South Asian Forum of the Evangelical Alliance Newsletter
Issue 19: June 2015
S outh As i a n F orum of the
Evangelical Alliance
connecting, uniting, representing
The South Asian Forum (SAF) is a grouping within the Evangelical Alliance, it was set up to provide a place for South Asian Christians in the UK to encourage, support and equip each other for mission, and to represent their concerns to government, media and the wider Church. With the support of both individual members and church members totalling more than 20,000 people, SAF is steadily growing. Visit saf.eauk.org to get involved in supporting this wonderful
ministry by becoming a member of SAF. Once you become a member, you will receive idea, the Alliance’s bi-monthly magazine, as well as regular newsletters from SAF detailing our progress. If you are already a member of the Evangelical Alliance you can add SAF to your Alliance membership at no extra cost. In this instance please send an email to saf@eauk.org
What makes a healthy church?
Interview with Kuldip Rajo
SAF’s gathering for leaders of Asian churches and fellowships, Wolverhampton, 2 April “A great deal depends on the quality of the leaders,” said Steve Uppal in his opening talk. He pointed to the vibrant life of the early Church in Acts 2, the careful leadership in the face of challenges in 1 Corinthians 3, and the qualities of a leader and disciple in Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount. The 35 leaders who came were encouraged: “It’s good to know that we are not the only ones going through problems – others face similar issues,” said one. “My experience was valued” and “I made friends and learned about SAF,” said others. The day was divided into short, interactive sessions, looking at key questions and challenges. In the first session on mission, the participants shared their own experience in small groups and then brought questions to a panel. Jagdish Singh and Kuldip Rajo gave helpful answers from their wide experience. Finance and buildings are another huge challenge for many. What size do you need to be to have your own building? What help is available for obtaining buildings? How do you motivate your congregation to be generous? John Mall and Som Dass answered these and other questions with wisdom and insight. Persecution affects all of us, directly or indirectly. Imtiaz Ashraf brought up to date news of the suffering Church in Pakistan and led a time of prayer. For some, unity is the biggest challenge. The groups shared legitimate challenges – culture, language, the lack of recognition for some by mainstream churches – and those that come from our sinful natures: pride, competition, unresolved conflicts, politics and more. Joseph Chandrasekaran, Som Dass and Kuldip Rajo again gave wise and helpful guidance. The day finished with biblical exhortation from Johnson Paul and a time of prayer led by Octavia Williams. Feedback for the day was uniformly positive, with all leaders that attended appreciating the panel sessions, which gave room for all to participate, and a “variety of ideas and reflections”. The good news is that there are two more days like this one, in London on 26 September and Bolton on 10 October.
What is your background and how did you become a Christian? I’ve never had problems with the existence of God, which I guess can be put down to my upbringing. But as a teenager, the big questions of life literally began to haunt me. Why am I here? What happens when you die? How do you qualify for heaven, if it exists? In my search, I asked these questions at home to my devout and very lovely Sikh mum, and to my friends who were Christians. In a nutshell, what I was told at home was that if I live a good life and receive the Sikh initiation, then maybe I will escape the cycle of reincarnation. These ifs and maybes continued to leave me disturbed. But then I heard that by accepting Jesus I can be forgiven, and should I die I would go to be with God forever, this seemed right in my heart and my faith in Jesus began. At one Sunday service the offer to receive Jesus was made and I knew I wanted to accept him as my Lord and saviour. When I did, I knew that something had happened to me, but I could not at that time understand that the Holy Spirit had come in and filled me with an incredible peace and joy. Many challenges, trials and struggles lay ahead for many years, but He has faithfully and patiently continued His work in me. What do you currently do? After a number of years in banking with HSBC, I joined what was called Southampton Asian Christian Outreach in 1989 as one of the ministers. I’m still a there now. The focus of the work has been and remains outreach to people of other faiths. In 2006 we changed our name to Southampton Lighthouse International Church when we purchased our current building, and became the only place of Christian worship in a small area of the city that is home to people of over 30 nationalities, five mosques, four Sikh temples and one relative big Hindu temple. I also help the teams that lead the work of Naujavan and Daughters of the King. What is your passion? My heart is to try to walk with the Lord each day and see that desire birthed, grow and deepen in all those He has called me to serve.
London: https://healthychurcheslondon.eventbrite.co.uk
Why are you a member of SAF?
Bolton: https://healthychurchesbolton.eventbrite.co.uk
We are a small local work in a city that is tucked away from all the main hubs of Asian populations in the UK and recognise
SAF profiles its work, partners and resources in the quarterly Newsletter and on our website saf.eauk.org our unique and vital calling. There is an incredible importance and urgency for us to unite and partner in working together to share the good news of Jesus and especially with those of an Asian background, which is almost five per cent of the population of the UK. Who is better equipped than those of the same background, if we as Asians don’t, who will? SAF help to provide a platform to work together to this end.
