Do we need Dreamers?
About fifteen years ago I visited a hill station along with my friend. There were no Christians at that time in those hills. My friend took me around the hills. Pointing to a few hills my friend told me. “The Lord has given me a vision and promise that there will be groups of people worshipping God in those mountains.” At that time, there were neither Christians nor churches in those hills except a couple and a missionary who were sent there to proclaim the gospel.
I prayed with my friend and returned back.
After two years, they called me again to the hills to screen a film in those areas. We went as a team to screen the film Karunamoorthi for one week. We screened the film in many settlements in those hills and returned back.
Four years ago, I again visited the same hills. It happened to be a Sunday. So my friend asked me to preach in the Sunday worship service in that place. I went to the service hoping to see only a handful of Christians. But to my surprise, there were more than forty people worshipping the Lord in the service. The Lord blessed the efforts of my friend and fulfilled the vision of my friend by raising a worshipping church in that area. This is what God is interested in doing through you. India is a vast country with a variety of needs. The Lord is concerned for this great nation and gives vision to different people in different ways. Here are a few examples of visionaries to whom the Lord gave a vision in the past.
Amy Carmichael and Pandita Ramabai received the vision of establishing homes for the orphans and the destitute in our country. The Lord fulfilled their dreams by sending them to the right place, the right workers and all that were needed to fulfill the vision.
We know how the Lord fulfilled their vision in our country in this century. Thousands of girls and women were blessed because of their vision and commitment.
Ida Scudder received the vision of establishing a hospital and other facilities to meet the medical needs of India. She came to India after her medical education in the West. She established a small hospital in the beginning. Then, the Lord gave her a vision to train doctors to meet the needs of India. The Lord fulfilled her vision by enabling her to establish CMC Hospital through which thousands of doctors and para-medical staff are being trained.
William Carey dreamt that there will be churches and worshipping communities in India. He also dreamt of establishing a Bible school and translating the Bible into many languages. The Lord fulfilled his dream by planting churches and by enabling him to find team members to edit or translate the whole Bible into 14 languages, New Testament into 24 languages and other Bible books into 6 languages. He also established a Bible college which became a centre for all the theological training in India.
Missionaries from South India got the vision to plant churches in the Malto area of Bihar and worked sacrificially for many years. Some missionaries lost their lives due to malaria and other diseases. But they never lost their vision and continued their ministry. Now the result is that there are hundreds of churches in the Malto area and the Lord fulfilled the vision of the missionaries.
Dear friend, what is the vision of the Lord for you in this needy country? The Lord can give you a vision and fulfill it through you. Will you wait on God and get His vision to meet the needs in India?
(Dr. C. Barnabas, Taken from True Discipleship, May-June 2000)