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Related Titles: Plymouth Brethren Missionary Story; Christian Brethren Salvation Story; Brethren Assembly Missionary And Evangelist; Plight Of Native Missionaries; Needs Of Indigenous Missionaries
Last Updated: 2008 June 09.
Photo: The hut of a poor missionary in South India. Courtesy: Spiritual Digest Newsletter.
Bro. T A Kurian was a missionary for over forty years in Sagar in the Indian
State of Madhya Pradesh. One of his converts was a Hindu who later committed to
serving the Lord as a missionary there. This native missionary lived in a hut without a door. An old cloth was hung
there instead.
One night a venomous cobra snake crept into the hut and bit the baby child of the missionary. There were no vehicles available in that village and the nearest hospital was miles away. The missionary supported the child on the narrow carrier of his bicycle and pushed it along the road by walking. He could not ride it because he had to support the bleeding child all along. By the time he could reach the hospital after a long journey, the child was already dead.
The villagers accused the converted missionary that the village goddess who
he had deserted had punished him for it. But this poor missionary stood strong
in his faith amidst the adversity and poverty. He said that even if the Lord
takes away his child, his faith will not waver.
Bro. Johnson Kurian, son of Bro. T A Kurian visited the hut of the missionary after
a few years. As he left the hut on his way back, he turned around from a
distance and looked back. There he prayed and wept "Oh Lord! next time I visit
this hut, It should have a door!"
This incident was narrated by Bro. Johnson Kurian himself during a church sermon, which this author was translating into the local language. As Bro. Johnson Kurian completed the last sentence above, he wept in front of the whole congregation and was followed by this author who also could not contain himself.
Let us not be insensitive to the needs of local native evangelists who often do not have anybody to take up their cause.
None.