"Caste-ism" Destroyed Through Communion
“We cannot take the Lord’s Supper across caste lines,” some Indian believers explained. Sam did not know quite how to tackle this issue, so he asked the Beyond team in India “What should we do?”
We see in the book of Acts (Acts 2:46) that the early church celebrated the Lord’s Supper. Specifically, the verse says,
They worshiped together at the Temple each day, met in homes for the Lord’s Supper, and shared their meals with great joy and generosity. It came to light this summer that a whole segment of the Movement in India, involving many churches, were not taking the Lord’s Supper.
As a Beyond team partner named Sam investigated this, he learned that caste-ism was the problem. India’s systemic sin, caste-ism, states that a high-caste person becomes spiritually unclean when he or she eats with a low-caste person.
Teaching obedience is very different from simply teaching about Jesus or about the Bible. Jesus’ final command to His disciples was to teach others to “teach them to
obey [Him].” Racism in any form is unacceptable to God. Prejudice in any form, having a preconceived notion about another person, is anathema to the Gospel. Caste-ism is racism taken to the extreme. Caste teaches that, from birth, some people are simply better and more valuable people than others. It is a huge issue, and it must be dealt with in the new churches. So, the team needed to get this right. They needed a heart change on a core Indian problem, not just verbal assent to some teaching they might give.
Only the Lord can touch a heart. The team knew the new churches needed to learn from the Bible, not from them, so they gave Sam a list of verses which address caste-ism, the equality of all people in God’s Kingdom, as well as who can take the Lord’s Supper. The team also prayed. Sam took these Scriptures to the leaders.
They studied God’s Word together. They discussed what God was saying regarding caste-ism and the Lord’s Supper. Sam did not preach or teach. He gave them the Scriptures. He prayed. He asked questions. They all looked at Scripture together. Finally, the leaders, NOT Sam, came to the conclusion that, “If I am in Jesus, I am no longer Brahmin (or whatever caste I was born into). I can either be a Brahmin, or in Jesus, but I cannot be both. If that’s the option, then I want to be in Jesus!”
Then, the leaders did something the team seldom have seen. They apologized. In front of each other, without attempting to save face or defend themselves, they admitted “I am sorry; I was wrong” to Sam AND to their disciples. Apologizing in public is a big deal anywhere, but it is huge in Asia. Usually apologies there are passive at best. For someone to take ownership of a wrong he has done, and then to apologize, not just to someone he considers “above” himself (Sam), but also to people who look up to one (one’s disciples was astounding. Our team was speechless. The story does not end there though. After apologizing, the leaders intentionally gathered multiple churches with mixed caste-background people, and they all took communion together!
This may sound like a small thing to us, but this is so major for India. Caste-ism is THE filter through which the vast majority of Indians think about relationships and community. God broke through their hearts and minds through His Word alone. Hebrews 12:4 says,
For the word of God is living and active and full of power [making it operative, energizing, and effective]. It is sharper than any two-edged sword, penetrating as far as the division of the soul and spirit [the completeness of a person], and of both joints and marrow [the deepest parts of our nature], exposing and judging the very thoughts and intentions of the heart (AMP)
. This is truth we have always believed. Now, we have seen it in action. What joy!
Jesus commanded us to
teach them to obey all my commands. Lecture, preaching and imparting theological doctrine is the normal way we instruct people in the church. Our sermons are good. Our books are insightful. But, are we teaching people to obey Jesus? When the Holy Spirit speaks through the Bible, people recognize they are accountable to Jesus for their obedience (or disobedience).
Thank you for walking alongside us in this journey of helping people learn to obey Jesus for themselves…and then watching God tear down destructive world-views and cultural practices.
Church Planting in Middle East Refugee Camps
In one of the current Middle East refugee camps, a 21 year-old young lady, Naomi, became a believer. She became involved in a Discovery Bible Group (where the facilitator uses only scripture and questions, doesn’t teach), and she quickly got a vision for reaching other refugees. She asked “How may Jordanians and Syrians are there?” The gospel worker answered “30 million.” She said, “I want to see 30 million people become followers of Jesus in my lifetime.” Wow-What a vision!
She led 8 of her friends to Jesus. They started 5 groups. In the middle of all of this happening there were many family problems and issues in the refugee camp. As a result she lost contact with all but one group. But this one group is very significant. It mostly consisted of one family. The father, Peter, had severe Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) from seeing one of his sons killed by shrapnel, and his other son had leukemia (but had not had treatment for 3 months already). They were very interested in Jesus.
In this group the church planters did two things differently: 1) They let the father of the family lead (rather than the outsider leading); 2) They implemented listening prayer. This means that when the family would share struggles the church planters would encourage them to stop and listen and see what the Lord would say about that problem. They heard some encouraging words and could begin seeing how God had protected them throughout their ordeal. This very much moved them closer to becoming followers of Jesus.
The father began seeing healing from his PTSD. He still had anxiety attacks but they became fewer, and their son was healed completely from leukemia. So the entire family became followers of Jesus. Once when the father was sharing with a friend whose son was paralyzed, he prayed for the friend’s son. When he prayed, the boys right toes began to move. Peter told his friend, “You should pray for your son in Jesus’ name.” But the friend said he wasn’t so sure he believed in Jesus but Peter said, “Well, what do you have to lose?” So the man prayed in Jesus’ name and the next day the son’s left toes began to move. Now they have started a group with this man’s family.
Obviously, when God does miracles people stop and listen. But even without miracles, as in the case of Naomi, these new believers are sharing their newfound faith in Jesus and people are responding.
Critical Need for Bibles
As you know, Act Beyond teams share the Gospel and multiply disciples and disciple-makers among unreached people groups in six primary regions—with incredible results.
In north India, for example, more than 15,000 new disciples have been baptized and over 2,000 churches have been birthed in less than 4 years. Yet, one of the biggest challenges they face is a critical shortage of God’s Word.
A Beyond leader in north India says the area is extremely impoverished. Very few people can afford a printed Bible, and no one can afford an audio Bible—which is preferred because most people are oral learners and many are illiterate.
“We’ve distributed hundreds of Bibles and audio Scriptures within the movement,” he explains. “But the continual feedback is that more Bibles are critically needed.”
The same need exists in many of the other regions where Beyond works.
That’s why it’s vital to reach a $400,000 goal by December 31—to ensure new believers and churches have access to God’s Word. Here’s how your gift can help…
· $50 supplies 15 believers with their own Bible, provides 3 solar-powered audio Bibles, or helps broadcast Scripture on air to disciple believers.
· $100 provides 30 printed Bibles, 6 audio Bibles, or helps broadcast Scripture.
· $250 equips a newly established church with 75 printed Bibles, 15 audio Bibles, or helps broadcast Scripture to disciple new disciples.
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