We just returned from our second trip to India and it was another unforgettable experience. I’ve been blessed to have been able to participate on quite a few mission trips over the year, but as powerful as each of those trips have been and as many God-glorifying organizations I’ve worked with, nothing compares with these trips to India.
Through a series of providential connections, New Life has connected with Mission Voice Network, an organization of indigenous church planters in Southern India, where fewer than 2% know Jesus. Mission Voice Network’s heart is to plant churches where 80% of India’s 1.2 billion people live: in the rural communities of India. This is needed because 80% of funding for church planting in India is being sent to India’s cities.
This vision is being carried out in a country with significant persecution. A month ago Open Doors released their latest ranking of the most persecuted countries for Christians and India ranked #10 with the additional designation of being the country in the world with the worst physical or mental abuse directed at Christians.
Mission Voice Network packs our time from morning to late in the evening, allowing us to visit many pastors and congregations. We attended pastors’ homes, evangelistic outreaches, baptism services, evangelism training services, church services, regional pastors’ gatherings, and Mission Voice Network’s Director’s conference. Every pastor has a different story, many converted from Hinduism, and many highlighted by God’s miraculous intervention. I shared a few of these stories last year.
One of the sweet blessings of a return trip is reconnecting with the many godly pastors and digging deeper relationally. We were also able to visit many new churches. One of those pastors is one of the few second-generation Christians in the network. But that doesn’t mean William’s[i] life has been easy.
William was born extremely short, which is liability in a country where such attributes are considered by many to be a sign of bad karma. But it’s not William’s height that strikes you when you meet him. It’s his beaming smile. William’s whole personality beams. He is joyful, gentle, and sharp.
William’s father is a pastor. Raised in the church, he was told of his worth and valued for who he was. When William was 15 his father got very sick for six months and William stepped in to help lead the church. God began to give William visions that called him deeper into prayer and faith. In one vision, William saw fire spreading around India and revealed to him a call to plant churches.
William excelled in school and went on to get a master’s in accounting and begin work as an accountant. He commuted into the city for his work as an accountant and headed home every night to take care of his aging parents. William’s leadership at his church grew and his father expected to one day be able to pass his ministry at the church to William.
God then called William to plant a church in a churchless town an hour away. William shared the calling with his parents, but they urged William not to: he had a secure job and would surely be rejected by the Hindu people of the town because of his height. But, despite his high respect for his parents, William could not disobey God. He fasted and prayed. And he went. William began to visit the town with every spare evening and weekend he had.
William’s parents were right. The radical Hindus mocked and threatened William. The people were resistant to gospel. Unfazed, William launched his church. Two elderly women showed up the first Sunday and both nodded off as William preached his first sermon. Next Sunday the same meager gathering took place. Those two women kept showing up week after week for a year. And they kept falling asleep. William grew deeply discouraged. But he kept fasting and praying and he kept telling everyone he could about Jesus. William trudged on six more months with the same results. His discouragement compounded as did his prayer life.
And then things changed. One of the elderly women brought a younger woman, Anusha, to a time of fasting and prayer at the church. Anusha had a business that was about to fold because of debt. William prayed she would return on Sunday and she did. Attendance spiked by 50% with three now in attendance. But unfortunately, the following day the elderly woman who brought Anusha to church died. William was so discouraged. He thought that he had misunderstood God’s call.
Anusha came back to church and William kept sharing the gospel with her. God then miraculously provided this young lady money to pay off all her debts. Convinced of the reality of Jesus Christ, she trusted Jesus Christ. Anusha couldn’t help but share about this incredible Jesus she met with her friends. Her joy was irrepressible, her change impossible to ignore. Her friends couldn’t help but to show up to church. She began to print out hundreds of invitations to church and hand them out. Multiplication began.
When we visited William’s church last week, approximately 150 people showed up for a Monday evening service. They spilled out the side doors and the back doors, propping open the doors so they could get a glimpse of what was taking place inside. And William has become a leader of leaders, discipling men. Several of these leaders have gone on to plant their own churches in nearby towns.
As William’s ministry has multiplied, so has the persecution. He has been chased by radical Hindus with machetes and is ministering under threat of the radical Hindu groups who have threatened to cut off both of his legs.
Please pray for William and his church. Pray for Mission Voice Network and all of the pastors proclaiming the gospel courageously. God is on the move in India and I can’t believe I have been able to meet so many of the godly men and women who God is delighting to use to spread his news of grace-filled freedom.
[i] I’ve changed this pastor’s name and the young lady’s name for their protection.