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Sudan: passion and church growth in Khartoum
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"Nothing helps," said a Christian commenting on continuing acts of violence
between the Sudanese tribes and the government army. As a result of these
disturbances, the Christian church is literally the only stable institution in
the country - and it is growing enormously. Take pastor Benjamin for example. He
is pastor in a "displacement camp" in Khartoum, a camp for refugees from the
South of the country. In addition, he is translating the Bible into his tribal
language, Mabaan. Pastor Benjamin can see how fast his church is growing amid
persecution. Christians are often refused permission to travel, they pay higher
rent than Muslims and are constantly in danger of being imprisoned for their
faith. Benjamin's church building, in which services are held for more than 800
people, was recently destroyed by fundamentalist Moslems. "But the Christians
have great passion, especially for those who repress them," according to a
report of the SIM, the Sudan Interior Mission. And the Mabaan tribe? "The
Bible translation contributed greatly to church growth," said pastor Benjamin.
"The Mabaan can now read God's word in their own language, which has led to
them wanting to know more about God."
Source: Sudan Interior Mission
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India: Muslims and Hindus invite Christian preacher to dialogue
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On 14 September 1996, around 300 representatives, mostly of Moslems and Hindus,
met for the so-called "Tamil Forum", a forum for inter-religious dialogue. They
were most interested in an address by Sadhu Chellappa, an evangelist living in
Madras, who spoke about "What Christianity did for the Tamil language".
Centuries ago, Brahmans wanted to eradicate Tamil, one of the original Indian
languages and replace it with the artificial language Sanskrit, in order to
strengthen their religious dominance. The main resistance came from Christian
missionaries Coldwell, Pope and Bartholomaus Ziegenbalg, and more recently,
Reverend Kurt from England. They saved the Tamil language from disappearing. The
first book printed in India was the Tamil Bible, followed by a grammar of the
Tamil language.
Source: Sadhu Chellappa, Fax (91) 44-4917522
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King of Rumba plays in front of King Hussein
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12 years before, Peret, the Spanish "King of Rumba", had begun his career. By
1982, he had made five films, and then came a turning point in his life: he met
Jesus Christ. Following that, Peret led four evangelical churches in
Barcelona, which did not leave much time for music. Now he is about to celebrate
his comeback - besides work on a new CD, on which his faith is expressed in the
music, he is also being recording by Spanish television. A few months ago, Peret
appeared at a Jubilee concert for the Jordanian King, who liked the music so
much that he has invited Peret to appear in several charity concerts.
Source: Mark-T. Wardein, Castellon, Fax (34)-64-216518
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Egypt: wrestling a book from the devil
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Reverend Samy Hanna Ghabrial, leader of the Church of Grace, a growing Christian
denomination in Egypt, has managed to publish a book he finds important in
impossible circumstances. "Three times, I was on the verge of death, before I
had finished translating the book," he says. "Once, my two sons suddenly jumped
out of the small boat we were sailing on the Red Sea, even though they can't
swim. I could not believe my eyes. Then I jumped after them, even though I can't
swim either. Shortly before we drowned, two men on the beach saw us, dropped
everything and rescued us at the last second. Once the manuscript was finally
ready, the hard disk in my computer failed, and the whole text was lost. I had
to start again from the beginning. On the day I brought the translation to the
printer, not only did two of his machines break, but also four of his staff
became suddenly ill. The printer told me afterwards that he had never before
had so many problems with one single book. He asked what strange book it was. I
know," says Hanna, "that the devil tried as hard as he could to prevent this
book being published in Arabic. But he failed!" Hanna had translated the book
"DAWN 2000 -7 million churches to go", by Jim Montgomery, because he believes
that the vision present there will transform Christian leaders in the Arab
world.
Source: Samy Hanna Ghabrial, Cairo, e-mail 10221.2740@compuserve.com
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Correction: France: 1980, not 1990
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In the last Fridayfax, we reported that 450 new churches had been planted in
France between 1990 and 1995. Our source contained a printing error: the period
is not 1990 to 1995, but 1980 to 1995. According to Raymond Sanford of Action
Recherche Croissance 128 new churches have been planted in France in the last 5
years according to his research. In total, from 1980 to date, 466 new churches
have been planted. 185 of those are traditional evangelical churches, 115
independent churches, and 75 Pentecostal churches. The other 91 new churches are
spread across the whole theological spectrum. Some of them are reopened Reformed
and Lutheran churches, "actually not planted churches," according to Sanford,
"but these represent basically new bodies of believers."
Source: Raymond Sanford, David Stevens
