IN SEARCH OF TRUTH
2 Corinthians 13: 8 ‘For we cannot do anything against the truth, but
only for the truth’.
After my departure from the ICoC Kip and Elena McKean came to encourage us all the way from Los Angles in 2009. Kip called us to count the cost with everyone and establish a sold out base to start the church in Chennai. So, on the 31st of May, ten sold out disciples began to do the Lord’s work. Through many trials and challenges God has taken these few faithful to establish a remnant group in New Delhi led by Jeffrey and Reena Norris, a church established in Bangalore led by the very educated and talented couple Christopher and Maria and more than 200 disciples in Chennai. In our last South Asian Missions Conference, three new Evangelists and two Women’s Ministry leaders were appointed. God is truly using us ‘nobodies’ to bring him glory and honor.
Recently, I received a call from Samsher Singh, who had questions about the ‘New Movement’. I have known Samsher and Naseem when we were part of the staff at New Delhi. Thakur Samsher Singh was invited to a Bible Talk in New Delhi. What attracted Samsher was that people were open about their lives. He had never come across a happier bunch of Christians. He saw people had deep convictions about sin. Samsher started studying the bible, during which time he had realized that he was living a life of pride and selfishness. In Christ, he found purity and sacrifice. The study that convicted him the most was the cross study. So, on February 7th 1994, Samsher made a decision to make Jesus the Lord of his life, and it was with that decision, where he faced persecution. His friends would constantly abuse him and his family, upon receiving a letter from Samsher disowned him and said they had nothing to do with him. Samsher now knew the truth and wanted to live by it.
Naseem comes from a Muslim background. She lost her dad when she was ten years old. Naseem used to often think about Jesus. When she was invited to the church, she attended it once and loved the fellowship. One day she told her mother that she wants to follow Christ and become a Christian. She then regularly started coming to the church and studying the bible. During the cross study Naseem was totally broken and felt the pain of Jesus. She now wanted to die to herself and live for Christ. She was baptized on December 26th 1993 and then things got very difficult for her. She would often get locked out of her house. Several times she had to wait hours outside her door before they were opened. She spent late nights and faced many jeers and awkward looks of the neighbors who lived in her residential area. For almost three months twenty five to thirty Muslim men from the surrounding areas would come every day to question Naseem and to put pressure on her to come back to her original faith. Several days she would shiver because they would come at a time when she was alone in her house. These men would bang on the door, ask questions, shout warnings and leave. These men had the power and the rights to kill Naseem. She did not know how, but one fine day the men stopped coming to her house. She now says it was only God who could have stopped them. One day, Naseem’s mother beat her pretty severely. She took the beating and remained silent. Her mother then falsely accused Naseem to her brother. The brother entered the room with a Hockey stick and started thrashing Naseem. Naseem could not bear the pain, but she did remember this is what Jesus went through to save her. That very night, she was thrown out of her house. Some disciples were kind enough to give her a shelter. Naseem, though she started ups and downs in her life now started to grow spiritually. She was about two years as a disciple when she met Samsher Singh and fell in love with him. Her only question was ‘Is he a spiritual brother?’ The leaders along with the whole church answered, ‘Yes’. On January 29th 1995, Samsher Singh and Naseem Bano were married.
I have known Samsher and Naseem for more than twenty years. Though they were from a different region we built strong friendship because both Samsher and I had lived our formative days in Bihar. They even lived in our house to seek marriage counselling and Naseem wanted to get parental guidance for young Enoch. We parted company when the Singhs went to Nepal in 2002. In Nepal though Samsher was the Program Director of HOPEworldwide, he and his wife were very influential in winning souls and caring for the disciples. They were recognized as ‘Leaders’ of the Kathmandu Church. The Singh’s were in Nepal for 5 years and then moved to Muradabad which is about four hours’ drive from New Delhi. Here Samsher spear headed the project for 6 years which was sponsored by Walmart. After the Singhs came back to Delhi in 2013, Samsher resigned from his job after three years. The reason he said was, ‘I could not see the Spirit of Christ’.
Both Samsher and Naseem were very discouraged by what was happening in their region of the New Delhi Church of Christ. They felt the teachings were not the same. The concept of discipling and calling people back to the scriptures was altogether missing. Worldliness preceded spirituality. The command found in Matthew 28, ‘teach them to obey’ now became optional. According to Naseem, ‘The church had become lukewarm to the extent that it had affected Samsher and myself’. It was at this time that Samsher decided to call me. Our talk was brief and I asked Samsher to come and see. The Singh family wanted a break and were looking for a place to go for vacation. They decided to go to Chennai for a few days. They have been praying and studying the Word of God. Initially they had no intention of joining the International Christian Church, but they wanted to get their own spirituality revived and wanted to do great things for God as they had done in their earlier days. When the Singh family arrived at Chennai Central Station there were about thirty disciples from the Chennai International Christian Church along with their children to receive them. They received a Kingdom welcome with garlands and the song ‘We love you with the love of the Lord’. Samsher and Naseem spent extensive time with me and my wife. They also visited several disciples’ homes for lunch and dinner. One of the first things that I taught Samsher and Naseem was to love God with all their heart, all their mind, all their soul and all their strength. We also did some Bible study on how to have a godly marriage. In many ways, the church is simply an extension of a marriage. If the marriage goes great, the family goes great. If the family goes great the family group goes great. If the family group goes great then the Church does great. It was moments like these when Samsher and Naseem made a decision to be part of the SoldOut movement. On Sunday morning, when they came to worship they were blown away by the love and sincerity of the disciples. They said what they had felt almost 23 years ago that this was the church they were baptized in. Their son Enoch was having a different experience. He had never seen a Church that was so warm and loving. He felt part of the family within a few days. Though Enoch was baptized in the ICoC five years ago he had never understood true discipleship. He told the brothers and to his parents, “Though I have been baptized I never became a disciple. I have been living in sin.” Enoch made radical changes in his life. He had to make phone calls to different people to apologize. He made a firm decision to repent and then was baptized in the Marina. The Singh family now refreshed are even more determined to join the rest of the disciples in India to evangelize the 1.8 billion souls of South Asia. They understand the burden that lies upon each and every SoldOut disciple, which is if we don’t get the job done then people will be lost forever.
Raja Rajan
Lead Evangelist
Chennai International Christian Church