DAWN Fridayfax 1996 #4

DAWN News from India, USA, Iraq, Sudan, Ecuador, Worldwide

And the poor become bold: the transforming effect of the gospel

C.B. Samuel, Director of the Evangelical Fellowship of India Commission on Relief (EFICOR, New Delhi), reports:

A few months ago, a high-ranking government official responsible for development came on a routine inspection tour of remote tribal areas in the state Bihar. He wanted to publicise the government's new social programmes, which never reach the really needy.
After his public address, something unusual happened: one of the tribal members asked when the programme would become effective, and what happened to the government's previous programme which had been announced a few years before. There was complete silence. A tribe member had never before spoken at such a meeting. He had not only broken an unwritten tradition, but also asked a question.
A tribe member never asks, he only answers what the questioner wants to hear. But everyone knew that he had fearlessly spoken the truth. Someone whispered to the official that this was the result of Christians evangelising the tribes. The tribe members in this small town are being changed by the gospel and now honourably and fearlessly stand their ground. The Christians who were instrumental in this change are members of an indigenous Indian mission agency called "Friends Missionary Prayer Band", a group which has already planted hundreds of fellowships among India's unreached ethnic groups."

Source: C.B. Samuel, in: Transformation Vol. 13 No 1

Evolution: nobody was there

The "British Medical Journal" (Vol. 311) reports that American Christians' efforts to prevent the spread of teaching evolution have registered another small success. The 1996 schoolbooks in Alabama have to describe evolution as "a controversial theory represented by some scientists as a scientific explanation for the development of life." The group argues "nobody was there as life on earth began, so every statement about the beginnings of life should be treated as a theory and not as fact."

Source: Christians for Truth, RSA

Iraqi governor supports Christians

After an American Christian development organisation opened a medical clinic in the town of Dohouk in northern Iraq, they had good contact with the local government. The region's governor, Abdul Aziz Tayep, was subsequently invited to visit the US and not only met government representatives on 20 January 1996 in Nashville, Tennessee, but also attended two services at the protestant Belmont Church the following Sunday. Abdul Aziz, Moslem by birth, promised to protect Christian groups working among the predominantly Kurdish population in northern Iraq.

Source: name and address withheld.

Sudan: new churches planted after the Jesus film

The Jesus film, based on Luke's gospel, was shown to over 1.6 million people in Sudan in the first 10 months of 1995. According to the team of the Jesus film project, a branch of Campus Crusade for Christ, it is normal for 25 to 30 percent of the viewers to show further interest in Christianity by taking part in a spoken prayer at the end of the film. The film could also be shown in predominantly Islamic south Sudan, 400km (250 miles) south of Khartoum, the capital. At the end of the three-week film project in the region, 180,000 people had seen the film, of which at least 120,000 indicated that they wanted to follow Jesus. Five new churches and hundreds of Bible-study groups were planted.

Ecuador: God among the Quichuas

The colourfully-dressed Quichuas live in and around the Andean town of Riobamba. The Indian tribe was previously closed to the gospel, and it was estimated that only 2 percent of the town's population were evangelical Christians. The missionary David Martinez decided to try to reach the Quichuas by showing the Jesus film. He had to pay dearly for his decision: the windows of his car were smashed in an attempt to burn it; he has been imprisoned and interrogated, and his pregnant wife was once imprisoned when he was away from the town. Martinez' comment: "I'm ready to go to jail for a good cause, for Christ!" Now he can experience God moving among the Quichuas. In some areas, according to Campus Crusade for Christ, 40 percent of the Quichuas have become followers of Jesus.

Jesus film repeatedly breaks own records

A total of 732 million people have seen one of the 7,420 copies of the Jesus film; 42 million have decided to follow Jesus as a result. Aside from that, there are 1.3 million (official) videos of the film, which has been shown on television in 64 countries, translated in to 342 languages and shown by the 954 official Jesus film teams in 217 countries or regions. 443 other mission agencies also show the film.

Source: Jesus Film Project, Update, Vol. 12 #1/96

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