Moving into the neighbourhood

MBMSI partners with Indian MBs to plant church

Saji and Bindu Oommen with Alexander, Karis and Isaiah.

If a picture is worth a thousand words, then a living, breathing model of Christ’s love will surely speak volumes. Three North American families will go to New Delhi, India this summer to do exactly this kind of speaking as they live out the gospel in community.

Saji and Bindu Oommen, Darren and Shahna Duerksen, and Mark and Amy Klassen, and their children, are part of “The Delhi Project,” a cooperative effort between MBMS International and the Indian MB Conference. They will settle in close proximity to each other in New Delhi. They hope to be joined by as yet unnamed team members from the Indian MB Conference later in the year.

The team will function as what Randy Friesen, MBMSI general director, calls a “transforming community” within the larger New Delhi community. As they live out Christian faith as a community, they hope to in turn transform New Delhi.

“We’re not going there to plant a church,” Saji Oommen says. “The Spirit is the one who plants the church and makes it grow. We’re called to be the church.” The hope is that as others see the team living out Christian faith in community, they will be drawn and discipled, eventually becoming part of the community as well.

Oommen says John 1:14, translated in The Message as, “The Word became flesh and blood and moved into the neighbourhood,” has become a meaningful verse as the team considers their assignment in Delhi. Relationships, both within the team and with those they meet in Delhi, will be key. Oommen jokes that he has the “gift of hanging out” and says he looks forward to building relationships in New Delhi.

Advantages

Darren and Shahna Dueksen with Ethan.

This team approach offers several advantages, members say. A team brings a wider range of gifts, notes Amy Klassen, which in turn provides more opportunities for others to connect with them. It also provides a natural support network for team members, which helps ease anxiety. The fact that all three of the North American families have young children is a help and a comfort, she says.

Mark Klassen says the diversity – especially the multicultural diversity – within the team community can be a strong statement in an area where racial tensions run high.

Living as a team in a new culture also presents some obvious challenges. The three North American families began to intentionally foster team unity with team retreats in March and in May. During the first retreat, team members spent time assessing and understanding themselves and each other, learning about their strengths, weaknesses and gifts. They spent considerable time praying with and for each other, and studied the dynamics of a multicultural team.

The May retreat focussed in part on strategy and philosophy of mission, a common source of conflict. Ray Harms-Wiebe, MBMSI’s team leader for training and team health, says that although MB missionaries have been considered part of a team in the past, the emphasis now is on building the team “in a very proactive way before they leave for cross-cultural service.”

A new model

Mark and Amy Klassen, with Alexis and Dania. A third daughter, Sophia, was born to them June 18.

This intentional team model is similar to that of Team 2000 in Thailand and represents a shift for MBMSI. In the past missionaries might be assigned to the same location, but each had their own assignment. Intentionally preparing and sending a team to focus on a single church plant, says Friesen, “reflects where we’re going as a mission.”

A vision phrase MBMSI has been applying to The Delhi Project, Friesen says, is “transforming communities amongst the least reached.” New Delhi is among the least reached places not only in India, but also in the world.

Fewer than one percent of New Delhi’s 13 million people claim to be Christian. The city is growing rapidly as people from rural areas flock to the city in search of jobs; estimates place the population at 27 million in 10 years. The vast majority of Indians claim to be Hindus, but India also has a significant Muslim population, especially in the north. Oommen talks about the “palpable sense of oppression and bondage” when describing New Delhi.

Friesen calls New Delhi a “gateway city” – a centre of commerce, politics and culture. Because it is such a centre of influence, a church established there will hopefully be able to reach into other unreached areas “We’ve positioned this team in New Delhi with an intentional view to the north,” Friesen says.

A big dream

The vision to reach North India was initiated by the Indian MB Conference. South India was one of the first places North American MBs sent missionaries, and the Indian MB Conference is now the largest MB conference, with a membership of over 103,000. The three North American couples on the team are responding to the call of the Indian Conference as well as to the call of God, Harms-Wiebe says.

Harms-Wiebe notes that New Delhi is also cross-cultural in many ways for members of the Indian MB Conference in southern India. For team members from the Indian conference, a move to New Delhi will mean learning a new language as well as moving from a rural area to an urban, middle-class area.

Although the team members from the Indian conference have not yet been named, Harms-Wiebe says, “It’s a matter of God raising up people. The most effective thing we can do is pray for these people to emerge.”

Oommen dreams big when he talks about the goals of The Delhi Project. He hopes this multinational team will “birth a movement” that will expand into unreached regions of North India.

It’s a big dream. But, Oommen says, “You can’t dream large enough for North India – or for God. I think we need to dream big.”

—Myra Holmes, staff writer, Christian Leader