Drew Boswell

a place for us to share ideas, talk about life, and learn together.

Missions Can Be Eye Opening

Persecution and Orphans

In 2006 Communist Insurgence killed a well known Hindu priest in Jaglaphur, India. The Hindu people blamed the local Christians for the death. What followed were weeks of persecution for Christians where hundreds of people were killed, many homes and churches were burned, and hundreds of children were left as orphans. Local pastors were targeted and the event escalated. The Catholic Church put pressure on Jaglaphur local officials when a nun was burned alive.  A curfew was then established and the violence eventually ended.  As dark as this story is, it gets worse.  But before we see how the story progresses we need to go back in history.

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A History of Corruption

IMB Missionaries have been going into the jungle “wilderness” and cities of India for several generations. These early missionaries established churches and a method of spreading the gospel from village to village. The method looks like a spider web with a native planting pastor in the center, and as he plants churches the winding and expanding circles report to him, give him their monies, and look to him for leadership. So you end up with these “head” pastors developing a network of pastors and churches numbering in the hundreds.

With everything in life there is the potential for it to become corrupt and corruption filters throughout all of the Indian society.  It has been such a way of life that it even affects the public education of it’s children. In many Indian public schools, teachers teach only some of what is needed to pass state tests. Then they offer their services as a private tutor to teach paying students the other needed information to pass these state exams.  So the only way for poor, illiterate, and uneducated communities to have their children pass these tests is for them to pay the tutors.

Some of these “head” planting pastors have learned that if you can plant enough “Christian” churches then this is a great way to become wealthy. They have developed a hierarchy of lieutenants, sergeants, and others who progress in rank and income according to how many “churches” they plant. There are also many American churches that are looking for opportunities to support “missions” and if you can add the fact that they were persecuted then that makes for a great financially profitable opportunity. Indian pastors even travel to the US telling their horror stories of beatings and persecutions before naïve congregations who buy the scam “hook-line-and-sinker.”

The persecution and deaths in Janglaphur was horrible, but even more horrible is the fact that some are using that horrible event as a means of taking is huge amounts of revenue. And the story gets even worse.

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Children and “Orphans” 

As apart of our mission trip we were to do training for village pastors and were to visit two orphanages. When we arrived at the orphanage we were greeted with posters with our pictures on it and were told of how the children prayed for us everyday.  Women washed our feet and children sang songs for us. They served us lunch and were given a tour of the facility. Let me tell you, I was hooked. (see previous blog entry).

I don’t believe that this was a total lie, but we began to become suspicious when we contacted another church that was working with the orphanage as well. They had paid to have a well dug, only to be told that more money was needed. They told us of how they had given money for generators and buildings, etc. only to be told again and again more money was needed with no evidence or accounting of how the other money was spent.  I specifically asked the local “head” pastor if he was working with any other churches and he said, “no, you are the only one.”

Yet, my colleague has a picture of another American pastor and mission team standing in the very spot where I asked the question.  Is this a pastor who feels the need to bend the truth in order to supply necessary supplies to the orphans? If so, why not just say, “I spent the money on food because it was needed over building bathrooms or a wall”, etc.  Any church I have ever worked with would have understood this, and made changes.

We then went to do pastoral training.  At the first training it went very well. Local pastors came in, asked questions, and we had a good session. At the time we gave the training we had no suspicion of any wrongdoing. But when we drove out to a remote orphanage and conducted the second training and visited that orphanage, something just wasn’t right. There weren’t enough beds for all of the children, and it just didn’t look like someone lived there all the time, much less forty plus children and supervising adults.

We asked through a translator “How many of you are pastors?” only two raised their hands. So we asked a follow up question, “how many of you are Christians,” and only a few raised their hands. Not only were we not teaching pastors, we were not even teaching believers. So we shared the gospel several ways. Later, we even suspected that the children really did not live there and that people were hired to come in and act as “pastors” and their wives, and for children to pretend to be orphans.  Did something happen to the original group of pastors and their wives, that the local native pastor felt the need for this subterfuge?

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Why Did We Go to India?

How much of this is true, an outright lie, or some twisted cultural disguise of the truth I will never know. But there are too many red flags and too many complications for any ministry partnership to be possible.  If there are any orphans, they are the ones who will suffer the most.

Imagine, men who may have even been persecuted for being a Christian now using that “blessing” to sell the name of Christ and using children in this fashion is reprehensible.  This trip has opened my eyes to many things. I do have a deep feeling of betrayal and disgust, but I am not bitter nor do I have a diminished desire to share the gospel around the world.

