www.joelnews.nl

JOEL-NEWS-INTERNATIONAL-470 * 11 MARCH 2004 * WWW.JOELNEWS.ORG

IN THIS EDITION:

JN470-1. TYPICALLY GOD: Seek first the Kingdom of God
JN470-2. NEWS: Local church prayer leaders form new network
JN470-3. WEBLOG: Emerging church and The Passion
JN470-4. RESOURCE: The Net: A vision for the Church
JN470-5. RESOURCE: Transforming children into spiritual champions
JN470-6. RESOURCE: Out-of-church Christians

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PASSION - http://www.passionofchrist.nl
BLOG - http://marcsmessages.typepad.com/passion/
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JN470-1. TYPICALLY GOD: Seek first the Kingdom of God

"'The church which gives world mission priority will have no lack,' said a church member ten years ago, while we were discussing plans for a new church building," remembers pastor Reinhard Weber of the Königsbrunn Evangelical Fellowship near Nuremburg, Germany. "The church had 58 members, and gave 3% of donations to world mission. Should we spend 1.5 million Euro on a new church building? 'Yes, we'll take the chance - but we won't cut back on the missions collections!' we said. Today, ten years later, we've moved into the new church building. Church membership has almost tripled, to 160, but our missions contribution has grown twentyfold."

Source: EMO Aktuell Feb/March 2004

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JN470-2. NEWS: Local church prayer leaders form new network

Pastors and local church prayer leaders in America formed a new network devoted to resourcing, idea-incubating, and training men and women who lead prayer in local congregations. The new network links prayer coordinators, pastors who champion prayer and prayer-related staff members and volunteers through an interactive website.

LINK: http://www.prayerleader.com

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JN470-3. WEBLOG: Emerging church and The Passion

Joel News publisher Marc van der Woude keeps a weblog in which he reflects on God, the Church and daily life. This week he summarized an interesting discussion on the 'emerging church' and visited a preview of Mel Gibson's 'The Passion'.

How to define the emerging church?
http://marcsmessages.typepad.com/mm/2004/02/emerging_church.html

A review of 'The Passion of the Christ'
http://marcsmessages.typepad.com/mm/2004/03/passion_preview.html

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JN470-4. RESOURCE: The Net: A vision for the Church

God is forming a worldwide network of interlocking relationships between groups of believers in every place. Although the net is in a very early stage of development, it is forming at a rapid pace. Initially, God is joining key individuals and groups together, making critical personal and geographical connections for His future purposes. But His intention is to involve everyone who is willing to be a part of this net.

In this prophetic article Phil Townend gives a balanced 'management summary' of what the Spirit is saying to the Church these days.

LINK: http://www.nrn.net/the_net.htm

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JN470-5. RESOURCE: Transforming children into spiritual champions

In this excerpt from his book 'Transforming Children Into Spiritual Champions' church growth researcher George Barna describes the impact of prayer on the spiritual development of young children, and how pastors can maximize their investment in children.

LINK: http://makeashorterlink.com/?N15441587

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JN470-6. RESOURCE: Out-of-church Christians

The number of 'Out-of-church' Christians in the West is growing rapidly, says researcher Andrew Strom from New Zealand. These are people who have left their churches for various reasons, but still claim a strong Christian faith. The surprising thing is that they are often the most committed kind of Christians - praying, insightful, deep-thinking. Yet they have grown tired of 'playing the game' inside our church system and have opted out. The 'lack of God' is what gets to them - even in our most 'Spirit-filled' churches.

LINK: http://homepages.ihug.co.nz/~revival/00-Out-Of-Church.html

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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.

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