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Bang For Your Buck In World Missions
by Don Miles
How
much do you pay your pastor? Let’s choose an arbitrary figure: $50,000
per year. If you figure in the benefits package, it’s probably much
more for
the typical Missouri
Synod c o n g r e g a t i o n . What would you think if you were told
that
there is a way for you to participate in the calling of 48 Lutheran
pastors-in-training for that same amount? And what if you could be
assured that
one year later there would be 30 new congregations planted, with a
total of
1,200 new believers? And, what if, after another year had passed, you
would
find 50 new congregations with over 2,400 new believers? Wouldn’t you
think
this is one of the greatest of all investments in the Kingdom of God?
Well,
the foregoing scenario is not fiction, but obviously it’s not
happening in the USA.
Instead, it is actual data from the Chittoor District of India, where
the
indigenous mission work of the United Evangelical Mission (UEM) is
taking place
under a model very similar to that by which Jesus trained His twelve
disciples.
UEM Director, John Peter Kirubagaran, is a nephew of the first
President of the
India Evangelical Lutheran Church (IELC), a partner denomination to the
LCMS.
He
grew up in an IELC church, and his brother is an IELC pastor.
However, at the age of 22, he began an independent mission organization
which
now, 15 years later, is a model of effectiveness which is being copied
in Indonesia, Thailand,
and Nepal.
Let me give you a sample of just one of the UEM projects. In 2001, in
the
Chittoor District, a group of 12 committed men and women were selected
from
volunteers in a local congregation to work as full-time church
planter/evangelists.
Discipled by an ordained, experienced local pastor, they began a
training
program of learning by ministering alongside their supervisor and other
teachers recruited by the pastor. Some time was spent in classroom
education
with a curriculum similar to that found in a seminary, but two-thirds
of the
time was spent in local communities putting the Gospel into practice,
much as
Jesus sent out the 70 two by two.
Remarkably,
it’s not difficult in India to find godly,
capable people
in the congregations who are willing to leave everything and go to
villages and
towns to preach the Gospel even when there is not a single believer in
Jesus in
that community. A year later, in 2002, another “half class” of six more
church planter/evangelists
were added to the original group. Thus there are now 18 church
planter/evangelists
ministering among various communities in the Chitoor Disrict, such as,
Jogi,
Mala, Madiga, Yaanadi, Yelukara, Reddys, Naidus and Balijas. The
targeted
population was 90,360 families.
In
the first two years, these 18 pastors-intraining planted 50 new
churches with over 2,400 members, and they reached 35,958 families with
the
Gospel of Jesus Christ through house to house visitations, and 7,841
professed
faith in Jesus. While many have not yet actively participated in the
new congregations
nor been baptized, there is a tremendous follow-up ministry taking
place through
the activities of the new believers who have taken these steps. In India,
there is considerable persecution that takes place when a person
accepts
baptism.
In
addition to the fifty new Churches established, 59 prayer cells have
formed, typically meeting four or five nights a week. The literacy rate
in
these communities is only 28%. The number of people who have learned to
read and
write through the Adult Literacy classes sponsored by UEM is 3,570.
Six
years ago, a group of RIM pastors and congregations began a
cooperative endeavor with UEM to provide short-term missionaries to
come
alongside their Indian brothers and sisters, and to raise funds for the
support
of more of these clusters of twelve disciples gathered around an IELC
pastor
who serves as mentor/disciple maker. The last two years other LCMS
pastors and their
lay members have joined in the effort, and the group is now seeking
LCMS World Missions
designation as a recognized Lutheran Mission
Society.
Would
you like to experience this explosion of the Christian faith for
yourself? Would you like to see a modern version of the Book of Acts in
all of
its power? Would you like to be a part of funding this outreach? At
present,
dozens of IELC pastors have been approved by UEM to supervise these
Jesusmodel mission
clusters of twelve disciples, but all the funds raised thus far are
only sufficient
to bring the existing schools to their two-year completion dates. As I
mentioned
at the outset, for less than the salary of one LCMS pastor in America,
48 new pastors, planting
more than one congregation each over a two year time span, with no
ongoing
financial commitment required after the first two years, can be
provided. For
me, it has been agonizing to see how slow our American congregations
are to
respond to this amazing opportunity and how little money is released
into this harvest
field. I’m hoping this brief little article will kindle a desire in the
reader’s
heart to explore this marvelous ministry further.
We
will again be taking a mission team to India the first two weeks
of
November, 2004. Will you come with us? If you do, your life will never
be the
same. You will fall in love with these beautiful Indian people, and you
will be
humbled by the fervency of their faith in Jesus, who set them free from
the
curse of belief in the concept of karma and numerous reincarnations.
You will
also find yourself compelled to join us in praying for funding for this
remarkable ministry. For what it costs to replace pew cushions in LCMS
churches
each year, we could achieve the salvation of tens of thousands of
people whose
lives matter very much to our gracious Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
For more information,
please email me at secondmile@aol.com. And be sure to pray for them
too!
Rev. Don Miles
St. John’s Lutheran Church
700 So. Franklin St.
Denver, Colorado
80231
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