As I lay in the hotel room after all of this came to light I asked, “Why did we come here?” “Why would God lead us to come to this place and carry this expense only to be “flimflammed”? It took thirty-six hours of exhausting travel just to get there. Why?

It was at this point that we were able to have breakfast with the local IMB missionary and his director. They were able to help build in some backstory to the whole ordeal. We heard of how this was not the first time in this pastor’s life that he had operated his ministries this way and on at least one occasion had suddenly left town – disappeared when things grew too “hot.” I have a renewed appreciation for the International Missionary Board and the great value they give to churches seeking to engage in missions. We were able to spend hours discussing this event, and potential future works in India.

This is not the first time we have sought to go to a difficult regions and work with locals, only to discover the necessity of working with and through a local IMB missionary.

I do not want to give the impression that all Indian pastors are corrupt, or that all the churches are not genuine churches. I met several godly pastors who truly are seeking the Lord and his plan for India. They are hard working and love Jesus. They need our prayers and support in their ministries. But they are caught up in this twisting of greed and corruption, and some may not even know it (or know better).

Why did we go to India? I believe God sent me to see an entire lost country and the effects of a false religion upon its people, it’s land, and all of life. With 80% of Indian society being Hindi, this way of thinking and religion filters down to all aspects of society. It’s cast system keeps people in poverty and fuels hate amongst groups of people. It’s philosophy discourages innovation, and in many ways the country stays in darkness.

Where Do We Go From Here?

The local IMB missionary said, “There is a reason why there are ‘unreached people groups,’ it’s because they are difficult to get to.” India is an entire country of lost people who are going to hell by the thousands every day. Satan works to keep the gospel out, even to the point of creating a religion to keep the hearts and minds of people in darkness. He has even bent the hearts of local Christian pastors toward corruption.

IMB is doing a good work there because when we visited one of their pastoral trainings there was a distinct difference in the group of pastors we saw in the villages, and the ones they were working with. The main difference was their eyes. In the saved pastors eyes were a sense of joy for life, and an excitement over the gospel. Smiles were everywhere, and they were excited about going to their areas and sharing with others. God is working in India, and he has not forgotten them.

Will I ever go back? As of right now, I am exhausted, experiencing serious jet lag, and mending hurt feelings of being betrayed. I know I should not allow one man to keep anyone from an entire nation of lost people. So, I will rest, pray, and see what God would have me to do.  I do know this, if God calls us to go back – I will be working along side of an IMB missionary.

Accountability and Missions

As I have experienced various cultures and have engaged them with a desire to share the gospel, I have come to realize that most things in life are not “black and white.” What should be easy is complicated and convoluted by sin and the fall of man. The pastors that we seek to partner with are not perfect and have flaws, and the churches we want to support are filled with sinful and corrupt people.  Even various personalities and the quirks of missionaries create communication and planning issues. It is a miracle that the gospel has spread to the vast places and tribal regions that it has so far.

Yet in spite of all of our flaws, sinful and corrupt natures, God still desires to use His people to spread the good news of Jesus Christ to the world. Our own sin becomes hidden from our sight and even the culture that we live in becomes blind to it. So it is through immersion in another culture that you can easily see their sin, flaws, and areas that need improvement. But they also see yours, and if you are blessed you will be able to identify it yourself and be able to change it through the power of the Holy Spirit.

We must enter into missions with this understanding that we are not perfect, the people we partner with are not perfect, and surly those that have not yet hard the gospel are not perfect. We encounter Christians around the globe that are on a journey just like we are, yet are flawed just as we are flawed. With the greater good balanced with the fall of man in mind, we seek to be wise in the use of our resources, and through prayer we seek the face of God and His direction as to what we should do and where.

Therefore, when we partner with a ministry in various parts of the world, and even in our own “village,” we must have accountability. This does not mean that we do not trust men and women of God, but that we mutually understand that both parties are redeemed yet sinful. We do them a loving service so that they are less likely to be tempted to misuse resources and even have to plan out how and when it will be spent. There must be an accounting of monies spent, and how it is to be used. With communication and accountability trust will be developed.

Also with accountability people are more likely to support the need. If a well is needed at an orphanage, monies can be given for that purpose, but along the way there should communication as to the need, expected cost, who will dig the well, and evidence of completed work. When this chain of events happens, there is a much higher likelihood that future projects can the planned (like a dormitory expansion, walls around the compound, etc.) However, if this does not happen then we are left with innocuous questions like, “was the well even dug?” “Was the money used for something else?” “is the ministry ok?”

