God’s Mission in Northern India

This month Micah and I had the opportunity to travel with David Phelan, President of the Institute of Biblical Leadership, to Kathmandu, Nepal. There we met with AJ, our India missions partner and 19 Indian pastors to do a week of intensive leadership training. Each day we spent nearly eight hours teaching them about what it means to be a godly leader and the importance of leading with humility and integrity. Many of the pastors we worked with have been well trained by IMB missionaries in theology but they have not had the opportunity to learn about how their theology practically applies in their ministry. That is what we primarily focused on in each of the teaching sessions. 

While we were in Kathmandu we had the opportunity to spend time with several IMB missionaries and hear about the ministry they are doing in South Asia. During a conversation with some of the missionaries, one of them began to talk about the reality that Satan is not omnipresent. He cannot be present everywhere in the world at one time. He told us that 12 of the major world religions were started within less than a 70-mile radius of the Nepal and India border and more than likely Satan spends most of his time in this one region. The missionary emphasized to us that there is no better way to spend a week than training the very pastors that face the majority of the spiritual warfare happening in the world today. It was at this point that I realized the magnitude of our task at hand.

We as a church do not have all the abilities and resources to reach India with the gospel. We do however have the unique opportunity that the Lord has given us to further equip the people who do. God has used AJ to develop a network of pastors who are making disciples, who are making disciples, who are making disciples and so on. Each of the pastors we train go home and train other pastors. Some of them are training as many as 50 men. Within AJ’s area of influence there are sixth generation Christians! In other words, the gospel is rapidly spreading as churches are multiplying exponentially. AJ shared with me that this year their goal is to reach 1,000 new villages with the gospel. Lord willing, by the end of this year there will be over 1,000 new churches in northern India. 

God is doing an incredible work in India and we as a church have been blessed with the opportunity to take part in what He is doing. God is drawing the people of India to Himself so that they can enter into a relationship with Him and worship Him for all eternity. It is truly humbling to realize that God has allowed us to play this role as the Great Commission is being fulfilled.

– Jared Collins