DAWN Fridayfax 1999 #21

News from Denmark, Kazakhstan, Worldwide

In this issue:
Denmark: Life, house and soup
Kazakhstan: Pastors' meetings aren't so insignificant after all
40,000 new missionaries

Denmark: Life, house and soup

"My name is Riet, and God has called me to serve him by sharing my life, house and soup". "I am Gunnar, and my group has no name." "I'm a social worker, and plan to start a new fellowship with rehabilitated alcoholics." Those are some examples of how people introduced themselves at the most recent DAWN Consultation in early May 1999 in Copenhagen, Denmark. A Lutheran pastor who started the first free Lutheran church within the (Lutheran) Danish State Church spoke of meetings titled "In the master's light", a monthly full moon service attracting New Agers. 425 people have asked for personal prayer during these "Body, Mind and Spirit services". Some people have seen "a man in shining clothes". The pastor gives them a Bible, explaining that the book contains many reports about the man. Many visitors have joined Alpha groups, and some 50 have decided to become Christians. "You could see the process of re-evangelising Denmark taking shape," said DAWN missionary Wolfgang Fernandez.

The church is dead - long live the church

A growing number of Danish Christian leaders, judging by the general atmosphere at the consultation, sees 'death in the pot' in the existing churches; some even proclaim "the death of the church as we know it". The present tradition-oriented churches, whether Baptist or Pentecostal, are demonstrably almost completely irrelevant for a population with no remaining Christian tradition, according to Svend Madsen, coordinator of the Danish national DAWN movement. "Those who refuse to recognise the changes in the post-Christian era, or take them seriously, will have the rug pulled out from under them," the report continues. More than a few denominations, for example, have had to cease publication of their newspapers or magazines. In spite of this, all denominations have adopted church planting as a key concept, "but far fewer churches are being started than planned," says Madsen. Many Danish leaders are of the opinion that "the infertility of the Danish church" is becoming visible, and that the aim cannot be to plant new old churches, but to plant a new form of church.

Danish house church movement started

But there is also another side to the coin: a growing number of spiritual leaders is ready to not only think of house churches but to actually take steps to plant them. "Many pastors have already recognised," says Madsen, "that the point is not to shrink the well-known church programme to fit into house churches. They know that that would not work. They also recognise that the traditional pastor-figure does not fulfil people's expectations, and that it is mostly a product of theological seminaries." "Anonymity is the new norm, and public recognition is no longer a criterium," according to a conference participant. People are looking for friends and father-figures. In the midst of the realisation of a loss of things which were previously important, a new vision is beginning in Denmark. From 3-6 June 1999, a Danish house church movement will be founded to assist in the developments.

1,000 villages called Copenhagen

Copenhagen, with its 1.5 million inhabitants, has only 83 churches, of which "many are not really evangelistically effective or even aimed at welcoming newcomers", says Madsen, who presented a missionary vision in which Copenhagen is not an impersonal city but a conglomeration of 1,000 villages. Christian churches are by nature social groupings which should change life in these villages. Copenhagen needs a church in every village - 917 more.
Source: Wolfgang Fernandez and Svend Madsen, e-mail: madsen@dawn.dk

Kazakhstan: Pastors' meetings aren't so insignificant after all

"During a conversation a few years ago, Ralph Neighbour, a leading figure in the Cell Church movement, took me aside and told me I should organise and lead a monthly prayer meeting for Almaty's Christian pastors," reports Maxim Maximov, a cell church leader from central Asian Almaty. "Two years later, I sensed that the time was ripe. Since then, 25 Almaty pastors have met each month, to build relationships, pray and work on a common strategy. The importance of that last point was demonstrated as Kazachstan's government planned to pass a law significantly restricting religious freedom. During our pastor's meeting, we found 15 breaches of the Declaration of Human Rights in the proposed new law, and wrote a letter to all leading government officials. Two months later, all plans for the introduction of the law were dropped, and we were informed that this was a direct result of our letter."
Source: Maxim Maximov, Almaty

40,000 new missionaries

George Verwer, leader of the youth missions organisation OM, reports of significant response to his vision, the so-called "Acts 13 Breakthrough concept" in which 100,000 local churches should send out 200,000 long-term missionaries in the next few years. "We estimate that some 40,000 people around the world have committed themselves to becoming missionaries in the past few years. It may also be twice that number," he adds. However, not all of them will be able to remain or become long-term missionaries without a sending church and the necessary finances. "It's not just about simple short-term evangelisation, but about the much more challenging long-term work of planting churches." The "Acts 13 leaflet" provides more information about the "Acts 13 Breakthrough Concept".
Source and leaflet: George Verwer, e-mail george@verwer.ict.om.org or Chacko Thomas, e-mail chacko.thomas@l.ict.om.org

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