2016-winter-v12

8 Global Harvest
Strengthening the Weak
The church
is present to some
extent in almost every
country of the
world, and that is
much different than
the situation just 50
years ago. About
that time, there was
a meeting of missionaries
sponsored
by the Sunset School
of Preaching, and
it was reported that
in approximately
100 countries of the
world, the church did not exist. Now the church exists in
every country of the world except for maybe one or two.
That is great news; however, we need to realize that in many
nations the church is extremely weak with possibly only a
very few congregations meeting. Even in countries in which
numerous congregations exist, many are often grouped together
in a relatively small geographical area, leaving large
portions of the population unevangelized. It seems that this
should lead one to conclude that we are devoting huge resources
in places in which the church is fairly strong while
devoting relatively small amounts in places where it is weak.
Notice just one example of the above situation. Churches
are aware that many people participate in mission trips to
Jerry and Paula Bates
Jerry and Paula Bates: Jerry attended Freed-Hardeman University and
Mississippi State University. After beginning preaching, he earned his MAR
from Harding Graduate School of Religion in Memphis, TN, and now holds
an M.DIV from Heritage Christian University. He has been preaching for 25
years, working with churches in Tennessee, Arkansas, and Mississippi.
Since 2007 Jerry and Paula have been working with World Evangelism
in Winona, MS, associated with the late J.C. Choate and his wife, Betty. He
serves as Associate Editor of The Voice of Truth International, and Paula
also works daily in the office, serving as the bookkeeper. In addition to printing
and distributing vast amounts of literature, World Evangelism sponsors
many TV/radio programs and Bible schools, primarily in India. Jerry and
Paula make 3-4 mission trips each year, working with the TV speakers, Bible
schools, and national coworkers.
Jerry’s passion is teaching in Bible schools, and he also serves as instructor
in some Bear Valley Bible Institute’s extension schools. He has taught
courses in Nigeria, Ghana, Tanzania, Nepal, Myanmar, Viet Nam, and India.
India annually. We have talked with numerous short-term
missionaries, and with few exceptions, all go to the places
where the church is the strongest, namely the states of Andra
Pradesh and Tamil Nadu. While there is nothing wrong with
that, it would seem that a wise use of resources would be
to devote more time and effort to help the church in places
where she is the weakest rather than trying to help the church
in places where she is the strongest.
Within the last few years, we, personally, have become
increasingly involved in locations to which relatively few
missionaries travel. We continue involvement in the two
states mentioned, as we have since we began this work.
However, one of our co-workers, Philemon Rajah, travels
every weekend to various cities in India, conducting evangelism
seminars, often in places where the church is weak.
We continue to work in Manipur, a state in extreme northeast
India, bordering Myanmar. Several congregations exist in
A graduation of students of
JC School of Evangelism in Kochin, India
that predominately Baptist state, but they
are usually small and, unfortunately, do
not cooperate with other congregations
very much. We have been working with
Thang Lien and printing literature in
their language, as well as The Voice of
Truth, for the last 3 years. We have made
several personal visits there, but due to
the threat of violence within the last year
or so, Thang recommended that we not
come again until things calm down. The
situation is better now, so we have a visit
to Manipur in our future plans.
Within the last year, we have begun
a new work in the state of Maharashtra,
Continued on page 10