ViewPoint Awakening in India
QA
Recently, the Lord allowed me (Dan Jarvis) to visit India to help India Gospel League train village pastors. It was one of the most defining moments of my spiritual life, and I now agree with the adage, “The American church needs India more than India needs the church�! Revive was able to ask Pastor Samuel Stephens some questions about how God is working in India.
Samuel Stephens Spiritually, what is happening in India today?
Samuel: India is definitely experiencing a great spiritual awakening. We saw the first wave in the late 1970s when the gospel was reaching areas that had never heard of Christ before. Large numbers of people began responding to evangelism efforts. This continued through the 80s and 90s. During this period, the Jesus film was used extensively. Miracles were almost the norm in these new areas, heightening people’s receptivity level. The church grew rapidly during these years. In 1992 the India Gospel League initiated a church planting movement called Vision 2000. The goal was to plant 1,000 churches by the year 2000, through the ministry of 200 church planters. Over the next eight years, the number of church planters involved in this initiative as well as the goal kept growing, until over 20,000 churches were planted. Now, ten years later, more than 60,000 such churches have been established in previously unreached villages, and other ministries are also experiencing dramatic results.
18 LifeAction.org/revive
With such rapid growth, how do you help the new believers grow as disciples?
Samuel: Enormous numbers of new believers must be discipled. The challenge is first to help them come out of a very dark religion filled with evil practices and superstitious beliefs. Then, as they understand the Christian faith, they need training and equipping to effectively communicate it with others. The fact that a majority of them have very limited literacy makes the task more difficult and complex. Our ministry has developed a systematic, multilevel Christian education program that is carried out in all the local churches. Leaders are trained and equipped to teach others through small groups and regional conferences.
What factors have brought India to such a place of spiritual openness and church growth?
Samuel: Prayer is the first and foremost factor. A lot of focused prayer was mobilized during this period.