DAWN Fridayfax 1995 #34

News from Sri Lanka, Nepal, India, Germany

72 Columns - a plan approved by God

A Christian engineer from the Indian state of Kerala who is currently working in Saudi Arabia woke up two months ago after a strange dream in which he received the clear building plan of a large building. When he mentioned it in a prayer meeting, a woman told him "I have the impression that you should go to Sri Lanka to speak with Pastor Colton about it."

The engineer, who had never before heard of Colombo's pastor Colton Wickramaratne, did as she suggested. He discovered that pastor Colton was planning a new church building for a fast-growing fellowship and was looking for a competent Christian engineer. The engineer told him of his dream and asked "Pastor, does the building you are planning have 72 columns, like the one in my dream?" Colton quickly counted the columns on the plan and found that there were indeed 72! He saw the encounter as a special confirmation that the plan was from God, and in addition had found a competent and motivated engineer who could take charge of the project.

Source: Sadhu Chellappa, Madras

Nepal: Goal-oriented co-operation between Baptists and mission organisations

Representatives of 20 Baptist churches and 35 mission organisations have agreed on a common goal: they want to plant 300 new churches before the year 2000. The Nepal Baptist Church Council declared in a resolution that they would concentrate on evangelising the 19.8 million Hindus in the Himalayan country, instead of recruiting members from other churches. Nepal's Baptist churches have around 2,500 members.

Source: Advance Sept. 95

We need new leaders!

"Be honest: when did you as a leader last cry for someone who doesn't yet know Christ?" According to Dr. Greg Groh, Vice President of the "World Leadership Council" (Denver, USA), a Christian consultancy with a worldwide staff of over 100, a complete change in Christian leadership all over the world is necessary because of the trend towards technocratic, bureaucratic and impersonal leadership in church heirarchy.

Dr. K. Rajaratnam, Rector of Serampore (India's most famous theological seminary), believes that in the face of a power-oriented church structure, turning the hierarchy pyramid upside-down can be the only response. He says that for that to happen, local churches will have to develop a new model of leadership. Changes in the structure are most likely to happen bottom-up instead of top-down.

At a seminar for church leaders in Madras, India, Dr. Groh emphasised that Biblical leadership is based on the development of the right attitudes and not on theoretical principles. In the world, the motto is "Leaders have the power to lead, others the grace to follow", whereas in Christianity it is "Leaders have the grace to lead, others the power to follow." The secular and spiritual models of leadership are fundamentally different. Groh says that a leader's job is to create surroundings for others in which they can discover God's calling on their lives and practice it without needing to fear failure. One example of the change necessary in training leaders is the recognition that the knowledge-oriented method of learning is not as useful as the Hebrew way: "You don't understand something until you have done it yourself." He says that a complete redefinition of leadership is both necessary and happening in the post-perestroika churches in the CIS (Commonwealth of Independent States). He is critical of the "charismatic" leadership model, in which leaders often cannot be challenged or set aside because of their "divine calling" - a model which leads to positive reactions in the short term, but bitter rebellion in the long.

Such leaders, even in old age, often only make way grudgingly for younger leaders, and when they do so, "often take the key with them, in order to remain indispensable." The World Leadership Council, which is involved in leadership consultancy for governments, companies, mission organisations, denominations and churches and wants to encourage future generations of Christians leaders all over the world, has observed the following: groups which invest primarily in structures, buildings and budgets generally fail to reach their aims. Groups which invest mainly in people as a rule do achieve what they set out to do.

Source and Information: World Leadership Council, Denver, USA, FAX +1-303- 790-4486 Tel +1-303-790-4477

Germany: prayers for "Death Motorway"

Evangelical youths in Plauen, Germany, hold regular prayer nights for revival and spiritual unity in their area. One evening, one of the leaders felt that he should pray for the nearby section of motorway, the A72. 12 people died in accidents there in the first quarter of 1994 alone. The young Christians prayed specially for this section, and a few also prayed while driving on it, asking God for help against the permanent endangering of lives. Although 12 people were killed in the first 3 months of the year, only 2 were killed in the following 9. The police were very positively surprised by the development, even though they had also taken measures to make the section safer.

Source: Furbitte fur Deutschland 2/95

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