The Friday Fax

Werner Drotleff and Hans Ollesch, missionaries with Swiss mission agency AvC ("Aktionskomittee für Verfolgte Christen", Action Committee for Persecuted Christians) report about the Masai in Tanzania: "The Masai are a proud warrior tribe which used to be very resistant to the gospel. Because of their lifestyle, so many of them have AIDS that the tribe is in danger of dying out. Their leaders have recognised this, and opened themselves to the gospel. A new church was planted as the result of an evangelistic outreach around Ngotongoro in 2004; 16 Masai were baptised. The new believers had a difficult time, being persecuted and beaten.

Woman healed of AIDS, witch doctor saved
Some years ago, a new church was also planted in Ebewewe, a village in a Muslim area. A woman was healed of AIDS during an evangelistic outreach, and the local witch doctor was also saved. During another outreach before another new church was opened, Muslims incited youths to disrupt the event. The head of the local mosque even tried to damage the loudspeakers and amplifier. Just in time, though, 30 Muslim village elders arrived and forbade him to continue disrupting the gatherings; they had brought chairs and were ready to hear God's word. The hecklers left. One of the seven people who responded to the altar call was a young Muslim suffering panic attacks, who could hardly sleep at night. The mosque and the witch doctor had been unable to help him, but now he was ready to accept Jesus, along with a married couple known as witch doctors. They belong to the Sigua tribe, which had been very difficult to reach with the gospel. You can see the change in their smiling faces..."

Source: AvC, Hans Ollesch, fax (+41) 32 355 42 48

"It started under a banana tree," says a Christian from the southern Asian nation Laos. "I was hunting birds for my meal when a man from the neighbouring village sat down beside me and started talking. We spoke about our families, and I told him about my sick wife and mother, who were both tormented by evil spirits. I had already sacrificed twelve water buffalo, but without success. The visitor told me about Sipak, a man from his village, who had seen healings performed in the name of a God called Jesus. A few days later, my wife and my mother both died. In my desperation, I went to the other village to find this Sipak. He told me all about Jesus, how he had come to Earth to free us from the bondage of evil spirits. He also told me about God, the Creator, who loved me so much that he sent his son to die for me. I sensed a supernatural love and power in Sipak, and decided to follow this Jesus. I was immediately filled with peace and joy, and started telling others about my experience. Within a few days, four other families from my village accepted Jesus into their lives.

A book instead of fish
Soon, though, our faith was put to the test. I was arrested by the police, along with two of the other new Christians. They wanted to force us to sign a declaration recanting our faith. We refused, and were sent to a labour camp. We had to work hard during the day, and at night, our feet were locked into painful stocks, preventing us from sleeping. After several weeks, twelve Christians were called forward at the morning roll-call. To our astonishment, the camp chief said "You're good people and can go home. But I warn you: don't talk with others about your faith, or you'll be back here soon." Back in our village, the oppression continued; the police came almost every day to force us into a confession. After a while, one of our younger Christians could no longer stand the pressure, and signed the declaration. To remove all traces of his Christianity, he tied his New Testament to a stone and threw it into the river. Three days later, a group of men from our village went fishing. When they drew in their nets, they were surprised to find a book instead of fish. To their even greater astonishment, the book was dry and undamaged! They immediately started reading, and were excited by the message. It was the supposedly disposed-of New Testament. Through this miracle, 24 families from our village started a personal relationship with Jesus."

Source: AvC

That's the title of American author Jim Rutz's recently-published book. It's hotly debated on TV, and one of Amazon's top sellers. It has also caused controversy in broad swathes of self-contented US Christianity. 'Megashift' is a sharp-minded analysis of current Christianity around the world, and is partly based on dozens of carefully-researched Friday Fax reports. Rutz is now one of the popular columnists in the Internet news site World Net Daily. What are his main observations?

