Now is God’s Time for India

Our world is rapidly changing!

For many years, the majority of our lives were managed within the borders of our country. We now live with the reality of a global economy in which U.S. markets are significantly affected by what is happening in Europe and Asia. Political leaders, market analysts and the world’s corporate community have had to come to grips with this new reality. They have witnessed first-hand the consequences that come from ignoring the rapid change that is taking place.

Christianity is also encountering significant change. Over the past several years, evangelism has been focused within the defined borders of our known world here in North America. The U.S. has been the center of operation for most Christian advance. This is no longer the case! Outside the borders of our country, nationals in places like China, Uganda and India are sharing the gospel and seeing thousands come to Christ daily. This was brought to light in a recent study on global trends commissioned by First Fruit, Inc. “Both Islam and Christianity will continue to see rapid, but uneven growth. Christianity will grow in the Global South….primarily driven by an indigenous mission’s movement.”

As I travel across North America, it is shocking to learn that most churches and church leaders are oblivious to what is happening spiritually around the globe. We are so focused on what is happening within the defined borders of North America, in our own “Jerusalem, Judea, and Samaria,” that we are neglecting our call to impact the world “to the uttermost.” As a result, the church in North America is failing to capitalize on the opportunities we have abroad to advance the witness of Jesus Christ through effective, indigenous means.

Rev. Samuel Stephens, president of India Gospel League, has, on numerous occasions, stated, “Now is God’s time for India!”  Having been to India and seen it first hand, I couldn’t agree more. Remarkably, after hundreds of years of resistance to the gospel, India is now receiving it. The result is an explosive, God-breathed expansion of the church! I am convinced that it is not a result of some effective strategy, but can only be accounted for by seeing this expansion as a movement of God!

During a military campaign, when an army is seeing victorious advancement on the battlefront, a wise commander will focus maximum force in that area. We are engaged in a great battle:  “For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but divinely powerful for the destruction of fortresses. We are destroying speculations and every lofty thing raised up against the knowledge of God” (2 Corinthians 10:4-5a).

Religious strongholds which have long-kept people in gross darkness are being destroyed. As believers in North America we do not operate any longer in a world defined within our borders. We are a part of a global church that has been called to preach the gospel to every people, family, tribe and village.

Are you interested in joining this globally aware movement among God’s people? Would you consider adopting a barefoot pastor serving in the rural villages of India and Sri Lanka? Empowered by the Holy Spirit and equipped with a Bible and a bicycle, they are on the front lines of this great battle for the hearts of men. God is bringing great victory through their ministry.

Now is God’s time for India! Join us in empowering the front lines.

-David Rice

Sathu Will Never be an Orphan Again!

Recently I had the privilege of traveling to a newly constructed IGL mission base and children’s home in Battiacola, Sri Lanka. During the visit, the children presented a program in which they recited passages of scripture, sang and danced for us. What a joy! It was wonderfully done, heartwarming and even funny at times!

A young boy named Sathu, age 12, sang a song he wrote. Holding a piece of paper with the lyrics on it, he held the microphone with trembling little hands and began to sing his song. This young man had lost both his father and his mother in the civil war that ravaged Sri Lanka. He sang about his feelings of loss and abandonment and how his heart was broken by this great hurt. He sang of crying in fear.

Next, tearfully, he sang of the love he has received at this new children’s home. He sang of the love of Jesus, who he had come to know since living there. I will never forget the chorus! The words he sang were so very powerful:  “With God as my Father now, I will never be an orphan again.” Wow! Truly this was wisdom from the mouth of a babe!

These children desperately need our help. Most of the children in the Battiacola home do not have sponsors. What an opportunity to give hope to a child, and reassure them that someone loves them. It would mean to world to them for you to “choose” them. You can make a difference in their life for just 1$ a day!

Blessings,

-David

If you’re willing to sponsor a child from Battiacola, call our IGL office and speak to Pauline at (330)650-5900.

