“In the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who will judge the living and the dead, and in view of His appearing and His kingdom, I give you this charge: Preach the Word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage with great patience and careful instruction. For the time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths. But you, keep your head in all situations, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, discharge all the duties of your ministry.” (II Timothy 4:1-5)
By birth, Prabhu Das was a dalit, which literally means broken or oppressed. Indian society labels these millions the untouchables, as they are in the caste lower than any other. Growing up poor, Prabhu did not realize anything was wrong until he went to school and found that no one would play with him, sit with him, or talk to him. “Why?” he asked his parents. Then he learned of his unfortunate position in life – a position with no hope or future.
Rather than just accept his lot, when Prabhu was a teenager, he left home and connected to a criminal organization. As he successfully fulfilled his assigned crimes of theft and violence, he built quite a reputation for himself as one to be feared.
Then he encountered Jesus. A bold believer planted the truth of the Gospel; then the Good Shepherd made Himself so evident that Prabhu repented of his sins, gave his life to Christ, and turned himself into authorities asking for mercy for his crimes.
Prabhu found mercy… from God and from man. Now married with two children, he lives in Hydrabad and is a regional director for Mission India. Prabhu has been saved and has been given a ministry to reach the lost. His passion now is to bring the Muslims of his nation to Christ. Prabhu works relentlessly with the ‘joy of the Lord’ as his strength.
One of Mission India’s effective works involves daily Bible Clubs that help children with their schoolwork while also teaching them about Jesus. Hundreds of thousands of parents have found Christ because their children have come home from Bible Clubs talking about the One who gave His life for us. When parents see positive change in their children, and then learn that Jesus is the reason, they often want to know more. This past year, Mission India has counted over 4000 churches that have been planted because of people coming to Christ through Bible Clubs.
Susan and I watched a video of a young man eagerly sharing of his ‘privilege’ to serve the Lord by teaching and loving children. After finishing work at 5:30, he drives over an hour through city congestion to reach the Bible Club’s 50-60 waiting children. For an hour and a half, he works with the children, encourages them in their education, sings Christian songs, plays games, and tells everyone about Jesus. He then drives an hour to his apartment and gets the rest he needs for an early rise for the next day’s work. The amazing part of this young man’s ministry is that he gladly follows this schedule five days a week, fifty-two weeks of the year.
Currently Mission India has over 105,000 Christians waiting to be trained to be a Bible Club Leader in their own village or community. It is as if a new believer says: “I have found true life in Jesus! There are 1.2 billion people in my country, most of whom have never heard the Gospel. Everyone needs to know the truth! Here I am, Lord; send me!!”
“Since we know what it is to fear the Lord, we try to persuade others… So from now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view. Though we once regarded Christ in this way, we do so no longer. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old is gone, the new has come! All this is from God, who reconciled us to Himself in Christ, not holding men’s sins against them. And He has committed to us the ministry of reconciliation. We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making His appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God. God made Him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God. As God’s fellow workers we urge you not to receive God’s grace in vain. For He says, ‘In the time of my favor I heard you, in the day of salvation I helped you.’ I tell you, now is the time of God’s favor, now is the day of salvation.” (II Corinthians 5:11, 5:16-6:2)