Bible Stories and Persecution

On the mission field one of the key questions is "does our teaching create converts to Christ or hangers on to the missionary?"

(We should be asking that question of American churches but we are too proud and assume we know everything.)

One thing covered in the book Making Disciples of Oral Learners is the issue of syncretism and subsequent departure from the faith. As they note in the book, churches begun through Bible Storytelling where the people are internalizing the stories do better at this point than churches begun using more Western methods of teaching topical doctrinal studies.

No method is infallible because people are sinners!

But the importance of this was driven home to me this morning.

Today I received this message from a mission group that evangelizes and disciples people in India.

Starting on December 24th the [in Orissa] Hindu mobs burned as many as 1400 believers' houses and churches; some were killed, many are missing. Those who survived fled into the jungle with no food, shelter and little more than the clothes on their backs. Many were pressured to reconvert to Hinduism by the threat of death. Even some pastors did so to save their families. However, there were also reports such as this one:

A 45 year old man said that an axe was kept on his neck and he was asked to say "Jai shri Ram" (praise to a Hindu God) and reconvert if he wanted to live. But this man who just became a Christian 10 months back said, "You could kill me but I will not reconvert to Hinduism and I will stay as Christian and die as Christian." Then the rioters left him and burnt down his house and all his possessions and he had flee to the forest and spend three nights there before returning back.

As we minister, are we consciously preparing people for eternity? Are we preparing them for the long haul of discipleship? Will what we teach them put iron in their souls to withstand the world, the flesh and the adversary?

Are we helping them memorize scripture and Bible Stories to carry with them? Or are we just feeding them spiritual junk food designed to please people at the risk of destroying their souls?

Lord God, give us grace to impart Your Living Word in its fullness to prepare souls for eternity and all that may come their way until that time. Forgive us for further comforting the comfortable who instead need to know your greatness. Forgive us for cheapening our preaching by failing to declare Your Greatness and our need to be continually transformed by Your Word and Spirit that we may be conformed to You rather than have Your Truth distorted and twisted by conforming it to our vain imaginations. Now to You who are able to keep us and all Your Church from stumbling and to present us blameless before the presence of the Father's glory with great joy, to the only God, our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion, and authority, before all time and now and forever. Amen.