Women Bridges TOT Jharkhand Training!

On the 18^th, 19^th November we hosted the Women Bridges Trainers of Trainers (TOT) for the state of Jharkhand. 15 women leaders from 8 districts of Jharkhand participated at the event. They laid out a plan to host 4 regional events for the state of Jharkhand through the next 12 months starting January 2011. Through the next year we are hoping to mentor 60 Women Bridges TOT leaders. 

Response of the church to the Naxal movement!

7 states in india and 36 districts are Naxal affected in 2010 stated by the CSDC. I will call this the people's war. The naxals are from the soil of india. They are from within us, from the tribal regions in the red corridor of India. In this corridor you will find over 100 unreached and 15 unengaged tribes. The ones that are caught in the cross fire between the naxals and the security forces is the common man. "We are like a sheet of paper between the blades of a pair of scissors. Whenever the blades clash, we get cut." - Adve Kandu, farmer. The church has the power to make an impact. The church planters of Engage India, preach the gospel in these regions and many have a personal experience of the power of the love of God. Those who hear of the love of Jesus in this red corridor, see Jesus as a hope for the blood and conflict ridden region. They are weary about being in the cross fire and want both of the sides to give up the gun fire. "Jesus breaks the bow and shatters the spear". Please pray for the church planter who works in these difficult situations where there is violence. We as a ministry see our responsibility to nation building and the spread of the gospel. The church has a responsibility to take the peace of Jesus Christ to the broken society we live in and specially to those in and affected by the naxal people's war. Pray and support the ministry of Engage India / BCSD.

Daniel Ponraj - daniel@santaltribe.org
www.engageindia.in
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Bridges 2 course in Village Timothy Schools

11 people are sitting under a jack fruit tree singing songs of praise to God. They are being led by Evangelist Cornelius Marandi. You could overlook this small group and walk on, but for the enthusiasm and glow in the eyes of the Leaders. Don’t mistake them for ordinary people by looking at their simple clothing. They are leaders of churches and leaders of the church movement. They are learning the Bridges 2 to be able to lead their church planting movement to greater heights. They are into the second lesson in the course.  They are focusing on the stories of Paul in the book of Acts and the corresponding teaching his letters. Cornelius presents the core ideas to the group and then they break up to discuss and relate them to their lives. One person in the group reads the Bible aloud as others in the group listen. They recite the story to remember it and discuss the issues that come out from the story. They reflect on the teaching form the letter of Paul. They come back and share their learning to the group. The leaders get together to enact the drama. One of them becomes Paul, the other Roman leader and the other a man in the public and they enact the drama. When the drama has been enacted they are so overjoyed. They debrief their learning from the act and affirm the learning. One of them presents a song on the topic. He sings it in the typical Santali tune and wow they people are so happy. The school session wraps up with the leaders committing to one another. They commit to going and teaching it to their own discipleship groups and set the points they will be accountable for. They spend a while in prayer for each other. It was a time of drought for the region and the area needs rain. Cattle were dying and people have to travel long distances to get drinking water. They prayed for some time on this need. They got up to go to the house of Cornelius to sit again for some delicious lunch. Cornelius’s wife Mariam had prepared some great beef curry and rice. It was Thursday and the market date. One of the leaders had brought some cabbage from the market and Mariam had prepared a great cabbage curry. They had a great meal and dispersed back cycling. They will regroup for the Bridges course in their Timothy school class in a couple of days. They will revise the Bridges learning and present to the group what they have taught in their Church groups.

Presently the Bridges 2 is being taught in 5 Timothy Schools with over 45 master trainers in attendances who are teaching 800 students in their churches and ministry setting.  They are held in houses, under Jack fruit tress, in local community centers and in house courtyards. Two important outcomes emerge out of this: the gospel is being spread where the gospel has not been preached and the new believers are being systematically taught to become disciples of Jesus Christ.

Testimony from the Bridges movement in Jharkhand,

Posted by Daniel Ponraj, Engage India/ BCSD

daniel@santaltribe.org   visit www.engageindia.in 

Challenges for independent india.

I have been invited to be a part of the guest party to hoist the indian national flag at shalom christian school. It is 15th august and people take this day really serious. They are in their best clothes and the pivot of celebrations is the schools. The beautiful flag of india is raised in all schools and most important locations. It a bright occasion. You should see the decked up students and campus. It is really beautiful. I am sitting on the front stage and I am going to be called to speak in 5 mins. I have heard some hard core fiery patriotic speeches already. There are 500 children and 25 of them are christians. To me it is an opportunity to speak on the love of Jesus. I feel gagged as I wonder about the thought I should leave with the children and parents. I then decide to speak from my heart and I drop the written out sheet of paper.
I spoke from 1 cor 10:24. Every man show seek not his own but his neighbors good. I asked the people gathered to transform their community into people caring for each other.
In today's india there is more and more polarization of the society. Cultures and religions are getting more secluded and divided. There is much pain. We need as people of india to care for the people around as. Love is the greatest of them all.
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Chennai Network - Friends of Engage India / BCSD

