DAWN Fridayfax 1997 #20

DAWN News from India, Singapore

North India/Rajastan: local Hindu politician raised from the dead

Raju (name changed for his protection) was a newly-saved Christian who listened carefully as his pastor spoke of the healing miracles Jesus performed. Suddenly, the stories became reality for him: he noticed that a tumour from which he suffered was vanishing. His personal experience of how Jesus is healing people today caused his faith to grow in leaps and bounds. A few days later, he passed through a village in Rajastan, where he heard that a local politician belonging to the fanatic Hindu party RSS had just died. Raju offered to pray for the dead man. The dead man's relatives told him to go away, but Raju insisted that Jesus can raise people from the dead. He pushed his way through the people, laid his hands on the dead man's body. As he prayed, the man's hands started to move, frightening the others present. With that, Raju became even more bold: turning to the others, he told them that they must declare that Jesus is Lord and Saviour of all people before he continued to pray. Everyone present did so, and as Raju continued praying, the dead man rose in front of their eyes.

Holy bath under police protection

As a result, all of the politician's family members decided to become Christians. Other members of the politician's party reported them to the police for breaking the anti-conversion law, which forbids anyone to convert to another religion. When the police arrived to investigate and arrest the accused Christians, they found a prayer meeting. Some of the people present asked the police to wait until after the prayer if they wanted to arrest anyone. The group then went to a nearby pond, where 350 previously orthodox Hindus were baptised in front of the police. "Hey, you really are converting!" said the police, to which the new Christians replied "No, we are already Christians. We are simply taking a holy bath. Surely you can understand that!?" With that, the police left.
Source: reported by Rev. Rajamani, (Madurai, South India, Tel.+91-452-603691) Mission Direktor of the Assemblies of God Churches in India

Singapore: double the number of churches by the year 2000

As the young English adventurer Stamford Raffles set foot on the almost completely uninhabited island of "Singapura" on 29 January 1819, he brought Christianity with him. In the meantime, the population of the 574 square kilometer large island has grown to over 3 million. Since the early 1980's, the proportion of Christians in the population has grown from 10% to 15% today, according to conservative estimates. Canon Dr. James Wong, vicar at the Chapel of Resurrection in Singapore's Malan Road and member of the Asia Lausanne Committee for World Evangelization, reports that the number of churches has grown from 184 in 1970 to 300 in 1980 and over 400 today. If the growth continues at its current rate, around 20% of Singapore's population will be Christians by the year 2000, and the number of churches will have doubled to more than 800.

57.2% of the budget for mission

"The church in Singapore has developed its own style, independent of Western financing and staff", Dr. Wong continues. A study conducted by the Singapore Centre for Evangelism and Missions shows that 85 local churches have sent 240 missionaries out from Singapore to at least 32 countries. In 1990 alone, 30 Anglican churches in Singapore donated 2.5 million Singapore Dollars for mission. The largest church in the Anglican diocese of Singapore, the Church of Our Saviour led by pastor Derek Hong, gives 57.2% of its budget for mission.
Source: Dr. James Wong, fax (65) 272 20 59

Cell church growth among the young generation

Singapore's young generation is particularly open for the gospel. The visitors at the City Harvest Church have an average age of around 20. The church, started by pastor Khong-Hee in 1989 with only 13 people, has become a cell church with 3,500 members; the strongest growth was in the last three years. Their vision is to plant a similar church in each country in Southeast Asia.
Source: Pastor Steve Dixon, Kings Church, Slough/UK

Punjab, North India: well-known mentally ill man healed

The public cheered as a previously mentally ill man was led onto the platform during an evangelistic event at the end of April 1997 in Ferozpur in Punjab state on India's border with Pakistan, reports evangelist Dale Sexauer. The man was known throughout the town, and his illness was so serious that he had been kept on a chain like a wild animal for the last 8 years. The crowd could hardly control their excitement as they saw the man walk onto the stage without his chain, which an assistant was carrying. Jesus Christ became the talk of the town, and Sexauer says that around 50,000 people attended the last event of the 18-day mission. Now, 2 or 3 weeks after the meetings, hundreds of people are still waiting to be baptised. People in the surrounding villages have also become open for the gospel after hearing the reports of the healings. Sexauer reports that over 1,000 people experienced some form of healing or deliverance, including 191 suffering from Polio, 94 deaf and dumb people, 35 with various tumours, 25 blind people, 15 deaf, 14 lame, 12 dumb and another 12 with kidney stones.
Source: Dale Sexauer, Internet: whm@juno.com

This Web version of the DAWN Fridayfax is maintained by the Jesus Fellowship Church (Jesus Army) as a service to the Christian church. Please visit our web pages which feature the e-zine Streetpaper and its special Revival section.