BMS floats new project

A major church-planting and evangelistic ministry in north east India has received a boost from BMS World Mission.

Big Life Ministries is based in the US, but operates mainly in India under its director Benjamin Francis.

It is a BMS partner, and BMS has funded a boat (right) to help its evangelists in their outreach work in the Sunderban region of West Bengal, south of Kolkata where BMS work in India started under William Carey in 1793.

The locally-built craft, diesel powered and 60 feet long, has been named the Peace, in homage to the river steamer used by 19th century pioneer missionary George Grenfell on the Congo (pictured left).


In another sign of BMS commitment to the region, Benjamin has been named as an Associate Regional Team Leader, the first national Christian to hold the post.

Using teams of evangelists drawn largely from among local converts, Big Life Ministries has founded more than 4,000 congregations over the last few years in the island villages of the Sunderban, a region which is 75 per cent Hindu and 25 per cent Muslim.

The people of the area live by fishing and subsistence farming, and many are illiterate. Healthcare and education facilities are minimal.

Teams land at a village and generally find a willing audience for their message, resulting in cell churches being formed. 
Big Life operates on the principle that each congregation should found another within a year.

It provides support for teaching and discipleship training, but its emphasis is on expansion.

"This is a great opportunity for us to make a greater impact for the Kingdom of God," said Benjamin (pictured left). "BMS is our history. Today I am a believer because the Bible was turned into Bengali. I am just overwhelmed at being a part of that history – but I want to be historic, too, and do the work of today."

He said that in the week since the Peace was commissioned, it had already gone to four new villages with the gospel, and that a BMS Action Team of young people was expected to join it on a forthcoming trip.

"We’re part of a great team, with people going out for the Lord on a daily basis," said Benjamin. "What more can we ask?"

General Director, David Kerrigan (pictured right with Benjamin and a young team member) said that Benjamin Francis' appointment as an Associate Regional Team Leader was a very significant move for BMS, and was a step on the way to fulfilling the strategy outlined last year, which committed BMS to broadening its leadership base.

"There is a new generation of leaders whose expectations have been shaped by the fact that they have seen God move in power, unlike in the West where it’s sometimes seemed that the approach has been to try to hold on for a few more years," he said.


"Benjamin Francis encapsulates this attitude. He is completely committed to church planting." 


Director of Mission, Peter Dunn (left), added, "Everyone knows that the centre of growth for the church has moved to the global south.


"For us, effective mission in the 21st century means we need to make strategy shaped by people who have seen God at work in different parts of the world."

This article first appeared in The Baptist Times and is republished here with their kind permission.

27/01/2011