ONGOING RELATIONSHIP
THRIVING CHURCHES IN ASSAM
Global Interaction ’ s partnership with Assam continues through scholarships for church leaders , visits for teaching and pastoral encouragement and ministry program subsides . WA team member and former cross-cultral worker Pam Gallagher recently visited Assam .
1946 - Australian Baptist Foreign Mission ( ABFM , then ABMS now Global Interaction ) feels a strong sense of call to the Boro people following many points of connection over a number of years . Assam American Baptist Mission ask ABFM to take over their work in the area and Boro people also ask for assistance .
1947 - Wilf and Gwen Crofts relocate from East Bengal and are the first Australian Baptists to live and serve among the Boro people in Assam . They travel between 16 Boro churches .
1948 - Garo churches make contact with the Crofts for assistance . There are 12 isolated churches without any support .
1951 - Some Australian Baptist cross-cultural workers relocate to the Garo area .
1954 - Visits begin to Rabha communities to share the Gospel and offer medical help .
1957 – At the Rabha community ’ s request , Australian cross-cultural workers arrive to live among them .
1959 - First church forms in the Rabha community with 10 baptised .
1968 - Political unrest threatens visas for crosscultural workers so planning begins for how to continue partnerships with Assam churches .
1970 - All Australian Baptist residential cross-cultural workers leave Boro , Garo and Rabha communities in Assam due to Indian government restrictions .
Global Interaction continues to partner with churches in Assam through schools and education of church leaders and pastors visits . Importantly , the Boro , Garo and Rabha communities accept responsibility for their own churches and they grow .
Today – there are more than 30,000 members across approximately 250 churches among Boro , Garo and Rabha communities .
Pam Gallagher vividly remembers hearing stories from her childhood about Assam . She recalls being told of the many people who had never heard about Jesus in a meaningful way . She remembers giving to the ministry and praying that there would be a strong movement of God among these people . At the beginning of this year , she had the opportunity to visit Assam for the first time and meet members of the vibrant Boro , Garo and Rabha churches . For Pam , it was an incredible joy and privilege to witness the thriving churches !
Pam was thrilled to see the answer to her childhood prayers and the prayers of many others through the Bora , Garo and Rabha church communities . She heard about churches supporting evangelists to share the Good News with their own communities and Hindu background people coming to faith . Pam spoke to many people who came from a Hindu background , including one man who is now the area pastor of eight churches . These communities are generous , with families encouraged to set a serving of rice aside at each meal to be brought to the church and sold as a means of supporting the evangelists .
Global Interaction cross-cultural workers only lived in Assam for 23 years before Indian government restrictions closed off the area to Christian workers . Wilf and Gwen Crofts always had the conviction that the responsibility of church leadership should be with the local people and the cross-cultural workers ’ responsibility was in the training and equipping of these leaders to reach their own people . This attitude helped to set the churches up for the years ahead where there would be limited outside support and no residential cross-cultural workers .
Global Interaction ’ s partnership with Assam continues through scholarships for church leaders , visits for teaching and pastoral encouragement and ministry program subsidies .
Pam returned home overwhelmed with what she had experienced and with the prayer that this would be a glimpse into what we will see among the nine least-reached people groups that are the focus of our work today . She continues to pray that one day there will be strong and vibrant faith communities emerge among each of these people groups as well .
- Right : photo taken by Pam
12 GLOBAL INTERACTION