The Friday Fax

If a Western church grew from 70 to 5,000 members in only three years, the Christian media would be all over it. In China, though, churches are experiencing growth considered almost unprecedented in the West. Here's one report:

"Guangxi is a province in south-western China, on the Vietnamese border. The city of Guilin, with its unusual cliffs, has become a symbol of China's beauty," reports Dennis Balcombe, leader of Hong Kong's Revival Christian Church. Spiritually, though, Guangxi was until recently a desert. Idol worship was the normal religion, and the few Christians could not imagine revival. Now, though, the light of the Gospel is burning brightly, and the churches are growing rapidly. Only 3 years ago, a house church in one region had 70 members; today, it has 5,000! The movement is led by a middle-aged couple; he is a simple and uncomplicated man, she a strong character and conscientious. They were both expelled from the state church in 1998, so started a house church, where they met, sitting on the floor in simple surroundings. Signs and wonders started to happen: the lame walked, the deaf heard, and people were healed of cancer. Everyone in the area recognised the believers' love for one another.

Three days after funeral: raised from the dead
An elderly Christian woman in Sichuan Province became sick and died. Three days after her funeral, the Holy Spirit revealed to another Christian that the dead woman had just returned from Eternity. The woman hurried to the cemetery with her relatives and the church leader. They opened the coffin and saw the dead woman return to life. The woman continually told of how God had raised her from the dead from that time on until she again went to be with Jesus some years later. Through her testimony, many came to faith and remained staunch under persecution. That church grew the fastest of any in the region.

Source: Revival Chinese Ministries International

"For almost a decade, Eagle TV was the only independent journalistic voice in Mongolia," according to Michael Ireland of the ASSIST News Service. The Christian programmes broadcast via cable have led to over 10,000 people expressing interest in the Christian message. At the end of October 2005, the Eagle Broadcasting Company started broadcasting on terrestrial Channel 8 in Ulaanbataar, Mongolia's capital. Far more people can now receive the programmes. The Christian station sees itself as the nation's only independent news source, and naturally as a medium for many Christian programmes. "It's an exciting moment for us all," says Tom Terry, Managing Director of the Eagle Broadcasting Company, "now that 1 million people in the capital have access to our programmes." "Eagle Television is the only local TV station in Asia which can openly broadcast the Gospel," according to the report.

Source: Assist News; Tom Terry, Eagle Broadcasting Company, tel. (+976) 99118722, e-mail tom[at]eagle-tv.mn; web www.thomasterry.com

Missions agency Reach The Unreached (RTU) repeated last year's outreach in Karachi with evangelist Bernd Goldbach. The following is an excerpt from their report:

Pakistan, a nation double the size of Germany, is, with 160 million inhabitants, the second-largest Islamic nation in the world. An evangelistic outreach was held in Karachi in September 2005. On the last evening, over 10,000 people attended the event. During the five evenings, around 8,000 people responded to the call to invite Jesus Christ into their life as saviour. God confirmed his Word through many signs and wonders: hundreds were healed or delivered from demonic bondage. After receiving prayer for healing, one Muslim told us that he had been healed of a heart problem which had been causing him unbearable pain, and publicly displayed his doctor's certificate confirming his condition.

Carried in, walked out
Two men reported that one of them had been lame. His friends had carried him to the evening meeting. During prayer for healing, God touched the man, who could immediately stand up and walk for the first time in many years. One man came up to the stage with his crutches on his shoulders, and told how he had been healed of his paralysis in a moment.

Source: Bernd Goldbach, RTU Mission, Norderstr. 34, D-26826 Weener, Germany.