But because there is no communication or “shady” decisions are discovered then our minds may even drift toward accusative questions like, “was the money used for the administrator’s personal gain?”  When missional relationships get to this point, they often do not last. If they do, it is with an attitude of desiring to help children, orphans, lepers, etc., at the expense of dealing with a potentially corrupt system and ministry is greatly restricted.  If we could get both parties to understand that because we ask for accountability (and that this does not mean that we question their integrity) it is for the purpose of being able to do greater ministry together. When we hold each other accountable, gently and lovingly correct each other, then various cultures can help the other grow in grace and the kingdom can be expanded.

Proverbs 27:17 “Iron sharpens iron, and one man sharpens another.”

There may be a time when communication is so broken, schemes have simply gone too far, and trust and accountability has degraded to the point that relationships must be severed. When this happens, it is sad because the ones who suffer most are those who need Christ’s love most (and typically they are children).

 

 

Hospitality and the Believer

Biblical Hospitality

When Americans think of hospitality it usually involves having someone over to your home, or simply having a spirit of hospitality, as in being nice or welcoming. Last night I had the opportunity to experience a biblical definition of hospitality.  The host pastor here in India drove six hours to meet us in Raipur then drove with us back to his home. The drive is not easy, it is over roads that are in great need of repair, and through a swirl of chaotic drivers, bicyclers, constant honking horns, and people on foot or pulling something. In India if it has wheels it is used for transportation of one kind or another.  It is a jarring trip of sudden accelerations, close calls, and slamming stops. If you are not used to it, to is nerve wracking.

Upon our arrival at the hotel where we were staying in his city there were native people there to welcome us with flowers, handshakes, smiles, and hugs. We rested for about an hour, where we then traveled to the pastor’s home. Again, as we drove up there were people there to welcome us.

We were ushered to chairs in the driveway and many children danced and sang for us as men played drums behind them. After the children sang several songs, and continued to sing and dance, women brought out small wooden platforms and shallow pots filled with water. Then they bowed before us, removed our shoes and socks, and proceeded to wash out feet.

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Hospitality Can Be Very Powerful

I am not sure why this moment struck me so deeply, but as they washed my feet, I began to weep. It was very humbling. As the pastor led this effort, he said, “it is an honor and privilege to serve the holy people.” Who am I that they should wash my feet? Why did they feel the need to show this honor to me, and our group, and to serve us in this way? It was overwhelming.

In John 13:12-17 says, “When he had washed their feet and put on his outer garments and resumed his place, he said to them, “Do you understand what I have done to you? 13 You call me Teacher and Lord, and you are right, for so I am. 14 If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet. 15 For I have given you an example, that you also should do just as I have done to you. 16 Truly, truly, I say to you, a servant3 is not greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him. 17 If you know these things, blessed are you if you do them.”

The Christians of India understand this very powerful display of love and respect to others.  As followers of Christ we are to follow His example of being a servant to others and to show others their worth.

Then we were led, hand-in-hand by the children to a room with a long table covered with various colored table clothes. Then one dish at a time, a wonderful meal was served. It included rice, a type of banana, a lintel yellow sauce, seared chicken, and potato balls, with water to drink. It was wonderful. Then at the end of the meal, the pastor’s family came in and we clapped our hands for them.  There was no question that these people were excited about us being there, and wanted us to feel very welcomed.

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 Hospitality Can Be Encouraging to Fellow Believers

If we look at Luke 7:36 ff. a sinful woman was just come into a Pharisee’s home and broken a bottle of very expensive perfume to pour over Jesus’s feet and then wiped the excess with her hair. For the women it was a great sign of admiration honor.

In response to this the Pharisees are shocked, and Jesus responds by saying, “A certain moneylender had two debtors. One owed five hundred denarii, and the other fifty. When they could not pay, he cancelled the debt of both. Now which of them will love him more?” Simon answered, “The one, I suppose, for whom he cancelled the larger debt.” And he said to him, “You have judged rightly.” Then turning toward the woman he said to Simon, “Do you see this woman? I entered your house; you gave me no water for my feet, but she has wet my feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair. You gave me no kiss, but from the time I came in she has not ceased to kiss my feet. You did not anoint my head with oil, but she has anointed my feet with ointment. Therefore I tell you, her sins, which are many, are forgiven—for she loved much. But he who is forgiven little, loves little.”

For the Christian, hospitality becomes a desire to show another person how you view them. It is a Christian’s desire to honor them, and to show how thankful that they are in their home. So with this in mind, it is incredibly humbling when someone gives you this level of hospitality. It is my prayer that when I interact with others that they can see how much I love them by how I show them through acts of honor.

