Criteria for Ministry Partnership

One judges a program or organization by its leadership. I get a ton of requests to teach in India, Africa and other parts of the world, but I obviously can’t respond to every request. I determine my initial acceptance by the references of those who know the program. What determines my on-going working partnership is the quality of leadership. If a school or mission organization is poorly run, see my contribution as a means of financial gain, then I usually back away from such venues. If, however, there is a spirit of reciprocity, a clear vision of what the program is trying to accomplish in terms of discipling cross-cultural workers or leaders and, who make every effort to facilitate my participation in their work, I am more than willing to not only teach but be involved in other aspects of their ministry.

Such is the case with TENT India. I have been teaching missionary anthropology there for the past five years. Dr. Vijayam is one of the most gracious men I have met in India. He is unpretentious, mild tempered and most gracious. His staff, John Samuel, Sunil Daniel and many more that I could name, are every bit as gracious and unassuming as Uncle Vijayam. In a country that is consumed by status and achievement, the highlight of my fall discipleship schedule is to work with this organization in Hyderabad.

This past month I taught the Joshua Vision India (JVI) class; national missionaries preparing to go cross-culturally. Two of the men (pictured above) came from the most northeastern part of the country on the border of Myanmar (Burma). They told me it takes nine days to travel to Hyderabad, five of those days by foot over the mountains, the other four days by bus and train.

I was privileged also to teach a group of young women called the IWILL program (Indian Women in Lord’s Labor). Many of these women will work in their own districts using and teaching the skills they learned at TENT; small acreage farming, candle making and micro-finance programs, enhancing church outreach and helping the poor.

There are bigger programs, more high-profile ministries in India, but there not any ministries I prefer working with over TENT India.