A true celebration of a child’s life

It was an incredibly moving experience. The annual Children’s Banquet took place at the Carmel Conference Center in Salem during the recent decadal celebrations. I, along with members of the IGL Board from North America, attended this gala event. When we arrived, we were greeted by a drum and bugle corps made up of children from our homes. As we entered the conference, we were greeted by 1200 children. A slide presentation was playing on a large screen at the front. As I watched the collage of faces that appeared on the screen, I was moved to tears. The Bible tells us that “children are a heritage from the Lord.” (Psalm 127:3) As I watched the faces, I was keenly reminded of the significance of the work that IGL does among the children of India and Sri Lanka. Later in the program, several grown adults shared about their experiences growing up in one of our homes. They were thankful and gave praise to God for the love, nurture, care and the knowledge of the gospel of Jesus Christ they received. Following their testimonies, we had a wonderful meal together. It was truly a treat for the children.

Repeatedly on that night, I was reminded of the words of Jesus in Matthew 24: “In as much as you have done it unto the least of these… you have done it unto me.”

-David

 

Empowering the Women of India

Salem, India – It was an amazing sight to behold. Imagine a large room filled with more than 400 women. This gathering was the first of its kind, organized to raise awareness of the plight of and encourage women in India. The emphasis was on the significant role they play in the transformation of their communities. These women came on foot and by bus from a variety of Women’s Transformation Groups (WTGs) around the Salem area. They were encouraged by addresses from Rev. Samuel Stephens and other community dignitaries. Following the meeting, the women, adorned in bright orange baseball caps and carrying signs, marched with a police escort thru the main street of Salem.

The India Gospel League has been on the leading edge of a unique movement to empower women through its rural and economic development initiatives. Many of the women in attendance have been trained and equipped to be key influencers in their community and catalysts of change, enhancing the overall quality of life. Many have been given a micro-credit loan and started their own business.

Please pray for IGL’s micro-credit loan program, rural and economic development initiatives and these dedicated and enterprising women who are being used to bring a positive change to the nation of India.

 

IGL Follows Global Trend: indigenously

This is the second in a series of articles regarding First Fruit Foundation’s “Global Trends Analysis.”

In the Global Trends study done by First Fruit, Inc., the first area of study had to do with the growth in Islam and Christianity. The following conclusion was drawn as a result of their analysis, “Christianity will grow in the Global South, primarily driven by Pentecostalism and indigenous missions movements.”

The work of the India Gospel League in India and Sri Lanka validates this statement. Through a network of more than 6,000 barefoot pastors, we are seeing nearly 600 churches planted each month. God is moving in an incredible way in the rural villages of India. I met a pastor recently who planted a church 11 years ago. In that time he has baptized 7,000 new believers and planted an additional 22 churches.

I recently shared this report with a group of church leaders and one of the men in the meeting stated, “That’s impossible! You must have a very creative way of counting!” While not creative, we do have a strategic, measureable way of arriving at our numbers. In order for us to count a church as such, its congregation must meet regularly, have identified leadership and have at least 20 baptized adults in number.

Pray that God will continue to pour out His blessings upon the Global South. I ask you to pray for India and Sri Lanka.

Over the next few days I will be traveling in India and Sri Lanka to be a part of our Decadal Celebrations. More than 2,000 leaders will gather for this time of thanksgiving and celebration. God has blessed their ministries abundantly over these past 10 years. I plan to update the blog during these meetings, so stay tuned.

-Dr. David Rice

What if?

“Obedience to the Great Commission has more consistently been poisoned by affluence than by anything else.” -  Ralph Winter

In my numerous trips to India, there is one repetitive reality that confronts me each time I visit:   a poverty that is truly beyond description. Little is said in the west about this, and we live in absolute ignorance of the realities that people face daily in the largest democracy in the world.

