Recently, I had the privilege of helping lead a missions team from Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary to a country in South Asia. We spent 10 days in a nation with a population four times larger than that of California, but where far less than 1 percent of the population professes faith in Christ. It is one of the poorest places in the world.
Almost 90 percent of the population claims the Muslim faith, though the average citizen adheres to what might be called "Folk Islam," which is a mixture of traditional Islam and animistic superstition. Most of the rest of the population is Hindu.
During our time in South Asia, our team of eight students and two professors were able to minister in a number of ways. First and foremost, we shared the Gospel, both through personal evangelism and evangelistic teaching. We also conducted discipleship training with recent converts from Hinduism, most of whom had recently been baptized or were preparing for baptism. We were able to celebrate the Lord's Supper with some of these brothers who had already become baptized church members.
My faculty colleague and I had the chance to engage in some theological training with our translators, all of whom are native evangelists who work closely with our International Mission Board personnel. I doubt I'll ever have a seminary classroom experience as difficult as trying to teach the doctrine of the Trinity, through a translator, to a group of former Hindus and Muslims.
But the highlight of our time in South Asia was seeing six Muslim men come to saving faith in Christ and publicly testify to their newfound faith through believer's baptism. We had heard there were some Muslims interested in talking about Christianity in a particular village, but when we arrived there, an imam disrupted our attempts to share the Gospel. We left their village, but not before secretly passing word to the inquirers that we would meet in another location.
About a half hour later, we reassembled under a bridge, which was out of public view. About a dozen Muslim men came to hear us teach about Jesus. Two students and I shared the Gospel with the group, while our IMB missionary and one of our translators answered questions raised by our Muslim friends. Over the course of the morning, several of the men indicated they had trusted Christ as their Savior and they requested baptism.
To be honest, we were surprised by their desire to be baptized. One of the Muslims warned the new Christians that it would not go well for them if they went under the water. This was no idle word.
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