DAWN Fridayfax 1998 #08

News from Egypt, India, Switzerland, Taiwan

In this issue:
Egypt: Church growth in Cairo
India: Hindu-reconversion attempts huge flop
Switzerland: 150 new churches since 1990
Taiwan: Hope where there is none

Egypt: church growth in Cairo

The free Protestant church Kasr-El-Dubara in Cairo, Egypt's capital, gained around 1,000 members in the last year. The church, situated in the center of the city, is led by pastor Menis Abd El Noor, and now has around 6,000 people attending the services, of which 75% are under 25 years old - a clear sign of significant spiritual hunger among Egypt's coming generation.

Source: name and address withheld.

India: Hindu-reconversion attempts a huge flop

Dileep Singh Judeo is a member of the Indian government and vice president of the BJP, a fascist Hindu political party. His life's aim is to convert thousands of members of tribes and the lower castes who have become Christians back to the Hinduism which they forsook. Not long ago, he claimed that he would start a massive reconversion campaign in the Riagarh district of Madhya Pradesh, in central India. Afterwards, he claimed that 6,000 Christians had returned to Hinduism. "We sent an observer to check this claim," says Dr. Victor Choudhrie, an ex-surgeon who is now engaged full-time in planting thousands of churches. The observer, a journalist, asked to be shown the register of the names of all 6,000 people willing to reconvert. He found only 600 names. On the arranged day, only 300 people showed up, of which only 6 reconverted to Hinduism. Further investigation showed that even these 6 had never been Christians, but had only come because the organisers had offered free clothes and other gifts, in a clear breach of the law. A similar scene happened on 27 December in Betul, also in Madhya Pradesh. Hindu groups recently became aware of the rapidly growing house church movement led by Dr. Choudhrie and his team in the area. According to the report, only 10 people took part in the traditional ritual required to become Hindu - drinking a mix of cow urine and cow dung. Of those 10, some were not baptised Christians. The reason for their participation was again that they had been put under pressure, and one person admitted that he had been given clothing sufficient for his entire family for the next two years. Christians from all over the world had been praying particularly for this reconversion campaign. "The net result," says Dr. Choudhrie, "was: the megashow, as a local newspaper described it, became a megaflop."

Source: Dr.Victor Choudhrie, Padhar, Dist. Betul M.P. India 460005. Tel/Fax (+91)-7141-63229 e-mail: WolfSimson@compuserve.com

Switzerland: 150 new churches since 1990

Swiss pastor Reinhold Scharnowski (Steffisburg) sees the three most important spiritual trends in Switzerland as the restoration of the Christians: first: back to the roots, away from religion, coming out of hiding behind the church walls and going into the world; second: the growth of inter-denominational networks such as those in Thun, Basel, Schaffhausen and central Switzerland in which spiritual leaders take increasing responsibility for their regions, and thirdly in the growing interest in the cell church model. One indication of this is, according to Scharnowski, that the largest Protestant church in German-speaking Europe, 'Christliches Zentrum Buchegg', has restructured itself as a church with 120 cells. "Only a few years ago," he said during a meeting of European DAWN representatives in Switzerland in mid-February, "church planting was something of a taboo. Now, the understanding is growing that church planting is absolutely necessary if we are to reach the whole nation with the gospel. We estimate that 150 new churches have been planted since 1990, of which one third are ethnic churches for Tamils, Africans, Koreans, Portuguese, Philippinos etc. It must also be said that around 25 of these new churches have since closed, but with around 10 new churches per year, church planting is definitely on the increase."

Source: R Scharnowski, Steffisburg

Taiwan: hope where there is none

"A woman who had become a Christian some months previously called us asking and urging us to come to help her husband", report Alain and Rita Haudenschild, a missionary family in Taiwan. Her husband, Mr. Yang, was in intensive care following his attempted suicide. "There's no hope left for Mr. Yang. He will probably die within the next four hours, but will certainly not survive the night", explained a doctor. He had swallowed too much poison for the doctors to be able to save his life. Yang, a devoted follower of the traditional gods and an ancestor worshipper, had a hard life: accidents, family quarrels, huge debts, death threats from his creditors - he could see no way out other than to commit suicide. "When we arrived in the hospital, we prayed with Mrs. Yang that God would keep her husband alive as a visible sign of his power, and the local church started a 48-hour prayer chain. God kept him alive. Instead of dying, he decided to follow his wife's example and become a Christian. His health is restored, and he has found a job so that he can repay his debts."

Source: Alain und Rita Haudenschild, Deutsche Missionsgemeinschaft; fax (49)-7265-959-109

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