The Light of the World
The story is repeated tens of thousands of times each year. A person living in darkness—without light and hope, in a place where the Good News of Jesus has never been known—encounters an ordinary disciple of Jesus from a nearby city, tribe, or village, and hears about light and life through Jesus Christ.
This ordinary disciple also came to faith in Christ out of darkness, was discipled in a local fellowship, participated in a local Global Disciple Training, and sent out to share the Gospel.
Saresh is one of these ordinary disciples. He went to a nearby town in an Indian state with about one Christian in every thousand people. Saresh met Prem, a devout young Hindu, sitting along the street. He stopped and told him about Jesus.
Prem could not sleep all night, thinking about what he heard about Jesus and his love. The next day, Prem sought out Saresh and surrendered his life to Christ. He immediately faced severe opposition and persecution from his family, relatives, and community.
But Prem persevered. In a new fellowship, Prem grew as a disciple of Jesus. He heard about a local Global Disciple Training, and he went all in! For the outreach part of training, Prem returned to his tribal villages where there were no Christ-followers and no churches. He began to share the Gospel.
At first, he was opposed again. Then a few people came to faith.
Seven months later, there were five house churches in five villages among this least-reached people group. Sixty people have accepted Jesus as their Lord and Savior, 26 have been baptized, and 34 more are preparing for baptism. God is healing and releasing people from the demonic oppression common in Hinduism. Lives, families, and communities are being transformed!
Many miles away, in the same Indian state, a Hindu woman came to a little fellowship, asking if they would pray for her husband who had advanced cancer. Through these disciples, Bita surrendered her life to Jesus.
The darkness in Bita’s life and family lifted as she grew in her faith. Jesus completely healed her husband’s cancer. She went to a local Global Disciple Training and began leading others to Christ. Now, she leads a growing fellowship of 70 new Christ-followers in her Hindu village. Bita also completed Global Disciples small business training and started a tailoring training center for dozens of women from four unreached groups. The light is spreading!
Jesus declared, “You are the light of the world” (Matthew 5:14). Prem and Bita are. So are you. Through your prayers and generosity, you are reaching these distant dark places. And daily, through that same Spirit who raised Jesus from the dead, we are His light in our part of the world.
–Galen Burkholder, President/CEO
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