DAWN Fridayfax 1997 #38

DAWN News from Argentina, India, Angola, Puerto Rico

Argentina: are 41,000 churches enough?

The result of meeting of Dawn Ministries, (Colorado Springs, USA) and 50 Argentinian church leaders in September 1997 was two statements: 1: the much-referred-to Argentinian revival has led to much less church growth than previously expected, and 2: the churches and denominations will work together to increase the number of Christian churches grows to 41,000 within the next 10 years.
Recently-published research results have shown that the country's Christian churches are growing in number on average at a rate of only 5% per year, with a membership growth of 6%. This was a surprise for many, particularly because Argentina has featured in Christian headlines with reports of revival. One of the fastest-growing groups, according to Dawn Ministries researcher Roy Wingerd, are the Assemblies of God churches, with a membership growth of 11% per year, and a 12% increase in number of churches per year. In order to reach the evangelistic target of 1 church per 1,000 inhabitants, the country needs a total of 41,000 churches, according to the conference participants, led by Alberto de Luca. One delegate asked if that would really be enough, and comments such as "We want to make sure that these churches are planted in the right place!" and "How soon can we have a list of places which need new churches?" show "that the country's Christian leaders won't be satisfied with just declarations of intent." Another important insight provided by this conference is, in the words of one of the participants, that "when revival starts, it is particularly important that denominations concentrate on planting new churches. That's the only way to create an atmosphere which encourages the growth of new believers."
Source: Wolfgang Fernandez, Dawn Ministries, fax (1)-719-548-7475, e-mail: 100137.1341@compuserve.com

Southern India: openness for the gospel in the slums

The End Time Zion Church, one of over 2,000 Christian churches in Madras (recently renamed Chennai) in southern India, is growing particularly quickly; it has grown to 2,000 members - 640 families - and 15 daughter churches in 10 years. According to pastor David Sundermoney, 400 of the families are from a non-Christian background. One of the keys to the growth are the prayer groups, led by 7 women, through which many non-Christian women are saved. The groups most open to the gospel are inhabitants of the slums and the lower middle class, according to the church, which has set a target of a total of 10,000 members by the end of 1998.
Source: End Time Zion Church, 136 T.H. Road, Madras 600 081, India

Angola: 59-year-old itinerant evangelist plants 69 churches in 3 months

David Mabanza is a very special Angolan. Following his desire to spread the gospel in his country, he has travelled over 400 kilometres (around 260 miles) in the past 3 months. Bandits have stolen everything he owned, but that did not stop the 59-year-old Baptist evangelist trekking from village to village to preach. David has planted 69 churches in the short time since starting his travels.
Source: Johan Combrinck, AFNET, fax (1)-408-249-7774

Northern India: a special 'factory' opens

"For the first time in the history of northern India, something like the mass production of Christian harvest workers has started," writes ex-surgeon Dr. Victor Choudhrie (Betul). "Short-term Bible schools and so-called 'Portable schools' are springing up all over", he says. "Some groups have huge plans, such as training 40,000 workers by the year 2000, and the Bible Schools have no shortage of applicants. Gospel for Asia's Bible Seminar in Bilaspur, Madhya Pradesh, has admitted 500 new students this year, and the same mission agency has another Bible school in Nagpur, where they have an intake of 200 new students, 65 of which are women."
Source: Dr. Victor Choudhrie, PO Padhar, Dist. Betul 460 005, MP, India. Fax (91)-7141-31083

Puerto Rico: 70-year-old turns the country upside down

Dr. José Camacho is an example of how one man can make church history when almost everything seems against him, writes Dawn missionary Berna Salcedo. Dr. Camacho had three things going against him as he decided to work towards starting a national movement targeted at saturation church planting (a 'Dawn process') in his country: 1: he was already over 70 years old; 2: Puerto Rico's Christians were so disunited that pastors even used their TV programmes to argue with one another; 3: almost 80% of Puerto Rico's churches are Pentecostal, and Dr. Camacho is a Baptist...
Despite all the hindrances, 740 pastors and leaders of almost all of the country's denominations accepted Dr. Camacho's invitation to a conference in early 1997, and joined under the banner "Puerto Rico al Encuentro con Dios", to start working together to evangelise the country in a Dawn-like strategy. Dr. Camacho's attitude was perhaps not unimportant in achieving this; during the conference, he said "And even if there were only one single unsaved person on the island, we would not stop until they had been invited to become a disciple of Christ."
Source: Berna Salcedo, Dawn Ministries, fax (1)-719-548-7475

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