At the end of May, I was on the plane home after a tearful goodbye to colleagues and friends in Kolkata after two years of working in the city. Now, six months later, it was time to return to visit these friends and also to teach for a week at the Bible schools we organise in partnership with local churches. During my time in India, we always looked forward to the weeks with guest teachers and took the opportunity to fill the weeks with both preaching, Bible school teaching and serving in the office where our workers from different parts of the local ministry gathered for morning prayer. This time it was me who came in as a guest with a week of intensive programme and then disappeared again. The schedule was created by the colleague who carries on the Bible schools, and she is also the one who meets me at the busy airport in Kolkata.
Two years ago, I sat with her in a coffee shop and talked for the first time about her expectations and desires when she would start working with our Bible schools. A few months later, she became part of the team and an intense year of working, travelling, praying, laughing and crying together followed. Now, as I follow her during a week of work, I am filled with joy to see how naturally she has shouldered the responsibility.
On the first day of Bible school, it’s both strange and amazing to see how things you used to have to keep track of just happen around you. The worship starts, the students sing along devotedly and everything is as it used to be – but not. Bible schools are not only alive, but thriving and evolving.
New for this year is the collection of mobile phones so that students can turn their full attention to the teaching, and at one of the Bible schools they have started to run a competition at the beginning to encourage people to arrive on time. Although I can’t understand what’s being said, it’s clear from all the smiles and laughter that the students appreciate it!
It can be scary to move on and hand over a job, but it is also one of the most important things we can do on the mission field. Passing on the responsibility to locals when the time is right allows them to grow as leaders and in ownership. That is why I am gratefully leaving Kolkata once again, knowing that the Bible schools are safely in God’s hands, with a very competent team in place. My task now, and yours too, is to continue to carry the schools and the rest of the work in prayer.
/Former missionary in India
