A Report from the Front
By Pastor Jim Scudder Jr. with Marion Todd in India
Nameskarum! That’s "Greetings" in Malayalam, the dialect in use in Kerala India. As we return from this year’s mission team trip to India, I reflect on what we have seen this year, and on what a privilege it is to see the amazing living thing that is the worldwide body of Christ. When we meet with our fellow believers in India, language is no barrier; there is an immediate feeling of kinship, and it is wonderful to see God’s hand at work on the other side of the globe, and know that he is constantly working through us and other believers to accomplish his perfect will.
In the years that we have been coming to India and working with the people there, we have seen many parts of this beautiful country, and have met many dear people. When my father, Dr. Scudder, first came to India several years ago, he was struck by the happiness of the children, especially the children in the poorer, rural areas. Content with the little they had, and without the things most of us take for granted, they smiled readily and were joyful. That contrasted sharply with many discontented youth in our own country, most of whom lack nothing in physical blessings. It dramatically illustrated how worldly success and abundance can distract from the true joy found in a relationship with God and his son, Jesus Christ.
Over those same years, the economy of India has grown, and the number of affluent citizens has grown, particularly in the larger cities. Similarities with the rest of the industrialized world are more and more visible: the availability of consumer goods, the saturation of advertising, the drive for more possessions and a luxurious standard of living. It seems I saw more unhappy children on this trip than I have since my first visit to India, but not in the churches we visited, and not amongst the fellow Christians we spent time with.
The simple truth is - while the people of India strive to improve their country, their incomes, their lifestyles and their place in the world, this country of over 1 billion people needs Christ, and the illusion that happiness will come from anything else is just that - an illusion..
Hindu and Sikh temples dot the landscape here, together with innumerable shrines to the various gods, demanding offerings of food, money, and goods in order to secure blessings. One temple in the town in which we stayed offered a near guarantee of spiritual blessing - through the purchase and lighting of fireworks! Can you imagine that? If the fireworks go off with a bang, you get the blessing! Pity the poor individual who gets the dud and loses out. Not very different from the false gospel preached by some in our own country promising God’s blessings in return for money though, is it? Most of India’s people continue to be held in sway by a demanding list of requirements in order to please the gods they worship, in another version of the age-old lie the Devil tells around the world, offering a bargain that seems to promise satisfaction both in this life and the next.
We know, however, that God’s blessings don’t have an earthly price tag. He rewards us not for payment, but for seeking him, and believing in who he is. He blesses his children not out of obligation as if we could take pride in purchasing the blessing, but out of His amazing love for us, undeserving though we are, as we seek to live a life according to his will.
What an encouragement it was, then, to be able to witness and take part in the 18th annual graduation ceremony of the Solid Rock Theological Seminary in Trivandarum. The students here come from all across India and beyond, and share a zeal to bring the saving Gospel of Jesus Christ back to their towns and villages. These young men have accepted God’s call to full-time ministry and to be pastors to their people. They have made sacrifices, leaving their homes and families in order to equip themselves through study and the teaching at the seminary.
In the days leading up to the graduation, I was able to speak to the students and teach from the book of Hebrews on some of the characteristics they will want to have in their churches. It was wonderful to share with them words of encouragement as a pastor and to reinforce some of the Biblical standards they have learned in their time at the seminary, which the graduates will now put into practice in churches of their own throughout this vast country.
The stark contrast between salvation through Christ and the Hindu and Islamic beliefs practiced by the majority of people here show the spiritual battle we face on this earth much clearer than we perhaps see it day to day in America. There is still a great deal of persecution for Christian believers here on a social, economic, and many times a violent physical level. The Devil has a hold in India that he won’t willingly surrender, and it is possible, even in the areas we visited with a substantial Christian presence, to feel the darkness and resistance to the work we engage in and support.
The young men graduating from the seminary this year, and next, and those that have gone before, willingly go forth into that darkness, holding the sword of God’s Word high in their hands and preaching the Gospel of Grace unashamedly.
They go forth in the name of the only one that can truly save, Jesus Christ, ready to face whatever comes in the conviction that they serve the One True God. Eighteen years of graduates, their number increasing each year, now serve the Lord throughout India shining as points of light to a people so long in darkness. As we made preparations to leave and return to the USA, my heart and prayers go with each one. We can’t know exactly what battles each graduate will face, but we know we all face the same enemy, and they serve on the winning side Won’t you join me in holding up in prayer those doing the Lord’s work in India?
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