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I F A N YO N E LOV E S T H E W O R L D T H E LOV E O F T H E FAT H E R I S N OT I N H I M • 1 John 2:15A MEGACHURCHthat makesGod smileABy WARREN SMITHCOUPLE of days after I got homefrom a recent trip to India I receivedOutreach Magazine’s annual list ofthe 100 largest churches in the UnitedStates. The entire issue was devotedto these churches and their pastors. I couldn’t helpbut notice that the largest was feel-good preacherJoel Osteen’s Lakewood Church. Recently disgracedTed Haggard’s New Life Church was number 37on the list.As I read through that issue, I thought aboutanother kind of church, one whose pastors don’t flyaround the country in private planes and who don’tpay for their vacation retreats with book royalties.These were the churches I saw and the pastorsI met on a recent trip to India with the Christianministry, Gospel For Asia. One of them, in particular,sticks in my mind:About 20 kilometres outside the emerging hightechcity of Hyderabad, you are fully into the Indiancountryside. The road turned to dirt in places. Oxdrawn carts or foot travel were primary modes oftransportation. It took almost two hours to coverthe 20km distance from the city, but we eventuallycame to a small village, where we stopped in frontof a small Believers Church, which is what GospelFor Asia calls all of the nearly 30,000 churches ithas planted over the past 30 years. It is a small butsturdy building with a cross prominently reachingskyward from the peak of the building. The pastorof the church came out to greet us and invite us in.We sat on plastic chairs as he told us, with the helpof a translator, a remarkable story.When he first came to this village to plant achurch, he slept some nights out in the open ashe went from house to house, distributing gospelliterature provided by the Believers Church. Hemet with much resistance, and once was beatenseverely by anti-Christian radicals in the town.During that beating he had teeth knocked out, and“Beware of any man who claims to be wiser than the apostles or holier thanthe martyrs of the Early Church. The best way to deal with him is to rise andleave his presence. You cannot help him and he surely cannot help you.”his ear was nearly ripped off.But the pastor persisted. And when the villagebegan to experience a water shortage, the pastorprayed and drilled a well next to the road in frontof the church.”Everyone told us the well would not bringwater”, he said. “But we prayed, and by God’s graceand for His glory the water came.” The pastor letit be known that it was Jesus who had brought thewater, as it is God who brings all good gifts. Hecalled the well the Jesus Well. He also let it beknown that everyone in the village, even those whohad beaten him, or who had been happy when hewas beaten, could freely use the well.”Seeing the water from the well changed thehearts of many people”, the pastor said. “Soon,a few were coming to the Believers Church forservices, and before long 30 and then 40 and then50 people came”. The pastor explained to thesenew churchgoers that attending church does notsave them. Only by turning from their sins andaccepting Jesus, becoming born again, couldthey be saved. Eventually, ten people made thatdecision, but because it was soon after the pastorhad been beaten, he and others in the leadershipof the Believers Church decided that it would besafer if they were baptized at the Bible collegein Hyderabad. So they made the trip and werebaptized.Today, the pastor is almost fully healed. Onlya scar remains to show where his ear was nearlyripped off his head during the brutal beating. Theten, who were baptized, were followed by more whomade the same decision to turn from their sins andbecome Christians. Now, every Sunday, 65 peoplejam into this small Believers Church for worship.—A.W. Tozer, “How To Try The Spirits” from Man: The Dwelling Place Of GodNo, it’s not a mega-church in the sense that wethink in the West. In fact, this is a typicalBelieversChurch. On average, churches planted by GospelFor Asia have about 60 members. But when youconsider that all of these 60 members are newlyborn-again and baptized believers, and when youremember that there are 30,000 such churches, andthatGospel For Asia is planting them at the rate ofmore than 1000 per year, you begin to realise thetruth. The 1.7 million members in these churchesrepresent more real growth in the Kingdom of Godthan all the mega-churches (a church with morethan 2000 members) combined.It makes you wonder if this method of churchgrowth is not more biblical and more effectivethan the mega-church model touted in “Outreach”magazine and in Western evangelicalism.At least I hope it makes you wonder. As for me,I’m through wondering. After seeing Ted Haggard ontelevision, and comparing that image to my memoryof those pastors in the remote villages in India, I nolonger wonder. My mind’s made up.About the AuthorWARREN SMITH is an awardwinningjournalist, radio andtelevision personality, whocurrently hosts the syndicatedradio and local TV programmesWorldviews withWarren Smith. He is author ofnumerous secular and Christian articles andseveral books, the most recent of which isVoices That Carry, published in 2005. He andhis wife Missy have four children. They live inCharlotte, North Carolina, USA.warren.smith@thecharlotteworld.com4