South Asia | Beyond

Share What you Know

Jul 31, 2024 | South Asia, Stories

The Samaritan woman in John 4 had problems. She had been married and divorced five times, and was now living with a man who wasn’t her husband. That’s a lot of marriages, even for this century, much less the first century.

We know that first-century women in that region did not have the right to leave their husbands. We know that this woman had been left, discarded, by five different men, and her current man didn’t even bother to go through the ceremony. What pain she must have harbored in her heart!

And then she met Jesus.

He had a physical need (He was thirsty), and He allowed her to meet that need (she gave Him a drink). They had a conversation, and then the woman ran back into her village (where everyone knew she had problems). She said to them, “Come, see a man who told me everything I ever did. Could this be the Messiah?”

This story begs the question: How much did the Samaritan woman actually understand? During the conversation, she’d been confused by Jesus’ double meanings for different terms and ideas. Later, after they finished talking, she testified: “Come, see a man who told me everything I ever did.” How very interesting!

The woman didn’t say, “Come, see the man who claims to be God,” or, “Come, see the man who did this amazing miracle,” or even, “Come, see the man who is the best teacher I’ve ever heard.” She doesn’t mention any of those points. We don’t know if she even knew Jesus could do miracles at that point.

But what she did know was this: Jesus knew her, inside and out. So, she ran back to her village and proclaimed that to anyone who would listen. We mention this story because of another story one of our movement catalysts shared:

Nicole* and Neha* met every Monday to discuss Bible stories. On this particular morning, they were joined by Bharthi, Neha’s neighbor. As soon as Bharthi sat down, Nicole started to feel a little nervous. Nicole and Neha had a routine. They would chat a little over some chai and then Nicole would share a Bible story. This new person introduced some uncertainties. Would she understand Nicole’s accented Hindi? Did *Bharthi really want to be there? Or was she simply being polite?

Nicole decided it would be best for Neha to read the story out loud. As soon as Neha finished reading, Bharthi started complaining about her difficult life. Nicole didn’t know what to do. Should she gently remind Bharthi that they hadn’t gathered to complain but to read and discuss the story? Should she try to steer the conversation back to the creation story? Then suddenly Neha spoke.

As Nicole listened to Neha share her thoughts, she realized she didn’t need to say a word.

Neha was no Bible scholar. She knew a total of maybe three Bible stories, but she was sharing with her neighbor about all she had learned from applying those three stories to her life. She shared about the peace in her heart, now that she, like Mary (Martha’s sister), chose to sit at God’s feet each day and be with Him.

There was so much Neha didn’t know, but that didn’t matter. Because like the Samaritan woman, she simply shared what she did know. For her, the message was, “You’ve got to believe me, spending even two minutes at God’s feet has changed me.”

Nicole could only watch, listen, and pray. Watching Neha share all she knew of God in her gentle, authentic way was beautiful, humbling, and inspiring. Like the woman at the well, Neha simply shared her experience. It was all she knew. But it was more than enough.

Bharthi left, saying she wanted to return the following week because she wanted to once again feel the peace that she felt while talking with Nicole and Neha.

*pseudonym

The Unseen Purpose of a Monsoon Season

Jul 11, 2024 | South Asia, Stories

*Lakshmi was the first person ever to wash *John’s feet. She and her family are migrant workers from a very poor brick-making caste in India.

Lakshmi poured some of their precious water over John’s feet and wiped them with her hands. John wept unashamedly. As she washed, Lakshmi thanked Jesus for John and the message he had shared. You see, John hadn’t just preached to the brick-makers. He had spent time with them. He had eaten their food and drunk their water. He had shown them how to follow the God who loves them and knows them by name. Lakshmi and several others soon became beloved co-laborers with John in their community.

A few months later, monsoon season arrived. While the farmers rejoice at the rains, brick-makers cringe. They can’t work until the rains end. Since they couldn’t work, the brick-making families decided to go back home to see family.

But when Lakshmi and the other leaders shared their plans with John, he was sad and confused. Why leave? A year ago, when they arrived, they had been idol worshipers. Now there were 17 house churches among the 40 families of the community. “Why go home?” he asked. “Please stay. We can pray and wait out the monsoons. Don’t go.”

These folks love John as much as he loves them, but they knew they had to leave. That was six weeks ago.

