India (MNN) ― Global Advance's David Shibley says their recent India Frontline Shepherd's Conference took place in a city patterned after Singapore.
Chandigarh (shandigar) is literally a city stronghold of one of the Hindu deities. The name of the city derives from Chandi, the name of a Supreme goddess referred in Hindu sacred texts. Literally, the name is translated "fort of Chandi."
What better place to hold a training of church leaders to share the Gospel and plant new churches? Shibley explains, "It's particularly strategic because of the large numbers of unreached peoples that are surrounding Chandigarh and even within the city of Chandigarh. And of course, there has been religious conflict between Sikhs, Hindus and Muslims in that area."
Set near the foothills of a Himalayan range in Northwest India, the backdrop of this beautiful city belies much of the spiritual darkness within.
Many church leaders in the region battle not only the challenges to evangelism and the sectarian violence between the other religions, but also isolation and discouragement.
Global Advance not only trains pastors in effective ways to share the Gospel, they leave resources behind that often are the only ones the church leader owns. The team leaves a 52-week topical manual geared towards Christian leaders in the developing world, a CD-Rom Virtual Institute and a resource website, www.2tim2.org.
The library includes 100 hours of training on Video CD and DVD in native languages, and it is given to key church leaders for the purposes of training others. Pastors can also access the multi-lingual website to find numerous books, articles and literature for the ongoing development of Christian leaders.
Armed with knowledge, rest and new resources, Shibley says church leaders from five states now have a new vision. "At our conference where 484 delegates attended, over 300 pastors committed to planting at least one new church within the next 12 months. So God did very significant things at this conference in Chandigarh."
