| JOEL-NEWS-INTERNATIONAL-453 * 15 SEPTEMBER 2003 * WWW.JOELNEWS.ORG IN THIS EDITION: JN453-1. TYPICALLY GOD: The lame walk in Mozambique JN453-2. PRAYER FOCUS: Awakening in North Korea JN453-3. NEWS BRIEF: Steady growth of church in North Korea JN453-4. KINGDOM DEVELOPMENT: From church growth to multiplication JN453-5. RESOURCE: Countries and peoples of the world --- JN453-1. TYPICALLY GOD: The lame walk in Mozambique Heidi and Rolland Baker minister in Mozambique, one of the poorest nations in the world, but also a nation that experiences an incredible move of God. In their latest newsletter they report: "Before the message we pray for the sick, and begin laying our hands on the crowd up front at our crude dirt altar. A mother brings her little boy forward. He's four years old, but his legs are thin and curled up, useless for walking. His mother says he has never walked in his life. His father is standing back, watching. We set him down on the floor and Heidi, Surpresa and the rest of us begin praying our hearts out. Minute after minute goes by as our prayers get more and more intense. We are holding the boy's hands. Then strength quickly pours into his body. His legs extend and now he can stand, a bit wobbly as we hold his hands. Since he has never walked, he has little sense of balance. "But now he can stand by himself! And he is terrified! His mother has always held him close, but now she is backing away and leaving him! He takes some faltering steps. A whole crowd is surrounding him, watching him, loudly praying and shouting, and no one will hold him! He begins crying. Tears run down his cheeks. He has never been alone like this. Now everyone is jumping with excitement and pressing forward to see. Still, everyone keeps away from the boy, wanting him to take more steps and show he can walk! And he does... slowly, and then a little more steadily. "We can hear his father, who is crying, and tears are coming down his face too. "My boy can walk! My boy can walk! Do you see? That's my boy!" That is all the proof I need that Jesus has done a miracle. That family will be changed forever. Later the boy is much stronger, quickly making up for lost time on those legs! "One by one Jesus touches the poor. Step by step this revival advances across Mozambique and Africa. Here in Mozambique we are just a small band of ordinary Christians sitting in the dirt trying to love people the best we can with what God has given us. We are just jars of clay. We are overwhelmed by the demands made on us. We don't have answers for everything. We are not experts on world evangelism and revival. We constantly make mistakes and fall short. Our focus is simply learning how Jesus wants us to relate to Him. Because one thing we must have: His presence, His companionship, His voice, His heart - intimacy with Him!" LINK: http://www.irismin.org --- JN453-2. PRAYER FOCUS: Awakening in North Korea NK Missions (The World Center for North Korea Missions) is calling people worldwide to join together in urgent prayer for North Korea. As part of NK AWAKE, an International Prayer and Mobilization Campaign, NK Missions is boldly calling for 10,000 prayers to be posted online for North Korea. May these prayers stir others to pray and may they be used to open the doors of North Korea. LINK: http://www.nkmissions.com/prayers --- JN453-3. NEWS BRIEF: Steady growth of church in North Korea North Koreans who have successfully fled to China paint a picture of the terrible life in their nation: indescribable needs and persecution, permanent surveillance and control even of thoughts. "The years of famine have cost the lives of millions, all religious practise is strictly forbidden - except the worship of dictator Kim Jong-il and his deceased father Kim Il-sung," writes missions agency Open Doors. The population has been trained to spy on each other; every person is in a political unit of five in their workplace, and families are grouped in twenties to a 'social peoples' unit' led by one person reporting to the State. Christians are considered political criminals; they often disappear, executed or interned in labour camps, where they are kept like animals inside electric fences, making goods for export under brutal conditions. And yet there is hope: reliable sources speak of 300,000 to 400,000 Christians living in North Korea, their number continually growing. They meet in small groups of four or five people, hidden behind thick curtains, with no singing, because that is far too dangerous. These house churches organise themselves in networks which meet in remote caves. The number of Christians among the North Korean refugees in China has grown significantly in recent years. Some Korean house churches in China focus on evangelising and discipling them. "I believe that once the North Korean borders are opened, God will use North Korean Christians to spread the Gospel in Asia," says one North Korean refugee. "Now is a time of preparation." Source: Open Doors --- JN453-4. KINGDOM DEVELOPMENT: From church growth to multiplication Jim Montgomery, founder of the Dawn Movement, writes: "One of the highlights of my life was meeting Dr. Donald McGavran, the father of the church growth movement. He taught me to measure the growth of churches, and to find out how to accelerate that growth in a healthy manner. Not long ago, ten percent growth per year was exceptional - for example a church growing from 100 to 110 or from 600 to 660 in one year. Today, though, we're experiencing something which far exceeds that, like throwing an old typewriter away, replacing it with the newest computer. In traditionally unreached nations, but also in evangelised nations, we're seeing movements in which that which used to take decades is happening in years, months or even weeks. One recent report from a region in India, for example, tells of 32 missions teams which started with 2,616 house churches on 1 January 2002. By 31 December that year, there were 8,784 house churches - a growth of 236%! The number of Christians grew from 43,676 to 128,665." Montgomery looks for the causes of this phenomenon, and finds five aspects which show the church around the world to be in 'one of the greatest paradigm changes in history': 1. The fruit of two centuries of missionary work is that growing numbers of national Christians are taking the Great Commission in their own hands, developing their own strategies. 2. It seems that massive growth is most possible where the Christians are prepared to make sacrifices. 3. And where laypeople are strategically trained and sent out. 4. The supernatural dimension: In India and many other parts of the world, you can regularly experience every one of the miracles described in the New Testament. 5. More and more church planters are working with models and tactics which can be multiplied endlessly, leading to a growth which is ten or twenty times as great as we ever dared to think. Even though the Western model of church, with pastors trained in theological seminaries, gathering Christians in expensive church buildings, is of value and will not simply disappear, it is the 'simple churches' - simple, house church-like forms springing up around the world - which have the potential for rapid multiplication and exponential growth. "This all comes together in a time when war and warmongering, spreading diseases, collapsing economies and governments, empty religions with unfulfilled promises and other insecurities and dangers are sending people on a quest for answers which can be found only in the Gospel," says Montgomery. Source: Dawn Report, Friday Fax --- JN453-5. RESOURCE: Countries and peoples of the world ILS International, in cooperation with Adopt-a-People Clearing House, has released a research tool titled 'Countries and Peoples of the World'. This CD contains information on all 233 nations of the world and all 16,000+ people groups. LINK: http://www.ywam.org/books/countries_and_peoples.htm --- 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. 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