| JOEL-NEWS-INTERNATIONAL-477 * 2 JUNE 2004 * WWW.JOELNEWS.ORG IN THIS EDITION: JN477-1. TYPICALLY GOD: Tearing down the wall of division JN477-2. PRAYER FOCUS: Unity in the church in Zambia JN477-3. NEWS: Already 40,000-60,000 house churches in India JN477-4. NEWS: Large-scale conversion and healings in India JN477-5. WEBLOG: Sex, for God's sake JN477-6. RESOURCE: Heaven is open --- PRAYER - http://www.joelnews.org/prayer.htm What happens when a whole continent prays? Christians from all across Africa joined in prayer on May 2, 2004. Dawie and Isebel Spangenberg coordinated the event and report back. --- JN477-1. TYPICALLY GOD: Tearing down the wall of division In Berlin, the city that was once globally infamous for its division, a sign of hope has sprung up: churches and ministries are uniting in a long-term process to reach the city. "The Berlin Wall may be gone, but there is still a wall in people's minds and hearts," says pastor Hans-Peter Pache of the Lucas Fellowship in Berlin. Divisions between 'ossies' and 'wessies', (easterners and westerners), Germans and foreigners, old and young, and charismatics and non-charismatics show that unity did not all come overnight. Yet Hans-Peter and fellow-pastor Axel Nehlsen have been living towards a vision of unity in the city for several years now. Their vision is for believers from all sorts of churches across the city to celebrate their unity in diversity, working together to demonstrate the hope of the gospel in every sphere of city life: education, politics, business, healthcare, family-life, entertainment, the media - and of course, in the church itself. In a city of four million, only 120,000 regularly attend church, of which perhaps only half profess a living faith. Hans-Peter and Axel want to see that number rise to 400,000, ten percent of the inhabitants. Axel, a state-church pastor, believes hundreds of new churches need to be planted in the city for this to happen: mega-churches, small churches, contemporary and traditional, German-speaking and in other languages. "Only with this sort of variety will we reach the city," he declares. Hans-Peter is even more specific. He believes Berlin needs 1700 new churches. But that requires long-term thinking and planning. Pache and Nehlsen have been building relationships with other pastors through prayer breakfasts over the past five years, sharing their vision of unity. This breakfast meeting has now grown into Gemeinsam für Berlin (Together for Berlin), a relationally-based network of leaders from some 140 churches and organisations seeking to shape every sector of the city with the gospel. The values of Gemeinsam für Berlin include: - embracing the whole body of Christ in the city and welcoming new models of church, such as youth congregations, cells, house churches and ethnic fellowships; - recognising that evangelistic and social responsibilities for Berlin must be fulfilled together; - affirming that working together means unity with diversity, not uniformity and compromise; - and building relationships of openness and trust between leaders as models for right relationships in the local congregations. With thanks to Jeff Fountain for the report. LINK: http://www.gfberlin.de/english/index.html --- JN477-2. PRAYER FOCUS: Unity in the church in Zambia John Robb of the International Prayer Council just finished a trip to Zambia and reports that the HIV/AIDS continues to devastate the lives of hundreds of thousands, leaving many children to fend for themselves on the streets, and greatly weakening the national economy. Most churches sadly are not yet involved in the struggle against AIDS. A complicating factor is strife between government officials and political parties. This division has penetrated the church as well. The apostolic-prophetic movement has intensified divisions as numerous local leaders have assumed titles like 'apostle', 'prophet' or 'bishop' to elevate themselves above others, creating wide-scale confusion and resentment. Prosperity theology has also corrupted many who teach that level of income and material possessions are expected marks of God's blessing. Pray for the humility and love of Christ described in Philippians 2 to be manifested among the church leaders in Zambia, so that a united prayer movement can develop. Pray that the church will arise and take spiritual and practical responsibility for her nation. Source: IPC --- JN477-3. NEWS: Already 40,000-60,000 house churches in India Northern India is home to one of the fastest-growing revival movements on Earth. Last year alone, 200 new house churches were planted in Hariyana, which was long considered to be one of India's least evangelised states. According to an April 2004 report, the number of house churches in Northern India has grown to around 30,000 in the past 7 years, with an additional 28,000 regular home prayer meetings. Experience shows that these rapidly become house churches. Church growth adviser Joshua Pillai reports that there are a further 10,000 house churches in Southern India. Source: Agape Voice --- JN477-4. NEWS: Large-scale conversion and healings in India "Night after night, with bus loads of curious Indians being transported to the crusade grounds from their respective villages, their desire to forsake their 3 million gods and only follow after Jesus was truly an amazement to us," reports Ken Greter of Canada-based Fresh Fire Ministries. He claims that nearly a quarter of a million people attended the Jesus Festival in Andhra Pradesh, India, last month. Of these, 139,200 people made a decision for Christ, and tens of thousands received baptism of the Holy Spirit. Of course also many healing miracles happened. At Joel News we know that most reports we receive from evangelists or evangelistic ministries tend to be too positive about numbers of conversions and healings. It's save to take 30% off, and 50% if they are charismatic and/or North-American (sorry guys ;-). Also it's difficult to measure the depth of the evangelical practice of asking people to 'make a decision for Jesus'. Still God is at work and this report is highly encouraging. LINK: http://www.freshfire.ca/Revival_Report.asp?ID=NEAR002 --- JN477-5. WEBLOG: Sex, for God's sake Joel News publisher Marc van der Woude keeps a weblog in which he reflects on God, the Church and daily life. This week he cites two interesting reports about Christians who try to make a difference in the area of sex on television. The Anglican church in Sydney launched a late night television program titled 'Good Sex', featuring Christian panelists talking frankly with invited guests about all kinds of sex-related topics. The program, which is garnering an average of 350 email responses a week, is now part of the diocese's evangelism strategy. The church aims to convert 10 percent of the population of Sydney to Christianity by 2012. Peter Jensen, the archbishop of Sydney, said he regarded the show as great fun with a serious underlying message. In America two pastors and a pornographer formed an unlikely alliance to create a Public Service Announcement to keep children sheltered from obscenity. The pastors also created a website, XXXchurch.com, to minister to porn stars and pornography addicts. LINK: http://marcsmessages.typepad.com/mm/2004/05/sex_for_gods_sa.html --- JN477-6. RESOURCE: Heaven is open Belgian designer David Sörensen developed an evangelistic website that is highly visual and communicates with people on a heart level about God's abundant love. LINK: http://www.heavenisopen.com --- 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. 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. |
(c) Copyright 1997-2003 Joel News
