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Colombia: phenomenal church growth in Bogota.
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"In the last few years, God has done special in Colombia's capital Bogota," says
pastor Cesar Castellanos. "Many churches are experiencing a breakthrough as
never before seen in our country." Pastor Castellanos' church "Mision
Carismatica Internacional" started with only nine members, but had reach 18,000
by 1994. Now, mid 1996, it has around 40,000 visitors. If the growth continues,
in the 6 months until the end of 1996, it will reach 100,000 visitors, in a
planned 10,000 house churches (currently around 4,000). Pastor Castellanos
considers his concept simple: "I want to be based on Jesus, who had 12
disciples. I also chose 12 people to make to my personal disciples. That pyramid
continues throughout the church."
Source: Pastor Cesar Castellanos, MCI, Bogota
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USA: Promise Keepers on the rise
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After only 5 years, the 'Promise Keepers' movement of "men who keep their word",
founded by American football coach Bill McCartney is one of the largest mens'
movements ever, and is continuing to grow. Randy Phillips, Promise Keepers'
president, writes in the annual report that 727,342 men visited one of the
Promise Keepers conferences in 13 cities during 1995. Around 50,000 decided to
become Christians and 265,000 have registered as "men who keep their word, not
just give it". The "Promise Keepers Radio Highlights" are transmitted from 1,000
radio stations, and "New Man", the movement's magazine, has 300,000 subscribers.
1996's theme is "Break Down the Walls", and the plan is to bring men of various
races and denominations together for conferences and seminars. 1997's theme will
be "Stand in the Gap". One of Promise Keepers' representatives reported that the
movement is about to become international, with similar movements beginning in
many countries.
Source: Promise Keepers annual report
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Finland: President sends prayer requests
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Since 1994's "March for Jesus" in Helsinki, Finland's capital, many of the
city's pastors have met every Wednesday morning to pray for the city and
country. In autumn 1995, the group visited Martti Ahtisaari, the Finnish
president, in his palace and promised to pray regularly for the president and
his family. Ahtisaari was moved by the offer, according to one of the group, and
also promised to pray. Since then, he has contacted the group every second month
with a list of prayer points. In March 1996, some members of the Parliament
invited the pastors to pray in the Parliament buildings, where they now pray
every week. The first meeting was transmitted live in television and on radio.
Since then, 6 of the 16 ministers have also mentioned points for which they
would appreciate prayer.
Source: The group's prayer secretary, Antero Laukkanen, Helsinki
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Northern Africa: church-planting on the beach
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A Middle Eastern Christian leader has told us that there are currently revival
movements in two North African countries, of which very little is known in the
West. "We know," says the report, "of hundreds of conversions." In another
country, the number of evangelical Christians is "probably four times as high as
generally accepted by Western churches. The Christians meet in small and
difficult to find house churches." The report continues, "there are official
churches in only 6 Middle Eastern countries: Sudan, Egypt, Jordan,
Israel/Palestine, Syria and Iraq. In one of the Northern African countries, new
Christians are regularly found on the beach. Local Christians simply walk along
the beach with their eyes open, praying that God will show them which of the
many others on the beach are secret Christians. They then invite them to go for
a walk, and if it turns out that the other person is a Christian, perhaps having
been saved through radio programmes, Christian literature or experiences with
God, they invite them to house church meetings. In that way, the groups continue
to grow."
Source: name and address withheld
