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To be meeting in India is a miracle! After all, our Indian contacts came through visitors to the website. India has been on the hearts of the Elders and everyone has hoped for something to happen there. 2004 is the year when the preaching of the gospel of the cross would finally reach India. After the visits of the previous year, including the conference in Kakinada, and “follow-ups”, finally, the first apostolic conference in major Indian city took place in September in Chennai.
Arrival in India… Finding Our Feet & Fixing Practical Matters
It was raining when the CTMI team arrived from Mauritius at 2.00 a.m.; made up of the two speakers, five sisters, along with the three other sisters who came from Paris and Dubai. The first thing everyone noticed was the fleet of tanker lorries carrying water into the city. Water supply was in fact the greatest problem faced by the organising committee; Chennai has experienced drought conditions for the past 14 years! Thankfully, the logistics of the planning had been taken care of by Gilbert Grant who had come from Mauritius a week earlier.
On the first day, once everyone had recovered from the late night and had unpacked, the team went for a first visit to the conference centre. Driving through the streets of Chennai is something to be experienced first hand…..
According to Audrey Hardy: “… a bizarre highway code exists, everyone has priority - auto rickshaw, 4-up on motor-bikes, bicycles, cows, buses, taxis, no one gives way, yet there is no stress or “road rage”, we just beep the “horn” and everyone understands, even those driving the against the flow of traffic!”
As we are soon to discover, preparatory work is vital and we need to put aside our western logic…. Even trying to type the names of the 460 delegates presents problems to print the badges. Most come from the Chennai area which has over 7 million inhabitants. We also had a group of pastors who travelled from northern India: Mumbai, New Delhi, Lucknow, Madhya Pradesh; as well as a small delegation from Bangalore.
A Successful Conference and Great Plans for the Future
During 4 days, Miki Hardy and Roland La Hausse, the 2 Mauritian pastors speake to the 400 leaders and their wives. Bro. Miki is warmly welcomed and opens the conference by sharing on “The need for God’s servant to be restored.” He continued with “The state of the church in today’s world”, and “God’s plan to put order in His church before Jesus’ return.” He is translated into Tamil by Brother Leslie George who has travelled all the way from Kannyakumari in the south of India. The gathering is quiet but receptive as they nod and smile at the description of church leaders given by Bro. Miki. Between the 2 sessions, a copious lunch is served. Thereafter it is Roland La Hausse’s turn to share on “The walk to restoration.”
As we are in the middle of the city, most delegates go home for the evening. However, about 60 from out of town sleep in the main hall, where they are provided with a dinner at night. They pray faithfully at night and early mornings for the meetings. A copious Indian breakfast is served to them and the early arrivals every morning.
Day 2: Miki Hardy speaks twice on, “The message of the cross”, followed by Bro. Roland who takes the final session, preaching on, “The revelation of the cross.”
Day 3: Armed with a white board and marker, Bro. Miki shares on, “The foundation of Christianity” during 2 sessions. Roland La Hausse follows up with “The revelation of the gospel as the only source for the building of the church.” Bro. Miki closes the meeting. Increasingly, there is a reaction from the pastors. One can see and sense that hearts are opening and the gospel is being received eagerly. The ‘Amens’ and the ‘Alleluias’ get louder and louder in the hall and it becomes clear that a breakthrough in the spirit has taken place.
Saturday, day 4, Bro. Miki takes the two sessions of the day, sharing again on the necessity of ‘Letting the cross work in our hearts’ … a servant of God needs to have assurance in his heart that he is on this road. In the hall, the presence of God is tangible and the Word of God is preached with authority. The delegates are very responsive. Arms are raised in agreement with what is being preached. Faces are radiant… joy obvious… barriers are falling… the message flows… blessing and revelation come into hearts.
A special lunch is served for all delegates, chicken bryani, then transport is distributed to all those who have been present for the past 4 days. A short meeting takes place with over 60 pastors from Chennai who are interested in meeting with the follow-up team CTMI will send to them within a few weeks. A similar meeting take place with the delegation from Bangalore as well. Preliminary discussions are also held with a Bro. Othniel, from Mumbai, concerning the possibility of holding a large conference in India’s commercial capital.
Within a short while, the hall is empty and the CTMI team makes its way back to the hotel exhausted, but full of joy that everything has gone well. A good team of brothers from the city have developed relationships amongst themselves as well as with the CTMI team. The Lord has blessed the work of our hands, anointed the speakers, and brought revelation to the hearts of many pastors in Chennai.
Everyone on the CTMI team has been impressed with the gentleness and generosity of spirit of the Indian people. It is evident that, just like in Africa, there are many hearts thirsty for a true gospel – identifying with Christ - that brings real changes to the lives pastors and the church. There is clearly a lot of work for CTMI in this country where less than 3% of its population calls itself Christian.
After the meetings, Audrey Hardy went exploring and found very near the hotel an entire community of street dwellers. In her words: “Within moments we are catapulted into another world, one that we only recognise from films. This time, however, there are no actors or back drops – this is reality! Life is lived in the streets, not behind closed doors… families, children, ‘tatis’and ‘tatas’ (grandmas and grandpas), animals (dogs, cows)… everyone sleeps anywhere and everywhere… the street is their house and the sky is their roof! What surprises us is that in the midst of this extreme poverty joy seems abundant. Both children and adults appear to be happy and satisfied. Sharing is the order of the day… We have hardly got out of the tuk-tuk to take some photos, before we are surrounded by a multitude of faces – mostly those of youths and children. They all want us to take a picture of them and when we show them their faces in the small video screen they all squeal with joy and excitement”
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