It's interesting to see how CSM's ministry model plays around the world.

I just had the chance to see & hear this firsthand over in India, where I just returned from a chance to channel my previous life in Christian publishing. Long story, but to compress it, I was invited by Marlene LeFever, longtime executive at Cook Communications Ministries and CSM board member, to help with a training conference for aspiring Christian publishers in Hyderabad, India. I dusted off my 10-year-old expertise in the field and had a great time interacting with men and women from all over India seeking to move the Christian faith forward through books and other products.

Most of these aspiring publishers have day jobs, often in a field ministry. One of these publisher/ministers is Jabez Konduri, who is pioneering a publishing ministry for Youth With A Mission India. YWAM is a worldwide outreach doing all kinds of great and (good) crazy stuff with teams of young people who plow into mission fields bringing music, drama, friendship, and a Christian message to folks from every ethnic and language group imaginable.

As fabulous as the mission work going on in India and elsewhere is, the notion of Christians deliberately engaging ministry to the urban poor is somewhat of a new idea. I'm exaggerating here as things are already on the move in India, but in many parts of the world, the philosophy of fatalism is so strong that a passion for social justice can be underdeveloped. In India, this is exacerbated by the predominance of Hinduism, which believes in karmic reincarnation, so a person's current station in life applies to their behavior in previous lives. If you're a member of the bottom (and poorest) castes, you must have done wrong in your past. This ethos still bleeds into the Christian church there, although it is definitely beginning to change.

But our kind of urban mission and service is still enough of a new idea that when I explained it to Jabez during a meal break, you could see the lights go on and the excitement build. "That would be a great ministry for our teams in India!" he said. I agreed and figured that that was the end of it.

Since I've been home, though, I've heard from Jabez. He got onto our website and got a more thorough idea of what we're up to. "This vision of working with the urban poor is just what we need", he wrote me. "Can you please bring teams of young people to work with us in our cities in India?" To paraphrase the rest of his query, it was something like, "...and can you bring those teams right now to stay for a month or two and let's turn our cities upside down for Christ?!"

At this point in CSM's evolution, we feel that our call is to North America, so I had to tell him that bringing CSM teams to India was unlikely-but boy, is it tempting. We attempted to develop a global partnership several years ago with another mission organization (no messy story here-just didn't work and we're still great friends with the other organization), and when we closed that down, I figured that that was it. I can't say that Jabez' query makes me question our current vision, but it sure would be fun.

So if you happen to be interested in organizing a group to work with Jabez, give me a holler-I'll be glad to put you in touch. It's very cool to see what he and his YWAM team are doing in India, and double-cool to think that they are considering expanding their focus into the city in their home country.

No matter what, it was encouraging to see how CSM's vision for connecting serving groups in North America with North American urban ministry translates across borders and oceans. This has much to do with your ongoing friendship, prayers, and financial support. THANK YOU so much for your continuing partnership with us! We really appreciate it...and seriously, think about the Indian thing...

Blessings,

Noel Becchetti, President

To learn more about partnering with Jabez in India please email us.

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