DAWN Fridayfax 1998 #17

DAWN News from Kenya, Ethiopia, Zimbabwe, Niger, Taiwan, Egypt

In this issue:
Kenya: Church-planting initiative amid unreached people
Ethiopia: 71 churches started amongst unreached people groups
Zimbabwe: 4,500 new churches in the last 6 years
Niger: Unreached people groups ask for missionaries
Taiwan: Christian diplomat survives bloody hostage-taking - terrorist converted
Egypt: great demand for Bibles

Kenya: Church-planting initiative amid unreached people

"It was one of the most moving 'national initiative consultations' which we have experienced", writes South African church-planting consultant Dr. Johan Combrinck. Every significant denomination was represented by its most important leaders, bishops, moderators and General Secretaries. Around 500 leaders attended the April conference in Kenya, to discuss progress and plans concerning a national church planting strategy. Representatives from the surrounding East African countries also attended the conference, to hear more about a process based on the Dawn strategy for reaching all as yet unreached people groups with the gospel through a church-planting movement. The presentations included detailed plans for how active church-planting movements can be initiated in unreached groups, and reports of church-planting experiences in the country over last two years.

Source: AFNET, Dr. Johan Combrinck; POB 11128, Queensland 0121, South Africa

Ethiopia: 71 churches started amongst unreached people groups

"I wish you could have heard the Ethiopian delegation's enthusiastic report," writes Combrinck. "So far, they have trained and sent out 313 church planters, who have so far started 71 churches amongst the country's previously unreached people groups. There were similar reports from Tanzania, Uganda, Kenya, Burundi and other countries."

Source: AFNET, Dr. Johan Combrinck; POB 11128, Queensland 0121, South Africa

Zimbabwe: 4,500 new churches in the last 6 years.

"Target 2000" is the motto of a conference taking place in Zimbabwe from 4-8 May 1998 as a joint venture between Dawn Ministries and Africa Ministry Resources, working together as 'Africa Alliance for Church Planting'. The result of the 10-year-old church planting initiative in Zimbabwe is that over 4,500 new churches have been started in the last 6 years alone.

Source: AFNET, Dr. Johan Combrinck; POB 11128, Queensland 0121, South Africa

Niger: Unreached people groups ask for missionaries

Youth With A Mission in the West African nation of Niger have received requests from two previously almost completely unreached people groups, the Woodabe and Fulani. Efforts during several years have shown the Woodabe to be very difficult to reach with the gospel. Niger is a predominantly Islamic country, "but they have now asked us to send someone to tell them about Jesus and start a Bible school. It's rare to have such an opportunity amongst the peoples of an Islamic country," says YWAM Director Jeff Woodke, and asks "Is there anyone out there who will take up on this?"

Source and info: Jeff Woodke, Director, YWAM Niger, or via any YWAM office. E-mail: 110344.616@compuserve.com

Taiwan: Christian diplomat survives bloody hostage-taking - terrorist converted

We received the following report from missionary Ingomar Lochschmidt. He writes: "Following several spectacular murders, a terrorist trio kept the police active and was the focus of public attention during 1997 in Taipei, Taiwan, where I live. Two of the terrorists were killed in a shootout with police, but the third man, Chen Chin-Hsing, repeatedly escaped. In November 1997, Chen followed the South African Military Attache, Col. McGill Alexander, on his way home, then took him, his wife, two daughters and a baby hostage. He wanted to accuse the police of corruption in a sensational media appearance, then commit suicide. The Alexander family are Christians. They were not only able to persuade Chen not to carry out his suicide plan, but also spoke to him about Jesus. Following a shootout with police, during which Alexander and one of his daughters were injured, Chen surrendered. His ex-hostages gave him a Bible while he was in jail, and at the start of 1998, Chen decided to become a Christian. He now tells other prisoners about Jesus."

Source: Ingomar Lochschmidt, Taipei. E-mail: ingomar@gmx.net.

Egypt: great demand for Bibles

The Bible Society in Egypt opens its report about the 1998 Cairo Book Fair with a fisherman's prayer: "Oh Lord, let me catch a fish so big that not even I have to lie when I tell about it!" "In the past few years, the Bible Societies all over the world have fortunately moved away from simple statistics about how much literature was distributed," writes a leading member of staff at the Bible Society. "We are now more interested in a Biblical transformation of people's lives and the societies in which they live." They were looking forward to this year's Cairo Book Fair with mixed feelings: "Egypt's economy had problems this winter, and seemed stuck. On top of that, the Book Fair had been shortened from three weeks to 2, and we could only rent 3 instead of 4 book stands. We thought that it would be a miracle if we could sell only 50% more Bible material than last year. We were all astonished that at the end, we had sold twice as much! In our bookstore in the city centre, we sold more during February 1998 than in all of 1997. That means we sold, on average, 57 whole Bibles, 160 New Testaments, 168 Biblical videos and 953 audio cassettes - per hour." The Bible Society is now considering setting up a telephone ordering service, so that people can order Biblical material to be delivered to their door.

Source: Bible Society

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