Sampling of Mega-Cities

The number of churches listed are those ABWE has started. We realize the city may have other fine churches and thank God for those seeking to bring people to Christ and establish them in Bible-believing churches.

São Paulo, Brazil

Population: 22 million

Churches: 34

Methods of church planting: Various ways of evangelism and discipleship. A central city bookstore reaches a wide constituency.

Training opportunities: The Baptist Bible College and Seminary offers bachelors and masters degrees under the leadership of a Brazilian board and director.

National involvement: Brazilians are involved in every aspect including pastoring, serving on the Regular Baptist editorial board, teaching at the seminary, directing AWANA. The Regular Baptist Press publishes materials to evangelize and strengthen churches throughout the Portuguese-speaking world.

Needs & prayer requests:

1. Strength and wisdom to deal with the pressures of city life. S‹o Paulo is a densely populated industrial area possessing great potential for a strong autonomous church.
2. Innovative ways to reach the masses of people in a city whose population increases by half a million each year.

Buenos Aires, Argentina

Population: 12 million

Churches: 10

Methods of church planting: Evangelism and discipleship, special children's day programs, community choir presentation

Training opportunities: Bible institute

National involvement: All church planting is done in partnership with local leadership

Needs & prayer requests:

1. Over one-third of the Argentine population lives in or near the capital city. Missionaries and nationals have teamed up to implement a program that will multiply churches in the large city. Pray for the outworking of this strategy.
2. Workers for church planting are desperately needed.

Manila, Philippines

Population: 10.5 million

Churches: 21

Methods of church planting: Evangelistic campaigns, personal witness, student centers, children's Bible clubs, Bible studies

Training opportunities: The Manila Evangelistic Institute became the Baptist Bible Seminary and Institute (BBSI) in the 1960's. Today it has 300 students from all parts of the Philippines, 9 Filipino and 3 ABWE professors.

National involvement: BBSI is fully indigenous. The Board of Trustees is composed of 12 Filipinos and 3 ABWE missionaries. Most of the churches became independent years ago and have local leadership. The Association of Baptists for Philippine Evangelism works in the towns and villages where there still is no Bible-believing church, while PABWE (Philippine Association of Baptists for World Evangelism) has 20 missionaries serving in Thailand and Cambodia.

Needs & prayer requests:

1. The Filipino Association of Baptist Churches continues toward its goal of 2000 churches by the end of 2000.
2. Pray for the outworking of the new driving force in the Philippines: "To encourage and equip Asians to reach Asia in cross-cultural ministries, starting with local ethnic groups such as Chinese and Muslims, and extending throughout Southeast Asia and beyond."
3. For wisdom in working in the context of an indigenous church organization.

Lima, Peru

Population: 8 million

Churches: 13

Methods of church planting: Letter distribution, personal contacts, social activities, parterning with national believers. Special outreaches include the Crisis Pregnancy Center and counseling

Training opportunities: Four-year program at the Baptist Theological Seminary, seminars on topics such as teacher training, evangelism, discipleship, counseling, thematic conferences

National involvement: The strategy of the churches in Lima is to leave the churches in national control. This includes the music, the preaching and teaching. The doctors, nurses, and counselors at the New Life Pre-Natal Center are seminary students involved in church planting ministries. The Lima churches support national missionaries.

Needs & prayer requests:

1. New facilities for the Monterrico church
2. Networking with the Baptist University to offer ghraduate level training
3. A Peruvian pastor for the Chacarilla church
4. Development of leadership and multi-purpose facilities for the church in Manchay

Santiago, Chile

Population: 5 million (75% of Chile's people live within the metropolitan area)

Churches: 21 in the city and 3 outside

Methods of church planting: Bible studies, children's classes, correspondence courses, outdoor evangelistic campaigns, and market day evangelism.

Training programs: Baptist Bible Institute for laymen held two nights a week (a 3-year course.) Baptist Bible Seminary (a 5-year course), annual Sunday school teachers conference, pastoral continuing education courses.

