I’ve been blogging a bit while I’m in India, reflecting on the work I’m seeing God do in this most interesting country. In a recent post, I reflected on the fact that India, while one-third the size of Canada geographically, has 36 times the population! What’s more, only about 2% of India comprises Christians, so the church here plays a very minor role, both presently and historically.
However, what I see in the people I am meeting at SAIACS does not reflect the statistics. One might think that a faith group that is such a minority might just barely be holding on, but the church in India thinks big. I am meeting people whose heart for mission and evangelism is as big as the nation itself.
There are parts of India that are already thoroughly evangelized; one area in northeast India, I’m told, is 100% Christian. By contrast, there are parts of south India where hardly a church is to be found. Clearly, the need is great, but at the same time, there is great zeal for the work to be done.
I wish that in Canada we had the same passion for mission and evangelism that I see in my Indian sisters and brothers. They have a willingness to sacrifice much – including the admiration of their friends and sometimes even connections with their families – to reach people for Jesus Christ. And when they see God work in power, these people receive the Lord. In some cases, they have experienced the complete inaction of their own gods in contrast to the powerful action of the Lord, and they respond. It’s a bit like Elijah’s encounter with the prophets of Baal in 1 Kings 18: the prophets of Baal keep pleading with their god to act, but he never responds. Elijah, by contrast, throws buckets and buckets of water on the altar, and God still sends fire from heaven.
We serve an awesome God who loves to be in relationship with us. We all know people who are far from God. True, their life circumstances may be so different from those of the people of India that they feel their own affluence is sufficient to carry them, but if they are shown the care and compassion of God, who loved us so much he gave his only Son, they, too, will come into a love relationship with the Lord.
What will you do today to demonstrate the love of Jesus to someone in need?
“The King will reply, ‘I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me’” (Matthew 25.40, NIV).
The Rev. Dr. Jeff Loach is Pastor of St. Paul’s Church in Nobleton, ON. Read more about his India mission trip at http://www.passionatelyhis.com/.
