DAWN Fridayfax 2004 #33

Italy

Refugee earns the reward of honesty

Robat Benjamin, an African refugee who fled by boat from North Africa to Europe, has become an icon of honesty since his arrival in Italy, and has been rewarded for it. Because he did not falsely attempt to obtain asylum, as did the other 36 refugees which the ship 'Cap Anamur' picked up in the Mediterranean, he has been admitted to an open refugee centre in Racalmuto, Sicily, with "clean, spacious rooms and no restrictions on leaving the centre", according to the German news programme 'Tagesschau'. "God does not want me to lie," was apparently the reason he gave for his honesty. He was the only refugee on board the Cap Anamur who did not lie about his origin, stating from the very beginning that he came from Nigeria, not from the civil-war-torn Sudan, despite knowing that telling the truth would seriously reduce the chances of being granted asylum in Italy. He was also a key witness for Cap Anamur's German captain and his boss Mr. Bierdel, who were accused of aiding illegal immigration. Benjamin confirmed that their refugee boat was in grave danger of sinking when the Cap Anamur rescued them, and that Bierdel had repeatedly attempted to identify the refugees' origin. Fourteen of the refugees have been returned to their own nations, and the other 22 remain in reception camps.
Source: Tagesschau (daily news programme)

Portugal

"Portugal 2015" unanimously confirmed

"No, they didn't win the European Football Championships, but Portugal is on the way to winning something far more important than a silver cup," reports Reinhold Scharnowski, European coordinator of the Dawn Movement. Following a number of advance discussions, in May 2004, the leaders of Portugal's Evangelical Alliance unanimously ratified "Portugal 2015", a long-term missionary strategy with the aim of reaching a total of 4,000 churches in Portugal by 2015. "This day will remain in our hearts for a long time, because the General Assembly of Portugal's Evangelical Alliance has unanimously decided to support this missionary project as the expression of our common vision for the next eleven years," writes Paulo Pasqual, coordinator for Evangelism and Prayer. Following careful research under the coordination of pastor Paulo Mendez, a missionary Bible teacher from Brazil, the nation's Evangelical leaders decided on this national missionary project, based on the Dawn strategy. In order to reach the goal, the current rate of church planting must continue for the next ten years.
Source: Paulo Mendez and Reinhold Scharnowski, www.dawneurope.net

Poland

Hundreds become Christians during the 'Festival of Life'

"During an evangelistic event in Wisla in southern Poland, hundreds of Poles came to faith in Jesus. Some of them even ran on to the stage following the altar calls - and this despite a number of complications, according to the organisors," reports Dan Wooding of Assist News. The outreach was planned by pastors and members of a church in San Diego, California. The problems began on July 15th, when a knife-wielding man tried to climb onto the stage "to stab the preacher", Mickey Stonier, who was standing in for Mike MacIntosh, who had fallen sick. Staff were able to stop the obviously inebriated man. Another speaker, 86-year-old John Woudenberg, ex-athlete and mayor of Scottsdale, Arizona, fell sick and almost collapsed. Shortly before being taken to hospital in an ambulance, Woudenberg called on the people to "be good witnesses for God, and to expect miracles in their ministry." "Typical John," comments Mickey Stonier, "he had to finish his sermon before being taken to hospital..." Through seminars and outreach on the street, "a large number of alcoholics decided to become Christians." According to Henryk Kroll, one of the organisers, the Polish media reported about the outreach. Catholic Priest Richard Nowak, who belongs to the nation's charismatic Light-Life movement, also took part in the events.

USA

New York as evangelistic reception camp

Christian immigrants see New York as an evangelistic centre. A report in the New York Times describes how immigrant Christians in the USA travel to New York to win newly-arrived fellow nationals and people of other immigrant groups for Christ. "They are missionaries in reverse," says the report: "For generations, Americans and Europeans travelled to Africa, Asia and Latin America to win people for Christianity. Now, these immigrant Christians travel to New York, the 'Capital of Sin', to evangelise the growing ethnic population." Many of these new missionaries come from nations evangelised by European and American missionaries in the 19th and early 20th centuries. Today, they stand on street corners in New York, preaching, planting churches and helping educate and improve living conditions. 'Church of the Pentecost', Ghana's largest Pentecostal denomination, has 57 churches in the USA, five in New York alone.
Source: Charisma News

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