In September of 2024, I had the opportunity to interview VJ, a native missionary and pastor from South Asia. The administrator for South Asia, Lídice, joined us. We spoke about VJ’s flood relief work and church-based training institute, which prepares church planters theologically and practically for the mission field. This interview has been edited for clarity and concision.
Rebecca: How did you recognize the need for a church-based training institution, and how did you get started?
VJ: My ministry has had 20+ years of fruitful ministry through theological training, church planting, and community development initiatives. Around 2019, we decided that we wanted to evaluate our work and see how fruitful we’ve been, especially in the Gospel work and local churches.
The evaluation came back and said the theological education is excellent and doing very well, but people aren’t retaining their training. So I said, “What’s the point? We’re training them and sending them, but if that doesn’t translate into a biblically faithful church, then other influences are coming in, like cults.”
So we had a hard decision to make. The organization is growing great and optics are good. We have lots of pictures and projects and graphics. But we had to decide, do we want to continue this way or do we want to do something that will sustain the church?
The ultimate goal is to train missionaries and plant biblically faithful churches. If we continue the way we are, that’s not going to happen. So we paused and decided to laser focus on one thing. Like how McDonald’s focused on the hamburger.
[We all laughed at the comparison.]
Rebecca: What’s the vision?
VJ: The vision is to train indigenous missionaries and to pioneer biblically faithful churches among the unreached and unengaged of my home country in South Asia and beyond. So how do we make that happen and resolve the problem of training, sending, but not doing?
We started this idea that’s been around since the New Testament to have a theological education that is church-based. Traditionally, you go to seminary, you get all your theology, missiology, ecclesiology, and so on. And you’d come back and plant a church. You just study theory and then you come out.
So we said, we’ll do a church-based seminary. We need to have a church of our own that can be a model church where people can get trained and then carry this DNA with them into the field.
So we planted a church in 2019. We have church members, church elders, everything. We’ve just now started the institute training, and it is an English medium [i.e., instruction is in English]. We have students from other parts of the country and beyond. They come and they’re trained not only in theory, but also in practice.
Monday to Friday, we have classes. Saturday and Sunday, they get involved in the local church and see how we select worship songs, do church organization, counsel church members. They get into the practical aspect of church.
By the end of one or three years (we offer one- and three-year programs), they are fully equipped to be able to go and plant the church. Not just anywhere. We will selectively send them or we encourage them to find an unreached and unengaged area to go and plant a church.
So far, three batches of students have finished. We have 15 students now at the church-based seminary. And we are very excited because then they take the DNA of this church as they go to other places. We know that they’re biblically faithful, elder-qualified, and they understand the Scripture.
If there’s a healthy church, healthy church members, healthy Gospel work, then that will grow.
Rebecca: Who teaches the classes?
VJ: We have several native pastors and theological teachers, and then we have some teachers from the U.S. that come in collaboration with a couple of seminaries and churches here. So it’s kind of half and half.
We give a holistic understanding of the importance of theology [about doctrine], the importance of ecclesiology about the church, and the importance of missiology about missions. We teach those three main core areas so they have a holistic understanding when they go into the field.
Rebecca: Is there anything that you want the American or Western church to know about the church and missions in South Asia?
VJ: It’s because of the sacrificial work of missionaries many, many years ago that we have today untold millions of Christians in Asia, particularly in South Asia. We are thankful for the Western church and their sacrificial giving and coming as missionaries.
Now, the story has changed. Now, the harvest field has become the harvest force. We are able to train and send people. The role of Western missionaries and the church isn’t done yet. I think the way to go forward is to finish the task, to partner with local churches in terms of sending resources, teachers, and finances. Continue to pray. Together, we can finish the task.
You can give to native missionaries like VJ through our website.
Lídice: Is there anything else you want to share?
VJ: Yes. I talked about the flood work before and how it was scary. It was uncertain and I wanted to quit. But the thought of women and children who didn’t have food or water made me keep going in that dirty water. Ministry is like that.
Sometimes it can be tiring, even for the partners who come alongside. It’s important that there are long-term relationships and partnerships.
Do not get tired and weary of what you’ve been doing. Continue with the partner without being tired and frustrated. Just keep moving, keep coming alongside, more than ever before.
God’s work was never intended to be done with human strength. It’s God’s work and He called us and He will accomplish it. It’s a done deal. We need to trust in His power and strength.
Rebecca and Lídice: Thank you.
