Outreach

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.

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:

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

"Siddhartha Gautama alias Buddha and Kohelet, author of the Old Testament book Ecclesiastes, used very similar methods to describe the basic problems of human existence and suggest solutions," according to a recently-published book by David Lim and Steve Spaulding. "That makes Ecclesiastes an excellent contact point and bridge for explaining Biblical truths to Buddhists," they say.

Experience-based description
Buddha's statements are based on his own experiences and observations, as do Kohelet's. Both make similar statements about life, but have completely different analyses and hence different solutions. Ecclesiastes' foundation in experience is a helpful approach for Buddhists, because their own background helps them understand the statements.

Greed is humankind's basic problem
Buddha's "Four Noble Truths" declare (1) that life is suffering, (2) the suffering is caused by greed, (3) the suffering can be overcome by overcoming greed, and (4) there is a path to end suffering. Similarly, Kohelet sees humankind's basic problem in selfish desire and greed. Greed has its source in the human will and selfish motives which oppose the will of God. Instead of seeking God's will, people live as they see fit, with their own lusts and desires subjecting their own lives to suffering and unfulfillment.

Both look 'under the sun'
In the Bible, the expression 'under the sun' occurs only in Ecclesiastes. The author deliberately restricts himself to observing humankind's earthly activities, ignoring the possibility of a transcendent but immanent God. Both Buddha and Kohelet try to find sense in life outside of God. Basic ethics and some of the Creator's attributes are "written in each person's heart" according to Romans. If we do not reject Buddha's moral teachings out of hand, but understand them as part of God's general revelation to all people, it becomes possible to open God's specific revelation and laws to Buddhists.

Source: David Lim and Steve Spaulding: Sharing Jesus Holistically in the Buddhist World, e-mail SteveMSpaulding (at) cs.com

Six years ago, one of the hottest topics in the USA was the advertising campaign "Godspeaks", which consisted of funny and thought-provoking one-liners in white text on a black background. No logo, no address, no telephone number, just signed "God". From very small beginnings on a handful of billboards, the campaign spread to 10,000 billboards across the nation, and also caught the attention of the media. The campaign was backed by an anonymous sponsor who wanted to draw attention to the God of the Bible in a creative, disarming and thought-provoking way. "For years, the campaign has made people talk, think and laugh," says Nancy Fletcher, CEO and President of OAAA, the Outdoor Advertising Association of America, which adopted the campaign in 1999, spreading it across the nation for free; the 10,000 billboards in 200 towns and cities would otherwise have cost around US$ 15 million. Now, there's a new campaign, titled "god speaks - again!" This time, there's also a web site (godspeaks.com) for people who have become curious and want to know more. Here are the one-liners, first from the original campain, then from the new:

1998 campaign

• Let´s meet at my house Sunday before the game.
• C´mon over and bring the kids.
• Which part of „Thou shalt not…“ didn´t you understand?
• We need to talk.
• Keep using my name in vain, I´ll make rush hour longer.
• Loved the wedding, invite me to the marriage.
• That “Lover Thy neighbour” thing… I meant it.
• I love you…I love you… I love you
• Will the road you´re on get you to my place?
• Follow me.
• Need directions?
• You think it´s hot here?
• Tell the kids I love them.
• Need a marriage counsellor? I´m available.
• Have you read my #1 best seller? (There will be a test.)
• Do you have any idea where you´re going?
• Big Bang Theory… you´ve got to be kidding.
• My way is the Highway.

2005 campaign

• I love you… Te amo…
• As my apprentice, you´re never fired.
• One nation under me.
• All I know … is everything.
• If you must curse, use your own name!
• It´s a small world. I know… I made it.
• Life is short. Eternity isn´t.
• The real Supreme Court meets up here.
• Feeling lost? My book is your map.

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