• The 1700-year nightmare is over: the Constantinian Shift is shifting back. Under Emperor Constantine, the Church became an imperial audience, but is now finally freeing itself from the corset of state control.
• An unprecedented transfer of divine power is underway, from clerics into the hands of ordinary people. According to Rutz' research in 49 nations, hundreds of people have been raised from the dead in the past 15 years.
• This is giving rise to an entirely new form of Christianity - with far greater repercussions than the Protestant Reformation.
• Over 1 billion non-Christians could become active Christians in the next 10 years.

When millions of ordinarly people do extraordinary things

The Charismatic Evangelical movement, currently numbering 707 million people around the world, is growing by 8 percent per year. That alone is exciting. The centre of this movement, though, is a mostly unknown and little-understood movement of 100 million Christians who have no building and neither pastor nor programme. "A church without vertical hierarchies," says Rutz, "which will change the future." They have experienced what Rutz calls a 'lifestyle upgrade':

Lifestyle upgrade

Anyone who uses computer software knows what an upgrade is: a new and better version of a programme replaces the old version. Through an act of God, many millions of people have experienced an 'inner upgrade' leading to an entirely new quality of life. Rutz lists a number of chances and advantages offered by this upgrade, which were previously unthinkable for many people:

• People experience release from the limitations and burdens of a traditional, hierarchical (and unbiblical) religious system, being freed into an 'open Christianity' with 100% participation.
• They are no longer a number in someone else's religious programme.
• They experience personal empowerment and are able to do things they previously could not even have dreamed of, including the supernatural (healing, prophesying, performing miracles etc.)
• They learn to overcome their own problems, and help others to overcome theirs.
• They experience fellowship with a small group of close friends who give mutual support, so that each person and the whole group reaches God's aims, which are their calling.
• In doing so, they find that which they have sought for their whole life.

Away from spectator religion

The path away from spectator religion frees people from fixed church role-playing. Previously, many people were passive, conformist churchgoers, experiencing church as a television without a remote control. The personal involvement of every follower of Christ, though, rouses millions of talents and abilities to solve even the most difficult problems. The result is a 'Megashift', a quantum leap in church history.

Post-Protestant revival

Protestantism was an important epoch in church history, but it is now time to stop protesting and start acting. The current post-Protestant awakening is larger than the great American revivals since 1727 under Wesley, Whitefield, the Herrnhuter or Johnathan Edwards. "This third Reformation," says Rutz, "has three characteristics:"

The church is transforming itself from an organisation to an organism

After 1700 years of institutional structure, the Body of Christ is emerging in the form described in the New Testament. People are rediscovering the original forms and functions in an open, participatory system mostly consisting of house churches.

100% active

Moving away from the one-man church system, in which the pastor literally did everything, a growing number of Jesus' followers are becoming active participants, leaving their spectators' seats and taking their place on the playing field. It should be no surprise the number of goals scored increases. When 100 people pray for the sick, prophesy, and plant churches instead of just 1, it is also reasonable to expect the number of miracles to increase.

Immense numbers of new believers

Church growth outside America is breathtaking. Tens of thousands of new believers (Rutz speaks of 175,000 per day) means that although all religions are growing naturally, only Christianity is experiencing significant growth through conversion. Where religions meet, Christianity almost always gains new believers, and new networks of house churches are formed.

How to be part of this Megashift

1. Stop going with the flow, and decide to actively turn away from the outdated control structures (clerics & laypeople).
2. Take responsibility. That also means paying the price of being a pionier, including Christian friends' suspicion and ostracism.
3. Learn to love others, overcoming selfishness and becoming a team player. That requires a lifestyle of repentance and obedience - out of healthy enthusiasm, not duty.
4. Help carry others' burdens, and not stagnate but take small steps forward every day.

Rutz says: "Is there a small voice inside saying "That's right!"?" Follow it. But you also have the choice to ignore it. That too is freedom. But please don't complain later..." Or, as C. Peter Wagner says, "Jim describes what God is going to do tomorrow. You can't afford to miss this book!"

