by Michael Sove
In a land of 300 million gods, everywhere you look as you travel through India you see temples, mosques and statues. Obviously one of the questions on my mind as I shared the Gospel was, are they going to simply add Jesus to their list as an additional god? And if so, how do you share the uniqueness of Jesus in a land of many gods?
#1 To find your god you need to go where your god is but to find Jesus, He will come to where you are.
#2 You have to carry our own god for your day to day life but Jesus is the one who carries you.
#3 These gods expect you to serve them. Jesus came not to be served but to serve. Jesus takes your burdens and serves you at your point of need.
I found the people of India to be extremely open to the Gospel. The second part of my trip took me to Hyderabad, the capital city of Andhra Pradesh. Pastor Suresh has planted a church in the city and is now planting branch churches around this city as well. He has cell groups and the greatest challenge he faces is one that we all face, the raising up of additional leaders.
My final week in India I moved in to the State of Karnataka. It was here I was involved in a couple of large open-air meetings. One was held in a schoolyard and the other in a town square. Over the course of four nights we were able to speak to approximately 4,000 people and 400 people opened their hearts to Jesus Christ. Pastor Sanjay has an army of young passionate men who will help follow up all these new converts.
Cell groups are a great strategy in India as you can penetrate villages and make a real difference. In some villages there are only a few Christian families influencing many for Jesus Christ. I’m hoping and praying to come up with an effective training strategy for raising up a whole army of cell leaders and cell church planters in the days ahead.
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Michael