Heart Talk from Amalraj

LET MY PEOPLE FREE In my early days as part of the ministry team of distributing Gospel literature on the streets in Chennai, we handed over several hundred tracts to people unknown. I do not know how, but one such tract reached the hands of a guilty murderer undergoing his punishment in one of the state prisons in Tamil Nadu. He wrote a beautiful letter responding to the message of God’s peace and seeking to follow Jesus. As a young adult, my joy knew no bounds as I started to write back to him assuring him of God’s love and forgiveness. Some years later, he did write to me that he was now released from prison and back in his village. More than me, I knew that the angels in heaven will be rejoicing over this one sinner who repented. Often mission work has been narrowly defined as serving in a tribal area, rural village and preaching to the downtrodden. Today, mission needs have emerged in the bustling cities and our own neighbourhoods. Enabling a liberated life for children, women ...

I GAVE MY BIBLE AWAY! It was Christmas day in the year 2007. We invited our neighbors who belonged to a different faith to come home for Christmas lunch. One was a conservative religious family who had left their home city due to a communal riot and now lived in Pune. The other neighbors were a group of nine university students from another country who had left their war ridden villages to pursue higher studies in Pune. We talked about food, culture, politics and common neighborhood issues and made friendship. Eventually, the conversation turned to Christmas. They asked several questions about Christmas and Jesus and we were very excited as we satisfied their curiosity. As we were talking, I noticed that one of the students took a copy of the printed Bible which was on a side table and began to browse through it. Later another student took the same Bible and began to flip the pages with curiosity. I asked him whether he would like to borrow my Bible so that he can read it at leisure....

HOPE FOR A GROANING CREATION! We all have enjoyed long walks on the beach, the mountainside, gardens and parks. Some of us also walk on treadmills inside a gym or in the privacy of our bedrooms. What's the difference? The treadmill walk only exercises our physical body but the nature walks refreshes our mind and soul. No wonder that at the end of almost every creative day God saw that it was good. The final picture of the variety of life was even better! God never made a mistake when he chose to create the world, the plants, trees, animals, birds and all creatures and then entrusted the role of caring for them to human beings. Unfortunately when sin entered the world and we sinned, the consequence was that the entire creation was also affected. Paul when writing to the Romans says that the creation waits in eager expectation for the children of God to be revealed, for its liberation from bondage to decay and to be brought into the freedom and glory of the childrenof God. The who...

Are We Prophets? “It’s not fair, this is injustice” thoughts raced inside the young trainee’s mind as he sat before the factory manager who was shouting at the top of his voice with abuses. There was a problem between the workers and the management and the trainee was accused of mishandling the situation. The young trainee had no voice to defend himself. After about a year later, the tables had turned. The trainee was now sitting in the corporate head office in a senior position and the same factory manager came to meet him. He had heard that he was going to be fired from his job by the Directors and wanted the trainee to plead his case before the management. The young man did not have much influence with the senior management as presumed. Is this God’s way of providing justice? We often see injustice all around us both near and far. Some people take law into their own hands to find justice for their case. The institutions and individuals who are given authority to provide justice o...

NEW MISSION PARADIGMS Mission is “God’s big Idea”. Even through most initiatives seem to have a human founder, it is the inspiration of the Holy Spirit that gives way to a new mission movement. When Interserve was founded more than 163 years ago, there were many denominational mission initiatives. However the founders strongly believed that we needed a new initiative across denominations and cultures that will take the Gospel to the neediest people. At a time, when missions were largely confined to mission compounds, literacy teachers and Bible Women walked the length and breadth of rural India to reach out to women confined in Zenanas teaching them to read and write and love Jesus. All this was done in obedience to waking in step with God and not necessarily walking with the traditions and trends. Paul Bendor Samuel, our former International Director a few months ago shared that one of the participants in an inter-agency meeting confided in him “Interserve is different; You are an ...