Source: Jim Rutz, www.megashift.org, e-mail ocmoffice at openchurch.com

That is the name of the new newsletter published by Dawn Ministries, a global church planting strategy group. "DAWN around the world" replaces the DAWN Report, which they published for many years. Some highlights from the current issue:

Openness in Africa

"Africa is more open for the gospel than it has ever been," reports DAWN Africa Coordinator Danie Vermeulen. "Thousands of Muslims are finding Christ, and some of the most exciting church planting movements are among Muslims. Civil wars, AIDS and political repression are other factors leading growing numbers to open for the gospel..."

Interest in God is growing in Europe

"Secular ideology has failed in Europe, and there is a new interest in religion and spirituality," says Dawn European Network Coordinator Reinhold Scharnowski. "This is starting to affect European culture; writers, artists and talk show guests are speaking increasingly about spirituality. Until recently, people thought that religion is what people believe before they discover science. That has been revealed as myth. The secular faith in progress itself, which was supposed to replace religion, has failed, as clearly shown by the growing church attendance in London. The Hillsong Fellowship, for example, started with an attendance of only 70, but the numbers double every year; the attendance has now reached 5,500, with 1,500 new believers in 2004 alone..."

Uruguay: church numbers doubled

"Recent research shows that the number of Christian churches and the number of new believers in Uruguay has doubled since 1998," reports Amaury Braga, Prayer Coordinator for DAWN in Latin America. "There were around 1,000 churches in 1998, after 150 years of evangelism. This realisation gave birth to a new phase; the churches began a dedicated campaign to mobilise prayer for effective church planting. Now, in 2005, the figures show that in a period of only seven years, not only has the number of churches doubled to over 2,000, but the number of Christians has doubled with it."

Source, and to order the free newsletter "DAWN around the world": Dawn Ministries, PO Box 690787, Orlando, FL 32869-0787, USA, tel. +1 (407) 370-9312, fax +1 (407) 226-8713, e-mail tedmolsen (at) aol.com

In a letter published in "Verfolgte Christen" ('Persecuted Christians'), pastor Vesselin Lazarov from Shumen, Bulgaria, thanks the missions agency AVC for their practical assistance. He reports "God has performed many miracles in our midst. We recently witnessed a man raised from the dead. While some Gypsy musicians from our church were playing at a Turkish wedding, a young man fell to the ground, dead. People tried to resuscitate him, but without success. Then a member of our church prayed, commanding the spirit of death to leave the man, and called him back to life. The man stood up! The over 100 astonished eyewitnesses shouted 'A miracle! A miracle!'"

Source: Nehemia Info/AvC

German missionary Irene Menzel works in Brazilian cities, where life is hard. In one issue of "DMG informiert" ('German Missionary Fellowship Reports'), she writes "Manoel was in jail for drug-related crimes. During one visit, he listened attentively to God's word, and later completed a Bible study correspondence course. Following his release, he was tired and discouraged. One day, youths accused Manoel of having stolen a bicycle. 'If you don't give it back, we'll kill you!' The threat was real. Manoel wanted to go directly to the police to protest his innocence, but that was not as easy as it sounds. A police car soon stopped outside my door, with four armed policemen and the girl whose bicycle was stolen. I tried to convince policemen that they were on the wrong track, without success. They raced off, with me in hot pursuit. Arrests are not exactly gentle here. They had soon almost caught up with Manoel, but he kept running. They shot in the air a few times and continued their chase, but soon gave up. Later, Manoel's wife Railene came, weeping, because the young girl's relatives had threatened her, too. Back in their house, I prayed with her. Manoel had gone into hiding, but we found him and together called on God for help.
Manoel ate lunch at his mother-in-law's house. Suddenly, the house was surrounded, and the police burst in, searching every room. Everyone screamed, his mother-in-law fainted, and Manoel was handcuffed and dragged off to jail. 'Now they will beat him,' said Railene, desperate. We prayed, and a neighbour, a pensioned judge and lawyer, took up Manoel's case. At the identity parade, the young girl became nervous and contradicted herself. Manoel had a good alibi, and was finally released. He had not been beaten. It's definitely worth praying in desperate situations, and trusting God completely."

Source: Irene Menzel, Brazil, in "DMG informiert", the newsletter of the German Missionary Fellowship