China is one of the nations in which God most often gives his followers the privilege of experiencing suffering and persecution  - but also absolutely breathtaking miracles and demonstrations of His presence. Although Western Christianity has spent a lot of energy to prove that you can have the one without the other, it is generally the combination of cross and resurrection, suffering and God's triumph which have the longest-lasting effect on a nation. Asia Harvest's Paul and Joy Hattaway report about another of these experiences:

As another wave of persecution swept through China in the 1950's, pastor Li was arrested in the southern province Guangdong. He was convicted of "counter-revolutionary activities" and sentenced to work in an iron ore mine in farthest north-eastern China. Li's wife and five children, including a new-born baby, had no other means of support; they decided to join pastor Li on his 2,000-mile journey to Heilongjiang, where they would perhaps be able to visit him occasionally, and would be close by should he be miraculously released. They sold everything they owned and bought tickets for the week-long rail journey. When they arrived, they used old boards and a tarpaulin to build a rickety hut on the road to the labour camp. Pastor Li worked as a slave for 14 hours every day, with miserable food, in temperatures well below freezing. He died after three months. When the family heard the news, they were desperate and deeply depressed. His wife saw no future, and wanted to die. She neglected the children terribly. Finally, she told the children that she would have to look for a job. The eldest daughter said "No, mother, you cannot go to work. The baby needs you. He cries for you the whole day long. I will go to work." The 12-year-old girl went to the Director of the labour camp, and told him "My father was sent to this God-forsaken place because of his love for Jesus Christ. That was his only crime. He was a good man, who loved people and helped them. Now he is dead, and we have no food, no money and no place to live. We can't even return to the south. I would like to know whether there is some work I could do in the camp." The Director remembered pastor Li, and recognised the girl as his daughter. He gave in to the tiny glimmer of compassion in his heart, and said "I have a job for you, but it is boring, and pays badly." She took the job immediately.

The Director took her to the place where 3,000 prisoners worked in the iron ore mine. He asked her "Do you see that red button? Your job is to stand next to the button all day, and if someone tells you to press it, you must do so immediately. That is the alarm button, which sets off a siren deep underground. When they hear the siren, the miners get out as fast as they can. You must never press the button by accident, but only when one of us tell you to." So little Sister Li stood next to the button day for day, week for week. She and her family were overjoyed when she was paid for the first time, although it was only a few dollars. One afternoon, she suddenly heard a voice saying "Press the button!" She turned around, trying to find out who had spoken, but there was nobody there. She heard the same voice again a few moments later, saying "Quickly! Press the button, now!" There was still nobody to be seen, and she started to think she was losing her mind. She should only press the button in an emergency, and everything looked normal. Seconds later, she heard the voice again, saying "Sister Li, press the button, now!" with great urgency. Only then did she realise that it was her Lord speaking to her. She did not understand why she should press the button, but she knew she had to obey. The siren sounded, and 3,000 men came up to the surface as fast as they could, confused and curious to find out what had happened. The Director came running out of his office, demanding to know why she had pressed the button. Only a few moments after the last prisoner had left the mine, the area was shaken by a large earthquake. The whole mine collapsed, and nobody has been able to return to it to this day. An eerie silence spread when the earthquake was over, everyone looking at the fragile figure who had pressed the red button. Finally, the Director managed to ask "Comrade Li, how... how did you know that you had to press the red button?" Li answered as loud as she could, saying "The Lord Jesus Christ told me to press the red button. He told me three times before I did it. Jesus Christ is the only way you can come to know the true and living God. He loves you, and has just demonstrated his love by saving your lives. You must turn from your sins and give your lives to him!" All 3,000 prisoners and the director knelt and prayed that Jesus would forgive them and come to live in their hearts.

Source: Asia Harvest Newsletter #80

Some years ago, missiologists coined the term "The 10/40 Window", meaning the geographical area between the 10 and 40 degrees north of the equator. "Most of the people groups not yet reached by the Gospel live in this area," they said. "For us," says Campus Church Networks (CCN), a mostly student-led church-planting movement on universities, "the 13/30 Window is central. It is the 13- to 30-year-old age range, the largest spiritual harvest field in the world for the following reasons:

1. People in this age range are most open for the Gospel
2. This is a decisive group, because they are the future of both the Church and the world. If you can reach the youth (for example, in educational establishments such as universities), you influence the form of future Christianity - and the world. UN figures show that
   • 60% of the world population is under 24 years old
   • 30% (1.7 billion) are between 10 and 24 years old

Statistical research has shown that 90% of all Christians decided to follow Christ before they were 25 years old (source: Barna Research).

