Visiting church planters

It was a field day today. The plan was to visit some of the church planters from the first batch in their villages. I was warned that the trip was going to rough and the drive through difficult terrain.

We departed at 4:40AM. Yes 4:40AM. Sis Renu had packed our breakfast for us to consume along the way. We drove for about 5 hrs before we reached our first stop at the outskirts of a town called Jamui. This is a very backward village. There are about 500 people living in the village. These people are from the lowest caste in India, the Mushahar. They are so low in the caste hierarchy that they only jobs given to them are to clean the toilets and they will not be allowed to enter other people’s homes. Because they are so poor, they even eat rats. It was quite heartbreaking. May our people in Singapore appreciate the good life we have here. That’s life in India.

We met Amit, one of the first batch of boys. Amit had started to gather people for worship every Sunday. Right now about 20-25 people attend the morning service. Now this boy who was baptised during the training in Patna and to see him running a house church with such limited training is a real wonder. Since it was a working day, most of the villagers and gone to the field to work. They waited for us from 8-9AM. We arrived much later. His church gathers in a small shed that has hardly any covering. There are a number of children in the village and he is trying to get them together for tuitions and Sunday School. I saw him leading songs and worship, quite a different person compared to who he was in the centre. He has already baptised 3 people. Hmmm. I shared a simple gospel message and prayed for the people. Amit explained that he has two important needs:

       A roof for the people to gather for worship. This will cost $250.  The other important thing is that water is scare in the village. It is just the beginning of summer and I saw the river had already dried up and people drawing water from whatever is left. That is used for everything, I mean everything. There is not a single bore well in the village. The nearest source of water is some distance away. The ladies will walk the distance and carry water pots on their heads every day. That has been the life of these “unwanted people”.  A bore well will really help this village and can be a platform to draw people to Christ.

We went to Amit’s home and prayed for home and his family. As I walked away from that place, I was reminded of the scriptures in 1 Cor 1:27 -But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. No one will want to go to this village and here we have someone, may not be trained to our expectations, but willing to take the gospel to these unreached people. There is a potential for much growth here.

It was about 10.40AM. Breakfast in the vehicle and we made our journey to the next destination. Our journey took us another part of Bihar. We travelled for another 3 hrs where we met another student Wilson from the last batch and the coordinator for that area Pst Chetan. Chatan supervises the church planters in these areas, helping them with preaching and teaching. Wilson is working in a village called Kavatheri, also in Jami District. We were not able to go to this village because it was through another route in the forest and we were running short of time.  He has a group of 25-30 people attending his house church. He has baptised 8 people and someone has offered a land for them to built a small church. Bro Rajiv has been to the place and he vouched that this was true.  And I thought it would be impossible for these boys to start a church.

We stopped for a quick lunch along the long and proceeded to another village to visit another student Raju. He is the one who limps and needs a stick to walk. This was a long drive that took us to another state called Jarkhand. Fortunately the roads were good; even through most of it was through the forest. But this area is infested with the terrorist group, Nexalites. Along the way we saw one police van, totally burnt by the terrorist group and it's not a safe place to travel in the night. You can imagine what I was thinking. As we were driving through the villages and sparse plains, I was thinking to myself, “It's a different world out here”. The crowds, the people, the mannerisms, everything were poles  apart.

About 4.00PM we had to stop at a village. To go to Raju’s village we had to walk as the terrain was not accessible by vehicles, even motorbikes. It took us 20 minutes to walk through the rugged terrain. And to   reach the village, we saw ladies washing pots and pans, taking water form a large hole. When I saw the hole, there was hardly much water there and it was “dark”in colour. That’s what they use to wash their pots and pans. I was appalled. This village also has a water shortage problem and there is no water source in the village. The nearest source is a well which is about a kilometre away. Don’t take my word for it. Please come and see it for yourself. It's a different world out there.

After walking the dusty, rocky and sandy tracks, we eventually came to Raju’s place. I was “shocked” to see a “church”. I was told that it was a dilapidated structure. Raju and some villagers had repaired the place and are using it as a church building. About 30 people are coming for worship and 10 people are ready for baptism. May seem too hard ,to believe but it’s true. I have seen how the people pray and you can’t fake it.

I was told that after graduating from the CP Training program in Pana, Raju and Wilson had gone to the village to share the gospel. Some of Wilson’s relatives live in this village. No Christians are in this village before the boys came there. There was one lady who was sick for some time.  This young church planter prayed for her and the Lord healed her. Because of the miracle many people started coming for the house fellowship and now a church is established in that place. There are easily 1000 people in that area and there is great potential for growth. This village also desperately needs a bore well.

As we had a long way to travel back to Patna, we had a simple prayer for the people who were gathered there and also prayed for two people who needed healing. As I was walking back, I was reflecting what I had seen. Young men, without much education and training but still with passion for the lost. It just reminded me that God can even use a donkey for His purposes.

We left the village at about 5:20PM. It was already starting to get dark. After a long journey on nerve wrecking roads, we arrived Patna almost 11:00 PM. Still bewildered with what I had witnessed.