Herb Hoefer
Update
26 January 2006
I'm about to begin my day of working with the leaders of the church
planting movement in Madhya Pradesh. The founder of the movement is a
well-known medical doctor, [Name withheld]. He is now 71, living back at
his home farm, where he had founded his original hospital in very rural MP.
When he retired from his medical service in 1992, he decided to move into
church planting. He conceived it as a movement, so it is quite fluid and
uncontrolled. He now has 100 male "trainers" and 30 female trainers with
whom he meets regularly, some of whom will be at the training I will give
today. [Name withheld] pays only for their travel and hospitality when they
come for training, no regular stipend.
They now have 14,000 house churches stretching across most of India, but
primarily in the tribal belt across central India. They have recorded
70,000 baptisms, but they know many more have taken place. They have a Sikh
group, as well as 5000 baptisms of Muslims.
As a movement, the leadership is very local. The house churches are usually
2-3 families, sometimes several in one village, according to their caste
differences or geographical convenience. They don't sing or play
instruments, rather they share experiences and search the Scriptures
together. They hold an "agape meal" administered by anyone in the
group, thus celebrating the Sacrament around a meal, as described in I Cor.
11. The baptisms also are conducted by the members, usually by the one whom
God used to bring the new believer to faith. They follow the NT model of
baptizing as soon as one professes faith.
The "believers," as they term themselves, remain in their communities. They
suffer serious persecution, nonetheless, usually beginning with social
ostracism and progressing to denial of gov't. benefits legally
due to tribals and Harijans. [Name withheld] says that the social
persecution abates usually when the number of converts reaches about 15% in
the community.
The believers continue to participate in the cultural aspects of local Hindu
festivals. Muslims continue to go to the mosque, but praying to Jesus on
behalf of all there. They follow the Hindu rituals for marriages, though
incorporating Christian meanings and
formulas of dedication to the Triune God as well. They give freedom on
burial or cremation, since, in the words of [Name withheld], "We focus on
saving the soul."
Mrs. [Name withheld] works with the women's training. She says that most of
the house churches of women meet between 2:00-4:00 in the aft., as this is
when they are a bit free. They conduct their own meetings, including the
baptisms and the Sacrament.
Madhya Pradesh has the anti-conversion laws as several other states. They
are supposed to register any baptism 3 months prior so that the gov't. can
investigate if any coercion is involved. Since the baptisms are carried out
without a lot of fanfare in the villages and since so many different people
are administering it, the gov't. has no way to control it.
They avoid any kind of large meetings that would draw attention to
themselves.
[Name withheld] estimates that 95% of the conversions take place because of
a "power experience." This is the same phenomenon I have seen and written
about as "the gospel of the ascended Lord." They have prayers to Jesus
answered, they have miracles, visions, exorcisms. The groups use Prayer
Walks often in areas of opposition.
They have faced a good deal of opposition from the organized church. Once
they can get a bishop to visit one of their house churches, they will get
his support. Local pastors feel threatened when members see this dynamic
example of freedom in the Gospel and start questioning all the church
rules. Especially those members who are committed to outreach see in this
movement a much more effective approach. In the
words of one RSS (radical Hindu organization against Christians), according
to a conversation with [Name withheld] , pointing to a large church
building, "We don't care about these Christians. They don't do anything.
We are concerned about your groups."
I'm sure I'll have more to report after the training, besides some of the
other things that have happened along the way to this place. Thanks for
your prayers.
God bless.
Herb