MOBILIZING CHRISTIANS Jesus was a ‘full time’ carpenter before he became a full time “Rabbi”. He served as a rabbi for only three years but was a carpenter probably from his teens. He started as an apprentice to his ‘father’ Joseph. He was later entrusted with the responsibility of supporting his mother, brothers and sisters through his trade. He knew the struggles of earning a livelihood. When Jesus chose his disciples, it was no surprise that they were either accomplished fishermen or tax-collectors. He found them better suited for ministry than the Pharisees and Sadducees of the day. They knew the struggles of day to day living better than the theologians and missiologists of the day. The message of the Kingdom needed to be lived out in the daily life of the market place than just repeated in the pulpits of the synagogues. Have we lost the true essence of the Great Commission by handing over the role of proclaiming the Good News, discipling the believers, pastoring the flock, lea...

NEED IS NOT THE CALL “Son, what is your dream in life?” asked the father during a dinner conversation. The son replied, “I need to finish my studies, get a good job, get married and settle down. “ After many years when the son had got married, the father again asked his son, “What is your dream in life now?” The son replied, I need to raise my children, buy a home and settle down.” Again after several years, the father who has now aged asked his on, “What is your dream in life now?” The son replied, “Well, I need to see my children married, retire from my job, enjoy my grandchildren and settle down.” We all know there is more purpose to life than the various stages we seem to be living. Decades ago, a mission leader said, “Need is not the call.” We want to bring this to the forefront again. There was a time when, the tribal, the remote parts of our world, the unreached peoples were the challenges. We were all motivated when somebody spoke about needs in a people group and made an ap...

CAREER CHOICES AND YOUNG PEOPLE “Come, follow me” Jesus said and the Galilean fishermen left everything – the big catch of fish, the boats, their co-workers and followed Jesus on a mission adventure to become fishers of men. We have fewer young people in today’s generation willing to obey the call, leave everything and follow Jesus in an adventure in global missions. India has a larger proportion of youth population than the rest of the world, according to the United Nations Population Fund’s (UNFPA) State of the World’s Population Report, released recently said. “Young people are the innovators, creators, builders and leaders of the future. But they can transform the future only if they have skills, health, decision-making, and real choices in life,” UNFPA Executive Director, Dr. Babatunde Osotimehim, said in a statement.¹ What is the status of the young people in our churches? Most young people are being molded to become career-minded rather than service-minded. Several generatio...

Who is my Neighbour? We often resist small changes out of fear that we may completely be transformed. Employees deny they know how to do a task out of fear that all the work will be dumped on them. Parents sometimes say no to children out of ear that giving into one request may end up giving up all. We refuse to give up what is rightfully ours out of fear that in the end we may have o rights. Our nations create immigration laws out of fear that the foreigners may outnumber and take away everything that belongs to us. We, in local congregations, are not inclusive of the newcomers as we fear that they may take our places and influences. We refuse to forgive in small instances out of fear that in the end we may be asked to forgive bigger issues. We look the other way, when a beggar comes to us, out of fear that we may be asked to give more than what we want to give. Fear rules our lives, not the sovereign God. The scripture teaches us a principle that runs counter culture to our assu...

EMPOWERING WOMEN   In the nineteenth century, when missions was predominantly led by men and denominational arms of the Western church, two unnamed British women living in Uttar Pradesh challenged by the need to serve the women in India communicated this to their friends in London who responded by founding the Indian Female Normal School & Instruction Society in Calcutta –the precursor to the Zenana Bible and Medical Mission (ZBMM)- one of the first interdenominational – all woman – mission movement. The objective was “To make known the Gospel of Christ to the women of India through its length and breadth”(Extract from the original charter). For a century hundreds of single Christian women from Europe and other Western countries came to Indian sub –continent to serve women as teachers, Bible women, Doctors, nurses and social workers. ZBMMF now known as Interserve was the pioneer mission for women’s empowerment in India. Now Interserve is a family mission community where wome...