On the 25th July evening, 8 of us met at an upstairs room in Chennai. This was a seed meeting organised to bring friends together and ask them to support the ministry among Unreached tribes. I see the need for groups of supporters in every city in India and the world who can be the backbone for the Engage India /BCSD ministry. I made a presentation to the friends and supporters gathered there and the response i got was "wow, i did not know this. I want to be involved". Originally scheduled from 5:30 to 7:30pm including dinner, the meeting wound up at 10pm. At the end of the presentation there was much energy. We decided on some small steps to gather a momentum for the network in the city. I will report on this in September 2010. I see a great dream for our Engage India/ BCSD ministry in Jharkhand. What will be the bones and flesh of these networks in different cities, i do not know right now. But i believe a time is coming when this inevitable support structure will be built up and when ready and running will uphold the ministry like none other. We need people to pray, support and engage in the ministry among unreached tribes. This vision of the ministry "reach the unreached tribes" can take us from a small village in Jharkhand to the ends of the earth. And that is the limit. There is much at stake. The unreached tribes breaks the heart of the Lord and we have a mandate to fulfill. I want to thank those who came for the event and sacrificed much to be there. They are heroes to me because they trusted me, though we are small and insignificant. Praise God.

Prayer update for Bedia Tribe!

Dear Friends!

Road blocks have come our walk with our ministry to the Bedia tribe. But don't we all know that it helps us find many other ways and possibilities that we never considered before. Praise God for such difficult moments. since we were asked to move out of the mission field, we have continually sort to consolidate our position, find new avenues and pray like never before. That day we were down and out, but today we are stronger and firmer than ever before. We pray like never before, praise God for road blocks.

Thank you for all of you who are praying for the Bedia people and you are faithfulness. Having been in ministry for about 11 years, which is a very small time, the Bedia ministry has the most challenging. I and the mnistry have been in persecution where our lives have been threathened, but something about the Bedia ministry asks for a deeper commitment. THe commitment come short, but it has been pushed to the limit. It is not the response of the Bedia people, which is a situation in our ministry settings too. I think it must be a mix of many things. But I call all the problems we are facing as challenges, because we are going to the finish with this, whatever the cost might be. I pray that this is the end of the bad times. In some ways we have seen the worst. But it is going to be a new strategy this time round. Please pray with us for:

1. The additions to the team, which is 6 more people.

2. Lima will assist with training and recruit

3. Jaganath will assist with training

4. Manish is my collegue in night meetings.

5. Cornelius and 5 others will assist with night meetings.

6. 14th - 18th - Will be the practice for night meetings. Dramas, songs, testimonies etc. will be a part of their activities.

7. 19th - 25th - will be the night meetings in the villages.

8. Pray that we will get a permanent residence in the Santal village.

9. PLease pray that we can social acceptance in the local villages.

We pray for you all you because you are in the mission field in Certenton. You do a fabulous job and there is much we are learning from you.

warmly

Daniel

Engage India / Bedia Project

The people's war in our backyard!

Every other day, TV news channels are airing news on the bombing of railway tracks, school building and kidnapping of officers by the Naxals. And more often than not these incidents happen from about an hours drive from where I live. And then it strikes me how close we are at what is happening. And you begin to realise that I am in some ways at the epicentre of India’s gravest internal security issue. I am trying to say it in the words of our Prime Minister. But the bombings and the killings do not get me to panic as much as persecution of Christians does. You might call that insensitive. But it is because of having lived here for 10 years and walked with the people in the remote villages.

I have always wanted to give vent to this burning issue and I have always refrained from it. It is a very sensitive issue. It is about us. It is about the poor of India. This war is going in a direction where the security forces are fighting the Naxals. Both are enemies. The home minister has clearly said that he will crush this movement. But there have been many voices from many groups who have said that force should not be the only option. But sometimes this compromise of developing and delivering to the needs of the tribal is seen as foolishness. The other day I heard a renowned lawyer, (he is stinking rich), say that “just find and eradicate these Naxals.” But there are only few who are singing to this tune. Unfortunately most of them who speak this line do not understand the tribal life in the red corridor of India. The disparity between the people in the towns and villages is really great. At one end it is the likes of IPL where teams go for 300 million and the other where a tribal family goes to sleep on the floor after a night’s meal of rice and salt. And most avoid viewing the situation from the other end, where poverty is. This does not justify violence, but gives us an understanding of what approaches will end this war.

Whenever I reflect on the people’s war my heart hurts. It hurts for both the sides, because this is a war that should have never happened. Both the sides are not going to get to their objective. This war will never be won. The Naxals will never get to rule the villages. The security forces will never end this war. At the most they will crush the people. But the harder they crush, the deeper will be the roots for resurgence. Here the people are the movement. The tribal and the marginalised society should have never gotten into this war. Rebellion is in their make up, but not war against society. The Indian war for independence saw the tribal Santals at the forefront, when it has been said that 20,000 Santals were martyred, but they died with a joy on their face. They have always been on the right side. They fought evil when it tried to suppress them. This people’s war is not where they should be. But many are!

