DAWN Fridayfax 1995 #21

News from Argentina, Germany, Ecuador, Brazil, Taiwan

225,000 attend services: daily services in a cinema

Twice as many as in a jam-packed football stadium! The protestant free-church "Ondas de Amor y Paz" (Waves of love and peace) in the Argentinian capital Buenos Aires attracts 225,000 people each week, including daughter churches. It has become the second-largest church in the world. The main church in Buenos Aires has 90,000 members. Also unusual: the main services take place in a cinema, with various meetings running from 9am to midnight every day.
Beside producing radio programmes which are transmitted on secular stations, the church owns a television station.

3,000 baptisms each month - a regular Pentecost!

The church's 6,000 home groups have been replaced by frequent informal meetings in members' homes for those who are interested in Christianity. Except the host and one of the church staff, no Christians should attend the meetings, which are organised in series of 3 or 4. "Christians do not practice religious incest, and have always been recognised for their open hearts and hospitality," according to pastor Hector Gimenez. That which is still almost unthinkable in Europe is daily reality in Latin America: the church has its own radio station. The movement has also planted 148 other local churches - 10 in neighbouring Uruguay - and claims to baptise 3,000 people each month - as many as following Peter's speech at Pentecost. All 3,000 become members of the church. The church also wants to send out 300 missionaries in the near future, to the Asian and Middle-Eastern countries which have up to now been least influenced by the gospel.

Source: Ruben Gutknecht, Buenos Aires, Fax: 0054-1-9821720

No theological training, but pastor anyway...

You can't miss it: theological training at universities and Bible schools is out, practical training in the church is in. Traditional theological training centres have problems to fill their classes, and "home-made" pastors, apprentices of those with experience, are on the increase. Around 70% of the approximately 1.5 million protestant pastors in the world have no theological training, and yet the protestant free-churches are the fastest-growing minority in the world.

German Pastor Michael Winkler of the evangelical free-church "Treffpunkt Leben" ("Life Rendezvous") in Ditzingen near Stuttgart, has demonstrated that practical training to become a pastor is also attractive to Germans: over 60 people are being trained in the church's own "Church-building Workshop." This training concept, which is, according to the leadership, completely practically-oriented, is now expanding. It is already open to non-members of the church, and together with the Zurich-based "Institut für Gemeindeaufbau und Weltmission" (Institute for church-growth and world mission), they are now offering a 3-year practical training course based in local churches.

Source and info: Tel/Fax (49)0711-831119

Ecuador: 1,200 new churches in 12 years

According to Bruno Radzisewski, speaker of the protestant Free Church of the Nazarene in Ecuador, his group alone has founded 1,200 new churches throughout Latin America in the last 12 years, which brought 100,000 new members into the church. In comparison, only 350 new churches were planted between 1913 and 1983, with a total of 19,000 members. Radzisewski attributes the success to systematic work according to strategic planning, among other things.

Source: Bruno Radzisewski

Soon 75 million Protestants in Brazil?

Brazil, once a traditional catholic country, will soon have a protestant majority if the current development continues. In 1890, there were only 143,000; by 1950, the number had grown to 1.7 million; in 1990, there were over 17 million. The latest figures show an average of 40 million protestant church-goers each week, compared to only 8 million catholics. If the trend continues, more than 50% of the population of 150 million will be protestant by the year 2014.

Source: Oswaldo Prado, National Co-ordinator, AD2000, Brazil

Taiwan: island of growth

1600 pastors and church representatives met in 1991 to found the "Year 2000 Gospel Movement." The protestant churches on this island which had been previously neglected by Christianity planned a united way forward. The churches aim to have 2 million protestant Christians on the island by the year 2000, in 10,000 churches, and to have sent 200 missionaries to other countries.

The figures recently presented by Joan Shia, the movement's co- ordinator, show that these are more than simply daydreams. They show the expansion rate climbing from 2% in 1991 to 6% in 1994, accompanied by an increase from 2666 to 3300 churches. Given the current development, Shia thinks that it is not unreasonable to expect the aims to be achieved.

Source: Joan Shia, Taiwan

This Web version of the DAWN Fridayfax is maintained by the Jesus Fellowship Church (Jesus Army) as a service to the Christian church. Please visit our web pages which feature the e-zine Streetpaper and its special Revival section.