Methods Do Matter

Our methods DO matter. Because it’s not OUR ministry, it’s His. He has entrusted the task to us (II Cor. 5:17-19) and, just as important but often ignored, He has entrusted the method to us...the clear proclamation of His Word. Some, in trying to outwit God Himself, have become clever or sly by tampering or messing around with the method. We see ALL OF THIS GOING ON IN INDIA!  Over-contextualization and confusion are rampant. There are no Hindu-Christians, only Christians. There are no Muslim-Christians, only Christians. The over contextualization that has been the rage only codifies divisions in the body of Christ.  Christianity was brought to my country over 200 hundred years ago and rarely has it raised its voice against the caste system.

Sin isn’t a sociological problem, the god of this world is controlling people and he has blinded their minds to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel. This is REAL, the picture IS dark and hopeless without God’s intervention.”
 
“So what can we do? ‘Bind the Spirits’? Walk around Indian cities praying? I don’t see a lot of white missionaries prayer-walking around Indian cities in the summer! You will die of the heat or traffic. After 2,000 years there is no secret or new methodology, Best Practices or latest findings that will dictate your results. If you trust in those you too will soon despair.

India is a poor country but the infatuation with meeting physical needs is distracting to the message of Christ. Too many Indian pastors and foreign workers alike are like shamans doing healing after healing. “Can I pray for you, can I pray for you?” It is easy to get 10,000 people to do anything in India; it’s a poor country and people have a lot of time. Too much ministry in my country is a mindless pandering of healings with social uplift goals at the center. The lies and fabrications that North American missionaries are writing that come out of India are worse than deceptive.

— Harshit Singh (pastor of Zion Church, pastoral trainer and church planter in Lucknow, India)