, his daughter was breathing, but still unconscious. The next morning, nothing had changed. When he returned home on the evening of the third day, he found his daughter awake; she ate, played and was healthy again! The missionary vision had been confirmed in a very unusual way! Source: Friday Fax The Back to Jerusalem movement started a website to inform and challenge Christians around the world to prayer and involvement with the Chinese Church as they send 100,000 missionaries to the unreached Muslim, Buddhist, and Hindu nations of the world. LINK: http://www.backtojerusalem.com --- JN449-2. PRAYER FOCUS: Peace and order in Liberia As you have heard on the news the nation of Liberia is in turmoil and in great need for God's intervention. On two occasions last month rebel forces advanced close to Monrovia, the capital city, resulting in the deaths of hundreds of civilians. Monrovia has become a ghost town with tens of thousands of people taking refuge at the American Embassy, the Samuel Kanyon Doe Sport Complex and Roberts International Airport. There has already been a severe outbreak of cholera. Let's seek God for: 1. the urgently needed deployment of a West African and U.S. military force to bring stability and facilitate the peace and restoration process for this hurting nation; 2. the humanitarian workers who continue to provide assistance to the many displaced people, for protection for them and their families and for provision of all they need to serve their fellow citizens; 3. the Christians, that they will experience the supernatural peace of God in the midst of suffering and receive boldness to make Christ known; 4. receptive hearts, that many Liberians may find God in this time of crisis; 5. the overthrow and dissolution of Charles Taylor and the demonic powers that support him. Source: World Vision, EHC, Mission Network News LATEST NEWS: http://makeashorterlink.com/?Q16063D65 --- JN449-3. NEWS BRIEF: Campus Crusade founder Bill Bright dies Bill Bright, who founded Campus Crusade for Christ (CCC), the world's largest ministry, died on 19 July at the age of 81. "He has carried a burden on his heart as few men that I've ever known. A burden for the evangelization of the world," Billy Graham stated. "He is a man whose sincerity and integrity and devotion to our Lord have been an inspiration and a blessing to me ever since the early days of my ministry." Bright was a California confectionery salesman and self-described 'happy pagan' before becoming a Christian in 1947. He started Campus Crusade in 1951 as a small effort to preach the gospel and spread Christianity to students at UCLA, but the organization quickly prospered and spread to other campuses. It's now a $374 million-a-year organization with a staff of 26,000 people spanning 191 countries. Bright was so motivated by the Great Commission that in 1956 he wrote a booklet titled 'The Four Spiritual Laws,' which has since been printed in some 200 languages and distributed to more than 2.5 billion people, making it the most widely disseminated religious booklet in history. In 1979, Bright commissioned the 'Jesus' film, which has been viewed by more than 5.1 billion people in 234 countries. The movie has become the most widely viewed and translated film in history (more than 800 languages). In 1996, Bright won the prestigious Templeton Prize for Progress in Religion, a sort of Nobel Prize for his field. Bright donated all of his prize money - which was worth more than $1 million - to causes promoting the spiritual benefits of fasting and prayer. He conducted personal, 40-day fasts each year since 1994. In an interview with 'Charisma' magazine in 2001, Bright had a joyful outlook as he contemplated his approaching death. "Nothing could excite me more," he said. "It's a win-win situation. If I die, then I will see Him sooner than I'd planned. If I stay, then He must still have some things for me to do for Him here." LINK: http://billbright.ccci.org --- JN449-4. NEWS BRIEF: IPC adopts Joel News International The International Prayer Council, a worldwide network for prayer leaders and prayer networks, adopted Joel News International as one of their 'vehicles of communication'. The IPC also publishes a weekly prayer update called 'IPC Weekly', edited by Hermann Smit. To receive this prayer update, send an e-mail to prayer@ipcprayer.org. Source: IPC --- JN449-5. NEWS BRIEF: Romania plans for 10,000 new churches "3,000 of Romania's 5,000 Evangelical churches have a great potential for leading people to Christ and themselves planting new churches in the nation's unreached towns and villages," reports Gavi Moldovan of Misiunea Mondiala Unita's (MMU), one of the nation's strategic mission movements. The movement's aim is to help leaders of the three Evangelical streams - Baptists, Brethren and Pentecostals - develop appropriate mission plans. National research and strategic conferences have resulted in the first truly cross-denominational targets: 3,650 new churches in the next four years, with 10,000 new churches the long-term aim. Over 1,500 new churches have been planted in recent years as a result of training and support of 150 Romanian church planting teams. However, the country with the third-highest percentage of Evangelical Christians in Europe thinks not only of itself: MMU - an alliance of more than twenty churches and missions organisations - also trains Romanian missionaries to work in other cultures. 25 are currently being trained, and a number of missionaries are already in Turkey. Source: MMU through Friday Fax --- JN449-6. RESOURCE: Current Thoughts and Trends This is the website for the excellent magazine 'Current Thoughts and Trends'. They research hundreds of magazines and then give a synopsis of any articles that will be helpful to ministers. LINK: http://www.navpress.com/CTT --- 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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