Sometimes a change of plans is a good thing.

I arrived safely in Delhi at 3:00 a.m. on Monday after waiting an hour and a half in line for my visa. I traveled on to Dehradun the next day with only 4 hours of sleep. Thankful I adjusted to the time zone changes rapidly and God provided adequate sleep each night.

India was celebrating Diwali, their festival of lights. The streets were lit up. Sadly, few have had the opportunity to hear about the Light of the World, Jesus. Today Westerners can't openly share Christ in India and in an increasing number of States of India, they have passed anti-conversion laws so local people risk severe consequences if they share the true source of light that leads to eternal life. But we can help in many ways, and that partnership means a lot to them.

Monday though Thursday we met in a retreat center in the mountains north of Dehradun. One morning I was woken up at 5:00 a.m. by a band of monkeys making a racket outside my window. 

Dehradun is a hub city in the rural zone of Uttarakhand. Only 0.3% of the people are Christians and the government recently passed anti-conversion laws. There are literally thousands of villages without a local church. Because of this they have to start house churches.

(organizing team)

Now for the unexpected change. Pem, the organizer had invited a dozen people from Delhi to two weeks of training. But only two could afford to get away for that long. Pem shared the problem with the director of the retreat center. "Would they be willing to replace those who couldn't come from the capital with local workers?" 

The end result was a diverse group of very dedicated of church planters and pastors overseeing one to seven church plants each. One leads a movement with 82 missionaries that have started over a thousand village churches. Another is an apologist who works with the religious and political castes, having come to Christ from that background. So this Training of Trainers will have an impact on many as these leaders pass it on. (The Dehradun leaders asked that we not post any pictures so they are not compromised). 

We discussed principles and best practices to multiply churches. They loved it because that is what they were striving to accomplish! At the end of the training they shared their plans and prayed for each other. They invited us back next year. We will be coaching some of them between now and then.

We returned to Delhi Thursday night and spent time with some of the leaders who couldn't make it to Dehradun.  We are coaching with two church planters in New Delhi and we met with their leadership teams to discuss specific issues that they requested: The ministry of the Holy Spirit, Church Planting Teams, Reproducible Discipleship, Non-Professional Ministry, and Conflict Resolution. 

It was providential that we had Friday to meet with the leaders because they gave us critical orientation for our workshops on Saturday and Sunday. We see the importance of returning with "outcome-based" workshops that address sticking points. Knowledge will never change the world, but truth applied by faithful disciples continues to produce transformation.

These are young urban professionals. One pastor who was getting married the following weekend said that there were only 2 couples in the church and only one had any children. What a privilege to invest in these young lives.

Thank you so much for giving and holding us up in prayer. God is answering in wonderful ways!

For His sake,
Gene
ReachGlobal Mission
www.globalchurchplanting.net