DAWN Fridayfax 2001 #14

Ukraine

African plants cell-church in Kiev - congregation of 17,000

"Words can hardly describe my meeting with Pastor Sunday Adelaja, a 33-year-old Nigerian," reports Ralph Neighbour, one of the world's most famous cell-church experts. "Sunday was invited to study in the USSR before Perestroika, at the age of 19. He was saved only weeks before travelling to the USSR. He learned as he went, with no contact with Western culture - his 'Word of Faith Bible Church' is in no way related with the 'Word of Faith' movement in the USA. The church services are attended by 17,000 people, and the 12 leaders each have responsibility for between 1,000 and 2,500 members who meet in cell groups. Sunday rents a sports arena, and holds several services each weekend. He aims to send his 12 closest associates out to plant sister churches throughout the world," says Neighbour.

Planted two churches during his studies

Sunday Adelaja says: "I came to the Belarusian State University in Minsk as a student in 1987. While there, I planted two Christian churches, later handing them over to local pastors. Following my graduation in 1993, I moved to Kiev, where I worked as a journalist for a television company. Then God called me to plant another church - a mega-church! Our aim is above all to train Christians from the Ukraine for mission in the Middle East and China. We started Kiev's 'Word of Faith' church in 1994, with seven members. Today, the church is one of the largest in Europe, with 17,000 members (March 2001). We have planted 15 satellite churches in Kiev, 15 daughter churches in the surrounding area, and 70 in other towns in Ukraine, Russia, Moldovia, Belarus and Georgia. Our Bible school, The 'Joshua Generation Bible School', currently has 600 students, and has trained over 1,500 since its inception 6 years ago. Through the work of the church, over 200,000 people have shown new interest in Christianity. Our community help project provides food for 1,000 people every day, and our drug rehabilitation program has been able to re-integrate 700 ex-addicts into society."

All sorts of miracles

"We experience many physical healings, including AIDS and cancer, and have seen people raised from the dead. God also protected us during a massive media campaign against us run by political and Orthodox powers. A particular sign of God's grace is that we have won over twenty cases brought against us in court. The nationalistic government was particularly irritated by the fact that a church with 99% white members is led by a black man. The church television program can be viewed by over 8 million people, and more than 500 people decide to follow Jesus each month. The new believers include bandits and drug addicts, as well as top businesspeople and a number of Members of Parliament," says Adelaja.
Source: Ralph Neighbour and www.word-of-faith-ch.org ; e-mail: word@ukr.net or wof@wof.org.ua

Ukraine

Police officer raised from the dead

36-year-old Boris Pilipchuk, Senior Lieutenant in a police unit in Ukraine's Khemlnitskij District lives with his wife and three children in Novaya Siniavka in the Starosiniavskij region. After doctors diagnosed his death, he shocked everyone by returning from the dead. The following is an extract from his report: "I grew up a strict atheist. In 1996, I became a Christian after hearing a sermon by Mariopol's pastor Nikolai Ivashenko. As a Christian, I had difficulties in my profession, but after a while, my colleagues liked to listen to me tell of Jesus during breaks. I was physically very healthy. On 27 July 1998, after returning home from work, I was suddenly unable to move, and lost consciousness. I was taken to the hospital, where I lay in a coma for several days, after which I was transferred to the Khelmitskij District Clinic. The doctors diagnosed a hemorrhage affecting 95% of my brain. All nine tests confirmed that I was clinically dead. My police colleagues were shocked, and started to collect money for my coffin and burial. My wife called pastor Nikolai, who organized many Christians to pray for me. The doctors fought for my life for another 2 1/2 hours, but were finally forced to diagnose both clinical and biological death. I saw everything from above, and was suddenly in heaven. I saw a fantastic light, and a huge city, like a cube. Jesus met me: 'You have a wife and three children. Return to them - it is not yet time for you to be here,' he said. I instantly returned to my body, which was being taken to the mortuary. My wife stood next to the stretcher, crying. As I sat up, the staff fell to the floor, shocked. They fled in all directions, screaming 'Who are you? What do you want? Leave us in peace!' I told them not to be afraid, and asked for clothes, and was then allowed to return home. Over the next two weeks, I was examined by 15 different medical committees, including neurologists and psychiatrists. They told me that if they had not performed the diagnosis themselves on the evidence of the x-rays, cardiographs etc., they would be unable to believe what had happened. They advised me to keep the events secret, because people would otherwise consider me crazy. They refused to record my resurrection officially, but have all decided to follow Jesus in the meantime."
Source: Boris Pilipchuk, full report at www.word-of-faith-ch.org

YOUR RESPONSE REQUESTED: The reports of miracles and church growth that you have been reading in the Friday Fax are stunning, even to us! Many of them, as you have seen, come from people in house churches who are greatly accelerating the expansion of God's Kingdom around the world. Accordingly, we feel the time has come for house churches to move from the periphery of the church in North America to somewhere nearer the center. So in consultation with a wide range of Christian leaders, we are sponsoring a "coming out party," a national and international gathering designed to put open-style house churches on the map and to:

• bring together all we've learned
• learn more through open interaction about what is working and not working
• plus speakers from other countries, including China and India.
• hear from the Holy Spirit about the future direction of house churches
• kick off numerous church planting movements immediately.

We recently held such a conference in Switzerland, and it succeeded in repositioning the house church in that country, turning it into a "live option" instead of a marginal movement. We plan to sponsor a larger version of this, a congress on house churches in March, 2002, in a suitable place like Dallas, Orlando, or Chicago. Conference fees will be typical. But in order to plan realistically, we need your input. Large conference venues must be reserved well in advance. If you feel you might attend, please click here or go to dawnpoll.leadhost.net and take our twenty-second electronic poll, which will give us an estimated total. Thank you! Note: The site may be swamped today. If you get a "site not responding" notice, please try tomorrow or later!

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