DAWN Fridayfax 1997 #21

DAWN News from around the world

WEF Conference: total call

"The World Evangelical Fellowship's 10th General Meeting will have decisive consequences," says Jun Vencer, international Director of the evangelical umbrella organisation which represents over 150 million Christians in 600,000 member churches of Evangelical Alliance UKs in 110 countries. Around 650 delegates from 92 countries attended the annual conference which took place in Abbotsford, Canada, from 8-15th May 1997. "What will come defines how we live today," he says. "Christians are people of hope." Vencer sees a return to the roots of the strength and effectiveness of local churches in the work of the worldwide Evangelical Alliance UK. "Local churches are the centre of every strategy, because they are visible structures in the transformation of a nation." He says that "the concept is 'global is local' can also be reversed: 'local is global'", and asked the delegates "Are we united in a common mission and working together in functioning relationships?"

The key to evangelical Christians transforming nations, according to Vencer, does not lie in programmes but in an attitude: "This is a total call to demonstrate our faith in how we live, a total call to empower others to complete the work, a total call to mobilise Christians so that the world will believe in Jesus."
Source and info: WEF USA, fax (1)-630-668-0498

The fight against pornography can be won

At the WEF meeting, Jerry Kirk, speaker for a North American Pro-Family organisation, said that the fight against pornography can be won. The fight can unite Christians, whether conservative, liberal, Protestant or Catholic, and it is a fight in which the result can be seen almost immediately, he says. A 6-year "fight" in a large American city led to the closure of 150 sex establishments. In the same period, the rape rate declined 27 percent. "That means that 1,000 women have not been raped. What is it worth to protect a woman from rape?" he asked. In Cincinatti, a group of religious leaders decided to try to stop Playboy-TV broadcasts in the local television; a group of 300 people marched to the city hall, and the broadcasts were stopped two weeks later "for technical reasons". 14 years later, they have not been restarted. Kirk advised that the best way to start is to gather small groups of Christians for prayer. Following that, some statistics are needed to win other people to the cause. "We need more facts, not more heated emotions," he said, and encourages Christians "to speak up at every opportunity. If you stay overnight in a hotel with a porn channel, express your concern when you leave the hotel. You can ask the staff at newsagents and newsstands why they sell pornographic material. Gradually, a coalition will be formed which is the key to motivating government officials to take action. The government can afford to ignore small minorities, but not a group speaking for a majority of the population."
Source and info: WEF USA, fax (1)-630-668-0498

Venezuela: growth through gift-oriented staffing

Sam Olson, head pastor at a large church in Venezuela, says that Christians want to live out their faith, and should be encouraged to use their gifts. At the WEF meeting, Olson reported that the Las Acacias Evangelical Pentecostal Church in Caracas has grown from 250 to 4,000 members. He discovered the key to the growth almost by accident: discover others' gifts, and delegate responsibility for ministry to them. In Las Acacias, they have 60 full-time staff to train the church's around 500 cell groups and specialised ministry teams.
Source: Sam Olson, Caracas

No longer so unreached

The results of a 10-month study of the "Joshua Project 2000's" 1739 least evangelised people groups have just been published. Around 800 Christian organisations and churches from 77 countries took part in the study which shows that at least 235 Christian organisations are actively planting churches among these people groups. Mission organisations are at work in at least 1157 of the 1739 groups with the aim of planting churches, and in at least 897 of the groups - more than half - a church-planting movement has been started. At least 296 Christian organisations are evangelising amongst the people groups concerned. "The results are encouraging," writes AD2000 Director Luis Bush. "I see that the study can motivate us all to concentrate on the incomplete missionary task among these unreached people groups and do all that we can to see a church-planting movement in each people by the year 2000", he continues.
Source: Luis Bush, AD2000, Colorado Springs, USA

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