I am jump from side to side, sympathising with both the groups. There are only causalities and no victors. At the end of the road nobody would have won. But it will leave behind deep hurts and many broken families and homes. It will take many generations to wipe out this mess from memory. It pains my heart.

I would call this people’s war, the war of the common man. Sadly it is you and me. In Jharkhand state it is. Some young people get forcefully carried into the war, some are enticed and some are tricked. At the end of the day 1 out of 10 really understand what this war is about. Frustration at government policies and the inefficient officers drives some of these people. Be it for any reason, the people of this land are being killed and are killing. And the casualties are many. Many good people who have nothing to do with this war are caught in the cross fire. At the end of the day, they are our people, both the Naxals and the Security forces. Both are brothers and in the wrong camps.

This People’s war will impact the lives of every single India. It is so large that both the prime minister and the home minister have commented on this. This is India’s greatest internal security issue.

The Church has a significant role to play in this situation. 85% of those fighting in the front lines of the people’s war in the state of Jharkhand are Scheduled tribes. 55% of tribal in Jharkhand state are displaced and their lands have been given to multinational companies. 90% of these people are unreached tribes. We have to pray. We have to influence. We have to preach the good news. The church has to wake up to this need at hand. Reach out to this need,

Daniel Ponraj

Professional Management in Church Planting - Engage India

We had a smashing time with Joseph Abraham leading training sessions for our senior evangelists and their leadership teams from the 24^th – 26^th February. 35 leaders from 6 different mission fields attended the workshop held in Jharkhand state. His focus was on improving the performance of the church planters. We spoke on topics on team building, planning, time management, and goal setting. The first day of the training was a family picnic for all the leaders. The following two days were intensive training sessions. Joseph is a professional no-nonsense, much focussed person who ran through the sessions with a purpose to get the people trained in the intended topics. The entire event was focussed on knowledge and skill building. 85% of the participants were oral learners and they got the value for their money. The training sessions were very interactive and skill based. Each session was started with illustrations, concepts and creamed with activities. Every single person gave a positive feedback at the end of the workshop. It was fun.

Some body would ask me what the marriage of Professional mamagement has with church planting. I would be surprised if this is not a priority in every ministry. Our ministry has taken to this because excellence matters to us. And we want to be the best and most successful with the task that our Lord has given us. Some times complacency and not taking responsibility for errors puts ministry on the back foot.

It has been three days of great learning and thanks to Joseph Abraham for the wonderful job. Our Oral Church planters were greatly blessed by it. He will review their performance every 3 months. I will report back in 3 months on the developments and evaluate the progress of the gospel in the unreached areas. I pray through all of this we are able to take the gospel farer, deeper and wider and may the coming of our Lord be soon.

Daniel Ponraj

For Engage India, Training wing

visit www.engageindia.in for info, write me daniel@engageindia.in

Keeping up Versus Growth - Discipling India

Keeping up: Growth & discipleship

In the business of expanding the kingdom of God, Engage India is sitting on a Gold mine. The need and opportunity of the spread of the gospel is at large in the mission field of Jharkhand. And the gospel is spreading far and wide in this largely tribal land. But it has its challenges. Largely the gospel movement has been spreading through what I would like to call the “Web movement.” It would mean that the spread of the gospel is through kith and kin and not so much as an entire village. That would mean that in a village 3 families would come to faith and somewhere 15 kilometres away 3 families would come to the faith through their influence. Well there is great joy that the gospel is spreading fast and far, but it makes discipleship really difficult. Distance makes it difficult to follow them up. Discipleship needs regular close up association over a long period of time. And distance makes things difficult. And you make a real effort to disciple the group and when you have made some progress you say well I have done my part and let me take it a little easy. And then the church grows again and spreads even further. And then the new leaders take this difficult role. Who ever said it was easy?

2010 is the year of discipleship. The deeper the new believers grow in the Lord the farther and deeper the church grows. When will India be evangelised

High, Deep & Wide - Gospel is unheard!

All of India needs to hear the gospel!

This week has taken me to a Baramasia village in a remote region in Jharkhand where a family was being oppressed by evil spirits. Through their son-in-law who has found hope in Jesus Christ, this family found a new way. They invited the evangelist in the region to share the gospel to them. I was invited to visit the region and share the freedom in Jesus. I was shocked at the number of villages there that have not heard the gospel ever before. There is no Christian in the entire region. The Catholics have over the last 30 years established many mission centres in the region. But they have a very small number of believers. But no Christian! I like to call Protestants as Christians. I am a strategist and immediately my brain was running fast to find a way to spread the gospel in these villages. Looking at this critical situation I would have normally said, it broke my heart! But over the 10 years in ministry, this has become a pattern. As you expand the mission field you find hundreds of villages that have not heard the gospel. My reaction this time round was, “I should lay out a plan for evangelization”. The gospel has to reach these villages. It is tough, because it takes any where from 1 to 6 years to get the first group of believing believers. It takes a while for the gospel to break through in a virgin land. The gospel still stands as an unheard way. The Christian world has much to respond to the need in the much un-evangelized North India.