A Heart for Hard Places
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 remote tribal village.
Soon I was in college studying for my professional degree and found the college environment a very hard place to hold on to my faith amidst the peer pressure. When I started my work life and spent my days on the factory floor, office cabins and board rooms, it was again a very hard place to maintain my integrity as I felt pressurized by the management and the workforce.
When I moved with my family to a North Indian city as a mission worker, I assumed that this new identity will make it easier until I found out that this very identity made it harder for me to share the reason for my faith. Soon I realized that whether it was a city or a village, urban slum or high-rise apartment, school or a hospital, factory shop floor or corporate board room, bungalow or a flat, street market or shopping malls, airport or railway stations, north or South, East or West – hard places are everywhere and at times, it is just a doorbell or the next desk or just a step away.
Interserve’s origins started in Zenanas—the quarters for high caste women living in North India. These Zenanas restricted the entry of men who were not related as well as foreigners. Since, these women including young widows and orphans were confined to these quarters; they did not have opportunities for education or health care. This context gave birth to Interserve’s ministry in 1852 to train and send women mission workers as governesses and teachers who will serve the women and children confined in Zenanas.
In the beginning courageous women broke the social barriers and entered the hard place of a Zenana to reach out to these women. Soon other Indian women were trained as teachers and they also found entry as governesses into Zenanas. In the years that followed, teacher training institutes, schools for girls, mission hospitals, clinics were established in many hard places in large cities and towns in India and other sensitive locations in Asia.
Interserve recruits partners with professional skills who are supported by churches and prayer partners and respond to the call to serve in hard places away from their homes. Interserve facilitates Christian professionals to integrate their faith and their work life as they serve communities in hard places like a school, university, factory, business office and market places. Interserve partners are passionate to disciple people in hard places as they are transformed through their encounter with Jesus Christ. Join us to prayerfully support our “Servants for Hard Places.” John Amalraj
January-June 2013, INFOCUS, Interserve India
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 remote tribal village.
Soon I was in college studying for my professional degree and found the college environment a very hard place to hold on to my faith amidst the peer pressure. When I started my work life and spent my days on the factory floor, office cabins and board rooms, it was again a very hard place to maintain my integrity as I felt pressurized by the management and the workforce.
When I moved with my family to a North Indian city as a mission worker, I assumed that this new identity will make it easier until I found out that this very identity made it harder for me to share the reason for my faith. Soon I realized that whether it was a city or a village, urban slum or high-rise apartment, school or a hospital, factory shop floor or corporate board room, bungalow or a flat, street market or shopping malls, airport or railway stations, north or South, East or West – hard places are everywhere and at times, it is just a doorbell or the next desk or just a step away.
Interserve’s origins started in Zenanas—the quarters for high caste women living in North India. These Zenanas restricted the entry of men who were not related as well as foreigners. Since, these women including young widows and orphans were confined to these quarters; they did not have opportunities for education or health care. This context gave birth to Interserve’s ministry in 1852 to train and send women mission workers as governesses and teachers who will serve the women and children confined in Zenanas.
In the beginning courageous women broke the social barriers and entered the hard place of a Zenana to reach out to these women. Soon other Indian women were trained as teachers and they also found entry as governesses into Zenanas. In the years that followed, teacher training institutes, schools for girls, mission hospitals, clinics were established in many hard places in large cities and towns in India and other sensitive locations in Asia.
Interserve recruits partners with professional skills who are supported by churches and prayer partners and respond to the call to serve in hard places away from their homes. Interserve facilitates Christian professionals to integrate their faith and their work life as they serve communities in hard places like a school, university, factory, business office and market places. Interserve partners are passionate to disciple people in hard places as they are transformed through their encounter with Jesus Christ. Join us to prayerfully support our “Servants for Hard Places.” John Amalraj
January-June 2013, INFOCUS, Interserve India
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