DAWN Fridayfax 1998 #37

News from Uruguay, Australia, Switzerland

In this issue:
Uruguay: Evangelical Christians plan to double
Australia: Reconciliation on a human level
Switzerland: Signs of movement

Uruguay: evangelical Christians plan to double

Some 100 Christian leaders attended a DAWN-strategy based conference in early September 1998, to plan and pray for the evangelisation of the country's 3.3 million inhabitants. Recent research presented at the conference reveals that the nation's some 78,000 evangelical Christians meet in 1,072 churches. 13% of the population are spiritists, and only 40,000 attend Roman Catholic services. Hence, the country has almost twice as many evangelicals as active Catholics. The evangelicals now plan to work together under the title "Cooperation 2000" with the aim of reaching 2,000 churches by 2005. This means almost doubling the number of churches in 7 years.

Source: DAWN Ministries

Australia: reconciliation on a human level

"Where are you from?" asked the little boy. "Britain" was the reply. "Are you the people who made by Grandad blind?" the little boy asked. "Yes it was people from our country who made your Grandad blind" said the British team member with tears in his eyes as he realised the full human impact of what they had come to repent for. The little boy asked "have you come to say sorry?" and was assured that indeed they had. He stood quietly pondering for a moment, which seemed like an eternity, then said "well you can be my friend then". The British prayer team had come to ask forgiveness for many sins committed by the British against the Australians, including an Aborigine chief blinded following atomic bomb tests in the 1950s.

Source: Brian Pickering, Australia

Switzerland: signs of movement?

It's no news that Switzerland's Christians are not exactly growing in numbers. According to estimates by Dr. Armin Mauerhofer, some 6% of the population were professing evangelical Christians just after the Second World War, but the figure is now probably under 2% (the last available research, in 1991, showed 2.1%). It is particularly significant that this dramatic decrease took place during 'the evangelistic boom years', says Thun's evangelist Florian Bärtsch.

Switzerland's 7 million inhabitants are covered by 1,062 Reformed parishes with a regular attendance of 70-75,000 (1991: 84,700) and 1,350 Roman Catholic churches. The Protestant free churches are currently the country's largest Christian fraction with 1,376 churches, but the total attendance of 75-80,000, although larger than that of the Reformed churches, is a long way from the Catholics' some 230,000 (figures from the study 'How Christian is Switzerland?'). However, an increasing number of Christians are no longer satisfied with this situation and are seeking solutions, revival, and God. Here are some highlights:

"Give us this nation, or we die"

"700 Christians met on the night of 19 September 1998 on the historic Rütli to renew 1291's 'Oath of Allegiance' and pray for revival in the country," wrote journalist Michael Meier in the Züricher Tagesanzeiger, a respected daily newspaper. (The original 'Oath of Allegiance' sworn in 1291 was the foundation of Switzerland.) Peter Hoehn, coordinator of "Gebet für die Schweiz" (Prayer for Switzerland), reports that the atmosphere at the event was 'All or nothing! Give us this nation, or we die!".

Movement in Parliament

In many nations unthinkable, but reality in Switzerland: the Swiss Parliament has an 'officially accredited intercessor', Beat Christen. Recently, up to 60 people have taken part in prayer meetings in the Parliament building. Another surprise is that the parliament recently voted with a 4:3 majority, partly against official party lines, to keep "In the name of the Lord" as the introduction to the nation's constitution, which is currently being debated. "A growing number of members of Parliament are standing up for their Christian faith," according to one report.

Revival in Winterthur

Andi Kunz, leader of the Winterthur Vineyard church, sent us the following report: "A few months ago, my wife Elsbeth and I visited the Brownsville Assembly church in Pensacola, USA. Deeply impressed with what is happening there, and one of many who repented in front of the altar of the Lord, I find myself now more radical in my heart, with more love for the lost and particularly for Jesus. My wife and I returned to Switzerland with the desire to see repentance in Switzerland as in Pensacola. We invited a team from Pensacola to visit us in Winterthur, and were astonished to see that at least two thirds of the 200 people in the meeting responded to the altar call to repent. It was an indescribable experience! Even people who have stood as intercessors for years came forward to repent. We have been greatly blessed! People were healed and renewed, marriages restored without special prayer, and some families were so changed that they went home from the meetings and 'turned the apartment upside down': books, music and videos that did not glorify Jesus were thrown out, along with strong alcoholic spirits."
Source: Andi and Elsbeth Kunz, Winterthur, e-mail vin@nco.ch

Foreigners are better evangelised than natives

Switzerland's Christian churches pay more attention to foreign residents than the native Swiss: there are currently 1,086 free churches for the 5.68 million native Swiss (1 church per 5,236), but 290 churches and fellowships for the 1.33 million foreigners (1:4,595). The 9,005 Tamils, for which there are 17 churches (1:529) and the 6,811 Vietnamese with their 10 churches and fellowships (1:681), are among the best reached people groups in the country. Top are the Hungarians, with 13 groups for 4,184 people (1:322).
Source: "Wie Christlich ist die Schweiz? (1991)" ("How Christian is Switzerland?"), FocuSuisse and others.

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