God is at work in India. People in India are getting saved, discipled, trained, and commissioned to serve, even as you read this. Godly men pour themselves into the lives of aspiring men, producing future pastors. With the limited training and resources available to the church, our unlimited God is at work. We ourselves are part of that story. While we served in India with the “rough and ready” training we had, God interrupted our ministry and brought us to Bethlehem College and Seminary, where the training we receive is biblical, rigorous, and well-rounded, to be redeployed for his service. Boaz Prince, who will graduate in 2026, can testify that this training is already bearing fruit. He had the privilege of visiting his and his father’s church plant in India this summer, where he taught arcing—a Bible study method that helps the reader see the logical relationships between propositions. The responses from the people were that of awe and wonder, as they realized that hidden treasures could be mined from Scripture when read the right way. God is using Bethlehem’s God-centered and Christ-exalting theological education to reach and impact the far ends of the earth.
We, who had no means to acquire a robust theological education, are grateful to God for the generous donors who made it possible for us to study at Bethlehem. Having come from the most populated country in the world and tasted solid training, our hearts ponder the vast and desperate need in India arising from the theological famine present there. We plead to God on behalf of our nation. How can this effort be multiplied and sustained for the sake of Jesus’ name and the joy of people in India?
Dr. Dieudonné Tamfu has modeled a pattern that makes us rejoice. He has demonstrated how God is working in Cameroon through a resolution to return, a decade-long preparation, and a gospel partnership that enabled the multiplication of the efforts at Bethlehem. A few years ago, the first fruits were seen when students matriculated. Two cohorts have graduated now.
Training current and future leaders passionate about significantly impacting the region with God’s word is necessary to improve theological education in India. Taking this Big God theology that we highly treasure to India is also key to countering the false hope offered by the prosperity gospel. Last year, we said, “A concerted effort toward developing reformed theological education in India is a dream, which, in God’s time, will slowly shape into a vision as it is prayed for and supported.” God has been moving hearts: God’s people are conversing, cogitating, and collaborating. God willing, Eddie DSouza will graduate in 2025. He plans to return to India, pursue a Ph.D., and begin the groundwork for establishing an extension site in Mysore, India. Boaz still has two more years to graduate and has similar ambitions. As we collaborate, we prayerfully seek the favor of God, who alone whispers a dream in our minds to imagine it, causes our eyes to envision it, and moves our hands to accomplish it, all by the strength that he supplies, all for his glory.