| JOEL-NEWS-INTERNATIONAL-491 * 30 NOVEMBER 2004 * WWW.JOELNEWS.ORG IN THIS EDITION: JN491-1. TYPICALLY GOD: Baptist leader makes friends with his foe JN491-2. PRAYER FOCUS: Political tensions in Ukraine JN491-3. NEWS: 1,000 new churches planted every week JN491-4. NEWS: Restoration in Herrnhut JN491-5. NEWS: One million hours of praise JN491-6. WEBLOG: Praying in Brussels --- JN491-1. TYPICALLY GOD: Baptist leader makes friends with his foe The Baptist Bishop of Georgia, Malkhaz Songulashvili, has made friends with his worst foe - the defrocked former Orthodox Priest Basil Mkalasvishvili. He was responsible for burning Bibles in front of a Baptist church in Tbilisi in February 2002 and for several attacks on Baptist worshippers in 2003. Mkalasvishvili was indicted for these criminal activities together with nine of his adherents. During the court proceedings Bishop Songulashvili was called as a witness. He took the opportunity of explaining the Gospel message of reconciliation. He called for leniency and the release of the defendants. As a sign of forgiveness Songulashvili offered his hand to the defendants through the bars of the steel cage, in which the prisoners were following the proceedings. The Bishop said he wanted no compensation for the material damage. But he expected Mkalasvishvili to bring a bottle of wine to a reunion after his release from jail, said Songulashvili accompanied by applause from the courtroom audience. Mkalasvishvili accepted the gesture. When Songulashvili celebrated the tenth anniversary of his Bishop's office, his former adversary sent a cake and two icons. These were his most treasured presents, said the Bishop. Most of the 5.5 million inhabitants of Georgia are orthodox. The 5.000 Baptists form the biggest Protestant church in the South East European country. Source: ASSIST News Service --- JN491-2. PRAYER FOCUS: Political tensions in Ukraine Since the recent presidential elections the situation in Ukraine is volatile. The nation is utterly divided in two camps: the Western-leaning Viktor Yushchenko versus the Russian-leaning Viktor Yanukovich. Yushchenko has charged Yanukovich (who is the favorite of current President Kuchma) with engineering a massive vote fraud that has resulted in a coup d'etat. Yushchenko called his supporters to organize passive resistance, including large scale demonstrations and protests. Some of his key supporters are calling for strikes to shut down the country. The good news about Ukraine is that the Church is strong, has been growing significantly over the past ten years, and is sending out missionaries to the surrounding nations. Let's pray that the Lord protects Ukraine from violence, alienation, and a fracture of the already somewhat fragile social, political, and economic structures. Pray that the Lord will give his shalom and his wisdom, especially to the believers who are seeking the Lord in prayer and intercession, and that there would be an outpouring of the grace of the Lord upon this country. Source: Joel News --- JN491-3. NEWS: 1,000 new churches planted every week Missions agency Christian Aid was founded in 1953 by Bob Finley, who worked closely with Billy Graham. It was one of the first American missions agencies to support local missionaries instead of (expensive) Americans, particularly in nations where Evangelical Christians are an oppressed minority. Today, they support 90,000 missionaries, and are training 40,000 missions workers in hundreds of Bible schools. They plant over 52,000 new churches every year - that's 1,000 each week. LINK: http://www.christianaid.org --- JN491-4. NEWS: Restoration in Herrnhut Christians in Herrnhut, the birthplace of the Moravian revival, plan to buy a former hospital in the middle of town to establish a Christian training centre and a house of prayer. "For about 25 years the Lord has been speaking to us again and again about His desire to restore the spiritual position of Herrnhut, particularly about a new prayer watch, a strong new release of missionaries and a new quality of praise and worship," writes Martin Winter, one of the leaders of the project. "From various people, we repeatedly received the word out of Genesis 26:12-22, where Isaac redug the wells that were stopped by the enemy. God wants us to push through to the fountain of spiritual life in order for fresh spiritual water to flow. This will not be a copy of the old Herrnhut because it is God's character to release new things in a new quality." LINK: http://www.czherrnhut.de/index.e.html --- JN491-5. NEWS: One million hours of praise "God has given me a vision to mobilise the church and the nations of the earth to worship Jesus for one million hours," writes Catherine Brown from Scotland. "And we at million hours of praise believe that this worship will carry on past many millions of hours. You may ask why? Because Jesus is worth it! We want to believe there will be a symphony of praise that will resonate throughout the earth, in every nation, across every continent - that every tribe and creed and colour would come and worship Jesus..." A global day of praise is being scheduled for 25 June 2005, when tens of thousands of Christians from all over the world will make their way to Berlin to worship Jesus. The massive event is an initiative of British worship leader Noel Richards. LINK: http://www.millionhoursofpraise.com LINK: http://www.callingallnations.com --- JN491-6. WEBLOG: Praying in Brussels Joel News publisher Marc van der Woude keeps a weblog in which he reflects on God, the Church and daily life. Last week he went to Brussels to hang out with the European Prayer Link (EPL), who just finished 48 hours of prayer and worship in the EU capital. "Every time EPL met in a nation, there was (unknown to us beforehand) a significant political, social and/or spiritual development going on. Apparently God gathered his prophets and intercessors 'for such a time as this' to accomplish his purposes. It was and still is wonderful to be part of this spiritual dynamic, as history (His-story) is often being shaped by the intercessors." LINK: http://marcsmessages.typepad.com/mm/2004/11/epl_in_brussels.html --- 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. |
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