John recently learned that each of the 17 families has started at least one new Bible study in homes among their family and friends back home. Their departure didn’t make sense before, but now John knows that God had a plan to use all of them in their home state. They planted churches in a previously unreached place. Now John looks forward to the families’ return in early October. What a joy it will be to rejoice together over what God did during their months apart!

We all too easily think we know best what other people should do. But in making disciples of all nations, our recurring question must be: Whose disciple am I making – my own or His? To make disciples of Jesus, we all, like John the Baptist, must decrease so that Jesus can increase.

*pseudonyms

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A Lesson in Compassion

May 29, 2024 | South Asia, Stories

Movement catalysts *Ethan and *Nicole were pondering together these profound words by Henri Nouwen: “Compassion asks us to go where it hurts, to enter into the places of pain, to share in brokenness, fear, confusion, and anguish. Compassion challenges us to cry out with those in misery, to mourn with those who are lonely, to weep with those in tears. Compassion requires us to be weak with the weak, vulnerable with the vulnerable, and powerless with the powerless. Compassion means full immersion in the condition of being human.”

Suddenly, a phone call interrupted their reflection. Vishaan, a close friend, asked Ethan to accompany him in visiting his eunuch friends. Yes, eunuchs.

For many generations in the past, eunuchs served the Mughal rulers of India, playing pivotal roles in the Muslim courts. They provided protection for palace women, served as advisors to kings, and even acted as generals. However, after the British ousted the last Mughal ruler, eunuchs found themselves displaced. Palace life ceased. No longer valued and trusted, they found themselves thrust into a society which feared and ostracized them, considering them cursed.

Little has changed since. Nowadays in South Asia, eunuchs are mostly ignored (at best), and often feared and despised. Not every individual in a eunuch community is an actual eunuch; some are men living as women, while others suffer from genital deformities. Children born with such deformities are deemed cursed and are given to eunuch communities at early ages to live as outcasts.

Ethan admitted feeling uneasy about visiting the eunuch community, finding it strange to interact with people who look and sound like men but dress as women. Yet, he recognized that friendships with “outsiders” could also unsettle the eunuchs, given the abundance of abuse they endure compared to gestures of friendship. Trust does not come easily.

However, Vishaan had nurtured trust with them over time, which resulted in their requests for more visits, in which they asked him to discuss the Word and pray together. So, Ethan agreed to join Vishaan on a visit. He thought, “How could I say no?” It was hard to ignore an invitation from one of India’s most marginalized communities.

On Ethan’s third visit to a eunuch community with Vishaan, after a ninety-minute auto-rickshaw ride, they arrived at the outskirts of Delhi and entered the eunuchs’ home. They were warmly welcomed, and about ten ladies gathered. Vishaan led a prayer, followed by reading from the book of Isaiah about the Messiah. Ethan then shared the creation story in Hindi.

The eunuchs genuinely appreciated the Bible reading and the story of Adam and Eve. Some of the ladies were sick and requested prayer. Ethan suggested they should pray for one another in Jesus name, emphasizing that their own prayers (Ethan’s and Vishaan’s) did not hold any special power. God hears all prayers, and the power is in Jesus’ name.

Their presence seemed to uplift the spirits of the eunuchs, and Ethan hoped that they each found solace in their time together. The eunuchs graciously served a delicious meal, and Ethan and Vishaan returned home in time for Ethan’s children to arrive from school.

What a stark contrast: one city, one day, two vastly different worlds. They had spent the morning with people rejected, hated, feared, and cursed. Neither Ethan nor Vishaan had ever experienced such prejudice. Their families loved them, and they had never directly faced hatred. They seemed to have nothing in common with the eunuch community. And yet…

Why had they invited Vishaan? Because they desired the same thing we all do: to know we’re not alone, to experience compassion. They invited Ethan and Vishaan because they wanted to feel God’s touch and encounter His presence.

Remember how the angel instructed Mary to name her baby Immanuel, meaning God with us? Why was that significant? To empathize means to feel what others feel. Jesus displayed God’s compassion, crossing the divide between divinity and humanity. He entered into human pain, brokenness, fear, and confusion. Today, He calls us to do the same.

*pseudonyms

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Sheep Make Sheep – What?

May 15, 2024 | South Asia, Stories

In Matthew 9:36-38, we read that Jesus told His first disciples the harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few. He then stated His solution to the problem: pray for God to thrust out His children from their own places into the fields that are ripe for harvest. The harvest is ready. It just needs laborers to bring it in.

