DAWN Fridayfax 1996 #27

DAWN News from Sri Lanka, Germany, Sudan

Sri Lanka: Power encounter with "killer abbot" leads to a church plant

"Not only the old Singhalese Kings' power centre lay in the spiritual triangle Anuradhapura, Polonnaruwa und Kandy; it was also the place where the oath was sworn to make a Buddhist country out of the old Ceylon, today's Sri Lanka. Still today," according to a leading pastor in the island of Sri Lanka, "the nation's spiritual fate is decided here."

Hidden behind the tourist attractions at the three Buddhist 'holy places' is the fact that, for example, no church was permitted in the Polonnaruwa region for a long time, and that a Roman Catholic church was burned down. The region's spiritual ruler was the abbot of a Buddhist monastery who was known as a magician and murderer. Two years ago, there was a confrontation between him and members of a denomination who wanted to plant a church there following a prayer initiative.

"The Buddhist abbot threatened to have our pastor killed within a week, but something quite different happened: not the pastor, but the abbot was killed as a result of a terrorist attack. There are now two churches there, with another planned." That particular denomination plans to grow from approximately 320 to 1000 churches by the year 2000.

Source: withheld
More from Sri Lanka

Sri Lanka: Evangelisation and church planting through Bible correspondence course

According to a Sri Lankan pastor, a Bible correspondence course based on a church-planting vision and coupled with the corresponding strategy offers good opportunities for evangelisation. 8,000 students have enrolled for a 3-year Bible-study course following adverts in newspapers, and several churches have already been planted.

It is reported that 6,400 (80 percent of the participants) have decided to become Christians and join local churches. Most of the responses are from young people who have completed their education and await their entry into the world of work, mostly in vain due to the scarcity of jobs. "Sri Lanka", says a participating pastor, "presently has the world's highest suicide rate, and the amount of frustration is so great that particularly young people are desperately looking for spiritual help."

And how can a Bible course lead to church planting? "Simple," says one pastor, "The graduates are invited to receive their diploma in person, for which we arrange regional ceremonies at which we speak about the need for new local churches and invite the graduates to immediately become part of our vision and, along with their friends, plant new churches." One pastor also told us that a number of the new Christians used to be Buddhist monks.

Source: withheld

ACTS: a new procedure for training leaders in Germany

ACTS, a three-phase training concept developed by the Ecumenical Church Institute (Christian A. Schwarz) and the Wurzburg free church "Christians in Action" will soon be presented.

The concept offers a new way of training leaders, which, according to the initiators, "starts where the strategic bottleneck in church growth generally lies: in practical training instead of abstract learning, offered as part-time 'starter education'" ACTS' aim and programme is that more people start to build or plant churches; the students will also be assisted by practical coaching while ministering after the training.

The focus is on practical training for current and future multipliers and the emphasis is deliberately student-centred instead of teacher-centred. "The teaching plan," according to ACTS, "is not dominated by famous lecturers; the important points are actively worked out by the students in processes tailored to their needs." ACTS, named after the German abbreviation for "Start, Coaching, Training, Student-oriented", will start in January 1997, with an initial information day planned for 26th October 1996 in Wurzburg.

Source and info: Christen in Aktion, Schuererstr.4, D-97080 Wurzburg, Tel/Fax+(49) 931-15644 e-mail ACTSwue@aol.com

Sudan: whole groups of Moslems become Christians

A reliable source tells us that converted Moslems have formad a number of Christian groups in villages in southern Sudan. Some of these groups have 30-40 members, others up to 70. The Moslems were saved through personal evangelisation by the local churches and through seeing the Jesus film based on Luke's gospel.

Source: name and address withheld.

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