-
Turkey: Mayor of Istanbul welcomes the 'Reconciliation Walk'
-
Mayor Guetuna welcomed the 'Reconciliation Walkers' to Istanbul on 22 October
with the words "This project is important for Turkey, as you can see when
Turkish people stop to applaud the walkers as they pass." The participants in
the march from Cologne to Jerusalem, which hopes to start reconciliation for the
unchristlike acts of terror committed by the Crusaders, report that the "message
of reconciliation" constantly causes new exclamations of surprise. Both Moslems
and Jews have cried, according to one report, when they saw that Western
Christians came to them in humility. New teams will continue the march
throughout Turkey during 1997 and 1998. The high point of the march will be in
July 1999, 900 years after the 'Holy City' fell into the Crusaders' hands: the
entry into Jerusalem. Lynn Green, one of the march's initiators, expects that
over 1.8 million Jews and Moslems will personally hear the "message of
reconciliation" from the marchers. Many further millions have heard mostly
positive reports about the march in television and newspaper reports.
Source: Lynn Green, Harpenden, England. Reconciliation Walk, 101317.2565@compuserve.com
-
India: YWAM plants over 150 churches
-
YWAM started
to plant new churches in India in 1984. The movement, which was
previously mainly evangelistically active, has planted over 150 churches since
then through the work of around 140 participants in over 30 teams. One of the
movement's short-term aims is that 60 teams should plant churches among 35
previously unreached people groups by 1998. They also speak of other
'peoples' movements' in India, evangelistic processes in which whole tribes open
for the gospel. Another mission organisation, in partnership with Indian
Christians, has planted 400 new churches in a single people group in the last 3
years.
Source: YWAM
-
Kenya: one of the world's most Christianised countries
-
On 12 November 1996 at the Evangelical Alliance UK's 150th anniversary celebrations
in Bournemouth, England, OM missionary Katherine Parker said that she had heard
reports that Evangelical Christians now make up 35% of the Kenyan population.
According to DAWN figures, that makes Kenya the country with the third-highest
proportion of Evangelical Christians in the world, following El Salvador (54%)
and Guatemala (43%).
Source: Katherine Parker, OM
-
Croatia: Vice President calls Christians to evangelise
-
During an address at a meeting of Christian leaders at the end of October 1996,
Croatia's Vice President apparently called Christians to evangelise more in
Croatia with the words "Every Christian who evangelises in Croatia votes for
Croatia."
Source: Stanko Jambrek, General Secretary, Protestant Evangelical Council of
Croatia
-
England: a different sort of partnership
-
Stanko Jambrek, General Secretary of Croatia's Protestant Evangelical Council,
was invited to Bournemouth from 10-13 November 1996 by the English Evangelical
Alliance to start a partnership between the two organisations. John Earwicker of
the English Evangelical Alliance UK closed his speech announcing the partnership
with the following words: "In Croatia, we signed papers. Here in informal
England, we do things differently. Do we want to be partners? OK? OK! So
then...", then hugged the PEC's General Secretary to the cheers of the 3,000
attendees.
Source: John Earwicker, Stanko Jambrek, 150th Anniversary Celebrations of the
EA, Bournemouth
-
USA: overflowing Sunday Schools in Boston
-
According to a recent report in the Boston Globe, the previous trend of
increasingly empty Sunday Schools in Boston has reversed dramatically. In many
churches and synagogues, the situation is the same: overflowing Sunday Schools
and kids excited about religious education. "We're bursting at the seams," says
Rev. Mary Saylor of Boston's Acton Congregational Church. "Attendance at our
Sunday School has increased from 195 in 1991 to 300 this year. We can't fit any
more in." Christian leaders attribute the dramatic change to two things: a
temporary baby-boom and a spiritual renaissance bringing many parents into
churches. "Religious leaders speak of a spiritual revival in America, which can
be seen in the rapid increase in the numbers of religious book titles, seminars,
the popularity of spiritual retreats and the growth of Evangelical churches,"
according to the Boston Globe.
As a result, many parents are sending their
children to religion classes again, to give them a moral foundation. The methods
of teaching in the religion classes are also changing: fewer lessons, more new
school methods including computers and videos. "Many say," according to the
report, "that the tone of religious education is also changing: the teachers are
more interested in listening to what the children have to say, and no longer try
to simply push the facts in." Julie Gorman of the Fuller Theological Seminary in
Pasadena, says "Many churches have realised that work amongst young children is
the key to the future."
Source: Boston Globe, 3. Nov. 1996, via Bob Hall, NZ
