Renewal Journal #
16 (2000:2): Vision
Contents
Almolonga, the Miracle City, Mell
Winger
Cali Transformation, George Otis Jr.
Revival in Bogotá,
Guido Kuwas
Vision for Church Growth, Daryl
& Cecily Brenton
Vision for Ministry, Geoff Waugh
Australian Reports (6)
Global Reports
December 2000
Book Review:
Jesus on Leadership by
Gene Wilkes.
Editorial: Vision
for the 21st Century
A new millennium, like each new year, encourages vision.
New hope. New possibilities.
New vision.
Christian vision remains grounded in God’s revelation of himself in
Scripture, inspired and illuminated by his Spirit. So the vision is both old and new.
The vision is old because Jesus Christ is the same, “yesterday, today
and forever”. God’s word
hasn’t changed with changing times. We
have the same that God Abraham, Moses, David, Esther, Mary, Peter and Paul
served.
They all served God in their time, their era. Now it’s our turn, in our time, our era.
Ours is a very different world from their day.
We communicate rapidly, globally. We
fly globally for mission and holidays. We
spend billions of dollars in Kingdom business.
So is there a vision for the 21st century?
There must be. Where there
is no vision, the people perish. Where
there is no prophetic word the people cast off restraint. See Proverbs 29:18.
This issue of the Renewal Journal looks at some visions, directions and
implications for serving God in the 21st century.
The essentials remain the same. God
is. Jesus saves.
The Holy Spirit moves in all the earth.
The church grows – with endless cultural and social expressions.
Yet still the Lord only recognises one church – his.
All over the world powerful expressions of the church have emerged at
the beginning of the 21st century.
This is not triumphalism. But
it is war. Jesus is still building
his church and smashing through the gates of hell.
Mell Winger, missionary to Latin America, tells the astounding story of Almolonga, Guetemala, the “Miracle City”. There the Christians have united in prayer and seen the powers of darkness dramatically overcome. The four jails, once packed, are now empty – closed. The curse on the land has been broken and they grow the biggest and best food in the world. Families, once at war, are united in loving service.
George Otis Jr., producer of the vivid, prophetic video Transformations,
tells how Cali, Columbia, has been transformed through united repentance and
prayer. Once the centre of billions
of dollars in drug trafficking with a turnover of over 400 million US dollars a
month, it is now transformed. What
global law enforcement agents could not do, God has done.
Guido Kuwas describes revival in Bogotá, Columbia – another
transformations story. A church is
impacting the whole city and region by applying Jesus’ principles of
discipleship. Christian disciple
just 12 people. Very effectively.
They gather in huge areas to celebrate together.
Daryl and Cecily Brenton, now missionary translators in Papua New
Guinea, comment on the world’s largest data base of church growth factors to
draw conclusions about effective mission and evangelism.
I have condensed my research on the emerging church into an article
surveying the dramatic and powerful global shifts going on in church life and
ministry amid accelerating change today.
The Australian and global reports give glimpses of profound changes
going on in the world church now, and Gene Wilkes’ book Jesus on Leadership
challenges our usual ideas of leadership in the church by examining how Jesus
led.
We hope you find this issue of the Renewal Journal inspiring and
informative, and that you can recommend it to your friends and your church!
©
Renewal Journal #16: Vision (2000:2)
www.renewaljournal.com
Reproduction is permitted so long
as the copyright acknowledgement remains intact with the text.