Signs and wonders We visited another place that was less remote geographically than the previous day but nevertheless a place possibly more unreached with the good news of Jesus. The village was in District South 24 Pargvill, East Bonhoogley.
This was a church-planting day with Big Life Ministries who brought footballs and other games to attract a crowd. The BMS Ministers’ Team brought a guitar and themselves.
It began with a 15-minute walk down a small path through farming and fishing areas.
We arrived at a small clearing where we began to kick a football around and generally make ourselves known.
The crowd quickly grew from around 20 to 250 at which point we began singing some songs led by the Big Life Ministry team. The only one recognised was ‘This is the day’ in Hindi. A local vendor of spices and fruit also showed up.
Rev Geoff Cook told them a story that Jesus once told of a younger brother and son who had spent his father’s money on wasteful things and was now very poor. He asked them what they thought would be the response of the father when he returned?
Their faces suggested that they expected the father to give the returning son a good beating. But instead, the father did the very opposite and welcomed him with open arms and a party.
This was a picture of a father God who welcomes those who approach him even when they feel lost and hopeless! A God of mercy and forgiveness.
Meanwhile Hilary was taken by the local ladies and dressed in a very impressive sari.
The other ministers were invited to a home by one man who was a carpenter. He had built an impressive Hindu shrine to Krishna and wanted to know why we were there.
Rev Gareth Wilde, the team leader shared his testimony and then asked him gently what comfort he received from worshipping an idol like Krishna?
He began asking difficult questions. One of the Big Life team (a converted Hindu) shared his testimony for almost half an hour as the man questioned if there was one God or many.
As it became dark, the team needed to leave especially as they had been invited to a wedding in Kolkata where they met several Christian leaders amongst the crowd of guests.
Once again an unforgettable experience.
So many places have not yet been reached with the good news of Jesus Christ. The Psalmist wrote how good and how pleasant are the feet of those who bring good news.
Monday was possibly the highlight of the ministers’ trip to date.
First, a two-hour drive through the beautiful Bengal countryside to a district called North 24, Parganas, in West Bengal.
This is a district that has many islands prone to flooding. Cyclone Alia devastated most of them last year and killed thousands of people and animals in the district.
The ministers climbed aboard a fairly unstable boat accompanied by a highly competent team of dedicated pastors and evangelists from Big Life Ministries.
One family told a member of the team how God had helped them survive for a couple of days when they saw several coconuts floating in the water amidst hundreds of dead bodies.
Half an hour later we arrived on a remote island and went to a village called Baonia. Some work had already begun through a Christian leader called Uttam who had gathered some families and children together in advance of our arrival.
Members of the team were able to teach some children songs, use puppets, share a message to everyone or simply spend time hugging and praying for babies and mothers.
These were genuine tactile people who wanted to share and receive the love of Jesus.
“It was incredibly moving to be embraced so warmly by the whole village; extremely challenging to experience (briefly) their simplicity of life, unimaginably thrilling to witness the Spirit of God at work so clearly, and hugely inspiring for the task of engaging in mission back home."
“It was refreshing to see how God is working in rural as well as urban contexts. It’s the same Lord overall, working in different ways through his people”. (2 Cor 4: 7)