In the early part of November, Good Shepherd teammates Ron Dozier, James-Michael Smith, and Shannon Schauber carried our mission of inviting all people to India.
(Because of security concerns, we kept much of the trip on the social media downlow.)
What did your representatives do while on the subcontinent?
Here are five answers that give not only the highlights of this trip but the backstory of “why India” and “why this part of India?”
1. Our mission strategy is to go narrow and deep. Instead of supporting dozens of ministries around the globe, we have instead opted to go “narrow & deep”: selecting a few places and then pouring financial resources and human capital into those locales. We’d rather make a major impact in a few places than a minor impact in many. India is one of our select “narrow & deep” locales.
2. We go to India because Christians are such a small percentage of that nation’s one billion people. And we go to Odisha State India because it is Ground Zero for persecution against those who follow Jesus alone rather than Jesus among.
3. We resource indigenous Christians. Native-born Indian pastors don’t need language training, travel visas, or cultural awareness. They’re already there! In many cases, they need the kind of financial assistance and biblical training that Good Shepherd is well equipped to provide. James-Michael taught on the Torah; Shannon led a conversation around discipleship practices, and Ron preached from the book of Habakkuk.
4. We have two church networks we work with — Operation Follow Up and Love Thy Neighbor. Both networks have strong leaders and committed village pastors.
5. We love the people of India and the theology of I Corinthians 6, as captured in this tweet from James-Michael:
Of all the temples in India, these are the most beautiful:
