It is a wonderful privilege for Mission ONE to partner with indigenous ministries. How encouraging to hear stories of great faith and great acts of God in bringing the transforming love of Jesus Christ among unreached peoples. Below is a recent story from one of Mission ONE’s long-standing partners, Hindustan Bible Institute. This story comes from the most recent quarterly report from the HBI India Team. One of the stories contained in the report is below, featuring Pastor K. Albert.
Pastor K. Albert, part of the HBI India Team, doing strategic evangelism, church planting, and holistic ministry in India
The Pastor went to a village named Peravali to organize a wedding. There the Bridegroom’s mother Anjanamma suffered from the oppression of evil spirit for a long time. While the marriage procession was going on, suddenly Anjanamma was unable to talk and this created a great confusion in the function. Her family members took her to the hospital.
All the medicines which the doctors gave proved futile. Her condition remained the same. Then she was brought to the church again. The Pastor prayed for her and cursed Satan in the name of Jesus. The spirit was unable to resist the mighty power of the Holy Spirit. It left her body at once and she started to praise the Lord.
All people who came to the wedding were awe struck. Even the Hindu people who came to the wedding glorified the name of Jesus Christ. Now she stands as a great witness for God amidst the non-believers. All glory and praises to our Lord Savior Jesus Christ!
Dr. Paul R. Gupta with his wife Linnet. Dr. Gupta is Director of Hindustan Bible Institute (HBI), in Chennai, India. Mission ONE has been partnering with HBI to support indigenous evangelists and church planters since in the early 1990s.
The challenge for the Western church is to invest in the equipping of leaders in India, Africa and the poorest nations of Asia. The opportunity is vast, and the needs are critical. The Lord is waiting for the rich to partner with the poor to make disciples of the nations.
I remember reading this book three years ago when it first came out. The book chronicles the story of HBI. It is a fascinating account of the formation of a community of Christian leaders pursuing the enormous vision of discipling the whole nation of India through a church-planting movement. Dr. Gupta tells the story, and Dr. Lingenfelter writes commentary on the story.
The book made an enormously impact on me.
I was amazed at the level of strategic thinking, the constant revisiting of their vision, and the willingness by Dr. Gupta and the leadership of HBI to make significant and difficult choices to obey God and think big.
I thought to myself over and over again—there is so much here for Western Christian leaders to learn—about leadership, about vision, about strategy—from what God has done in India through this ministry.
I was thrilled to tears to observe a leading voice (Dr. Lingenfelter) in the North American evangelical Christian mission community—to so thoroughly endorse the strategy of cross-cultural partnership to disciple the nations.
