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Chile: Companies prefer evangelical employees
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An article in a recent edition of a Chilean business magazine states that many
companies give preference to Evangelical employees because they are "good and
honest workers and bring blessing."
Source: Berna Salcedo, Dawn Ministries, FAX (1)-719-548-7475
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England: Sunday School in the supermarket
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"Sunday Schools in supermarkets can be a radical new way of reaching a
generation with the gospel," says Salvation Army Captain David Ramsay, and with
good reason: they have been experimenting with the idea since 29 September 1996
in a Tesco supermarket in Maidstone in England. Apparently, the idea for the
project came not from churches but was suggested during Tesco's Annual General
Meeting. An innovative Salvation Army member read of the suggestion in the
business section of the "Sunday Times" newspaper and immediately offered his
assistance. Lee Toveney, Customer Advisor at the supermarket, says "At first, we
thought the idea would take some time to catch on, but the first one was
over-subscribed. Local and national newspapers sent reporters to find out about
it. It must be the right thing at the right time." The Salvation Army team was
given a training room with space for at most 30 children. Captain Ramsay's
message: "If you won't come to church, we'll bring the church to you!" The first
meeting for 7-12-year-olds, with songs, drawing, a video and Biblical stories
from 11-12am was a hit. "We were very open with Tesco right from the start,"
says Ramsay, "We don't have any hidden agenda. We told them that we're here to
preach the gospel, which they accepted. I'm not sure that the management
understood our joke when we told them 'If this is a success, you'll have to
close on Sunday.'"
Source: David Ramsay, Salvation Army, Maidstone
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Germany: Sexual purity on television
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On 20 October 1996, 400 teenagers met in Alzey, Southern Germany, for a "True
love waits" congress consisting of testimonies and discussions about sexual
purity in the age of so-called sexual liberty. During the congress, Michael
Muller, the German coordinator for the movement which has begun in many nations,
said that the secular world is amazed that there are actually teenagers in
Germany who avoid sexual contact before marriage and are even willing to give a
vow of abstinency. Muller and his colleagues have been flooded with invitations
to air their "strange views" in various radio and television stations.
Source: "Wahre Liebe wartet", Germany
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Switzerland: healed of cysts and gallstones
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Mrs. Deyse Schümperli tells us that her doctor declared her healed
from cysts in her lungs and body and gallstones which had been suffering since
1976. "The doctor, examining an X-ray he made of my lungs during an examination,
said 'Your lungs are completely healed! I can't explain it.'" She replied
"Doctor, my God healed me." He could only reply "I think so too," in a quiet
voice.
Source: Deyse Schümperli, Fax (41)-36-235258
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Zimbabwe: 3,400 new churches planted since 1992
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Xolisani Dlamini of the Evangelical Fellowship of Zimbabwe reports that the
church in Zimbabwe will be able to reach the aim of planting 10,000 churches by
the year 2000, set during a DAWN congress in 1992. According to a recent study
of Zimbabwe's 23 most important denominations, the number of churches has
increased from 6,851 to 9,191, with a 72% increase in membership. According to
Dlamini, extrapolating these figures to include all of the country's
denominations gives a figure of 3,400 new churches planted in the 4 years since
the "Target 2000" congress in Harare. The evangelistic cooperation between the
churches has also accelerated their annual growth from 10% in 1992 to 15%
annually over the last 4 years. Dlamini says that if the trend continues, "we
will not only reach the goal of 10,000 new churches by 2000 but also have around
7.8 million members in those churches."
Source and info: Xolisani Dlamini, Target 2000, Box 2803, Bulawayo, Zimbabwe,
FAX (263)-9-68179
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India: Church planting with prayer and a bucket of water
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The new Christian, an ex-Hindu, was shocked: his rice field was full of weeds,
and he was in danger of becoming the butt of village jokes because his harvest
looked so poor. In tears, he went to the Indian missionary Ravikumar Kurapati.
"I encouraged him with the Word of God," says Kurapati. "The next day, I went
with him to his field, watched by almost the entire village. I took a bucket of
fresh water, and prayed. I then asked him to take the water and throw it over
his crop. When the harvest time came, he was amazed: he collected an incredible
30 sacks of rice from his narrow strip of land. It also opened the other
villagers' eyes to see that Jesus Christ is the true God," says Kurapati, who
planted a new church in the village. The newly-saved farmer donated some of his
land for the church.
Source: Gospel for Asia, Thiruvalla, India
