Paroikos

As I mentioned a few weeks ago Dave and I have been spending a fair amount of time attempting to visit the pastors in the BELC. We have had a number of different objectives, wishing to get to know them, giving them an opportunity to meet us on a more personal basis, seeking to find out what we can about their day to day life etc. This has certainly been a wonderful opportunity for us and I wanted to share some of the exciting things I have seen on these trips, though not all at once. I plan on posting observations on one topic today and then other topics in the future

First and foremost is the effective strength of God as he works through the means of Grace.

We all know the pernicious lie of Satan that has seduced much of the so called Christian church, especially in America. By which Satan has tricked us into believing that the growth of God’s kingdom is most effective through the skills of men, through sleek advertising, through contemporary services, through felt needs, through charismatic preachers, through demonstrations of love, through humorous, catchy, or even risqué sermons. How they have abandoned the simple statements of Paul,

1 Corinthians 2:1-5 And I, brethren, when I came to you, did not come with excellence of speech or of wisdom declaring to you the testimony of God.  ² For I determined not to know anything among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified.  ³ I was with you in weakness, in fear, and in much trembling.  ⁴ And my speech and my preaching were not with persuasive words of human wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power,  ⁵ that your faith should not be in the wisdom of men but in the power of God.

We know how often we are attacked as weak, ineffectual, dead Christians, by churches and men that insist the true measure of a Christian is how many hugs you give out on Sunday morning, or how many hours you spend putting flyers that read “Tabernacle of Praise: The FUN church” on car windows.  We know how they insist that the Gospel is not enough that it is good for getting men into the church but then we need laws and 12 step programs to make them grow. And we know how they seem to be right on the surface. Their churches grow, ours do not.

Knowing all this then I share the following with you not as a defense of the means of Grace. For certainly experiential arguments prove nothing, but that the Gospel is the only power for kingdom growth as well as personal sanctification is proven and defended by the Word of God ¹ against which there is no argument that can stand. But rather I share these things with you that knowing the truth you may be edified and encouraged in that truth even as I was, and may rejoice in the power, glory, and grace of the Lord who keeps His promises.

I have already shared with you two such stories. How in the small village where D. Paul preaches, you not only have one of the largest congregations of the BELC but also a village full of pastors who travel each Sunday to neighboring villages where they have established churches. When we went to this village we first visited one pastor than another, than another, than another, till I wondered if we were ever going to leave the village.  A village full of men who delight to make the preaching of the Gospel the central duty of their lives. A village full of pastors, created not by law or gimmicks or incentives or 12 steps programs, but through the faithful and full teaching of the doctrines of the Bible with the gospel and Christ crucified as the central and pivotal point. Not only that but this atmosphere exists in one of the few if not only church in the BELC that uses a liturgical service based on the same page 5 that is so common to us.

The other story I shared with you last year, how in a small village where the inhabitants were virtually entirely illiterate, they nevertheless quite literally clung to their Bibles as the most precious thing they could ever own, and delighted in showing it to me saying, here is the Word of God, sent to us to save our souls. In this vein there was also recently a news story in The Christian post (https://christianpost.com/Intl/Persecution/2009/04/orissa-christians-requesting-scripture-over-food-says-ministry-30/index.html ) which speaks of how many Christians in Orissa where there is currently great persecution from the Hindus against the Christians have written urgently requesting not food and money for eating and building churches but that bibles be sent to help them in their time of need, seeking spiritual food over physical.

These same patterns I have seen over and over again throughout the last months. I do not of course know what the pastors at these places are preaching on a regular basis at their Sunday services, not being able to understand the languages, and usually not being there when they preach. But I can tell you their attitude outwardly towards the Gospel and the Word of God. And where I have seen men who delight in God’s Word and who delight in proclaiming the Gospel I have over and over and over again seen God’s hand at work.

In some places this is evident in the growth of that congregation where a congregation has no earthly business being much less growing, such as Solomon’s church right here on the out skirts of Chennai. The church there is a shack of bamboo and straw, maybe 20ft by 15ft, with a dirt floor. The pastor is 25. Just down the road not even half a km is a large and very beautiful concrete Baptist church.  Why would anyone choose Solomon’s church over the Baptist church? Yet through the preaching and teaching of Solomon God has moved the hearts of some 100+ members, who can’t even fit in the tiny church but must often crowd around the door and sit outside, to come and hear the true and pure Word.

In some places it is seen in this that like Philip they bring to Christ other who also wish to become fishers of men. In one small village named Krishapatnam we got out of the car and immediately our feet were covered in the sands of this fishing village. Although I could not see it I could certainly smell the fresh salt water of the Indian Ocean and feel the cool tropic breezes. The village was all bamboo huts and sand and I was told often the ocean came right up to their door steps. Here we visited Pastor G. John, then S. Santharao, then B. Prasad, in total five pastors, in a Hindu village that boasted a population of maybe 2,000 people. Time and time again as we asked how did you hear about us? Why did you join us? The same name was given, one man who rejoiced in the purity of doctrine and gospel and shared it with others, even other pastors. And these other pastors took note and heard the word and the Lord moved their hearts to say we also wish to hear and see these things you speak about.

In some places it was seen in this way that the entire family is dedicated to the task. Such as one M. Zachariah who lives in a small town, Nidimusili. This man is now 65 years old and has been preaching in this village for 20 years. This man has three sons. The father and all three sons and their wives and children live together in a small compound there in Nidimusili where they help and support one another, and from which they proceed out to preach each at his own congregation. It is obvious that M. Zachariah preached the Gospel in joy starting with his own family, for two of his sons are now pastors who also display a deep joy for the Gospel and the third is currently training to join the rest of his family in this high calling. Although when we showed up at their house we had to wait as none of the men were at home, it was well worth the wait for even though when they did come they had some troubles to speak to us about, nevertheless their manner and speech was joy and contentment in the Lord and concern for one another as they sought above all else to preach the gospel.

These are of course only a few of the many instances we have seen (and how many more that we haven’t seen) wherein the mighty strength of His glorious gospel has turned the hearts of men. Now may this same glorious gospel that works to such great effect by the power of the Holy Spirit and to which we cling as our only hope for the life to come and our sole source of strength now, edify each of us in the joy of Christ, that we may not become weary in its proclamation but increasingly bold in the preaching of this message even as so many turn away from it towards the dead works of the law. In the cross of Christ I glory . . .

Pastor Matthew Ude

Solomon - in far back - with his family

M. Malachi son of M. Zachariah

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