Missions

MISSION TO THE NATIONS

You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.— Acts 1:8

During the night Paul had a vision of a man of Macedonia standing and begging him, Come over to Macedonia and help us. After Paul had seen the vision, we got ready at once to leave (…), concluding that God had called us to preach the gospel to them.— Acts 16:9-10.

Report from India
At the invitation of the pastor Henry Devadas, founder and president of the Dayana Orphans Home Ministries, we were in India to share the good news with the Hindus. Below, there is report of Pastor Grażyna who preached in many churches in Hyderabad and region.

The Gospel- the good news reached India for the first time in 52 CE. It got to Europe also in the same time. The apostle Paul preached it to us, while Tomas, one of the twelve apostles of Jesus delivered it to India. Many Christians recall Tomas with pity and superiority as the “doubting one” ( it is good to remember that after resurrection Jesus rebuked all his disciples of their unbelief and that after they received the Holy Spirit, Acts 2, together with the power from above, their life and ministry were completely changed). In my opinion we are not allowed to criticize someone who achieved in his life more than we did, even if he made mistakes in the meantime. What did Thomas make? Well, in obedience to the Words of Jesus to go to the whole world and preach the Gospel, he reached up to India, and as the first he preached there the Good News, established 7 churches and according to tradition he died martyr`s death killed with a spear near Madras. When the first Europeans, Portuguese (Vasco da Gama- the beginning of the XVI century) reached India, they met Christians who believed, according to tradition passed from generation to generation, from Thomas! Unusual fruit of life and work of one man who dared to be obedient to God!

India today is a new mission field. The second largest country in the world after China, with more than a billion citizens! Mumbai (Bombay) together with suburbs is the sixth biggest town in the world, with about 25 million people, more than half of Poland. Only 4% of India`s citizens are Christians (although they are better in this statistics than Poland, with 0, 01% born again Christians), the rest are- 52% Hindus, 25% Muslims, 8% Buddhists, 7% Sikhs.

India is the country of big contrasts, where extreme poverty and misery meet with large wealth; illiteracy with young people educated on high level in English speaking schools, modern factories and business with backward village, and slums in the suburbs of the town, urban vehicle traffic, rickshaws and motorcycles, subways, and …cows still present in smaller towns in the streets at any time of the day or night.

Country will not change in one day, but the most important is that this process has started.

One thing is for sure: India is the country with future!

As the history shows, the most important thing which has always propelled, propels and will propel the development of nations is building every sphere of man`s life on the basis of the truths of the Word of God, the Bible! Just have a look at the history and wealth of many nations of Europe, the United States, Israel, and the South Korea (hardly anyone knows that its citizens are in about 50% new born Christians, filled with the Holy Spirit). And people in India today are open and hungry for the truths of the Word of God!

In February this year, at the invitation of Pastor Henry Devadas, I had the privilege to be in India and preach the Gospel. I visited many churches, preached during the evangelistic crusade (35 people gave their life to Jesus, many were healed, filled with the Holy Spirit), and we had a meeting with pastors and leaders.

Everywhere I was, seats were occupied, and people heard the Word with the open mouths, eyes and hearts. There were meetings where believers waited for our arrival for many hours in over 30 degrees heat in buildings without air conditioning, with no complaints, but with great enthusiasm, faith and powerfully anointed worship of Jesus, to the accompaniment of drums played in Indian rhythms.
One thing that most Polish people and Europeans don`t realize is the blessing of our social system, which is built on the foundation of Jesus commandment to love your neighbour. Although it isn`t perfect, righteous or is misused, we should be grateful that we have it at all. There are many countries in the world which don`t have it. India is one of them.

What does it mean in practice?

Well, it means that when coming to a doctor you must have money to pay him for everything, starting from prescription. If you don`t have money, no one will take care of you even in the emergency situation. Are you an orphan? Help yourself. There are no orphanages subsidized by the country. There are no social buildings. If you don`t have money, then you live in a mud hut at the dusty road and you should enjoy that there are no “Polish frost”. That`s why Christians in India help one another in their needs. For example, they establish orphanages for children. I was in one of them, led by the ministry of pastor Devadas. There are 33 children now. They sleep in two rooms, on mattresses, and rice is the main and often the only meal. I didn`t see toys there …We were told a history of two small children, siblings, whose mother died with unborn child during the labor. Her pregnancy was more complicated, and she didn`t have money (40-50 zloty was the amount) to come to doctor!
Before journey to India some “warned” me against Hindus beggary. I know that when helping people financially you need to have a lot of wisdom and not allow for misuse or abuse. Such knowledge is needed also in Poland. I still believe that as Christians we are to help the poor. Jesus left us an example (he was giving to the poor all the time, although Judas who dealt with this service embezzled money regularly) and His followers like the apostles Peter, James and Paul. This is also the homework, which the western Christianity world (we belong to it too) ought to do, because it is difficult to tell about real Christianity when someone closes his eyes at the urgent needs of the others.

Many people came with petition to pray for healing. I noticed that part of diseases was caused by things that can be changed. Of course, I always pray if someone asks me. Bu it is better to eliminate the cause of diseases than to pray for healing! Many diseases in India are a result of …lack of hygiene and simply dirt. That`s why I asked Beata, who was with me and is a doctor, to teach in a few words about observing hygiene – washing hands and whole body, covering mouth while coughing, keeping babies and children clean, etc. For us it seems to be obvious, but please remember that in India toilet paper is still not used and soap is a rarity in many places. Believers listened with great interest and received guidance without being offended. I stress here that we were in many village churches. Situation in towns, were people have access to media and just know more, is better. These medical-hygienic instructions were translated and given to many pastors, so that others also could take advantage of them. Such activity is a part of mission work too.

To sum up, it is amazing when before our eyes nations rise up to become the fulfillment of the Biblical prophecies. Revelation (9:15-19, 16:12-16) tells about the Kings from the East, Asian countries, such as China, India, Japan and other which in the last days will become economic, military powers and with their two hundred million army will take part in the nations` battle in the Megiddo valley. A few years ago every sound thinking man would knock his head and say that it is impossible, however… The world moves toward Armageddon, but before it happens we have a great harvest to reap in the nations. In India also!