DAWN Fridayfax 1997 #50

DAWN News from Spain, Cuba Germany, Thailand, USA and Worldwide

30 Days' prayer for Moslems

Millions of Christians will start praying for Moslems again from January 1 1998. The "Prayer for the Islamic world" project, started in Australia, encourages Christians all over the world to take part in the initiative, whether alone, as a family, prayer group, home group, house church or fellowship. Written material is available from national Evangelical Alliance UKs, Youth With A Mission or via e-mail (to receive the e-mail edition, send an e-mail to HUB@XC.Org with just "Subscribe 30-days" in the body text). Around 10 million Christians took part in this annual global prayer initiative last year, many of whom also fasted. Insiders describe the resulting reports of God's move amongst Moslems as 'phenomenal'.
Source: German, Swiss, Austrian and other Evangelical Alliance UKs

Spain: Catholic Charismatics

The Catholic Charismatic movement in Spain is becoming a force to reckon with, having reached 30,000 'friends'. The evangelical news agency AMIGOS reports that around 5,000 Charismatic Christians came to the Palacio de Cristal de la Casa de Campo in Madrid in Autumn 1997. The group's own figures indicate that there are some 650 Charismatic groups within the Spanish Catholic Church, each with between 40 and 50 members. Mark-Torsten Waldein, AMIGOS' publisher, claims that there are some 80 million Charismatic-oriented Catholics throughout the world.
Source: AMIGOS, Tel/Fax (Spain) 964-216518. E-mail: wardein@stalker.es

Cuba para Christo

"New believers are added daily to the churches, the house churches are bursting at the seams," reports a mission leader who often visits Cuba and who wishes to remain anonymous for security reasons. Pastors all over the country report of growth, the services last 3-4 hours, and there is hardly a Christian meeting where people are not saved. That's Reynaldo's experience, a Christian pastor in a dilapidated part of Havanna, the capital. Satanic groups have threatened the lives of his three children, but he and his wife are confident that God will protect them. "God has used this couple to raise people from the dead," according to the report. The economic situation is disastrous; people earn between 4 and 12 dollars per month, and it's not uncommon to find a 1,500-member church which prints its material on a literally pre-revolutionary mimeograph machine. The atmosphere in the churches, though, cannot be mistaken, as everything is focussed on one aim: Cuba para Christo - Cuba for Christ.
Source: AFC, name and address withheld

Germany: new start for the Herrnhuter 24-hour prayer chain

There are plans to re-start the longest prayer meeting in history. In 1727, the "Herrnhuter Brotherhood", who had a unique influence on world mission, started a permanent 24-hour prayer chain lasting around 100 years. Many believe this to have been the motor behind the Herrnhuter mission movement. Since 1990, 24-hour prayer chains have started in around 60 countries, and Christian Winter, leader of the Herrnhut Christian Center, believes that a new "Prayer House" should again start where the Herrnhuter stopped. "Since 1980, God has been sending Christians to us with the message 'God will renew the 24-hour prayer chain'", says Winter. The restart is currently planned for the end of 1997.
Source: Missionswerk Josua, Kirchsteig 6, 12524 Berlin, fax (49)-30-6721415

Thailand/USA: when Christians unite

"On 5 March 1997, we began our home leave, flying from Chiang Mai in northern Thailand to Los Angeles in the USA. In the plane, I suddenly started having such strong stomach pains that I seriously doubted that I would make it to Los Angeles," writes David Allen. "It was an unidentified infection: I lost weight, and it was clear that I was suffering from an infestation of microscopic parasites and was possibly in danger of dying. The American doctors could not discover the exact source of the illness. In May 1997, I had to be fed intravenously. Shortly before my admission to hospital, I wrote an e-mail message to a mission team in Thailand, telling them that I did not yet feel ready to die.
The thought of leaving my wife, newborn baby and the new church in Thailand behind was unbearable. The reaction to my message was almost unbelievable, with Christians throughout the world praying, some so fervously that they cried, some fasted, others throwing themselves on the floor before God. I received over 7,000 e-mails from around 80 countries, often from whole churches united in prayer for me. One church even called me and said that they had been divided before hearing of my illness, but decided to put their small differences aside when they received the news and started to pray. My family received telephone calls from morning until evening for months. I must admit that I was overwhelmed. Parasitologists from Washington's Walter Reed military hospital, doctors from England, Canada, Africa, Brazil, Mexico, Thailand and other countries called to offer their help and advice. Then suddenly, probably in answer to prayer, the doctors were no longer needed. The tests became negative, the parasites had vanished and have not reappeared since." David plans to return to Thailand in January 1998. "This loving care for one another between Christians worldwide is something which you rarely find in this rough world," he writes.
Source: David Allen, e-mail: allen2@airmail.net

DAWN Fridayfax - A word for the year 1998

After only 3 years, the DAWN Fridayfax is read or heard almost all over the world and is published in many languages. Extracts appear in newspapers, radio and television programmes, books, articles, web sites, are read in churches and fellowships. We are only interested in one thing: good reporting of how our great God moves in the huge missionary task of the growing Christian church worldwide: make disciples of all nations. We must admit that it is not entirely unintentional when certain reports stretch your horizons. The DAWN Fridayfax team wishes all our readers and listeners a God-filled 1998.

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