simple, simple (or don’t quit your day job)

now that my fast from blogging has concluded, here’s my two cents on india.

One is a
full-time pastor of a church. He has a
beautiful wife and two beautiful young daughters; we got to celebrate the
elder’s fourth birthday with the family. Most of his extended family is Hindu. When he and his immediate family first became Christian, they were ignored
by their relatives. Slowly but surely,
there’s been a change of heart and relations have been thawed; invitations to
family gatherings have resumed, even though they are still Hindu.

He says
he’s doesn’t feel quite comfortable with his English skills, but I assure you
he is more than proficient. He
attributes this all to God’s grace. He
plays the guitar and the keyboard. He’s
quite the jokester. And he drives like a
daredevil; riding in a car with him on the winding mountain roads might be all
the adventure I need on the race.

He trusts
God to provide for his family’s needs. God has proved faithful by showing them favor with his landlords, who
know that he is Christian. All in all,
this brother is quite humble and easygoing in every circumstance. 

Our other
ministry partner is also a pastor of the same church. He works as an advocate (what we call a
lawyer) in addition to ministering to the church members. He is married to a lovely woman and is a
father to a son who will turn one year old this month.

When he
was ready to enter university, he had wanted to become a doctor. However, when he became Christian (which took
a few years), support of all kinds from his family, namely financial, was cut
off. He couldn’t afford to study
medicine on his own means so he chose law instead.

In a
country where Christians are persecuted to varying degrees, this brother is not
afraid to tell people that he is Christian. God has shown him favor in this: his boss, who I got to meet, knows that
he is Christian but doesn’t mind at all. He does his best to bear faithful witness in all that he does.

After
work, he typically spends the evening, with the other pastor, I assume,
visiting members’ homes to pray with them and offer encouragement, especially
those who are unable to make it to church on Sundays. Saturdays are typically filled with meetings
for youth and women’s ministry and practice for praise for Sunday service.

Our team
makes it a point to have a day of rest each week. Our tentmaker pastor doesn’t seem to have a
Sabbath, and was actually puzzled that we took one. He is of the mindset that he must keep sowing
and reaping because Jesus will soon return.

Both
these men, who happen to be relatives, have a vision for their church. They long to see God’s kingdom extend to the
rest of their district and state. They
believe, especially our tentmaking pastor, that the sheep are the ones who
produce sheep, not the shepherd. They want
the members to be empowered and take ownership of the budding ministries in church;
they want the sheep to bring other sheep into the flock.

They live
simply by faith; they live by simple faith. It’s the same with the members of the church. And it’s how I offered myself to be used by
God; by faith, in the Spirit, I prayed, by faith I exhorted brothers and
sisters I met only for a few minutes, by faith, I’d share a message from the
Bible without knowing what I’d say until the last minute, by faith I went out
to a village two hours away from town even though I had some digestion issues.

I wrote
previously that one doesn’t need to attend seminary to be used by God, and now
I can say that you don’t need to be a full-time pastor or missionary to be used
by God. I already knew this and even
taught this, but spending three weeks with our advocate/pastor convinced me
even more. He’s almost like Paul, except
Indian and married with a child, practicing a different kind of trade.

Regardless
of how they receive their income, both our pastors live and serve by faith. I’ve seen their faith in action; it’s spurred
my faith. And if I can live by faith,
you can too.