I recently returned from leading a short-term disciple-making trip to India. This is part 1 in a series of posts describing how God decided to use us for His glory and put His greatness on display before our team over a ten day period.
The training for our trip began in mid-July. We were introduced to our field partner and began going through material, via Skype, on Church Planting. The material covered a concept built around a passage in Luke 10. In the passage, a pattern for entering a town or village to share the gospel is given. The basic strategy is to identify a house of peace, be invited into the house and then use a mixture of listening and responding to query for whether the household would be open to hearing a story, a biblical story. If favor is granted, team members are equipped to share stories that tell truths about God as shown in Scripture in a way that communicates the entire gospel clearly.
About two months out, the game plan was set. A pastor was identified whose church was located around villages in need of being reached with the gospel. The team would travel to his area and hike into these villages each day in 2-person teams with a translator accompanying. The Luke 10 strategy would be employed and homes would be reached as long as houses of peace could be identified. Game plan set, just execute, right?
Wrong. Six days before the team's departure an earthquake hit Northeast India. At a magnitude of 6.9 the quake produced sizable damage and, having just emerged from the monsoon season, already saturated roads and mountainsides began to slide taking victims with them and blocking the very roads by which aid could be brought to those who survived. The roads to our goal location were impassible at best. While our field partners prayed and scrambled to find out what could be done, the team stayed home literally praying for an open road to share the gospel.
Plans changed throughout the week leading up to our departure and it was not until the team was on the ground in Northeast India that a skeleton plan had been devised. Once on the ground the team learned that we would be heading to one of the points nearest the Earthquake’s epicenter. However, there were a few barriers. First, the state where we would be ministering required a separate visa from the one we obtained to enter the country in Delhi. By God’s sovereignty, the original location we were scheduled to be in is located in that state and our field partner had already secured the correct documentation to allow us to get these special visas. Next, the area where the earthquake hit was closed to both foreigners (us) and nationals (our translators and drivers) because it was the sole possession of a specific tribe; much like an Indian Reservation here in the US. Again, by God’s sovereignty, our field partner was put in contact with that area’s District Councilman who was the only party with the right to grant us access to the area. The District Councilman insisted that the area needed medical care and that if we could provide that, he would provide us access. God’s sovereignty was again on display as our team had one paramedic and one physical therapist which in this area was more than enough medical expertise.
The process of collecting all of these visas and permits took about a day and a half and was grueling and a bit discouraging at times for many of us. However, by Tuesday we were on the road to an earthquake relief camp with full permission. We had gladly been given access to a part of India that was completely closed off to us as foreigners but, more surprisingly, to our national partners as well. We were literally walking into a place where the feet of gospel partners had most likely never trod.
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