Brigada Today
31 of July, 1998

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News and Notes about Brigada, Your Gateway to Missions Networking!
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Brigada Today is "the missionary helper newsletter!"
Compiled by Doug Lucas <DLucas@teamexpansion.org>, Louisville, KY
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In this issue....

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AUGUST ADVANCE READY TO RETRIEVE!

Don't miss this month's issue of Mark Kelly's Advance bulletin. Here's an executive summary:

THE GOSPEL FOR EVERY PEOPLE -- The Muslim Arabs of Sudan; the Asheninca of Peru and Brazil; rescue efforts in Papua New Guinea; the Rif Berbers of Morocco; street battles among Karachi's Mohajirs; the Hindus of Gujarat state; the Loba of Nepal; the Shenyang Industrial Region of northeast China

THE PERSECUTED CHURCH -- 50 believers arrested in Maldive Islands; violence continues in Indonesia; Belgian missionaries kidnapped in Rwanda; US House urges help for kidnapped New Tribes missionaries

SPIRITUAL FORCES OF DARKNESS -- 2.6 million people starving to death in Sudan; student from unreached people group saved, attempts suicide; South African believer condemned to death; "Amsterdam 98" outreach at Gay Games; Ukrainian women enslaved in sex industry

REJOICE! -- "Every Tree Crusade" in central Africa; persecuted Egyptian believer relocates to United States; Saudi Arabia releases imprisoned believers; God opens a door of opportunity for Nigeria; bedridden man healed in India; house church grows from 10 to 600 people; engineer comes to Christ while designing church; pastor refuses cancer treatment, 300 come to Christ; 323 decisions for Christ in Malaysia; progress against partial-birth abortion in United States; House of Lords rejects lower homosexual age of consent

NETWORKING -- Where to order "The Church Is Bigger Thank You Think" (really!); how you can help take the gospel to the Loba of Nepal; strategy coordinator praying for five churches; how to protest arrests of believers in the Maldives; how you can help put more Jesus film teams on the field; "Character IS the Issue" by Mike Huckabee; a Palestinian believer's perspective on the birth of modern Israel; a fast-paced, high-tech video missions adventure; specific, practical assistance to help you mobilize your congregation for strategic missions involvement; renovated US Center for World Mission Web site

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GUEST EDITORIAL BY LUIS BUSH

Luis Bush is one of the foremost visionaries of the 1990s. This past week, he wrote us here at Brigada, "Dear Doug, Thinking about you in the heat as we experience the heat of Bihar, India. After one month and nine North India statewide consultations we have seen the hand of God moving so powerfully in North India. Religion Today has picked this up and written a brief summary which you may be interested in for Brigada.
Thanks for standing with us,
Much love in Him,
Luis and Doris"

Here's the scoop: A Moment in Time -- The time is ripe for spiritual harvest in North India (the Current Feature Story of Religion Today, 28 July 1998)

Churches, missions workers, and evangelists are poised to bring revival to spiritually dark North India. ..."There are indications that God is moving there as never before," Luis Bush of AD2000 and Beyond Movement said. North India has been called a graveyard for Christian missions because of the strong Hindu influence. ...A kairos moment-an open window of opportunity-exists for Christian ministry in the area known as the North India-Hindi belt, Bush said. "Practically everything flows from this area of the country." The region stretches across north and central India and covers nine states, including Delhi, the capital. It is a major population center and two of the states, Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, have more people than most countries. ..."All the signs are there. North India is poised to receive an outpouring of grace and glory," Bush said. Churches are multiplying rapidly and thousands of people are becoming Christians in areas that had little or no Christian witness. Ministries are forming a vision and strategy for spreading the message of Christ into every area and ethnic group in hundreds of districts. Ministry networks include mainline churches, charismatic churches, international missions organizations, indigenous evangelistic groups, and lay people. ...Thousands of church workers attended Harvest Consultations in nine states in July to dedicate themselves to planting churches in areas that don't have one. Evangelists, pastors, and missions workers from Delhi, Jammu, Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, and Uttar Pradesh gathered in their states to share information, pool resources, and form partnerships. Participants pledged to target unreached ethnic groups, language groups, urban areas, and geographic districts with the gospel. ...The leaders shared testimonies of church growth. Churches have increased by 15% a year since 1992 in Himachal Pradesh. The state is known to be one of the least-evangelized in India, but people are more open to the gospel than ever, leaders said. About 130 churches have been started there since 1995. One missionary has baptized 600 people in three years. Radeep, the son of a missionary, prayed for a woman to be delivered of an evil spirit in front of hundreds of people at a bazaar in Kinnaur, the state capital. The next day, many sick people gathered outside the missionary's home to ask for prayer. Since then "the local hospital has been emptied" and a vital church started in Kinnaur, AD2000 said. ...Workers with Every Home for Christ have formed more than 800 home groups in Rajasthan since 1992. They have visited every home in every village and every town twice with the gospel message and are conducting a third outreach, director Sam Lal told the conference. Evangelists from the Rajasthan Bible Institute started 250 churches with 10,000 believers in less than a year, and they add about 125 new members every month. ...Ministries are forming new churches in the slums of Delhi. About 60% of the population live in areas with no water or electricity, AD2000 said. ... The group has planted three churches and baptized more than 300 people since 1992. Another ministry has started more than 50 cell churches in the slums... About 1,500 churches have been started in Madhya Pradesh since 1993, AD 2000 said. About 200 churches have been planted in Bhopal, the state capital, in five years. The state is the largest in India, a stronghold of Hinduism, and is the home of Saktism and Saivism, the worship of two of Hinduism's main deities. It hosts the Kumbh Mela festival, which attracts millions of Hindus to the Ganges River every 12 years. During the July conference, Christian leaders walked through Bhopal praying that the influence of Hinduism and other religions would be lessened and that people would be open to hear the message of Christ."
(Terrific testimony, Luis. Thanks for sharing it! God is moving!)