Transformation is occurring in amazing ways throughout India. The ministry of India Gospel League is not only to bring the gospel to people who have never heard. God is using this ministry to bring about community transformation. The local church in these communities, led by capable pastors and leaders, is being used to literally transform communities – infant mortality rates drop, children are given the opportunity to receive an education, and the overall quality of life improves dramatically. Yet, so much more could be done if we had the resources.

Which brings me to my point – American Christians are the wealthiest in all of history. At no time in history has the church ever attained the affluence of the church in North America. Yet according to reports, the commitment that we are making to the world is less than 2 percent. One expert I heard from equates that to $1.80 per month.

I am not sharing this to bring scorn! I would prefer for you to think with me I terms of “What if?”

 

Sponsored children outside a newly dedicated children's home

 

• What if… I saved $1 per day and used that to adopt a child? ($30 per month) I could provide food, shelter, medical care and hope for a child who desperately needs all these things.
• What if… I challenged my Bible study group to adopt a pastor in India?  That would amount to just $25 per week. For most groups that would be one dollar per person.
• What if… I challenged my church to balance the resources we invest in kingdom work?

What if…

“Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house… Then all the nations will call you blessed, for yours will be a delightsome land.”  (Malachi 3:10)

Are there other ways we, as the church, can rethink our commitment to tithing to the storehouse for God’s glory?

Things Ain’t Like They Used To Be

In 1942, Mercer Ellington composed a jazz standard entitled, “Things Ain’t Like They Used to Be.”

All of us are aware that the world is rapidly changing. What happens on one continent impacts the rest of the world, so in this sense, it seems the world is growing progressively smaller. There have been major shifts in economics, as the new economy is a global economy. The changes are so pronounced that author Thomas Friedman has declared, “the world is flat!”

These changes have also had a significant effect on the work of the kingdom and the advancement of missions and the gospel. For the most part, these changes have gone undetected by North American believers, but a careful look at the world will reveal changes that are monumental.

First Fruit, Inc., a foundation that provides grants to Christian ministries in the developing world, makes a careful analysis of major global trends and their impact on the world each decade. They interview more than 100 leaders in academia, policy, business, NGOs and Christian ministry to give context to their grantmaking and to share with those doing ministry in a global setting.*

“These trends represent a synthesis of some of the best understanding of future directions by a host of global thinkers. The process entails a large investment of time. We don’t want it to only serve us. We want to make it widely available to others to the extent that others find it useful for their own work and ministries.”*

I have looked at First Fruit’s top ten trends and studied them. Over the next few weeks, I will be sharing their findings and offer some practical application that I trust will assist each of us to become missional Christians who will significantly influence this world for Christ in the coming years.

*Source:  Global Trend Analysis, First Fruit website

Current Church Climate: Protective Mode

“The only way to kill Christianity is to take it out of life and protect it.”

-Dr. E. Stanley Jones

The attitude toward the church in the West is much less favorable these days.  In many ways the boldness that once was one of the hallmark characteristic of the church in the West has ebbed.  The culture has a totally different view of the role of the church in community life.

I realized this as a pastor for more 20 years.  People of the community liked having churches as a part of the community.   After all, at some point people need a place to get married or buried!  And as long as the church remains within it walls most everyone is satisfied. It was when we ventured beyond the walls that the culture around us reacted in a less than favorable way – and that reaction is very unsettling to us.

As humans we have a natural inclination toward protection.  As parents, we can be very protective when we sense that our child is being threatened in some way, and we respond in ways that are totally out of character for us.  The current climate has caused the church to go into a protection mode.  As a result, the church in the West has become ingrown, a holy huddle that has ceased to be salt and light:  choosing to worship and pray in the safe sanctuary of the church, removing ourselves out of the mainstream of community life and into a self-imposed obscurity.

This is not the picture we see of the church in the scriptures!