A Heart for Hard Places It was a hot day in summer and our church outreach and mission’s team were on a bus journey of a few hours from the city. We headed to the nearby mountain range and were dropped off at a point from where we had to trek uphill on a narrow winding path for the next two hours to reach a remote tribal village where a mission worker supported by our church was living. We arrived in the village as the sun set and soon got ready for a simple dinner prepared lovingly and served by the humble tribal people. We spelt on mats in open-air with mosquitoes having a feast on us. The next day morning we got ready for the Sunday celebration with the native believers and had a sumptuous meal. I was impressed with the commitment of the mission worker and his family who were living and serving the tribal community –a hard place. As a teenager this short mission visit has remained etched in my memory. For a long time, I assumed missions in hard places were to go and live in a rem...

Removing Prejudices in Missions In the recent decades, missions have been dominated by an emphasis on serving the poor claiming that God is on the side of the poor. It troubled me greatly to hear people interpret that God is biased when the scripture teaches us that God does not show any favoritism. Paul writes that the Jew or Gentile, male or female, slave or master all are one in Christ. All are equal in God’s sight (Galatians 3:28). God does come alongside those who are marginalized but it does not mean that God has rejected all the others. The disciples of Jesus were not living below the poverty line. Many of them had the means to host meals for Jesus and his followers. The women disciples in particular served by financially supporting the itinerant evangelists. Jesus served the rich individuals as much as the poor by showing his concern and compassion without any bias. Somehow, in our interpretation of the scripture we have tended to focus only on the ‘economically poor people’....

Why Strategic Goals Are Important? Every mission agency has a mission. Yet many agencies, organizations and institutions have become irrelevant when they lose sight of their vision. In every organization’s growth, there is a time when people seem to forget the vision and lose the passion. However, if the organization periodically examines the context and renews itself, then it becomes alive. Developing strategic goals is such a process of renewal. Interserve’s vision is to see, “Lives and communities transformed through their encounter with Jesus Christ.” Our purpose is “To make Jesus Christ known through wholistic ministry, in partnership with the global church, amongst the neediest peoples of Asia and the Arab world.” Our core values are inclusivity, integrity, humility and relationships. Based on these foundations, we want to face today’s challenges in India and have corporately developed goals for the next three years. These new goals do not mean that we stop pursuing goals tha...

THE DISEASE OF THE SOUL “Worldwide, the general consensus is that government efforts to stop corruption are not effective and that corruption will increase in the near future.” (Global Corruption Barometer Report, Transparency International, 2007) We know that it is the poorest and most vulnerable people who suffer the most as a result of bribery. Our scripture teaches us about God's concern for the poor and His desire for justice as reflected in the liberation of Israelites from slavery and oppression in Egypt (Exodus 3:7–8); the Mosaic laws and institutions (Deuteronomy 14:28–29; Leviticus 9:9–10); the prophets who denounced not only idolatry but also political, economic oppression and injustice (Isaiah 58:6–7; Amos 5:21–24; Micah 2:2). Jesus identifies with the poor in very special ways (Luke 4:18–19; Matthew 25; Luke 16: 1- 13). His encounter with Zacchaeus (Luke 19: 1-9) is probably the most defining moment of how Jesus responded to corruption. When Jesus proclaimed, “Today...

BEHOLD! I MAKE ALL THINGS NEW “I am very concerned about the members in my church, said the pastor of a local church during a recent conversation with him. He went on to describe that even though many of his members were good citizens, they simply lacked basic civic sense which sometimes reflected in a careless attitude towards environmental concerns. They throw garbage anywhere and do not switch off the lights when not in use. And inspite of the growing concern about the receding water levels, there is no apprehension among people about wasting water. The attitude was – why care if the wicked world is going to be destroyed anywhere. Who will educate them? Recently we had a party for our Christian friends along with their families in our home. We put up two bins for garbage disposal – one for wet and another for dry – so that the garbage could be disposed appropriately. However, it took strict supervision to ensure that our friends understood the garbage segregation concept and made...

