Blessed Eyes: Guest post by Joe Reed
Woman in a green sari and fuchsia head covering grasps her hands in prayer, eyes closed.
Our eyes see many things in a lifetime. Some are mundane, some are interesting, and others are appalling. But when Jesus’ disciples got to announce the nearness of the Kingdom of God and witness the liberating power of the Gospel, he said, “Blessed are the eyes that see what you see!” Recently, I had the privilege of traveling to India to visit rural village churches, worship with the brothers and sisters, pray with them, and eat with them, while also hearing the testimony of pastors and experiencing the ministry of IET. My eyes are blessed, for they have seen the power of the Gospel at work.
If I had to portray this blessing in a single image, it would be that of a dear sister, appearing neither young nor old. She wears an emerald-green sari with gold embroidery and a pink shawl covers her head, draped carefully over her shoulders. She sings, her eyes closed tightly, brow knit; her face is joyful but sober. There’s a depth to her adoration – it’s not trite or meaningless. She claps her hands in time with the music, and I can’t help but notice her right hand is badly disfigured. I will later learn that a communist guerilla unsuccessfully attempted to cut it off. She testifies that persecution in her village is intense – she doesn’t know on any given night if it will be her last. One of the leaders asks if any of the believers wish to pray for the Americans, and she volunteers. My ears can’t comprehend a word she says, but my spirit hears her pray with the beauty, intensity, and familiarity of a woman who intimately knows him to whom she pleads. A breeze whispers through our meeting beneath the tamarind tree; it feels as if it blows through my very soul.
During my time in India, I visited six churches, seeing many variations of this same portrait in each one. I met men and women who escaped from the darkness of the kingdom of Satan, now basking in the light of the love of Christ as the beloved children of God. Who painted these portraits? God did, of course. But He did so on a canvas – a village in the hills of India. He did so using a brush – IET missionaries and church planters. It wouldn’t be right to give IET credit for this portrait, but neither would it be right to ignore the inescapable fact that if an IET missionary hadn’t gone into these villages, the Gospel wouldn’t be there either. The light of Christ wouldn’t be there.
God is using IET in mighty ways across India, Nepal, and Bhutan. As I interacted with IET pastors and leaders, I was deeply impressed by a couple things. First was their utter devotion to the mission of planting churches. This narrow focus does not come without cost. Other good and worthy endeavors such as humanitarian aid are intentionally kept subservient to their primary call to plant churches. Second, I witnessed a philosophy of ministry that avoided both pragmatism and ideological captivity. IET isn’t purely pragmatic – they don’t pursue whatever methods work simply because they work. Their work is guided by the Scriptures, and they are not ideologically rigid, bound in a tightly defined system, immune to evaluation and adjustment. Put another way, IET is both confident in the Scriptures and humble in their own abilities. Thirdly, I was struck by the deep and loving devotion to IET I saw among pastors and leaders. Here are people who love each other, who are dedicated to the mission, and who truly believe in the ministry. I saw the work for a week and was thoroughly impressed. But I could be fooled, I’m only a man. Then, I heard men who labored with IET at a very high cost for decades give voice to their love and commitment to the mission and organization, and I knew there was something special going on here.
And that my eyes were blessed to see it.
Joe Reed is the Pastor of Lewis Lake Covenant Church in Ogilvie, Minnesota. He recently traveled to India to learn more about IET/Compelled's mission, vision, and values.