We have heard these words before. In fact, they get repeated so often that it’s easy to miss their importance. In 2011, movement catalysts *Ethan and *Nicole began to wrestle with this description of the harvest. “Was Jesus right? Is the harvest actually plentiful?” They had to admit they believed the opposite: “A plentiful harvest, Jesus? Really? Lord, if only You knew how things are in this place! People aren’t interested in You or Your Kingdom.”

They started to ask themselves some serious questions: “What if the bottleneck isn’t, in fact, with the lost but with us, His children? With me, His child?” They searched the Scriptures, asking the Lord to show them what they were missing. He showed them two things:

First, they read the parable of the Lost Sheep in Luke 15 with new eyes. In the story, the Shepherd doesn’t hang out with the found sheep. He goes out looking for the lost one. Ethan and Nicole asked themselves: “Who are we in this story?” Every time they had previously read the parable, they had put themselves in the position of the lost. But the truth is, Jesus had found them a long time ago. They were safe! So, where’s the shepherd? He’s out looking for the one who’s lost.

Ethan and Nicole knew they wanted to be out with the Shepherd. The question was, practically, what would that take? For them, it meant freeing up schedules. They were so busy doing Christian things with Christians that they didn’t know many people who weren’t Christians. They realized they needed to stop spending so much time in the church. It was time to actually go OUT. If that’s where Jesus was, they wanted to be with Him there.

Second, a simple statement from a dear friend engaged their hearts. He said, “Sheep make sheep.” What?! They stared dumbfounded at him as he explained, “Shepherds don’t make sheep. Sheep make sheep, naturally.” They realized that they had spent many years and much effort training shepherds (pastors, church leaders) to go make sheep. But, if sheep make sheep, then they needed to rethink everything.

As they searched the Scriptures, they were amazed to see how quickly Jesus equipped and released sheep (His disciples) to go and make other sheep, including those who knew little-to-nothing about Him, who came from ugly backgrounds or who had little-to-no education (e.g. Mark 5:19-20; John 4:28-30, 39).

So, they changed their tactics. They began encouraging sheep to make other sheep, starting from their first encounter with Jesus and His Word. They said it like this: “Truth is not to be hoarded, but shared. With whom can you share this Bible story we studied today? With whom can you share your story of all Jesus has done for you?”

They found that when new “sheep” were encouraged, even expected, to freely pass on to others all they were learning, they multiplied themselves. And it happened quickly. In one year, they made disciples of Jesus who made disciples, who made more disciples, seven times over.

Making Disciples Despite Their Grief

Apr 30, 2024 | South Asia, Stories

In January, tragedy struck a team in North India as they lost a key leader to a sudden brain hemorrhage. His passing left behind not just a grieving wife and young children, but also a network of approximately 1,000 house churches. Many of these house churches include people from esteemed Hindu backgrounds, including Brahmin, Thakur, and Kshatriya castes. Despite the immense loss, the team came together in February to plan how to best support these churches and nurture the new leaders within them.

Among those who stepped up to the task is *Shakuntala, a remarkable woman who participated in a gathering for women leaders in Delhi, last October. Little did the North India team know then that she would become such a pivotal figure in the team’s journey forward. While the absence of the leader who passed is deeply felt, the team is unified in their determination to continue the important work that he began.

Shakuntala has helped cultivate eight generations of believers, and she is also mentoring 12 emerging leaders. In a recent testimony, she described her joy in sharing Bible stories with people from diverse backgrounds, including Thakur, Pandit, Yadav, and Dagar. She attributes their embracing of Jesus to God’s grace and the dedication of her team of leaders, who tirelessly spread the Good News and make disciples in various communities.

In a touching audio recording from a recent mentoring session, Shakuntala led a discussion on the parable of the sower from Matthew 13:3-9. She urged her fellow disciples to emulate Jesus’ method of teaching through parables. She emphasized the importance of connecting with people through relatable stories, which foster deeper understanding and connection, rather than merely preaching at them.

Shakuntala earnestly requests prayer for the women under her mentorship, their families, and some specific challenges they face: “Please pray for these dear sisters and their households. Pray for one of the woman who relocated her daughter to another city to continue her study. Pray for the daughter as she studies in that city. Pray that they have enduring faith. Pray that we will continue to make more disciples.”

*pseudonym