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 Hospitality As A Witnessing Tool

On every mission trip I always walk away changed in some way. So far, I have a renewed appreciation for biblical hospitality and also a desire to show it to other people.  What a wonderful way to show the world our love for them, to invite them into our homes, to honor them as treasured guests and to display Christ’s love as a humble people who have been forgiven of somuch, and want to share this love and how they can be forgiven with others.

* Because India is a “closed” country to the gospel I have not given the pastor’s name and did not show any pictures of him or his family.

Awakening and Genesis 3

Friday Morning at Cracker Barrel

I am sitting at a Cracker Barrel on an early Friday morning and can see various families heading out for Spring Break retreats and respites, Sherriff’s deputies huddled around a table laughing over various experiences in their line of duty, and ‘locals’ beginning their day. As the sun creeps over the ensemble of cars in the parking lot another day begins with its unknown opportunities, life changing surprises, and its mundane workday. It is this potential for change (in me and in the world), this unknown future that drives me to the Father and His holy book. It is not one of fear, but of an excitement that I don’t want to miss the potential opportunity.

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 Internal Struggles

With an upcoming mission trip to India and an awareness that there is a huge potential to be of great service to the Lord there, I am becoming ever more aware of my depravity and sinfulness. I am not sure if it is the Holy Spirit desiring to cleanse me and make me more useful to the Father or if it is Satan trying to keep me from even trying.

At the age of 37 I am keenly aware of my sin nature, how and where I tend to drift and am very alert to my weaknesses. That doesn’t mean that I always remain strong to fight against these weaknesses, but I know who I am as a person, a part of the fallen human race. I have the faint shadow of wisdom to know that my sin nature destroys and it vanishes as smoke when I display my lack of wisdom and depravity and listen to that still small voice and heed it’s foolish instructions.

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 A Walk Through the Garden

If we go back to the Garden at the beginning of time, we discover it was Satan’s desire to disrupt what God had established. Chaos was brought into perfect order, and disruption and death were cast upon peace and eternal life. Everything changed when Adam and Eve fell and sin entered the world.

1.  Satan desires to use our empty cravings and vain self-deceit to keep us off topic and focusing our lives on the wrong things. We are to love Christ completely and with our whole heart, yet many times we love ourselves and become gods in our own minds.

Genesis 3: “Now the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God actually say, ‘You shall not eat of any tree in the garden’?”

What God said was that they could eat of any tree (freedom) except for one tree (limitations). Satan wanted Eve to think that God was keeping something from her, or taking her freedom away. Christ left heaven, took on the flesh of man, and died as our substitute. He then commands for us to follow His example, yet we often times could care less about people and their eternal destinies. When we focus on our own navels, we spend all our money on ourselves, we spend all our time in our own self-adventures, and we tend to stay comfortable in all things.

2. Satan desires to feed our wicked desires with constant temptations so that we increasingly lose potential to do great things for Christ. When we sin, and continue to sin, and have decades of sinful behavior our impact and ability to serve Christ becomes greatly diminished.

Genesis 3:4-5 “But the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die. 5 For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”

It is this knowledge of sin that destroys us. We chase after it with all our hearts and lean constantly on our own understandings of the world around us.

I often times feel that I am in a fog or a deep sleep. My anesthetized soul drags through life as if coming out of a horrible surgery.  Awake and yet half-asleep. There are moments when it is as though I am coming back to being spiritually awake, only to slide back into a deep slumber of cold callousness.  Days drag on to weeks, weeks roll on to months, and months to years – this constant sleeping and moments of awakening. Always asking, “Lord, have I slept too long to be of any use to you and your kingdom?”

3.  Satan desires to make us doubt our Creator’s love for us.

Genesis 3:6 “So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate.”

In one conversation Satan was able to persuade Adam and Eve to rebel against their Creator. They were perfect, in a perfect world, and having a perfect relationship with God. Every time we take a bite of the forbidden fruit we doubt God’s love for us, and make ourselves gods in our own minds. We say to ourselves, “I know what is better for me, and what I should know, not God.”

I know my gentle Father’s response is always “Drew, let’s go – wake up, there is much to do.” He loves us enough to make us apart of His plan for the redemption of humanity and the created order.  Whether that is a “big role” or “small role” – it is hard to tell. It seems to be based on His sovereignty (putting people where He sees fit) and our willingness to turn from sin and being holy.

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The Great Adventure

On my trip to India I am taking my camera, every sermon I have ever written, and a heart that desires to be greatly used by the Father. My prayer is that I may be spiritually awake to see what is going on around me, and have the wisdom to hear His voice. Who knows what’s going to happen, who knows what we will be able to accomplish in His name.  This is the adventure, this potential to be of great use for the Lord.

"For by grace you have been saved through faith." Ephesians 2:8

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