DAWN Fridayfax 2004 #42

Egypt

Cleaner Adel has some special soap

"Adel works as a cleaner in an Egyptian school," writes mission agency 'Ziel 19' (Target 19). "He carries buckets of water, brushes and cloths. One day, in conversation with a teacher, he spoke about his uncle, a pastor, who had created a Bible correspondence course. The teacher was interested, so Adel brought her the first lesson, which she found very good. When she had received the third lesson, she told another teacher about it, and he also wanted to take the course, so Adel started bringing two copies of the course to school - 'The Word of God, soap for the soul', as the missions agency describes it. The word soon spread, and almost all teachers were taking it, so Adel was carrying folders full of the correspondence courses to and from the school as well as his buckets. Then it reached the Principal, who was so impressed with the course that he called all the teachers together and encouraged them to share it with their relatives. The school became the distribution centre, with Adel as the postman."
Source: Schweizerische Missionsgemeinde (Swiss Mission Church), Ziel 19, Josefstr. 206, 8005 Zurich, Switzerland.

Peru

650,000 attend outreach with Luis Palau in Lima

Almost 650,000 people attended a recent 6-day outreach with Luis Palau in the Peruvian capital Lima. "Some 41,000 showed interest in following Christ," says Craig Chastain, one of Palau's staff. Palau was invited not only by hundreds of churches, but also by the government, to speak the Gospel into a time of political unrest, sporadic terrorist attacks, joblessness and widespread poverty. In his opening address, Peruvian Senator Walter Alejos said "Luis Palau has come at a very important moment. Our nation is suffering a crisis in its values, in which even politicians attack each other, and people protest on the streets daily." Over 1,000 people welcomed Palau at the airport, and he met with President Alejandro Toledo Manrique, Mayor Luis Castaneda Lossio and members of the Peruvian Congress. Ruben Proietti, another of Palau's staff, commented "In the 25 years I've been working with Luis Palau, I have never experienced anything like this, with so many politicians insisting on meeting him to hear what Jesus Christ means for the government of a nation." Palau, who has spoken to over 70 million people in 70 nations - not including TV and radio broadcasts - was astonished by the phenomenal reaction. "The number of people who made a 'decision for Christ' is one of the highest in my career," he said.
Source: Craig Chastain, craig.chastain at palau.org

Pakistan

Growth under persecution - 2,400 house churches planted

"Those who do not know how to die, do not know how to live. We hereby inform all Christian teachers that they should stop preaching the false teachings of Christianity to Muslims. Throw all Muslims out of your Christian institutions and churches, and prepare for our attacks!" Pastor Asif, a church planter working with Swiss mission agency Kingdom Ministries, experienced first-hand that this was no empty threat; he was kidnapped on 16th May 2004. When his kidnappers tried to move him from one hiding place to another, a Police car followed them because they were driving too fast. In order to escape, his kidnappers threw him out of the car and ordered him to remain where he was until they returned. Asif managed to escape, and was nursed to health by friends. He had been beaten and tortured for 40 hours, and they had pierced his tongue. He has now returned to his family, in full health. Kingdom Ministries reports that the number of house churches planted in Pakistan since the year 2000 has now reached 2,400.
Source: Kingdom Ministries, www.kministries.ch

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