DAWN Fridayfax 1996 #42

DAWN News from Germany, India, Ukraine, Spain

Germany: "Take your son, he's healed!"

India: how fanatic Hindus support evangelisation

Ukraine: church group accepts evangelistic target

Spain: reconciliation between leaders

Germany: "Take your son, he's healed!"

In mid-May 1996, the 12-year-old Patrick Feigl fell and injured his knee so badly on an escalator that he had to be taken to hospital. According to Helmut Funck of the Mennonite "Agape Gemeindewerk" in Bavaria, Patrick had given his life to Jesus only a few weeks earlier, and his mother had converted at the end of February 1996. The doctors put stitches in Patrick's knee, and he left the hospital walking on crutches.

At the start of June, he again fell and injured the same knee even worse than before. The skin had been pulled away from his kneecap, and there was a risk that the damage would be permanent.

Mrs Feigl says:

On the first Saturday in June, Patrick was taken to the Emergency department and immediately retained in hospital. The doctors suspected that he had fractured his kneecap, and the knee itself was infected. Patrick was put in a room with an old man who had suffered a stroke and was unable to move one side of his body. The doctors ordered strict rest for Patrick, gave him infusions and told me that they would probably have to operate.
Patrick, though, said 'Mum, I'll be healed in two days'. I didn't want to contradict him, but could not believe it. On Monday evening, we prayed in the hospital room, including for the old man - although I don't know if he realised. When I arrived in the hospital on Tuesday morning, Patrick was sitting in the old man's wheelchair. I told him to go back to bed immediately, but he told me 'I'm healed!'. Suddenly, I noticed the old man. He was standing up, hopping around.
What had happened? The two of them had 'had a party for Jesus' on Monday night, Patrick told me. He had simply got up and put a worship cassette in the tape recorder and said to the old man 'Come on, get up, we'll be healed tonight!' The old man, who could hardly speak, mumbled 'Oh sure, how am I going to do that?!'. But Patrick managed to get him out of the bed, and then they danced in the room.
At 11 o'clock in the morning, Patrick and the old man were lying in bed as four doctors came to visit. They opened Patrick's bandage to examine his knee. The head doctor said 'Something's wrong here! That can't be the injured knee. There's been some mistake here.' Patrick replied 'There's no mistake. That's the knee. Jesus healed me.' The knee was covered with skin and there was only a very small scar, even though it had not been stitched. It looked even better than stitched! The doctors said 'It's incredible. We've no idea what happened here. Mrs. Feigl, take your son. He's healed.'

Mrs. Feigl told us that she was probably smiling so broadly that her colleagues asked what was so special. "They wanted what I have," she says. In one day, she could lead two of them to Jesus.

Source: Rosi Feigl, Immanuel Gemeinde Munich, c/o Agapewerk, fax (49)-8136-7096

India: how fanatic Hindus support evangelisation

On 12th October 1996, the Indian evangelist Sadhu Chellappa held a crusade in the previously unreached town of Kandarvakkottai in Tamil Nadu. The pastor of a church-planting project had obtained permission for the event from the local police which was then withdrawn after he and the police chief received threats from the fanatic Hindu RSS party. The event could only take start at 6:30pm after the intervention of a local member of the Legislative Assembly. 1,000 of the town's 6,000 inhabitants came to listen, but the RSS was not so easily put off: they had the seemingly good idea of cutting off the town's electricity supply. They hadn't reckoned that the Christians had brought along a diesel generator able to power the lights and 32 loudspeakers. For the duration of the event, there were no other sources of noise, and the preacher's voice could be heard clearly throughout the town. According to Chellappa, hundreds accepted the gospel that evening. The newly-planted church is now attended by over 150 people.

Source: Sadhu Chellappa, fax (91) 44-4917522

Ukraine: church group accepts evangelistic target

On 10th October 1996, at a conference organised in cooperation with the "Alliance for Saturation Church Planting", the "Ukraine Union of Evangelical Christians and Baptists" accepted the evangelistic challenge of planting 50,000 new churches to reach the country with the gospel. A first short-term aim is to double the number of churches to 3,000 by 1998, then, in a second stage, again double to 6,000 by the year 2000.

Source: Rich Corell, Alliance for Saturation Church Planting, Budapest, e-mail 100102.167@Compuserve.com

Spain: reconciliation between leaders

On 26th September 1996, a probably unprecedented meeting took place in Banyoles in the Spanish province of Girona: 25 Christian leaders from various regional denominations and organisations met with the single aim of reconciliation between each other. "This," according to Jaume Torrado, coordinator of the 'Confraternidad Gironina de Ministros Evangelicos', "was the first meeting of its kind. The Holy Spirit was tangibly present, and brought repentance. The leaders admitted to each other that they had each personally become a hindrance to the unity of the Body of Christ. Following united repentance, they celebrated communion together."

The meeting took place in the same region where a Southern European consultation for national evangelistic strategies is planned for 11-13th December 1996 in cooperation with DAWN.

Source and info: Jaume Torrado; Paco Garcia, Nueva Vida, FAX (34) 56-535951

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