Untouchables Touched by God

In the last two weeks, our team was in an undisclosed location, to attend a meeting and a baptism service. When they arrived, a young girl brought some dessert packets and asked our team to bless them. She wanted to distribute them to the people in the meeting. We asked her what the occasion was. She said, “I have just graduated from nurses training and I got a job!” Then she said, “I am the only person in my community who is a trained nurse.”

The Suffering of the Untouchables

The young girl was M*, the daughter of G*, one of our missionaries. G* and his family are part of an untouchable tribal community. They were very poor and lived in a very poor village.

They had to walk 3 to 4 miles to get water even though there was a well in a nearby village. They were not allowed to draw water from that well because they were untouchables. Most of the time the tension with outsiders remained just under the surface. But almost 16 years ago G* was involved in a violent fight with a high caste person. In that fight G*’s right leg was stabbed so severely that it could not be saved. The doctors had to remove his leg. To make matters worse, during his time in the hospital he noticed that most of the hospital staff treated him and his family very badly because they were untouchables. People thought their presence would make the hospital unsanitary.

G*’s community lives in poverty. They are the largest nomadic group in India, often moving from one place to another. Some specialize in making broomsticks, iron tools, small farm equipment or needles. They may also repair tools or work with stone. Others believe that one does not have to work for a living; they derive income by “religious begging.” They sing and wear special make-up while begging in the name of a specific deity.

After his discharge, the authorities did not allow G*, nor his wife and three children, to return to the village. Having no place to go, they were now homeless, living on the street and sleeping under plastic sheets. He was unable to work, and the whole family began to beg. In tears he recalled “I was a beggar and my wife and children were begging in the streets all day and into the night. We sent our children to the local government school just because the school provided meals for the children. Ten years ago as a one-legged beggar, I was sitting under a tree on a hot summer day when two young men [two of our outreach team members] came to me. They sat beside me, under the same tree, and opened their lunch boxes. They started to eat and then one of them, noticing that I was hungry, shared his lunch with me. They talked kindly to me and gave me a booklet. Even though I couldn’t read I accepted it and took it back to my home. I gave it to my older daughter and she read it to me. It was the Gospel of John. I never heard about Jesus before so I did not understand it.”

The next day at the same lunch time G* met the young people again. This time his wife was with him. Our brothers shared their lunch with them and shared the Gospel with them. G* and his wife did not understand much but they were really touched by the behavior of these young men. After two weeks our outreach team went and visited G* and his family in their tent. G* said they were the first guests to visit their tent in 6 years. The outreach team invited G* and his family to their Sunday prayer meetings. For the first time in their lives they were allowed to sit with other people. (G*’s children had been seated separately in the government school because they are untouchables.)

God’s Mercy on the Untouchables

That Sunday G*’s 12-year-old daughter, M* came forward to receive Jesus as her personal savior. Within a few weeks, G* and his whole family came to the Lord. Since the day G*’s family received Jesus as their personal savior they stopped begging. They began to do small jobs. Soon the Lord opened a door for G* and his family. A high caste Hindu man, who was now a believer in Jesus, hired him and his wife to look after his farm. It felt like a miracle! Now G* and his wife both had good jobs and regular income. The farmer also provided G* and his family with a nice home. God had provided for them in an amazing way!

As G* and his family began to grow in the Lord and in God’s Word, he began to share the Gospel with others. They realized that they were the first Christians in their tribal community, which has a population of 1.5 million people. God gave G* a burden for his people group. When he shared this with the local church, the elders laid their hands on him and consecrated him for ministry.

G* told the farm owner that he wanted to reach his tribal people with the Gospel. The farm owner agreed, and allowed G* and his family to stay on the farm and gave him freedom to focus on the ministry. Over the past eight years, G* has reached out to his community in many different villages. They have ministered to thousands of people, and over that time more that 1400 people have believed and been baptized. Just this year, we assigned two outreach teams to help him reach his community. These two teams started a total of 26 prayer groups in different villages!

The Lord Touches the Untouchables

Today we are aware of a great move of God in this community. Recently, one of our leaders stopped to buy a broom on the roadside, and the lady selling them was wearing a cross. He asked her whether she was a Christian, and she said “Yes.” As she told them, she came to the Lord through G*. She went on to say that, in her village more than twenty-two families attend Sunday service at the village church, and they all came to know the Lord through G*. She continued “We never saw the need to send our children to school, but G* taught us how important it is educate our children, to make sure they learn how to read and write. Because of that, we now send our children to school.”

M* is only the first trained nurse from the community. In G*’s words “We were once beggars, but Jesus transformed our lives! Today we are the richest people, sharing the glorious Gospel which transforms the lives of those who receive it. It is the greatest kind of wealth, when Jesus came into our lives He blessed us with everything.”

Today hundreds of people from G*’s nomadic community travel and share the Gospel with members of their tribe living throughout India.

Investing in Revival

G*’s tribe is experiencing revival, given freely to them by the Lord, and our outreach teams don’t charge them either. But it wasn’t free for G*’s employer to allow him to share the Gospel. Our outreach teams need support, too. We are confident that this support will come, through people like you, whose hearts are touched by stories like G*’s. To become a financial partner with us, click on the Donate link above.

“God’s power has given us everything we need for life and godliness, through our knowing the One who called us to his own glory and goodness.”

2 Peter 1:3 CJB