Sahuji, a native missionary from South Asia, recently visited the ANM office to talk about working with the Musahar children and other parts of his ministry. South Asia Administrator Dennis and I interviewed Sahuji about his work empowering women in the local church.
Rebecca: Your ministry does a lot for women, both socially and in the church. I’d especially like to hear more about the Women Marshals program, where you train women in the church who then train more women.
Sahuji: We’d been engaged in ministry and planting thousands of churches, but I was not satisfied with the rate of church growth. We were praying about what to do, and during that time I visited Israel and learned about the life of Jesus very closely. I learned about how he raised disciples, trained disciples, and released disciples.
Coming back, I discussed with my team that we need to follow Jesus’s method to raise disciples who raise disciples who raise disciples. The multiplication of disciples and disciple-makers will allow them to reach their own communities. Outsiders may need to come in for initial training, but then the local disciples will carry it on.
We began doing that in a specific city, and at one of the trainings we had mostly men. While we were doing that, the Lord asked me, “What about my daughters? They were my first evangelist, not a man. I sent the woman first to go and tell the men (John 20:17–18). So what stops you from training the women? That’s 50% of the workforce of missions.”
That touched me. I came home and I prayed and discussed the trip with others in the ministry, and I told them, “This is what the Lord told me. It’s very clear and very specific. I’m convinced we must obey the Lord.”
Along with this burden for women, God also gave me the imprint, how will we do this with women differently than with men? We train men how to evangelize a person they don’t know, and once that person comes to faith, how to raise them up to be a disciple who trains others. We must also train the women, but we must simplify it so they can do it from the comfort of their home because they have family responsibility.
The Lord gave me the idea that we train one of the pastors to train a key woman leader who has a heart for the Lord and missions. Teach her how to train other women leaders. So, we first train a woman, and then, like a mother, she trains five daughters who each train five granddaughters. In one unit we train 31 women. If these 31 women go out and bring others to church, the church will be crowded.
In the comfort of their own homes, where they cook every day, they can invite five friends. They can share a meal and share Jesus.
Donate now to help native missionaries who are sharing Jesus.
We taught them five phases: entry, witnessing, disciple-making, membership, and leadership multiplication. The “mother” does each phase, then the “daughters” do each phase. As the “daughters” finish the first phase, the “granddaughters” do the first phase, and so on.
In one and a half years, the 31 women are ready. We worked on that and it went well.
In 2022, I called some 80 women leaders from 18 states to a conference. We spent nearly three days with these women just to tell them that they are worth this training. God values you and you’re special. Appreciation, encouragement, examples from the Bible like the woman in John 4 who brought her entire village, Ruth, and Esther. Then we looked at the impact of female world leaders, and female Indian leaders, and female Indian Christians. If they can do it, you can do it. It was a lot of motivation and encouragement.
They went back home with the decision, “We will do it.” And they did it. After one year, we were getting very good reports, so we called them together last year to celebrate Jesus. 260 came and they were so excited, so happy, for the three days. I asked why, and they said they didn’t have to cook and take care of their families.
[They laugh.]
Rebecca: They got a break!
Sahuji: And they said that nearly 6,000 house groups had been initiated. That was amazing. I couldn’t believe my ears, but there was evidence that it was true. They were celebrating and enjoying it. Even though they were from 16 different states, all different cultures, they were dancing and singing and having girl time in the evenings.
One state leader said that next year, they want to have 1,000 women from their state. 1,000 women leaders is 31,000 disciples. Imagine what an impact that would make in one state. A key pastor from that state said that within six months, his church was overflowing because of the women.
Dennis: Do women face persecution from their husbands?
Sahuji: It happens, but these women know how to handle themselves. Once I visited a group without notice. The “mother” was training her “daughters,” and I was listening.
I asked one of the ladies who wasn’t a Christian what her husband said about this. She responded, “What will he say? It is my life, I am doing it!” So I asked what if the police got involved. She said, “What business does the police have? Let them come. We will handle it!”
I was surprised that they were so bold and so outgoing. They were not scared. That’s the kind of women coming. When they come to church, they bring their children and slowly the husband will join. Generally, it takes 5–7 years for the whole family to come. We need to be very patient during that period. It’s not easy, but the women are strong enough to handle it.
Of course, problems come. It’s not that problems don’t come. But they sort it out, and we help them sometimes.
Rebecca and Dennis: Thank you.
God is working powerfully with women around the world, just as Sahuji described. As we approach International Women’s Day on March 8, you can pray for and financially support women through our Table Banking initiative. Table Banking offers microloans to women so they can start their own businesses, share the Gospel, and strengthen the local church.