National involvement: National professors teach in the Seminary and Institute. Missionaries are teamed with national pastors in our existing churches. Seminary students have gone on missions trips to Paraguay and Chiloe, an island in southern Chile.

Needs & prayer requests:

1. Pray as we share Christ in a modern secularized nation.
2. Pray for the Expedition team coming from Horseheads, NY in July.
3. We need an administrator/supervision for our growing Spanish publishing ministry.
4. Finances and a building team are needed for expansion at Santiago Christian Academy.
5. Finances and work teams are needed for the relocation of Baptist Bible Seminary and Institute. Building is expected to begin in January 2001.
6. Pray for the growth and stability of the three-year-old church association.

Durban, South Africa

Population: 5 million

Churches: One autonomous church with a South African pastor; 3 in formation with sole South African leadership, and 5 in formation with North Americans and South Africans. People in the congregations come from three or four races, reflecting the make-up of the new South Africa.

Methods of church planting: Friendship evangelism, Bible studies, seminars, children's and youth work, a reading program to help students. Ministry teams from North America have provided sports, music, drama.

Training opportunities: The Baptist Bible College of Natal is accredited through a national university and offers a BA in Theology. The college also provides a laymen's Bible certificate, and a Licentiate in Church Ministry which includes an apprenticeship in a local church. South African pastors are able to earn a masters' degree through BBC/S in Pennsylvania.

Needs & prayer requests:

1. Durban is home to several large universities. Missionaries are needed to evangelize and disciple students, especially on a campus near the newest church plant.
2. Reinforcements to help reach out to the millions of Zulu-speaking South Africans living in the townships surrounding Durban.
3. Wisdom as we move forward with "Blessing Durban" the strategy to bring ten churches to the point of needing their own building by the year 2010.

Lisbon, Portugal

Population: 3 million

Churches: 8 - One church centers on Angolans; others are Portuguese or a mix of Portuguese, Brazilians, and Africans from Cape Verde, Guinea, and Angola.

Methods of church planting: Sports evangelism, the "center" approach offering crafts, games, English lessons; community concerts; friendship evangelism

Training opportunities: Leadership Development Group being launched to train national pastors and lay leaders

National workers: Four national pastors are now on our church planting advisory board, and two women, sent by ABWE churches in Brazil, work with us.

Needs & prayer requests:

1. Praise - For the miraculous provision of ALL the finances for the Lisbon Training Center. The facility has a 10-room educational wing for our MK school, a retreat wing with dormitories for 32 people, dining room, soccer court and beautiful grounds. The facilities are already in use, but there is potential for far-reaching results as each church uses the facilities for banquets, sports events, and retreats.
2. For the finances and details needed for the Alverca church to purchase its own facility.
3. For the provision of finances to buy study material for our resource center. Many pastors have only basic research tools.
4. MK teachers (elementary and high school) are needed for the 2001-2002 school year.

Nairobi, Kenya

Population: 2.5 million

Churches: One in formation

Methods of church planting: Door-to-door, 5-day clubs, discipleship and evangelistic Bible studies, regular Sunday services

Needs & Prayer requests:

1. For God to work in the hearts of the young priests witnessed to; they are scheduled to be posted around the world.
2. For land and an initial church building for Grace Baptist Church in Nairobi.

Oslo, Norway

Population: 1 million

Churches: 2, the International Baptist Church, and L¿renskog Baptist Church in the suburbs of Oslo

Methods of church planting: Evangelistic events (banquets, concerts, etc.), friendship evangelism, letters-to-the-editor, street evangelism

Training opportunities: Primarily one-on-one discipleship

National involvement: The International Baptist Church now supports its own pastor.

Needs and prayer requests:

1. We are in desperate need of additional laborers to provide furlough coverage and to allow the extension of ABWE ministry in Norway to Bergen and Trondheim, the second- and third-largest cities in Norway.
2. Norwegians continue to be highly resistant to the gospel. Please pray that we might find effective ways of directing their attention to Jesus Christ.

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