Convention Time! – Our Story Continued, #13

On the plains in Rahim Yar Khan, we welcomed an interruption in our language study to attend the twice-yearly convention, this one in October. These gatherings were patterned after the much larger and long-running Sialkot Convention mentioned in an earlier post.

We erected a huge, brightly striped tent on the front lawn of the “trembling house”. Rugs covered the ground. Another tent beside the house served as a dining area near the giant cooking  pots.

Happy chattering people milled around meeting friends and relatives they hadn’t seen since the last convention. In the big tent a circle of young people sat singing and clapping to the rhythm from a drum, tambourines, and a chimpta, 2 long, narrow hinged-metal strips that could be clicked together. It was convention time again!

Padre Hidayat strode to the platform to announce the commencement of the meeting. People streamed into the tent, leaving their shoes at the entrance. Men squatted on one side and women on the other. After prayer, Hidayat, signalled for the musicians to strike up the tune to a rendition of Psalm 150. Padre Umar beat a tempo on his tabla. Hidayat was soon in his element, leading the congregation in exuberant song. Hallelujah sanagao,

What a diverse assemblage! Some sported western clothing but most wore Pakistani dress; shalwar and qamiz. Some were shopkeepers while others were sweepers or teachers or nurses, mill workers, or government employees. Most were share-croppers from surrounding villages dressed in patched shirts with long tails, qamiz, and dhotis, a long length of cloth wrapped around their waists. All were nominally Christian except for several Muslim students and their teacher.

Some bore a look of eagerness and joy bespeaking a living faith in Christ. But the eyes of many betrayed no spark of spiritual understanding. What a step of faith it was for the local church in Rahim to invite Christians from the whole area and offer free food during a time of food shortage. The Lord honoured their faith and over 400 came. All the expenses were met by the Christians themselves with no mission help. Planning had been underway for months, including arranging to buy wheat at the controlled price.

After an exuberant time of worship that echoed throughout the neighbourhood, several from the group led in prayer then Hidayat introduced the speaker. Paul Lundgren from TEAM mission was the speaker that year. A few in the audience took notes during the stirring and practical message. The theme of the meetings was justification and holiness.

The three days of meetings were broken up by abundant meals of curry and the flat bread called chapattis. Huge pots of fragrant rice were also cooked for many meals. At night those from out of town slept right there under the convention tent unless they had relatives in town.

At the end of the convention some faces were tear-streaked and in some hearts Christ had secured a new home. Besides Mr. Lundgren, Merle Inniger also spoke. All of us sensed great liberty. Fatima, a new teacher in our school was converted. Tufail, the headmaster of the 116 village school testified to coming to understand justification for the first time. Other testimonies indicated the reality of God’s work in our midst.

Conventions in 1965 and 66 aroused much interest in Bible study, so much so that some felt we were in the throes of a revival. During that period, God converted a number of folk and inspired spiritual growth in many including Sharifa and Akhtar, teachers in the Allied Model School, our local mission school. Several trouble-makers were converted. Unity overcame friction and strife. Some who had been timid, began to witness to their faith. Demons had even been cast out. We also saw breakthroughs among the Marwari tribe with several being baptized.  

After convention people went back to their lives, many with a new or deepened faith. Conventions are mountain-top experiences but one can’t live on the mountain top for ever. Before long we saw signs that the devil was not happy with what God had done in many lives.

Living churches are seldom free of controversy. Some in the area sought control through demanding leadership because it brought izat—honour—a central aspiration of people in this culture. Some had aberrant views contrary to Scripture. The mixed nature of the church congregations exaggerated any misunderstanding. And the untaught nature of many made it easy to distort theology.

Let me explain. Since most Pakistani “Christians” were nominal, that is “Christian” in name, though unconverted, many in the churches were not submissive to the dictates of Christ. Without genuine conversion, learning to serve as Christ served was far from their minds. They had not yet realized that God, the Father promised to care for His children and that all glory must go to him. Most completely misunderstood the role of the mission which they thought of as their ma-bap, that is, their mother-father. They expected, not just protection from the Muslim majority, but financial support.

In one church meeting a young man arose with a paper in his hand and began to read to the visiting missionary. “We want you to baptize all our babies, build us a big church building, a school, and a hostel where our children can stay during the week’s studies. Then we’ll all join your church.”

While genuine Christians in the area began to realize that God, not the mission was their Father, this subliminal feeling of dependence persisted. The legacy of colonialism in the whole Indian sub-continent had left this impression. The colonial foreigners had built English-style cathedrals, substantial hospitals, schools, hostels, colleges, and other church buildings while paying the salaries of national pastors and workers. Such actions were, in the main, a genuine expression of missionary compassion. These pioneers had sought to demonstrate the mercy and love of God. But it inadvertently bred a sense of dependency; since foreign Christians were rich, they should pay all the bills. This legacy created many rice Christians who failed to realize that faith in Christ meant faith in His ability to provide for them as well as save them from hell.

To this day, mission journals continue to debate how to avoid dependency in new church plants while still demonstrating mercy through orphanages, schools, hospitals, clinics, and other works of compassion.

Nevertheless, the spiritual promise we had seen during the convention, encouraged all the pastors and missionaries to press on balancing compassion with responsibility. God would get the victory! (To be continued.)

(Let me know your thoughts on this subject. If you appreciate this blog, please pass it on. Further articles, books, and stories at: http://www.countrywindow.ca Facebook: Eric E Wright Twitter: @EricEWright1 LinkedIn: Eric Wright –– Eric’s books are available at: https://www.amazon.com/Eric-E.-Wright/e/B00355HPKK%3Fref=dbs_a_mng_rwt_scns_share)

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