DAWN Fridayfax 1997 #25

DAWN News from around the world

Increasing openness to the gospel

Dick Eastman, Director of the mission agency "Every Home for Christ" (EHC), reports of a "dramatic" increase in the openness to the gospel in many areas of the world. EHC's aim is to systematically reach every house with evangelistic literature; during a 36-month period between 1989 and 1991, their offices received 1.3 million so-called 'decision cards' on which a person normally indicates their openness to follow Jesus. Mission researchers call the people who return these cards 'seekers'. In a similar 36-month period between 1993 and 1995, the number of cards grew to 3.7 million which, according to Eastman, is an indicator of increasing openness to the gospel. Pat Robertson, founder of CBN (Christian Broadcasting Network), reports similar findings: it took almost 20 years for his TV work to reach 1 million people who "prayed to accept Christ", but the number has reached almost 50 times that in the last 5 years, he says. When Billy Graham transmitted a 1-hour evangelistic programme in early 1996 with an estimated 2.5 billion viewers in 200 countries, the 450 million copies of the follow-up material were used up almost immediately after the programme. EHC's Eastman reports that in Varanasi, a Hindu religious centre in North India with 1.5 million inhabitants, there was no known Christian church until 5 years ago; today, there are 230 churches with an estimated attendance of 5,000. Even in Cambodia, where the Khmer Rouge brutally repressed all religious activity 20 years ago, the Khmer Evangelical Church alone is planting one new church per week and aims to plant 300 new churches by the year 2000. Eastman is currently writing a book titled "Beyond Imagination" recording some of the amazing miracles which currently take place in world mission. Here are some examples:

Congo: revival among the Pygmies

Eastman tells of a visit with his colleague Wes Wilson to Boteka on the Momboyo river in the heart of the rain forest in Congo (ex-Zaire): "There we met Dia Mbwangi, EHC's Director for French-speaking Africa. The aim of our visit was to see the revival among the Pygmies with our own eyes. Only 5 years ago, there were almost no known Christians among the Pygmies and we had heard that the number had grown to over 300,000 following an evangelistic campaign." The team continued from Boteka to Imbonga, and from there another 20 miles through the forest to a Christian village called Bosuka where many Pygmies live. "What a reception!" writes Eastman. "Hundreds of Pygmies lined the footpath to their village and danced for joy, waved palm leaves and sang a song which they had written: 'Jesus is Lord and is coming back soon!'"

Church-planting aims reached 10 times over

4,000 of the region's 6,000-strong Pygmy tribe have decided to become Christians, including the regional chief and his clan of around 40 relatives. 36 months ago, 32 Christian Pygmy Fellowships were started in a neighbouring area, and 300 more further into the forest. Dia Mbwangi had challenged the leaders of the fellowships to plant at least one new church by the year 2000. "To our astonishment, they achieved that not only tenfold, but years ahead of target!" says Dia.

Congo: The Last Tree Challenge

According to Eastman, it is unusual for the Pygmies to live in villages; they are nomads who traditionally do not remain in the same village all the time. "Pygmies live on trees," explained Dia Mbwangi, to which Eastman replied jokingly that EHC's strategy ("Every Home for Christ") should either be renamed or expanded to include "The Last Tree Challenge".

Solomon Islands: heathen sacrifice rock split by prayer

In only 3 years, 11 Christian villages have been founded in a mountainous area of the rain forest on the island of Malaita, one of the Pacific's Solomon Islands. "This was an area," says Eastman, "in which our workers had long been trying unsuccessfully to spread the gospel. A large stone, called 'the healing stone' by the locals, seemed to be a visible barrier to the gospel, keeping the region's inhabitants in some sort of demonic bond. Almost daily, the chiefs of the various villages came to sacrifice chickens and pigs on the rock. A two-man team from the mission agency decided to climb a nearby mountain from which they could see the stone, to pray and fast for 7 days. At the start of the seventh day, clouds came down. A Kwaio priest came from one of the nearby villages to sacrifice on the huge rock, but suddenly a bolt of lightning came from the cloud and hit the rock with such force that it was split in two, and one half rolled down the mountain. In panic, the priest dropped his sacrifice and ran for his life. Many village priests who had previously refused to hear the gospel were now fearful, and one of them invited the evangelists to tell them about Jesus. Soon afterwards, many of the villagers and their chiefs had decided to become Christians. They decided to express their turn to Christ by burning down their huts and moving to a Christian village which had recently been founded in the vicinity.

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