Return Trip To India Scheduled

The Carson Center for Mission, Service, and Global Education is sponsoring a trip to India in January, 2008. This three week trip will include opportunities to visit inspiring cultural sites in India including the Taj Mahal.

The primary purpose, however, is to give students an opportunity to see the Mennonite Brethren Indian church at work. Using the Mennonite Brethren Centenary Bible College in Shamshabad as a base, students will be involved in short internship opportunities working alongside Indian pastors and church related service workers. The experience can be taken for 3 hours of credit.

Dr. Lawrence Ressler and Dr. Del Gray will travel to India from July 30 to August 6 to prepare for the January 2008 trip. For more information about the January trip, email Dr. Del Gray at Delg@tabor.edu.

Thoughts About India

I'm surrounded by this crazy beauty and hordes of people with eyes that are penetrating and hungry. As the Director of At Your Service community development organization said, "people are suffering...they need many salvations". I'm wordless, or unfortunately, it seems I'm rather wordy about my wordlessness. I'd just like to cry, but an occasional tear comes at specific sites and then the rest of them sit low on my chest, digesting, but there nonetheless.

We visited Chintachintakunta last Friday. And you will have to imagine the village oxen, huts, dirt paths, thatched shops. The MB church there - one of 890 MB churches in India - seated us in plastic chairs facing about a hundred Mennonites seated on the floor. Men on the right side of the altar, women on the left. One of the MB guides accompanying us looked to the side, and in English halfway apologized, "these are simple people, you see..." After placing garlands of Jasmine and Marigolds around our necks and distributing a boiled egg to each of us, they sang in Telegu. And people kept coming and the church kept filling and the little boy by my feet kept digging the heel of his hand into the drum.

After the singing and preaching and praying and well-wishing, we were off, running away in a Jeep to visit 4 more churches in surrounding villages. After the MB Bible College grad ceremony the following Sunday afternoon, four students met with the Mennonite leaders of their village - Chintachintakunta. The village leaders were ceremoniously placing a shawl/garment/robe (think Elijah - Elisha) around each graduate and blessing them to go back to the village and lead the church. In spite of everything - poverty, factions, power-struggles, confusion - there are 4 men with shawls around their shoulders who grew up in remote, remote villages who are now trained and committed to preaching and teaching for a long time. In Telegu. In the Chintachintakunta.

Remember the words of Mother Theresa:"Until you can hear Jesus in the silence of your own heart you will not be able to hear him saying ' I thirst' in the hearts of the poor. Never give up this daily intimate contact with Jesus as the real living person - not just the idea. How can we last even one day without hearing Jesus say ' I love you' ? Impossible. Our soul needs that as much as the body needs to breathe the air. If not, prayer is dead - meditation only thinking. Jesus wants you each ot hear him speaking in the silence of your heart. The more we receive in silent prayer the more we can give in our active life. Silence gives us a new outlook on everything. We need silence to be able to touch souls. The essential thing is not what we say but what God says to us. Jesus is waiting for us in the silence."

Your friends are close to you. Keep them that way. Your friends are close to you. Keep them that way.

Susan Kroeker

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

Graduation

We were privileged to be at the graduation ceremony which included the first graduating class of students with the bachelor of divinity degree.

Fifty students graduated.

Following are photos from the graduation.

MBCBC

MBCBC stands for Mennonite Brethren Centenary Bible College. The word Centenary was added in 1989 in celebration of the century of work by the Mennonite Brethren in the area.

The Bible College was begun in 1920. It offers a number of religion degrees including bachelor of theology and a bachelor of divinity. It gets its accreditation through an association with Serampore College, founded by Williama Carey in 1818.

The campus is on 34 acres of land and has 40 some buildings. Pictures of some of the buildings on the campus include: the library and chapel, the administration building, a classroom, a church on campus, and the guest house.

Some of the students and faculty are also shown including Rev. Dr. Prof. Joy Joseph the principal, RH Peters the academic dean, C.S. Joel the registrar with his family, students and singing.

Shamshabad

To the south of Hyderabad 30 miles is the town of Shamshabad. I was expecting small but it is a sprawling what I would call city. Hillsboro is what they call a village. There are several important things to know about Shamshabad. This is where the Mennonite Brethren Bible College is located on 34 acres. It has been here since 1920. The offer a variety of theology degrees and certificates including a bachelor of theology and a bachelor of divinity. There are 10 faculty. There are about 40 buildings including student quarters and a guest house where we are staying. The green building is the guest house.

What we have come to understand is the MBCBC is a vital institution to the life of the church in India, a church that is growing rapidly. Most of the church leaders have graduated from MBCBC. Yesterday was graduation for 50 some students. Around 1000 people attended from as far away as 200 miles.

The second important thing to know about Shamshabad is that an international airport is being built just a few miles away. 200 5 star hotels are reportedly being planned. Costs are sky-rocketing. Shamshabad is soon to be one of the most important travel destinations linking the technology centers to the rest of the world. It ishard to imagine a better institution with which Tabor can partner than MBCBC. This is not to suggest working together across two cultures is easy. It will not be. But if our goal is to transform lives, this is an opportunity that we must take seriously.

It will take some time to be able to sort through all experiences and to be able to communicate what all this means and how Tabor can be a partner with MBCBC. Several impressions are unmistakeable. The first is that the church is alive and well. It is amazing to learn how the growth is taking place. The second is that this location is a prime location in a country that is becoming more influential in the the world economy.