The following reports from CCN show how a church can be planted:

"Last week, we experienced a breakthrough on the UCLA (University of California, Los Angeles) Campus," writes Jaeson Ma, CCN Director. "One of our teams went to establish a beachhead on campus through 'prophetic worship and apostolic preaching'. One of our members reports:

Seeing with spiritual eyes
This past Wednesday at UCLA we experienced a taste of heaven on earth, but it came with a cost. As we walked up onto campus there were thousands of students walking up and down Bruin Walk. Normally, we would sit at the patch of grass where there were not many onlookers (free speech area), but on Wednesday the main steps at the top of Bruin Walk were open - we took it by faith. As we sat on the steps we began to pray. It was difficult to pray, the enemy immediately began to intimidate us with fear and self-consciousness. We could sense the spiritual darkness right there in the middle of campus opposing our prayers. It was almost like we could hear the Devil say, "Come on, what are you going to do? Worship in the middle of campus? With your little guitars and make a fool out of yourself? Don't you know I own this campus?" On the outside these UCLA students all have the status, the image, the self-confidence, the cool look cool. Then I heard the spirit of the Lord shout to my spirit, "Stop looking with your physical eyes. Look with your spiritual eyes! They are all lost, dying and headed towards eternal separation from God!"

Grace instead of routine preaching
Has not God made the wisdom of this world foolishness, and doesn't he use apparently foolish things to confound the wise? So we stood there worshipping God, not so that the students would hear us, but so that God would hear us. It was difficult. We were distracted by all sorts of thoughts, and one of us felt sick. Despite that, we sang for two hours, until we sensed that the time had come to preach. No matter how many times you have preached in front of masses of non-believers, you never get used to it. You can never preach from an inner confidence. It's not a routine Sunday sermon; it's for people who are prepared to lose their own reputation and rely completely on God. I almost wet myself when I looked at the number of students walking past. I would have liked to run away and hide. Instead, I shut my eyes, asked God for his grace, jumped into the middle of the steps and started preaching as loud as I could.

If there is...
My voice threatened to fail me, but I sensed that God was there. More and more students stopped to listen - a group here, a group of Asian students there, another group of African American students who had been listening to music from their boom boxes only moments before. They all listened as I preached the Gospel; at least 120 students, for almost half an hour. It was as though God miraculously amplified my voice. People told me later that they had heard me on the second floor (for US readers, the third floor), even though I was speaking without a microphone. When I called them to repent and turn to God, many prayed with me, and at least half a dozen raised their hands. We spoke one-on-one with the students who had shown interest. One Hindu told me "I am jealous of what you have! I want it, but I don't know how to get it!" One black student was really angry, and shouted at us, "You're just full of sh..!" He said that Christians cannot be trusted, and that he was now a servant of the Devil. I prayed "Holy Spirit, please give me the wisdom to answer this man." When I asked him for forgiveness, for myself and other Christians, he replied "I have no answer for that one," and almost started to cry. His countenance changed, and we prayed for him. Finally, he said "I don't know what's so different about you. I'm the only one in my family who is not a Christian, but if there is one church I'll go to, it's the one you go to!" The stories go on and on, but we know: the battle has just begun. Now we must press on!"

Source: Jaeson Ma and Campus Church Networks

The 30-mile coast between Thaimuang and Takuapa was devastated by the tsunami at the end of December 2004. Khao Lak, which everyone heard of in the weeks following the catastrophe, is in this region. Hundreds of volunteers assisted the locals and the Thai army with reconstruction. Many of these volunteers who invested their time and money were Christians, and their living witness caused many to think about Jesus; over 20 new churches have started in this area since the flood, mostly small house churches led by nationals who take good care of the people's needs. "Christians have never been so involved in any region in Thailand," commented one pastor. Of course, many people come to the churches because of their physical needs, but they are also brooding about the basic questions of life. There is hardly anyone who did not lose family, friends and neighbours to the tsunami. In one of the churches, a 27-year-old woman who lost her husband and both children how the book of Romans comforted her, enabling her to sleep again. In that church, 19 people have been baptised in the past month.

Source: DMG, Germany