24 Jun Cows & Bottles
This is our first week update for the Summer LINK India trip of 2019! We cannot believe it has already been a week in this crazy country, but we are loving every minute of it! (Or at least most minutes of it).
Our team took about three days to travel, a little longer than expected but everyone got here safe and that was the goal. We had four flights and only missed one! Because of this we did have to drive 12 hours in a couple taxis to get to our final destination. But there certainly isn?t a better way to get adjusted to India faster!
The first few days after traveling was a whirlwind. After taking a day or so to get adjusted to the culture and tour our city we began training. This was put on by our missionary family the Smiths and we spent the day reviewing our overall mission, how to share the gospel, and how to disciple after someone accepts Christ. We obviously know what we are doing here (sharing the good news), but Joel challenged us to ask why and then how, beforehand.
Why
- Share the gospel
- Gods vision (Habakkuk 2:14 and Revelation 7:9-10)
- Gods plan (Matthew 28:18-20 and Mark 4:26-29)
- It is our responsibility
How
- Abide in the Lord (John 15:5)
- Core missionary task
Then we went through a training called the four fields. This is a layout of our plan to grow the Kingdom of the Lord.
- This is simply choosing the location to engage and arriving there.
- Simply put this is to begin sharing the gospel with those in the area.
- You begin to teach those that do accept Christ as their savior everything from how to share the gospel to stories in the Bible to who is God and what is sin.
- Form churches. Once you have a group of believers a church can form to grow together, worship together, share the gospel together, and hold one another accountable.
- Develop leaders. Our goal is not for us to lead national believers forever, it is to equip them so that they can stay and spread the gospel and lead the church while we can go to another place. When a national believer shares with a local it is much more effective than someone from another country sharing with them.
- Leave and go to another area!
We go over these commands to new believers when discipling them
7 commands
- Repent and believe
- Baptize
- Lords Supper
- Pray
- Love
- Give
- Go and make disciples
We have had approximately five days so far devoted to gospel sharing and have probably had about 50 ears listen to the good news. The first day that we went out sharing we had 4 people come to faith and accept Jesus as their Savior. We also got invited to an INDIAN WEDDING at one of the nearby villages, which we are all very excited to go to.
We had a couple more day of sharing when we met a family who practiced Islam and claimed to be Muslim. As soon as they heard the gospel, they wanted to accept Christ and after sharing more about Christianity and studying the Bible with them in a few minutes they wanted to be baptized. Baptism is very serious symbol here and after checking with them the next day to plan the baptism they said they had relatives come over and argue with them about conversion. In India when people hear the word missionary, they assume it is people trying to convert others to Christianity by paying them money. The family told us they cannot be baptized anytime soon but they still believe in Jesus and want to learn more about him and want to share the gospel with others. After visiting the following day, we learned they had been getting harassed by relatives and neighbors about their ?conversion? and then received threats of beatings and even death if they professed this faith. They explained that because they are ?untouchables? in the caste system they do not have the money to go to the police and even after that they need the help of their neighbors and relatives if they get into any trouble. They said simply they cannot afford to end these relationships.
Would you please join us in prayer for this family receiving persecution? Would you please ask that they wrestle with the cost of following Jesus and that the Holy Spirit would dwell in their house leading to heart change and protection at the very least?
Would you please pray for strength and endurance as our team undergoes intense spiritual warfare in these homes and even within our own house and village? Satan knows we are doing amazing things for the Lords Kingdom and he is going to resist this as much as he can whether through persecution, through conflicts within the group, or even sickness.
Would you please pray for an 85 year old man that we shared the gospel with? He professed Christ and then mentioned that two months ago he began having heart problems and chest pains. We laid hands on him and prayed for healing in the name of Jesus Christ. Also pray for his family; he has two sons and three grandchildren. We are following up with him and his family with the hopes that the Lord would save his entire household and then through them reach his entire village of 200 people.
Would you please pray for boldness as our team goes out to other villages and cities proclaiming that Christ has come and risen from the dead for our sins?
The India Team
Caleb Dorrity, Megan McKenzie, Ellison Brown, Carlisle Jones, Hope Harrison, and Robert Allen Pope