Village Churches

Friday, March 16, we were privileged to visit four Mennonite Brethren village churches surrounding Shamshabad, as well as the MB Junior College.

Each group welcomed us by placing garlands around our necks. Sitting on white plastic chairs, wearing beautiful garlands, we faced the congregation. Men sat on the floor to the left, women sat on the right and children were in front of them.

When we were asked to speak, it was hard to know what to say. Materially, we have so much while they have so little. Spiritually, they have so much. Words shared by Dr. Lawrence Ressler have been going through my mind since that evening.

He reminded the congregation of what we already know – that although we live in opposite sides of the world, we have a God who can see all of us, all of the time and loves each person equally and that together, we are one body of Christ.

We saw a beautiful body of Christ as we looked into these people’s faces, saw their sparkling eyes and heard their exuberant singing.

Elaine

First Impressions of MBCBC

It was an exciting, almost reverent, moment for me when we entered the campus of the Mennonite Brethren Centenary Bible College, at Shamshabad, India. It was the setting for many missionary stories I’d heard during my childhood.


On our first day at MBCBC, we attended a chapel service for the student body. After lively singing, the principal introduced our team from Tabor College and mentioned NN Hieberts as the first Mennonite Brethren missionaries to the area. He also noted the work of John and Viola Wiebe in the surrounding areas.


I felt humbled to be able to walk in places where people from my home congregation, the Carson Mennonite Brethren Church in Delft, MN, had gone to share the Gospel of Jesus with people in India many years ago. We were seeing the fruits of their years of service to Christ and His Kingdom!

Elaine Kroeker