The Friday Fax

"'Oh no!' I had quite a shock when I realised that I had lost my key during my morning jog," writes Corinne Kotzur from Cottbus, Germany, in the Josua Dienst mission agency's newsletter. "Retracing my steps to look for the key would take me at least an hour. Naturally, I prayed that God would lead me and that I would take the right route... So I turned around and retraced my steps. On the way, I had to pass a man with a large dog. He called out as I passed, 'Excuse me, are you looking for a key? My blind dog just found one!' Ecstatic and astonished that the tiny details of my life are so important to God, I made my way home. He had even used a blind dog, of which I used to be afraid, to find my key."

Source: Josua Bote, Corinne Kotzur

Staff of the international "Janz Team" based in Kandern, southern Germany, sought creative ways to communicate the gospel - and found them. One of those ways is to hold evangelistic English camps, called "LinGo", in Eastern European nations, including Moldavia. Many of the attendees come to faith in Jesus Christ. "Imagine your youth group or church tripling in size in a single week! Imagine how it is when the Christians are the minority in your youth group or church, because there are twice as many visitors who are not yet Christians, but come because they have seen Jesus in other Christians and now do not want to miss what happens when Christians gather! How would your church deal with that?" asks Jake Penner, a Canadian Janz Team missionary. "Many people in Belarus are open for the gospel - no, hungry is a better description!"

The Almost Christians Club
The camps draw many young people. 26-year-old Vladimir, for example "is a Tae Kwon Doe champion with a criminal record," says Penner. "Today, he leads the evangelistic Tae Kwon Doe project in one church. He brought his cousin, the astonishingly beautiful Oxana, a professional dancer and manager of a nightclub in Siberia. When we later asked her what she thought of the camp, she cried for a minute before answering 'Words cannot express what I have experienced this week. After the camp, I spoke with God all night, and I can feel how I am getting closer to him.' She didn't return to her nightclub. The church has since opened another club, for seekers who are not yet Christians, but seeking God so intensely that they are ready to attend such clubs - and sooner or later find Jesus there. Many, like Kalin, a tall young man who played in the national Handball team, bring 40 others to an improvised gathering in a local park. When asked what they think of these Christian gatherings, they say 'Ochin Kruta' - very cool."

Source: Jake Penner, Janz Team, e-mail jpenner at janzteam.com, fax (+49) 7626-9160-99

"People meet daily in their houses for prayer. They tell of dreams and visions, and experience healing and deliverance. Ex-terrorists and spirit healers accept Jesus as their Lord. Churches are formed. This is not an excerpt from Acts, but is happening today among the Kabyls in North-east Algeria," writes Operation Mobilisation's Debbie Meroff. "The Algerian population of around 35 million is composed mainly of two people groups: the Berbers, and the Muslim Arabs, who later conquered the land. After the French left in 1962, the new government tried to unite Algeria under one language, religion and culture. That was difficult, particularly for the Kabylian Berbers; they had Christian roots, and their protests were often answered with military force. This oppression had a side-effect: their anger towards anything Arabic prepared their way to Jesus. New Christian churches are forming all over the Kablyian area. So far, they have been able to resist denominational influences and foreign leadership. Many people hear the gospel through Christian radio and television programmes, and up to 274 people contact the Christian staff each month. Christians hope to gather the scattered believers in new churches, and aim to plant churches in all of Algeria's 48 larger towns."

Source: OM News

Outside the desert, Algeria seems to be one huge building site; new hotels, hospitals, offices and apartment blocks are being built everywhere, and Chinese building workers are always involved. There are over 70,000 Chinese building workers in Algeria, working 13 hours each day, 7 days a week, with 10 days vacation each year, for US$ 400 per month. The men live in overcrowded accommodation on the building sites, watched over by Communist bosses. After work, there was not much to do except smoke and sit around, until Chinese tourists brought large amounts of Christian literature to Algeria. Now, every building worker wants his own Chinese New Testament, and there is often a tumult when the few Bibles are handed out, and hundreds of copies of the Jesus Film are in circulation. A growing number of them are coming to faith in Christ. The Algerian government does not concern itself with these developments, as long as they are limited to the Chinese. The Communist bosses sometimes refuses access to the barracks, but the workers then just climb over the wall...

Source: OM News