Interview with Gordon Darragh Associate pastor of Windsor Baptist Church, Belfast. An interview about his experience using Discovering Jesus through Asian eyes, a course produced by the Evangelical Alliance’s South Asian Forum (SAF) What motivated you to start the Discovering Jesus through Asian eyes course? The course came to my attention through the Good Book Company and immediately seemed relevant to our situation. We have used Christianity Explored (and will continue to do so), but were looking for something that Asians could relate to. How did you go about inviting participants? We already had church members from various Asian countries. Our Christianity Explored co-ordinator is from India and he, along with others, have been great at bringing along others they have met in work and social contexts. We have strong links with the local university, which attracts thousands of international students, particularly through Friends International. We help to run a hospitality scheme and support other such events for international visitors.
What advice and encouragement would you give a church, Christian group or ministry leader who is wanting to start a course?
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Prayer is essential.
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Follow-up is important but we only asked for email and phone contacts at the end to avoid appearing to hound them.
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Food is always welcome - especially good Asian dishes!
Some training is important. Unashamed approach of setting out the claims of the gospel and inviting people to check out the Bible for themselves is good.
We learned more by doing the course - and will repeat it. We ended with a Q&A session followed by the last six minutes of a DVD My Hope 2015, which is quite direct in its invitation to trust Jesus, but the relationships seemed strong enough to cope with this approach. For further information about Discovering Jesus through Asian eyes go to www.discovering-jesus.com. Churches can learn how to use the course by booking on a free half-day training event. Manchester 5 September 2015: https://djtaetrainingmanchester2015.eventbrite.co.uk
You are invited to attend the training event teaching you how to run a ‘Discovering Jesus through Asian eyes’ course, sponsored by the Leprosy Mission England and Wales
Discovering
How was leading the sessions? We had a total of between 25 and 35 most nights, split into three or four table groups. We enjoyed the relaxed style of the course and felt free to veer off in new directions as other questions emerged. The quality of the booklets helped present it as something that had credibility. I used several of the video interviews, which also set the tone.
Saturday 5 September 2015: 9:30am – 1pm Held at Nazerene Theological College, Dene Road, Didsbury, Manchester M20 2GU 9.30am registration for a 10.00am start
The concept of the West as hedonistic yet somehow being representative of Christianity was not an issue for most of our participants. They have had experience in home countries and in the West that helped them distinguish between true Christianity and western values.
‘Discovering Jesus through Asian eyes’ course is an exciting new outreach resource, published by The Good Book Company, for churches and Christian organisations who want to build relationships with Asian communities.
Everyone felt free to engage and the context of beginning with food and enjoying tea/coffee. Cake half way through helped!
This new course has been developed by the South Asian Forum of the Evangelical Alliance in partnership with a wide range of organisations, churches and individuals that have supported, advised and encouraged the development of this resource.
We supplemented the material with a broad introduction to how the Bible works, plus some related videos and testimonies at the end of each evening.
The training will provide you with useful facts and information on Asian beliefs and attitudes to Jesus and the Christian faith and how to invite people to the course.
What was the response from the participants? Entirely positive. The participants who were not Christians seemed happy to learn about the Christian faith and engage in some honest and personal discussion. We believe this will have been a stepping stone for some to come to put their faith in Jesus. This may take time, but it seemed to deal with their thoughts and questions.
Donations of £10 kindly requested (lunch is provided)
For further information please contact Manoj Raithatha e. m.raithatha@eauk.org t. (+44) (0) 207 520 3831 www.discovering-jesus.com
Click here to register
South Asian Forum of the Evangelical Alliance
Beyond India A team in India began systematically training Indian nationals in church planting and disciple making methods in 2011. Since then, the team has seen more than 800 churches planted, and more than 3,500 people baptized. The large numbers are so exciting that the team is cautious about sharing them. The key is that they teach all believers to own the work of disciple-making for themselves. They teach them to be disciples who obey Jesus, including the Great Commission found in Matthew 28. These churches, totalling more than 800, are spread over fairly large geographical areas in India, and typically grow along relationship lines. For instance, a disciple visits a village and prays for the sick to be healed. Someone is healed, and because of the healing, that person’s whole household become disciples of Jesus. They start talking to their relatives or friends in other villages about the miracle and their new faith. The relatives respond: “Come pray for us too, because someone here is sick.” So, the lead disciple who prayed for the healing goes with a member from that newly believing family to visit the relatives or friends. Together, they pray for this second family, and when God does another miracle, this new household starts to learn about Jesus. The family eventually become disciples of Jesus, and a new church is formed. In this way, the kingdom is growing. Three illiterate farmers’ wives are examples that anyone can follow Jesus’ model of disciple-making. Each one, along with her whole family, has become a follower of Jesus during the last three years. Like many of the disciples in this movement, they know truth is not to be hoarded or defended, to be shared, and they are obeying their Master’s command to make other disciples, even though they can’t read the stories they share. The team distributes audio Bibles on SIM cards and rechargeable speakers in illiterate communities so that literacy doesn’t hinder the sharing of the good news. To share a story, these ladies and others like them simply turn on the speaker and listen while the audio Bible plays. After listening, the ladies facilitate the study of that story by asking very simple questions to the group, such as: “What does this story teach us about God,” and: “What does this story teach us about people?” By following this simple method of pushing play and asking questions, these three illiterate, poor farmers’ wives are currently leading 40 house churches. Some question the faith of disciples’ in house churches such as these. How can their faith be very deep, when they aren’t being led by someone trained in a seminary? How can their faith be very deep when they cannot even read? In Acts 2:36-47, we see a description of the new Church in action, doing what the Church was meant to do, including being generous and meeting others’ needs. The new churches started by these ladies are also being obedient to the same
