DAWN Fridayfax 1995 #44

News from Switzerland, Germany, Middle East

Switzerland: Satanist is saved after a prophetic word

In the last few years, the Thun town church has become the centre of a Christian awakening as the result of new cooperation between various churches and movements. The "Lord's Meetings" which take place there are regularly attended by 700 people, with up to 1,200 attendees at the open-air meetings.

One of the secrets of the meeting's success, according to the evangelist Florian Bartsch (Thun), are the regular prophetic words, along with the sometimes spectacular healings and repentance. At a meeting in the town church a few weeks ago, Erich Reber, one of the town's Christian leaders, had the impression that a Satanist had come to disrupt the proceedings. God told him, he says, to express God's love for this man in front of everyone present, which he then did.

At the altar call later, a young man also came forward to repent and give his life to Jesus. He admitted that he was the Satanist mentioned in the prophecy, and had already come once in order to "strike Reber ill", as he said. However, he lost confidence when he saw that Reber was obviously "immune" against his rituals, and had come again in order to test for a last time whose power was stronger; Satan's or Jesus'. Today he follows Jesus.

Source: Erich Reber, Thun

Germany: the gospel to the poor - for 50,000 new churches

At the "Nuremberg Church Conference", around 4,000 Christians from the state and free churches, including some 600 pastors and leaders of Christian works, continued a process started in 1991 working towards renewal in the churches and the evangelistic saturation of Germany.

In 1991, many were surprised by the solidarity which arose between the charismatic and evangelical Christians; in 1992 the conference theme was the then unheard-of and now hotly and positively discussed "Church-planting in the state church"; the main theme in 1993 was "Church for the Unchurched". The central topic in this year's conference were 35 "models of hope"; local churches which demonstrate well how church-planting can take place in the Germany of the 1990s.

Three aims were set in a closing resolution signed by the majority of the attendees:

Evangelisation: because only 6 percent of Germans regularly attend one of the 44,500 church services, 50,000 more churches and fellowships should be planted. The aim is that everyone living in Germany will be able to "see and understand" the gospel in their cultural context in "God's shop window", the local churches (Romans 15:21).
Reconciliation: Every Christian should not only express reconciliation in their family and church and between peoples, but should also make themselves available to God as a bridge-builder.
Credibility: the conference attendees admitted their part in the credibility crisis in Germany's churches. For this reason, they resolved to care more for other people, particularly the poor, as Jesus did.

The American theology professor Ron Sider (Philadelphia) stated at the conference that if 10 percent of all Christians would give 10 percent of their income to the poor as a short-term loan for setting up "micro-enterprises", the quality of life of the world's approximately 1 billion suffering people would increase 50% inside one year. The congress also met a positive response from a wide audience for the first time. Apart from the very encouraging opening address from bishop Lowenich, European parliament member and ex-president Gomolka spoke of the necessity of bringing Europe back to the solid foundation of the 10 commandments. He said that the continent has no future without a Christian base.

Source: Wolfgang Simson, WolfSimson@compuserve.com

Awakening among fundamentalist Moslems

One of the most amazing evangelistic awakenings ever has occurred in one Middle-eastern country in the past 12 months. It all began with one man who simply went with a missionary to the responsible Islamic leader, a sheikh, to ask for permission to set up a tent in which to speak about Jesus Christ. The sheikh answered "That is a very good idea! Our Moslems are bad Moslems. We need to hear more about the prophet Jesus, this is great, teach more about Jesus!" After preaching in the tent for a few evenings, they showed the Jesus film, based on Luke's gospel; following the screening, 50 adults and a few children showed open interest in following Jesus. But that was just the start: the region's head of all sheikhs and Imans (Moslem priests) gave permission to show the Jesus film in the local mosques. In a period of only 7 months, around 1,000 Moslems converted to Christianity, of which at least 300 now regularly attend house-churches. Reports also mention healings, including a deaf and dumb boy who was able to speak for the first time after prayer.

Source: Frontiers, Rheineck

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