Training/DVD's

We are required to watch a series of 12 DVD's as part of the training for our trip to India. Completed most of them this week since I have been on vacation. Some interesting facts I have learned:

• India has ~1.2 billion people, ~20% of the world's population
• The most popular religion is Hindu, but you would also find Muslims & Sikhs
• Hinduism has >33 million gods. Your whole life is all about pleasing the gods.
• <3%>

Even though Ghandi did a lot to help promote laws to protect people and decrease discrimination, the caste system still has a strong influence on how Indians treat each other.

Tamil Nadu, where we are headed, is in southern India. It is of the Dravidian culture, which has historically been a nomadic/gypsy culture. In fact, gypsy cultures around the world can trace their beginnings to the Dravidian culture, which originated in India. An interesting tidbit is that Indian gypsies are called "Sons of Cain" in their language (remember the story of Cain & Abel and how Cain was sentenced to wander the earth?)

Tamilians are an apostolically gifted people. GCC trained pastors in India have planted >67 new churches, brought ~14,000 people to Christ in the past 6-9 months and 10,000 have been baptized. It is quite hard for Indians to convert from Hinduism to Christianity. Hinduism is just part of the culture. Therefore, if you’re a Christian, you have turned your back on your cultural heritage (or so most people think) and are essentially just as much of a traitor to your country as to your faith. In addition, most of our church planters are poorly educated (most have not been to college or had formal education beyond a basic level), lower caste, and lower status. The result is that if you’re a church planter in India, people dismiss you quickly as a “nobody with a foreign worldview that only traitors subscribe to”. In the Hindu culture, we (Westerners) are held in higher esteem. Our mission purpose is not only to bring training, expertise and muscle, but to provide support, build the Indian church planter's status in the community, and connect them to a network of love and support.

As Jack Magruder, Director of Life Mission for GCC, put it to me: "At the end of the day, what happens when we go to India is that the local church planter begins to be perceived as someone who can leverage power, partnerships and relationships for the benefit of the community. Because of the work and relationships of the pastor, clean water, health, justice, medical attention, education, etc. arrive on the scene in the village. The extension, then, is that the local church begins to be perceived as a basis around which transformation happens, and people then begin to ask deeper questions about the nature of this “power” that is bringing about such substantial change in their lives. Our participation in that DOES bring some things to the table that the church planter would not be able to bring on his/her own, but more than anything, again, it’s simply the nature that the perspective of how people view the local church as a player or 'nobody' in their community fundamentally begins to change."

Am certainly learning alot. Keep you posted as I make it through more of the training!