March 20, 2009

The churches of Asia send greetings.
- I Corinthians 16:19

Dear Friends,

The Apostle Paul was writing to the Christians in Corinth 2,000 years ago, but I want to bring those words into the present by sharing one of the most moving experiences I have had in India.

At the Delhi Fellowship of Pastors, hosted by the Rt. Rev. Sunil Singh, the bishop of Delhi, I bumped into a Korean colleague who has been serving in Delhi for the last three years. He invited me to teach a nine-hour class for full-time and part-time students at E. Stanley Jones College, established in 2006 on the outskirts of Delhi. The college is affiliated with Allahabad Agricultural Institute - Deemed University and offers a B.A.

Although I did not have much time to prepare, Ben did not give me the option of saying “no,” because he, like most other Korean colleagues with whom I have served, never says “no” to anything asked of him in the name of Christ. He is accessible, personable, and beloved by his Indian partners in mission.

The school administrators signed me up to teach “Christian Education II: Focus in Youth Ministry.” I gathered materials and showed up at the school for the first time. I was warmly greeted and introduced to the class of students from Kashmir, Jammu, and other northern regions of India. One of the female students in the class was appointed to translate for me.

I invited them to become “active learners” alongside me, because youth do not learn best by listening while others talk. It felt like I was leading a Montreat senior high small group, as we divided into groups and allowed the whole class of 25 to express their views, plan activities, and lead discussions among themselves. My translator had the even bigger job of facilitating communication between English-only learners, Hindi-only learners, as well as people for whom both English and Hindi were second languages. She did an amazing job.

During the last session, each group of five had to “lead” the class through a worship or educational experience. Group 1 reenacted the night of Jesus’s Last Supper with the disciples.

Group 2 reenacted the crucifixion of Jesus down to the details of having “red color dye” to show the bleeding feet and hands of Jesus, who was portrayed by a woman. Some of us were moved to tears by their drama.

Group 3 reenacted the story of Jesus’ resurrection on Easter morning and we burst into spontaneous song at the end of their well-executed educational experience.

Group 4 presented Pentecost, with all of us seated on the ground praying in our own languages. When the wind blew and the Spirit was poured out we were “directed” by the leadership team to speak in different languages, which we all tried to do. I sang the only song I knew in Hindi, while everyone around me was crossing a different language barrier.

Group 5 decorated the classroom beautifully in Advent decorations and invited us to go Christmas caroling. They led us in a game that church groups might play together around that time of year until we were all laughing so hard that we almost forgot we were participating in a college class. By the end of this eventful session, I did not want to leave.

Before our final session, I had the privilege of sitting with one of the students and hearing how he came to faith in Jesus Christ. At first he said it would “take too long to tell,” but after I urged him to share his story with me, he allowed a woman in the class to translate for us in a private room by ourselves.

As he talked, he wept. When he was 18 years old, his mother became bed-ridden. As a result, his father broke down mentally. They owned a large piece of property and a farm but they lost everything. He decided to commit suicide and went out into a field and poured kerosene all over his body. Before lighting himself on fire, he looked up into the sky and said, “I don’t believe there can possibly be a god who can help me. However, if there is a god, I call out to you. I no longer have the will to live.”

At first nothing happened. Then a large swirling cloud came and rested above him in the sky and parted. In between the clouds a man so beautiful and ablaze in light came towards him and said to him, “You are my Son. I have come to save you.” This brother felt completely dead and without energy whatsoever, but the man in the vision asked him to stand up. Then the vision disappeared back into the cloud and went away. When he stood up, he felt like an absolutely new person with energy and a sense of joy, but he had forgotten to ask “what God” had appeared to him. He came from a Hindu family and did not know.

That night he had a dream, and Jesus again came to him in a dream and showed him an open book, which said: “… I am the way, and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me” (John 14:6). After this brother read these words, the book disappeared.

He purposefully took a job in another town to look for the book from his dream. As he was doing odd jobs for a shopkeeper, the man invited him for tea. This brother went to the shopkeeper’s house and a voice spoke to the brother saying that the book would be waiting for him in the man’s closet. He boldly asked the shopkeeper if he had a book in his closet and the man said, “I have many books in my closet. How can you know that?”  The man allowed this brother to look for the “red book” and it was the last one he touched. The shopkeeper, a Hindu, said there was nothing special about that book, but it was the Bible the brother was seeking. The shopkeeper gave it to him.

When this brother returned home, his mother was angry, because she did not know where he had been. He asked Jesus to heal his mother. One more time Jesus appeared physically to this brother and touched his mother, removing the mass that was in her stomach. She was completely healed after many years of illness. When the people from their village came to see her, they could not acknowledge her healing and thought her son was also crazy. They cast him out of the village and killed his mother. He has not been back to the village to see his family in 17 years.

We concluded our study in a circle of prayer with each person praying for the person on their left.

Since that time this brother, whose name I will keep confidential, has been living his life for Jesus Christ. He is married and is a radiant, gifted leader. He is now praying for money to purchase land for the church he pastors, and he is working towards a degree in mission. I am humbled and speechless by the story of this brother’s encounter with God. He was very concerned about his need for a place to stay for his family and a place to build his church. I promised to pray for him regularly.

Will you join me in prayer for him, and for all those who are spreading God’s love in dangerous and difficult places?

Grateful for your prayers, I am honored to be your partner in Christ’s mission,

Sue

The 2009 Mission Yearbook for Prayer & Study, p. 106