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spirit. Some of the brand new churches comprised of very poor people are investing financially to practically meet the needs of their community, including using their own funds to start a literacy project in their area. The Indian Church is learning to be generous and to love their neighbours in practical ways. This is a confirmation of the depth of their faith. May God continue to work among these peoples. For more information about the work of Act Beyond, visit www.beyond.org. To see videos about Beyond and Church Planting Movements, visit the Beyond Media page. If you would like to discuss with a UK representative of Beyond, contact Laura Humphries at ldh@beyond.org
Friends International - Philip Project Each year more than 425,000 international students come from all over the world to study at UK universities. What an opportunity to fulfill Jesus’ Great Commission to reach every nation, tribe and tongue for him. Friends International (FI) is a UK mission that aims to give each international student an experience of Christian friendship, and through that the chance to meet and follow Jesus. The organisation makes disciples for Jesus, who in turn go on to make disciples in their own countries when they return home. Sometimes, students arrive in the UK spiritually hungry and asking questions, which FI answers with an open Bible. At other times, a person arrives in the UK already believing in Jesus, but in need of discipleship and training. Below is the experience of a South Asian international student of engaging with the Philip Project - a discipleship and Bible-handling training programme run by Friends International: “It took the international worker at my church to convince me to go on the Philip Project. I’d attribute it to my lack of commitment rather than his lack of persuasion, but I finally did start attending the Philip Project in 2013. “Being a Christian from India, it didn’t take me long after moving to the UK to understand what being a Christian actually meant. Christianity in India is seen as one of the many religions, something you’re born into. “I realised what being born again meant – the difference between a religious Christian and a relational Christian – and what it means to lead a Christian life. I wanted to see if I could play a small part in taking these concepts back to my church in India when I went back. This led to the realisation that I lacked the skill and the knowledge, mainly because I didn’t know how to read the Bible well. “The Philip Project opened my eyes to read the Bible as God meant for us to read it. The pool of teachers, resources and the painting of the Bible in terms of a TV series, with many little episodes, really helped me see clearly the main story of the Bible and the impact it will have if explained in simple terms to the masses who can’t interpret the message. Another useful thing that I learned from the Philip Project
SAF profiles its work, partners and resources in the quarterly Newsletter and on our website saf.eauk.org was identifying the different styles of scripture and the use of various resources, such as Bible dictionaries, cross references, commentaries, etc. The sessions on preparing a good message and being an effective preacher really helped. “I’ve mentioned a few useful things that I’ve learned on the Philip Project, but the best thing I’ve learnt is not only to read the Bible well, but also be able to apply it to myself and teach it. I’ve preached twice since attending the Philip Project – once in my church in UK and once back home in Hyderabad, India. It’s a rewarding feeling knowing that God’s using me to explain His word to His people. Having preached twice and led a couple of Bible studies, I’m now actually hungry to do it more often. I hope and I believe that with what I’ve learned on the course, and the friend network within Philip Project, I’d be able to teach the Bible as it ought to be, in a world where most people misinterpret it.” This student came away from his time in the UK better prepared to minister for Jesus in his home country of India, and was also really excited about doing so. It is Friends International’s hope and prayer as a mission organisation that many more international students would return to their own countries similarly inspired and equipped to share the good news of Jesus with their own people and culture. Would you like to find out more about our work reaching international students? Head to the website, or get in touch by email: www.friendsinternational.org info@friendsinternational.org
Growing healthy churches, learning to work together A series of exciting one-day conferences for leaders of churches and organisations working with South Asians The day includes: ission – what is our goal and how do we reach it? m developing leaders – how do we raise up the next generation? recognition – how do we build links with the wider church? lack of resources – overcoming financial and accommodation challenges l persecution – how do we support those facing pressure? l l l l
Let us be one voice united by the Spirit Registration 9.45 am to 16.00pm. To book click on the links l
Saturday 26th September London https://healthychurcheslondon.eventbrite.co.uk
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Saturday 10th October Bolton https://healthychurchesbolton.eventbrite.co.uk
Visit the website http://saf.eauk.org Email m.raithatha@eauk.org Lunch will be provided*
* A donation of £10 is kindly requested
Join us for this special opportunity to listen to God’s word, pray together and to share experiences and learn from those who are currently faced with the challenge of mission to the South Asian Diaspora in the United Kingdom. The South Asian Forum exists to connect, unite and represent British South Asian Christians both in the UK church and the multicultural communities that they serve. The heart of the South Asian Forum is to enable more South Asians in the UK to personally discover Jesus Christ. Sponsored by The Leprosy Mission England and Wales
Jade stopped going when her church had a disagreement with another local church
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