Transforming through Education “If we give them the power to read and the Book to read, God will bless His Word” said Mary Jane Kinnaird one of the pioneers of the movement. It was this vision that founded the Interserve ministry in 1852 in Kolkata under the name of Calcutta Normal School which primarily focused on educating the women and girls in the Zenanas (women's quarters in Northern India). Since then hundreds of schools have been established across our country by the western mission movements. The political leadership of our country gratefully acknowledges the role of Christians in primary and higher education. Many institutions founded by Interserve continue the good work in many parts of India. However, we have now come to a state were many of us are content to maintain just the heritage institutions but have failed in reviving the vision and expanding the scope of our ministries. Private Christian entrepreneurs have founded new educational institutions, but unfortunat...

Do We Care At All? India is urbanizing on a fast track mode. People living in remote rural areas aspire for a better life in an urban setting. Millions are migrating from villages to towns and cities. The exploitation of the vulnerable begins here. As much as urbanization has made India progress economically, it also means that urban poverty is much more fierce than rural poverty. If casteism (social apartheid) was the curse in rural areas, it has taken new forms in the urban areas affecting the young aspirants. When Jesus reached his final destination – Jerusalem, he saw the city and wept because of the imminent judgment that was going to come upon the city. (Luke 19: 41-42) He expressed his longing to gather the children together as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings. (Matthew 23: 37-39). Jesus was moved over the city’s situation – and when he was crucified, it was also for this city as much as for the rest of the world, to redeem them to himself. Urban churches in India...

Antioch Church in India! One of the privileges of traveling to many cities and towns is the opportunity to witness and experience God’s marvelous acts among His people. It was a dream that became a reality as I drove up the Blue Mountains in South India and reached a small colonial town. I was there to preach during the worship service in a church founded more than hundred years ago serving the needs of the British community. Now this congregation of around 100 people is all Indians from different regions, languages and castes. Eleven years ago when the new pastor took over, the first thing he did was to remove all the empty pews in the church building and challenged the small group of worshippers to start praying. As they enjoyed worshipping the Lord with contemporary music and songs, they were challenged to seek out those outside the church who did not worship like they did. A new Engineering College had started nearby. The pastor and elders started to meet these engineering stude...

Discipling the Nations! The Great Commission (as rendered by Matthew 28: 23 & 24) dominates most of our mission motivation. We always place our emphasis on obeying the command to ‘Go’ and ‘Baptize’. Discipleship then becomes just a task in the process. Unfortunately, many of our mission fields illustrate our failure in providing adequate discipleship. Melba Maggay a Filipino theologian and social anthropologist during an Interserve Leadership conference in May 2008 said that discipleship lays its emphasis on building relationships and not just programs that we organize. We assume discipleship means discipling individuals one at a time. Recent literature on missions by several missiologists says that we are called to disciple ‘nations’. ‘Nations’ does not just mean ethnic communities or people groups as it is popularly known. As much as the word ‘nations’ mean ethnic or linguistic peoples it also means political nations. We see this emphasis when we read the whole of the script...

Children- Blessing or Hindrance It was a solemn worship service and the preacher was passionately trying to communicate God's message to a sleepy, heavy-eyed congregation. Suddenly, he emphasized a particular point he was making by banging forcefully on the pulpit with a shout. A little child sitting amongst the sleepy congregation woke up with a start and screamed. While the mother frantically tried to calm her down, the sleepy congregation had suddenly awakened, their prying eyes trying to locate the child who was causing the distraction. As the embarrassed mother rushed out of the building with her child, slumber and silence returned back to the congregation. Jesus said "Let the little children come to me and do not hinder them, for the Kingdom of God belongs to such as these" (Luke 18:16). The way we treat children in various situations such as at family prayer time, during a worship service, seminars, conferences or other public meetings, reflects our attitude tow...

