Punjab Under Missionary Seige: 50% of Villages Have Churches
Source: Agape Voice, Dr. Alex Abraham, June 2005, e-mail AgapeLdh@aol.com
FRIDAYFAX
June 24, 2005
FridayFax Christian e-Newsletter (http://www.cmd.org.nz/ffax/05-0624.htm) recently reported that missionaries now have built churches in almost 50% of the villages in Punjab, a state in northern India. Church leaders in the state are participating in a project called "REACH PUNJAB 2007", which aims to install or "plant" a new Christian church in every Punjabi village.
In addition, the agency reported that:
* in the past three months alone, 1,500 people in Uttar Pradesh State have been converted, and almost 300 new house churches were established. This month, 125 people from Chandoli Block have been converted. The people are being discipled and indoctrinated intensely and 500-600 people were training to establish churches in neighbhoring regions.
* 3,758 people have been trained as missionaries in Uttar Pradesh;
* 2,765 Muslims who have been converted now have been trained as missionaries.
* In 2004, 1,997 people were trained for the missionary work in north- western India, making a total of 6,697. The number of people being trained each year grew by 43%;
* In central India, 8,748 men and 1,978 women were trained last year, making a total of 27,186. Annual increase: 65%;
* There is a church-planting initiative in around 50 of New Delhi's Colonies (neighbourhoods). One network of 48 newly-built churches totalling 600 converts is led by 20 people, who are training another 30 new missionaries;
* Sanjeev was a young taxi driver before he joined Operation Agape, where he was offered a job as a chauffeur. He was soon afterwards converted to Christianity and after indoctrination, trained and converted other men in the Farukkabad District in Uttar Pradesh to become missionaries. Since then, over 30 house churches have been established, and a network of 18 churches formed, united in the vision to build new churches in all of the district's 2,000 villages;
* Of the 10,000 women who attended training, many have become effective missioanries and are directly involved in conversion activites and establishing newchurches in their surroundings. They were trained mainly by women trained by women to train other women;
* In central India, 200 women are trained as church planters every month, as well as two church planting trainers.
"The key to this historic explosive growth, besides the simply- reproducible house churches," explains Dr. Alex Abraham, one of the human motors in the northern Indian church planting movement, "is the consistent mentoring. This mentoring model tries to follow Jesus' and Paul's training model:
1. Jesus selected twelve disciples from up to 7,000 people who followed him;
2. He showed them a model of ministry,
3. corrected them
4. prayed with them and held retreats with them
5. sent them out as practical training, and discussed successes and failures with them
6. spoke into their lives prophetically
7. commissioned them and sent them to multiply the process. The apostles also trained their "Timothys" (2. Tim. 2:2) by working multiplicatively, thinking in terms of several generations of disciples, finally handing the baton on to them, to be passed on to others. Paul (1st generation) taught Timothy (2nd generation), who taught reliable men (3rd generation), who in turn taught others (4th generation). This is a basic Biblical principle, as shown in the following table, published in the quarterly Operation Agape newsletter:
Leader >1st generation >2nd generation >Effect
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Moses >Israel's elders >The people of Israel >A holy people
Moses >Joshua >Israel's soldiers >Taking the land
Deborah >Barak >Israel's army >Victory over Canaanites
Eli >Samuel >Saul >Establishment of the Kingdom
Nathan >David >Solomon >Temple was built
Elijah >Elisha >King Jehoash >Worship reinstated
Mordecai >Esther >Jewish people >Genocide prevented
Jesus >The apostles >Elders >Rapid church growth
Paul >Timothy >Reliable men >Orderly growth
"A healthy, obedient church is like a plant which grows and endlessly multiplies itself" (Dr. George Patterson)
FRIDAYFAX
June 24, 2005
FridayFax Christian e-Newsletter (http://www.cmd.org.nz/ffax/05-0624.htm) recently reported that missionaries now have built churches in almost 50% of the villages in Punjab, a state in northern India. Church leaders in the state are participating in a project called "REACH PUNJAB 2007", which aims to install or "plant" a new Christian church in every Punjabi village.
In addition, the agency reported that:
* in the past three months alone, 1,500 people in Uttar Pradesh State have been converted, and almost 300 new house churches were established. This month, 125 people from Chandoli Block have been converted. The people are being discipled and indoctrinated intensely and 500-600 people were training to establish churches in neighbhoring regions.
* 3,758 people have been trained as missionaries in Uttar Pradesh;
* 2,765 Muslims who have been converted now have been trained as missionaries.
* In 2004, 1,997 people were trained for the missionary work in north- western India, making a total of 6,697. The number of people being trained each year grew by 43%;
* In central India, 8,748 men and 1,978 women were trained last year, making a total of 27,186. Annual increase: 65%;
* There is a church-planting initiative in around 50 of New Delhi's Colonies (neighbourhoods). One network of 48 newly-built churches totalling 600 converts is led by 20 people, who are training another 30 new missionaries;
* Sanjeev was a young taxi driver before he joined Operation Agape, where he was offered a job as a chauffeur. He was soon afterwards converted to Christianity and after indoctrination, trained and converted other men in the Farukkabad District in Uttar Pradesh to become missionaries. Since then, over 30 house churches have been established, and a network of 18 churches formed, united in the vision to build new churches in all of the district's 2,000 villages;
* Of the 10,000 women who attended training, many have become effective missioanries and are directly involved in conversion activites and establishing newchurches in their surroundings. They were trained mainly by women trained by women to train other women;
* In central India, 200 women are trained as church planters every month, as well as two church planting trainers.
"The key to this historic explosive growth, besides the simply- reproducible house churches," explains Dr. Alex Abraham, one of the human motors in the northern Indian church planting movement, "is the consistent mentoring. This mentoring model tries to follow Jesus' and Paul's training model:
1. Jesus selected twelve disciples from up to 7,000 people who followed him;
2. He showed them a model of ministry,
3. corrected them
4. prayed with them and held retreats with them
5. sent them out as practical training, and discussed successes and failures with them
6. spoke into their lives prophetically
7. commissioned them and sent them to multiply the process. The apostles also trained their "Timothys" (2. Tim. 2:2) by working multiplicatively, thinking in terms of several generations of disciples, finally handing the baton on to them, to be passed on to others. Paul (1st generation) taught Timothy (2nd generation), who taught reliable men (3rd generation), who in turn taught others (4th generation). This is a basic Biblical principle, as shown in the following table, published in the quarterly Operation Agape newsletter:
Leader >1st generation >2nd generation >Effect
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Moses >Israel's elders >The people of Israel >A holy people
Moses >Joshua >Israel's soldiers >Taking the land
Deborah >Barak >Israel's army >Victory over Canaanites
Eli >Samuel >Saul >Establishment of the Kingdom
Nathan >David >Solomon >Temple was built
Elijah >Elisha >King Jehoash >Worship reinstated
Mordecai >Esther >Jewish people >Genocide prevented
Jesus >The apostles >Elders >Rapid church growth
Paul >Timothy >Reliable men >Orderly growth
"A healthy, obedient church is like a plant which grows and endlessly multiplies itself" (Dr. George Patterson)
Punjab Under Missionary Seige: 50% of Villages Have Churches
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home