February 2008

Only a few lights filtered through murky night haze as we descended into Mumbai, India. A great city lay beneath us, certainly not asleep, but wrapped within its own dense cloak. Later, riding to the hotel, rows of dark apartments stared down at us with only an occasional lit window for punctuation. Streetlights, shop lights, and bouncing headlights alike pushed vainly against midnight soup, setting the environmental tone for the entire three-week project. Day or night, India’s smoggy air remained visible yet always obscured the sky.

Ministry Partnerships Train Church Leaders

Mission Aviation Fellowship’s Learning Technologies (MAF-LT) division along with Hemet, California based “The God’s Story Project” (TGSP) partnered with two different Indian national church groups to conduct three sets of workshops in October 2007 in Mumbai and Delhi, India. These “Simply The Story” (STS) workshops trained selected Indian church leaders to present the Gospel using stories.

TGSP Director, Dorothy Miller, TGSP International Director of Technology, Andrea Pebbles and India Field Manager, Rev. Dr. S. M. headed the team. They drew instructors from a pool of previously qualified volunteers in the United States – a retired lady from Northern California, 2 young ladies from Southern California, an emerging leader from a Texas inner city rehab program and experienced China missionaries. Additionally, veteran missionary, Regina Manley, MAFLT Orality Specialist represented MAF in this joint project. I, MAF-LT’s Communications Specialist, chronicled the team’s activities.

Coordinating our work in Mumbai were Pastors Dr. J & E. S. of an active Christian fellowship. Their church of over 5,000 people meets in scores of small groups and house churches scattered throughout the vast slums of northern Mumbai. They own no buildings and manage no large facilities. Instead, they direct the entire ministry from rented rooms at the end of narrow alley along a fetid creek. Despite the setting, they supplied a ready cadre of drivers, organizers and helpers to ensure everything we could possibly need was immediately at hand.

Seven hundred miles northeast, in the national capital of New Delhi, Pastors Dr. J & M. T. provided similar aide. They secured the use of a rare, large church building for the seminar. Indian law allows religious freedom. However, in a society 80% Hindu and 14% Muslim, public displays of Christian proselytizing or worship draw sharp opposition rapidly. So, as in Mumbai, this Delhi church meets in small groups scattered about the greater metropolitan area.

In Mumbai the team offered two sets of three concurrent workshops located in different parts of the city. Each workshop hosted 12-25 students for three days, training them to present stories, ask the right questions and facilitate the resulting discussion. In Delhi we presented an additional three-day course.