The Growing Generation of Spectators Young people below the age of 25 constitute 54% of the total population. In recent times, many churches have seen a trend where the attendance and participation of Christian young people in the worship services has seen a sharp decline. A few who do show up due to parental or peer pressure, are contended to participate as ‘outstanding spectators’ or in other words who actually just stand outside the church building or in a few cases sit in the last rows ending up looking outside the window. A close observation of the various organizational structures of our missions, institutions and church administration will reveal that very few young people are given responsibility in the hierarchy. The outstanding spectators of young people are like our cricket spectators who watch the game on television and pass cynical comments on the players on the field. Many young people are watching the ‘games people play’ in families, churches and Christian institutions...

The God of Impossibilities The rich young ruler walked away from Jesus with a sadness written all over him because he could not part with his riches. He failed to enjoy the spiritual blessings of salvation offered to him by Jesus Christ. This rich young man was one of the very few who rejected Jesus. A closer look at the public ministry of Jesus would reveal that Jesus never neglected the rich from hearing his message of the kingdom of God. Nicodemus came in the night to talk to Jesus. Matthew who was later chosen as an apostle invited Jesus to a dinner in his home along with many other friends. Jesus regularly visited Lazarus and his sisters who had the economic means to entertain Jesus and several of his followers. Many women from rich and royal households followed Jesus and also supported his public ministry from their personal funds. Jesus’ body was laid down in the personal tomb of Joseph of Arimathea. Jesus met two persons on his way to Jericho. One was Bartimaeus, the blind ro...

Role of Media in the ‘Great Commission’   The train was chugging along as I sat with a magazine in hand. Suddenly I heard my neighbor who said “excuse me sir, can I borrow the magazine”. I happily gave the magazine and then began to observe the rest of the passengers. Almost all of them had a newspaper or magazine and were engrossed in their reading. I vividly remembered my travels during childhood. There were loud conversations among the passengers on most occasions. Comparatively now the railway coach was quieter with more people reading. It reminded me of the fact that the literacy rate has increased considerably. Missions and churches have always focused on serving the illiterates which was good. But the need for quality, contemporary and contextualized literature for the literates has been ignored. The variety of newspapers and magazines being published in India in several regional languages is mind boggling. India has the largest English speaking population in the world an...

Empowering Women   The greatest story that thrilled me was of a single elderly lady traveling on bullock carts and jeeps across jungles in North India, confronted at times by dacoits and at others by wild animals. This was unbelievable. “Why did she do it?” I asked as a young boy. I sat attentive to my great aunt, our visitor, the storyteller. This great aunt had a passion to share the good news of Christ with people who had never heard. She boldly met the sadhus in mountain caves and presented a copy of the Bible. She discipled people from all walks of life to follow Christ. As I look back, I realize the stories of my great aunt not only impressed in my mind but also ignited my love for missions. At home my mother, sister and two grandmothers shaped my formative years. My wife has influenced me to mature years, along with teachers, friends and colleagues. The saying ‘Behind every successful man there is a woman’ seems often true. Women are the bearers of culture and spiritual...

Working Together for His Kingdom   One day there was an argument among the fingers in my right hand. The ‘middle’ finger said, “I am the most important part of the body since I am the tallest among all the fingers.” The ‘ring’ finger said, “I always have a golden ring on me. I am beautiful and rich. I must be the most important finger”. The ‘points’ finger jumped into the fray and said “l am the finger that points out directions, gestures while speaking. I think I am the most important finger”. The thumb simply laughed at all of them and said, “I am the strongest and also used to make ‘thumb impressions’ for identification purposes. So, I am the most important finger.” The little finger was quiet and all the other fingers were curious to know whether it had anything to say. They asked the finger, tell us “who needs you – you are so tiny, weak and probably just add on.” The little finger replied “I am the one who faces God, when my master folds his hands and prays to God. I am als...

