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JOEL-NEWS-INTERNATIONAL-466 * 22 JANUARY 2004 * WWW.JOELNEWS.ORG

IN THIS EDITION:

JN466-1. TYPICALLY GOD: 'This city is chosen by God'
JN466-2. PRAYER FOCUS: Emerging generation in Norway
JN466-3. NEWS: Jesus Revolution kickstarts church planting
JN466-4. TREND: 90% of churches in LatAm planted by young people
JN466-5. TREND: Churchless Christians form 'fastest growing church'
JN466-6. RESOURCE: DAWN process in Norway

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TO OUR READERS: Part of this edition is dedicated to what God is doing in Norway. Joel News editor Marc van der Woude attended several DAWN-related consultations, met up with key leaders, and reports. The links refer to his weblog, an online diary with personal observations and reflections. It is also possible to comment on the postings (click on 'comments' to do that). The full report on Norway is available at http://marcsmessages.typepad.com/#no.
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JN466-1. TYPICALLY GOD: 'This city is chosen by God'

Norway's second city, Bergen, has currently one of the most promising city reaching initiatives in Europe. It is based on the Lighthouse prayer evangelism strategy in which Christians adopt their area in prayer, practical care and sharing Jesus.

It started off with bonfires on the seven mountaintops surrounding the city, where Christians prayed and worshipped throughout the night and blessed every geographical and societal area. At this moment Bergen has 1200 Lighthouses spread across the city. As a result, the city is opening up for what the church has to contribute. The local newspaper opened with this headline: 'Bergen is chosen by God'.

LINK: http://makeashorterlink.com/?G1A624627

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JN466-2. PRAYER FOCUS: Emerging generation in Norway

In Norway the prayer movement and the DAWN movement (of which many church streams are part) are learning to work together effectively. In a joined 'What is God saying to Norway' meeting last week the leaders heard God say that He wants the emerging generation for Himself, and that it's time to train a whole generation of new church planters. This message was also communicated to the wider Body and well responded to.

Let's pray for a spirit of unity, creativity and boldness on the church in Norway. That the generations will work together effectively in the harvest, and that younger church planters will become truly innovative in reaching and discipling people.

LINK: http://makeashorterlink.com/?X4D625627

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JN466-3. NEWS: Jesus Revolution kickstarts church planting

A dynamic youth movement called Jesus Revolution, founded a few years ago by Stefan and Anne Christiansen, has set up a Christian student group in every high school in Norway. During a church planting conference, Stefan realized that it's not enough to simply start groups - they should be planting churches. Under the motto 'Europe needs 500,000 new churches? Let's go!' they have so far planted three churches in Norway and several in European cities by sending out teams of young church planters. The movement now has a church planting school, leadership academy and several media services.

LINK: http://www.jesusrevolution.org

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JN466-4. TREND: 90% of churches in LatAm planted by young people

DAWN missionary Berna Salcedo reports that in Latin America 90% of the new churches are being planted by people under 25 years old. He comments: "The young people really want to be challenged. If I spend one day with a young guy and teach him how to plant a church, he will do it the next day." And a related observation: "The more time you take to teach people, the less likely they will do it. It's best to just lauch out and learn on the way."

LINK: http://makeashorterlink.com/?P4F622627

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JN466-5. TREND: Churchless Christians form 'fastest growing church'

Andrew Jones, a consultant on 'emerging culture' with the DAWN European Network, stated last week on a national conference in Norway that "the fastest growing church is that of the churchless Christians." Many people (and especially 'cultural creatives' like the new media folks) leave church because they want to grow spiritually and the church is limiting that. They rather connect and interact with people who see life as a journey with Jesus and each other.

For the same reason new agers and other spiritual seekers don't feel attracted to church. They think Christians are immature and unspiritual, and cannot really engage with their questions and pursuit of a relevant lifestyle. The other side of the coin is that a good percentage of churchless Christians explore new ways of being the Body of Christ in the emerging culture, and seem to connect well with spiritual seekers.

LINK: http://makeashorterlink.com/?X4D625627
LINK: http://www.reality.org.nz/articles/33/33-jamieson.html

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JN466-6. RESOURCE: DAWN process in Norway

The nations in Europe that are most ahead in terms of a national DAWN process (in which various denominations and networks commit themselves to saturate their nation with new churches) are Norway, Portugal and Romania. A common denominator is that these nations intentionally combine prayer, unity and church planting. Øivind Augland, the DAWN coordinator for Norway, compiled a number of articles and reports that describe the process in his nation over the last 10 years.

LINK: http://www.dawnnorge.no/sider/artikler.asp?kat=english

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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.

Editor: Marc van der Woude. You can contact the editorial office at joel-news@xs4all.nl.

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