When I arrived in NE India, after a fruitful time in Japan and Korea, I went to Dimapur, Nagaland, four hours up the mountain to Liangmai Baptist Church. Pastor Hudin, now 70 years old, told me he has prayed for years that God would send an American missionary back to strengthen his church and others for Christ. It was 165 years ago that the first Baptist missionaries came to the Naga tribes – “the hill people”. At that time the British army was struggling to gain access into the mountain area being opposed by the savage Naga people who were avid “headhunters” even among neighboring tribes. Many at that time considered them to be “unreachable” considering the fact that the Hindu, Buddhist, and Muslim dwellers surrounding the Nagaland region had never penetrated even the slightest. When the Baptist missionaries arrived with the gospel they were determined to go to the hills. They did and the power of the gospel did what nothing else could. In the first one hundred years, the converts of these original missionaries were used to start over 5000 churches (many ranging 1-10,000 members) and Nagaland today claims to be 90% Christian. I can personally attest that on in almost every town crosses can be seen on the horizons as a testament to the “power of the gospel”.
Natives Supporting Missions
Sadly however, the charismatic movement from the west has preyed on the fruit of these faithful missionaries. As a result, many Baptist churches have been influenced by false doctrine and worldliness. One pastor stated, “Since the Charismatics came 50 years ago, we have lost our missions and church planting zeal”. You see, in the past all the Baptist churches were strong in their missions giving and sending. Praise the Lord we are seeing these fires lit once again. Pastor Hudin was so stirred at the end of the meeting that he promised next year to have 50-60 pastors from that region there if we would return for a “Missions Revival” to raise money and missionaries for the unreached nations in this region. Peter Thiumai, who is my faithful companion in that region, told me that he took the “Faith Promise” teaching and cards that I gave him last year and in eight different churches held meetings and every church raised enough money to fully support four missionaries each. What a blessing. In 2012, we will also hold a Mission Revival at Chil Chil Baptist for 1500 pastors in Manipur.
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