DAWN Fridayfax 2003 #19

Uganda

Girl killed by car raised from the dead

Assemblies of God pastor Elvyn Jones (Oasis Church, Feltham, England) reports that a young girl who had been hit by a car was raised from the dead through the prayers of many Christians. A 'Missionary Ventures' team was driving back from an outreach in Namaingo in the Bugiri district, when 7-year-old Fatuma suddenly jumped in front of their car. Nick Harding, the driver, says "She was thrown onto the bonnet (hood), and did a somersault over the windscreen. I stopped immediately and went to see how badly she had been injured. See appeared dead. A crowd gathered quickly, and soon started throwing stones and attacking the car. Everyone in the team was convinced that she could not have survived. We drove to the police in the next village, who were already waiting for us. One of us called England to ask for prayer. Our contacts quickly organised intercessors, also in the USA. The following morning, a policeman told us that the girl was dead, treating it as if we had deliberately run her over. We continued praying, convinced that God could raise her from the dead. And he did! After a while, we received the news that she had regained consciousness, with a few grazes, but no broken bones - which was practically impossible, considering how hard we had hit her. Mike, one of the team members, had received a prophecy before the journey that someone would be raised from the dead, which had now been fulfilled. Less than 18 hours after the accident, Nigel, the driver, had been released and Fatuma's father had withdrawn his charges. The team paid the hospital fees."
Source: www.aog.org.uk

New Zealand

Child drowned, raised from the dead

'One Purpose', the Assemblies of God newspaper in New Zealand, reports that a small child was raised from the dead. Jeanell Gardiner-Hunter was found drowned in an old bathtub. Shona Buckingham became nervous after not seeing her 20-month-old granddaughter for 15 minutes, and started searching. When she asked a neighbour whether she had seen the child, a picture of Jeanell face down in water came into her mind. In panic, she ran into the garden and found Jeanell exactly as in the picture. They called an ambulance, but Jeanell had stopped breathing 55 minutes before she arrived in hospital. The hospital staff had one last chance, and tried putting Jeanell into an artificial coma, which normally lasts 48 hours. In the meantime, members of Shona's Assemblies of God church, the South Auckland Christian Life Centre, had been praying for a miracle. Two hours later, Jeanell revived and was released from the intensive care station. She spat out the dirty water which she had swallowed, and the doctors were very surprised to discover that there was no trace of water in her lungs - almost as though nothing had ever happened. Jeanell is now in good health.
Source: One Purpose, www.aog.org.uk

Norway

Making disciples of Vikings

In Norway, the strategic unity and excitement about reaching the population through church planting is growing. It's not limited to only one sector of Christianity, either, reaching from traditional forms such as the Lutheran or Pentecostal churches to completely new forms. Sten Sørensen, leader of the Norwegian DAWN team, is confident that there will be 1,000 new churches in 20 years. In Bergen, with a population of 230,000, a strategy for evangelising the city is forming, which is already supported by half of the city's Christians. Inspired by Ed Silvoso's 'Lighthouse' concept, Christians are praying regularly for their neighbours, colleagues and friends; they are already praying for half of the population by name. Pastors meet every two weeks, and all the Christians meet twice each year. In addition, a number of networks for businesspeople, intercessors and youth have formed. Top local government officials regularly meet the Christian leaders, and local newspapers write positive reports about Christian activities - "without a hint of criticism", says Noralv Askeland, one of the city's key Christian personalities.
Source: Joel News

Israel

Growing number of Messianic churches

In early 2003, American pastor Evan Thomas spoke in Vienna about Israel's Messianic movement. He leads one such church in Tel Aviv, and knows the situation well. The event was also attended by half a dozen Messianic Jews (Jews who believe Jesus is the Messiah) from Israel and some European nations. Evans described how the number of Messianic churches has grown almost 400% in the past 20 years, from around 20 to almost 100, 70 of which are Hebrew-speaking, 25 Russian and 5 Amharish. (In the USA, the number of Messianic churches is estimated at 200.) This astonishing growth is attributed to the Russian immigration and the Palestinian Intifada in recent years. "The reality of the Messianic movement in Israel is perhaps the clearest signal that the Lord's return is imminent," says Thomas.
Source and five-page text of the report: www.imbrennpunkt.com/newsletter/messianicjews.rtf

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