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WORLD CHRISTIAN GATHERING OF INDIGENOUS PEOPLE (WCGIP)

The conference will be hosted by the First Nations People of North America on September 5-13, 1998 in Rapid City, South Dakota. Join representatives from Africa, Asia, Australia, North and South America, Russia, Scandinavia and others as they celebrate our unity in Christ! The dream is that representatives and supporters of indigenous people throughout the globe will congregate for this gathering. For more information or a brochure contact:
WCGIP
P.O. Box 679
Rapid City, SD, USA, 57709-0679
tel. 605-348-1829
Fax: 605-348-1859
Email: cpetkau@portage.net
web: http://www.chazm.com/wcgip

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GLOBAL GLIMPSE FROM MALDIVES

world globe Beginning in May, Maldives authorities expelled expat Christians and by the third week of June imprisoned all known local believers in this tiny island country, located south of India. The Maldives, a tropical vacation destination for much of South Asia, claims to be 100% Muslim. As non-Muslims under the Maldivian constitution, the believers there have no rights whatsoever. The prisoners are being held captive in the notorious political prison-island of Dhoonidhoo. Their position is extremely vulnerable, as the Maldivian authorities hide what is happening and claim that no such persons exist.
(Source: Godfrey Yogarajah, Executive Secretary for Religious Liberty, Evangelical Alliance of Sri Lanka, 27 July, 1998, via Mark Albrecht, WEF Religious Liberty E- mail Conference, Religious-Liberty@xc.org
Global Glimpse is compiled each week by John Hanna, Caleb Project, at missions Mecca Littleton, CO.

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IS CHRISTIANITY IN A GROWTH SPURT? YOU BET!

This update came from Winkie Pratney winkprat@aol.com, via Craig Tasker tasker@online.ee. Korea - 90 years ago - No churches in Korea. Now close to 2 of 3 Koreans are Christians (40%). Most came in during the 80's. Methodists began in England but now the largest Methodist church in world is in Korea. Presbyterians began in Geneva but now the largest Presbyterian church in world is in Korea. The Assemblies of God began in Asuza in Los Angeles, but now the largest AOG church in the world is in Korea.

In Africa, in 1900 only 1 in 13,000 was a Christian. Now nearly 50% call themselves Christians.
(Source: National leaders like President J.T. Chiluba of Republic Of Zambia)

In China, we've witnessed what some would call the greatest revival in history of the Church. Some estimate as many as 28,000 come to Christ per day. There were over 75 million believers in 1992.

In India, there are now over 85 million believers. That's more than in the USA! (Up to 100,000 a day!)

In Latin America, at the turn of the century, there were only 90,000 evangelical believers in whole continent. Now there are over 40 million, with 20 million having come during the last decade alone. Christian growth in many places 5-6 times faster than general population. David Stoll projects 5-6 Latin nations will have evangelical Christian majorities by 2010.

In the Islamic world, during the 1980s, over 19 million converted from Islam to Christianity. That's 12% of world's Islamic population! Over 30% of Indonesia is now said to be Christian and Indonesia is considered to be the world's 4th largest Islamic nation!

In Eastern Europe during the early 80's, Christians were jailed and killed for their faith. In 1993 there were over 14 million requesting salvation in the former USSR alone.

God is truly on the move . . . What a privilege it is to live for him at this time!

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GOT ANY CORRESPONDENCE COURSES EN ESPANOL?

A church in Colorado wants to know. They wrote this past week, "...a Mexican pastor...wants to know if there are any correspondence courses from Christian colleges (undergrad) in the U.S. in Spanish."

Please send replies directly to: trinity_baptist_ch@juno.com

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IS YOUR EMAIL AT RISK FOR A COMPUTER VIRUS?

virus Probably only if you download lots of games or borrow tons of disks. To see the best web page on the new problem with email into Microsoft Outlook, Outlook Express, and Netscape's email client, browse http://www.ciac.org/ciac/bulletins/i-077a.shtml for the straight answers.

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SHORT OUTLINE HISTORY OF BRIGADA, (CONT'D)

Last week's item by the same name kicked off our glance in the rear view mirror of time, at least as it concerns Brigada Today. We covered Nov. '94 through May '95.