DAWN Fridayfax 2003 #1

"So the Lord stirred up the spirit ... of the whole remnant of the people. They came and began to work on the house of the Lord Almighty." The Friday Fax team wishes all our readers a year according to this prophetic text from Haggai 1!

Afghanistan

Mullah finds Jesus

"In the months since the Taliban regime was overthrown, we've repeatedly heard of people becoming Christians," reports the mission agency Open Doors. "One of these people is Fahmir (name changed), an ex-Mullah. Mullahs are some of the most respected people in Afghan society; they know the whole Koran and many prayers and songs by heart. Fahmir is from a Mullah family, and came to Jesus through contact with a Christian and reading the Bible. 'I used to preach in mosques, now I want to preach the word of God,' he says."

Many Afghanis open for the Gospel

"Preaching and following Jesus is somewhat dangerous in a Muslim culture," he continues. "A friend and I mingle with the people, drink tea and keep an eye out for others who are open for spiritual things. We then spend more time with them, discovering who is open for the Gospel. In one area, we had two hundred contacts, and can now go to start a house church. People in Afghanistan have had enough of the Taliban and Muslim extremists, that's clear. They are ready for Jesus Christ and the Gospel. Some people tell us that they know four or five others who think similarly - and the movement spreads."
Source: 'Fahmir' in 'Offene Grenzen' 1/03, www.offenegrenzen.ch

India

Evangelistic movement in Northern India spreads

"Almost 10,000 new Christian groups were started in 2002, more than twice the number of new churches in 2001," reports Operation Agape's Dr. Alex Abraham. "One of our partners tells us that 1,400 members of the Banjara tribe in Andhra Pradesh were baptised in the past four months."

Uttar Pradesh: 7,000 new churches

We counted 8,500 churches in Punjab, 500 of which were planted by the Operation Agape team in 2002 alone. The house churches in Uttar Pradesh are spreading rapidly: in the past two years, prayer groups have started in 17,000 houses, and around 7, 000 house churches have been formed.

Woman healed of epilepsy

Yousuf, one of the movement's staff, prayed for a woman suffering from serious epilepsy. Jesus touched the woman and healed her; she became a zealous Christian, and decided to evangelise in front of her house. 100 of her 175 listeners decided to also become Christians.

700 new house churches in Chatisgarh

H.K. Patel reports from Chatisgarh in central India: "The 95 prayer groups with which we started in 1997 grew to 500 house churches in 2000 and 700 now. Many people in the Satnami tribe are coming to Jesus."

Water out of dryness

"In Hinota, a village in Dindori (Chatisgarh), we started prayer walks," says Patel. "The land is known to be very dry, so we blessed it in God's name. Not long afterwards, the Panchayat (village mayor) was astonished by the amount of water which came out of the water pump. The government officials were so astonished that they asked us to pray for other arid areas."
Source: Operation Agape, alexagapeldh@cs.com

Madagascar

God even takes care of the petrol cap

A team from the German mission agency "Aktionskomitee für Verfolgte Christen" wanted to bring aid to the poor on Madagascar's east coast. "The roads were in a catastrophic state: 30 miles of mud up to 30cm (1 foot) deep, with potholes full of muddy water reaching up to the radiators. We had to stop several times to remove the radiators to clean them. One VW bus lost its petrol tank cap in the mud - that's bad news in view of the frequent rainfall. 24 hours later, another group arrived; one nurse on the team told us that she became afraid at one point, and got out to walk through the danger zone first. She found our petrol tank cap! In Madagascar, you take everything you find with you, because you may need it later - so we got our tank cap back. God is good!"
Source: Jean Forschle, AVC, www.avc-missionswerk.org

This Web version of the DAWN Fridayfax is maintained by the Jesus Fellowship Church (Jesus Army) as a service to the Christian church. Please visit our web pages which feature the e-zine Streetpaper and its special Revival section.