Equipping Churches for Missions   Leprosy sufferers begging at the doorstep of our churches in India are a common sight. The same lepers, having heard and believed the gospel, worshipping along as part of the body of Christ inside the church, is not so common. Visiting my home church in Chennai, I saw such a transformation. Lay people actively helped the lepers to grow spiritually and fit into the fellowship and Sunday worship and helped families with innovative ways of making their living. This is only one of the programs of these lay people reaching the neighborhood, while they also support several missionaries in Tamil Nadu and North India in prayer and finance. If only all the churches in India were so active in mission both at home and away! Then the vision of discipling our nation would not be a distant dream. What do we understand by the word ‘church’? It is not a building or an organization. The ‘Church’ as the body of Christ is universal, expressed locally as people ga...

But the Greatest is Love   Death was approaching. His friends were confused. The Master was concerned. This evening was significant. A ceremonial meal has been arranged. The Master took on the role of a servant. He lovingly washed His friend’s dusty feet. He blessed and served the special meal. He shared his heart out to them in his farewell message. Some of them unconscious of the solemnity of the occasion were arguing with one another as to who will be the greatest? The master knew that one of them will betray him, another deny him and the rest will all run away. The only message he wanted to leave behind before taking up the cross was the commandment to love one another. He told them that the world will know that they are his friends only if they love one another. (John 13:35) He not only gave the commandment but set an example since the highest standard of love was for one to lay down his life for his friends. The master laid down His life for His friends and showed how much ...

Mobilizing Christians   Jesus was a ‘full time’ carpenter before he became a full time "Rabbi". He served as a rabbi for only three years but was a carpenter probably from his teens. He started as an apprentice to his ‘father’ Joseph. He was later entrusted with the responsibility of supporting his mother, brothers and sisters through his trade. He knew the struggles of earning a livelihood. When Jesus chose his disciples, it was no surprise that they were either accomplished fishermen or tax-collectors. He found them better suited for ministry than the Pharisees and Sadducees of the day. They knew the struggles of day to day living better than the theologians and missiologists of the day. The message of the Kingdom needed to be lived out in the daily life of the market place than just repeated in the pulpits of the synagogues. Have we lost the true essence of the Great Commission by handing over the role of proclaiming the Good News, discipling the believers, pastoring th...

Indians in Missions World Wide   The world is flat. It was an assumption held by many Christians until Christopher Columbus challenged that assumption with evidence that the world was indeed round. Today we hold various assumptions about this world. Some of it comes from our culture, beliefs, background and perceptions through learning. Not all of our assumptions may be right. “It's a small thing for you to be assuming that you have been called to be serving your own people and your own kingdom” said God to Isaiah. (Isaiah 49:6) God clarified that He had called Isaiah to be a light to the nations so that the whole world will know His salvation. It's not only Isaiah but even the nation of Israel made assumptions about their calling. Israel assumed that they were the only chosen people and refused to allow foreigners to share in their blessings. God had to use many prophets to help them look at their neighbors. He even sent the whole nation of Israel as exiles to other countri...

Be the Change You Want “I sold my car, finally I sold my old car,” I shouted with a sense of achievement as I entered my home that evening. I explained to my son that after several unsuccessful attempts, I had finally sold my car for a reasonable price. To my surprise he reacted very emotionally. He asked me “Why did you sell the car?” I casually replied that the car was old, and I had to dispose it. Then he shocked me with the words “So when you get old, I will sell you too?” It was some time before I recovered and reminded him about the difference between cars and human beings along with an explanation of the situation, which called for a change of the car. It was important to understand his genuine feelings for the old car. Not all of us are willing to let go the old things. A look at our cupboards, lofts, shelves and drawers will reveal the truth. Seldom are we willing to let go the old ways. Change calls us to give up the old, the past and accept the new, the present. We live in...