On my recent trip to India the realities of ministry in that part of the world came into focus again. Persecution is one of the realities of life in India.  This issue is often presented in an exaggerated way in the West, but it is a reality that our brothers and sisters live with.  I have personally spoken with men and women who have had their churches and homes burned to the ground.  I have spoken with pastors who have been threatened and experienced physical abuse.  Most all of our church planters have experienced resistance to the establishment of a gospel witness in villages.  Under these difficult circumstances, the church in India thrives!  The more resistance, the greater the resolve.  I asked one pastor about how he deals with the resistance and persecution.  He looked at me and said, “It’s a part of the journey, it’s what we signed up for!”

It is a part of the journey!  Listen to the words of Jesus, “I have given them your word, and the world has hated them because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world.” (John 17:14)

For 17 years Dr. E. Stanley Jones worked as a missionary in India. (1907-1924) He had frequent conversation with Mahatma Gandhi.  Listen to what he wrote about those years:

“I have, therefore, taken my faith and have put it out before the non-Christian world… And the more they have smitten upon it the more it has shone…The only way to kill Christianity is to take it out of life and protect it.  The way to make it shine and show its genius is to put it down in life and let it speak directly to life itself.  Jesus is his own witness. Jesus does not need to be protected.  He needs to be presented.  He protects himself.”  (The Christ of the Indian Road, Abingdon Press, 1925, page 132)

These words, along with the admonition of scripture challenge me.  I pray that they challenge you as well.  If you are a pastor, I would invite you to journey to India. Your soul will be refreshed, your mind challenged and your hope renewed!

Peace,

Dr. David Rice

Bear the mark!

written by:  Dr. David Rice, IGL-NA

January 16, 2010 -  An IGL church south of Colombo, Sri Lanka was burned to the ground.  A group of local Buddhists accused the pastor of forced conversions and reported him to the police. While Pastor J (name withheld) was at the court resolving the issues, the extremists came and burned his church and his home to the ground. Only the concrete block walls were left standing.  On that day, while the smoke was still rising from the rubble, Pastor J, without any hesitation, firmly stated that he would stay in the community and continue the Lord’s work.

August 2010 – I  was with Pastor J at his home and church a little more than a week ago. He not only remained in this Sri Lankan village with his provokers, he rebuilt. The church and the connected residence look just wonderful. Rev. Samuel Stephens and I had the privilege of praying for the newly rebuilt church. We also prayed for Pastor J and his family.

As we talked, I will never forget his words to me:  “Pastor, we bear the mark!”

Raising his pant leg, he showed me his knee. It was calloused. “This is the mark. We stay on our knees praying for God’s grace and strength and He answers our prayers!” Pastor J explained.

After the attack, his church congregation scattered, but Pastor J individually visited and encouraged each member. They have all returned, along with 40 new baptized believers! The church is stronger than before and remains vibrant and alive, bringing the light of the gospel of Jesus Christ to its community.

May we all follow the example of our brothers and sisters in Sri Lanka and “bear the mark!”

Update from the Field: Dr. David Rice in India

Written by:  Dr. David Rice, from Aurangabad, Maharashtra

We just finished the two-day pastor’s conference in Aurangabad in the state of Maharashtra.  It was a wonderfully spirited gathering of more than 250 pastors.  I am always encouraged by these men. These men are taking the light of the gospel of Jesus Christ to those who have never heard.

I spoke with one pastor who planted a church 11 years ago.  During that period the Lord has used this faithful brother to baptize 7,000 new believers and plant an additional 22 churches.  Twenty years ago you could hardly find anyone who was a believer, today three percent of the 80 million that live in this state are Christians.

At the end of the conference we presented bicycles, PA systems, and musical instruments. One pastor who has planted nine churches received a bicycle and he looked at me and said, “I will be able to do so much more for the Lord now!”  You see, in caring for those nine congregations he has been walking on foot. Now he has transportation.  Please pray for these faithful men and their churches.

God is on the move in powerful ways in India!

-David