[Note: The Southeastern team has returned home but their stories continue pouring in. -mReport]
When our team of ten Southeastern students set out for Mumbai a few weeks ago, we had little idea what to expect. We had scheduled a training conference on Church Multiplication for national pastors. In preparation, we had studied the book of Acts and the model of the apostle Paul. We believed that what the Holy Spirit did then, He can do in our time.
Our band of Southeastern students arrived on the first day prepared to focus on establishing relationships with the pastors and setting the tempo through a focus on prayer. As usual in non-western contexts, the training got underway several hours late, but our students didn’t allow that to unnerve them. Instead, I watched as they encouraged and prayed with our Indian brothers in small groups. Over the next several days we conducted training on God’s vision for church multiplication, praying to prepare the soil, sowing the seed of the Gospel, nurturing growth through making disciples who obey Jesus’ commands, gathering in the harvest through establishing new churches, developing Biblical servant leaders, and expanding harvest fields through multiplication. The learning environment was dynamic because as our students taught they also listened and learned. Most importantly they went out with the pastors into their neighborhoods and modeled these simple Biblical concepts.
The fruitfulness of this partnership in the Gospel was nothing short of miraculous. Over the course of the week we saw the Spirit of God draw nearly 75 people to repentance and faith, and many were growing in their understanding of this new life through discipleship. One story in particular highlights this.
At the end of the first day, several of us were gathered on a sidewalk, when we noticed a young couple standing on an adjacent hillside watching us intently. They had a small child, so I approached them and began talking with them in my broken Hindi. Quickly, this Muslim couple invited us to their shanty home nearby. When we arrived and were seated, we continued our attempts at communication without a translator. After a short time, I finally asked if I could just pray for them, and they agreed.
As we left the home, I saw one of our Indian pastors. I beckoned him over and explained the openness of our new Muslim friends. Together, we climbed back up the hillside and re-initiated the conversation, this time with our national pastor leading the way.
After about a half-hour of conversation, we sensed an openness that was truly divine. I soon found myself on my knees beside this Muslim man. We lifted our hands to God as our pastor friend led this man in a prayer of repentance and faith in Jesus Christ alone. Just behind him sat his wife. Her head was covered, and one of our female professors was embracing her.
As the Muslim call to prayer rang out from the local mosque, I watched this family surrender their lives to Christ. I considered the spiritual irony – as a lie was being projected from the loudspeaker of the local mosque for all to hear, the Truth was being proclaimed to this family in a still small voice.
The next day, several of our Southeastern students returned to this couple’s home and spent time teaching them the “Basic Commands of Jesus” and what it means to be an obedient Christ-follower. After a few days of investment, the young husband became convinced of their need to follow Christ in believer’s baptism. The local pastor took this couple and another young man who had surrendered to Christ to the ocean. For their safety, he baptized them under cover of night.
Stories similar to this one were emerging throughout the city as our Southeastern team partnered with national pastors and simply followed what Jesus modeled for us in the New Testament. We arrived back in the United States a few days ago, but we are greatly encouraged because the LORD saw fit to allow us to be a part of His plan for multiplying disciples and churches in the great city called Mumbai.
Blessed to be a blessing,
George
