Edifying The Church in India

Brian Rex Davis
Cedar Park, TX
WBS ACTION! Editor and President

Sondra and I traveled through the great subcontinent of India during January. I worked with my uncle, Wayne Davis, in 1995 in a series of Gospel meetings with young church plants. In the early years of World Bible School, many of our West Coast Christian / WBS leaders focused great energy on India. Great leaders of the church in India like Brother Chandrapaul in Vijayawada and Brother Ranganathan in Chennai have translated and printed WBS courses in their evangelism over the years to great effect for the Kingdom of Christ!

New WBS tool users, like Brother Anil Kumar, are embracing our new digital tools while still using the power of the printed word. Even others like my dear friend Brother Saha Vanga in Tadepalligudem and my new friends Brothers N.V. Dass and P. David from Vijayawada, and many others, who are considering WBS tools for the first time, showed us great love and hospitality during our visit.

The purpose of our visit was twofold:

1. To reconnect with our great relationships in India from our first 50 years of WBS.
2. To hear how WBS is currently being used and how WBS can better serve the church and the lost in this important nation, the most populous nation on earth with 1.46 billion citizens.

The church leaders in turn asked for three things that would edify the churches as they seek the lost:

1. They requested better communication of WBS tools and activities within India.
2. They requested advanced Bible courses in their local languages.
3. And they requested help in becoming Study Helpers, so they can experience the growth that comes from the great evangelism tools of WBS.

WBS is working hard to make significant inroads for these requests!

1. Communication: WBS is in the process of developing ACTION! Magazine digital platforms for all of our major Student recruitment regions on earth. These platforms will become communities for sharing what is happening and what is working in these regions. Very shortly, I am envisioning the development of ACTION! India or perhaps ACTION! Asia. Also ideas have surfaced of an ACTION! Nigeria, ACTION! Africa, ACTION! Español and ACTION! Português. Be looking for updates on these things in our monthly ACTION! Newsletter emails. Subscribe today at worldbibleschool.net/action.
2. WBS Library: WBS will be releasing 10 advanced Bible courses on our new WBS Library in English and Telegu. In some cases, the Tamil translation will also be available. Check out the WBS Library, at wbslibrary.org. for the latest releases and their associated languages.
3. Study Helper Participation of the churches of Christ in India: This is a two-prong endeavor that includes:
   1. Printing the WBS Master Series in India and pairing those courses with congregations who want to evangelize with these tools.
   2. Developing the WBS Lite App in Telegu. This of course is a much larger future project that will have to be considered in light of resources and timing. We estimate a project of this significance to cost around $250,000.

A family has already offered a matching gift of $100,000 to WBS. What a challenge! Would you participate and double your gift?

If you are interested in helping us edify the church in India, along with many other Christians and seekers from around the globe, you can give at worldbibleschool.net/give, call 512-345-8190 or contact George Barlow at gb@worldbibleschool.net.