Day 3 Recap

Hey everybody, it's John here and what a day it was! Today was a new experience for all of us and it was amazing to see what God did in it. We visited Little India today and spent our time with Sunita from the South Asian Friendship Center (SAFC). SAFC is a long time partner of GCC and all GCC India teams visit SAFC and Little India before their trips. There weren't any work projects set for today but instead a "vision trip" was planned to experience, observe and understand the Indian culture and the ways that SAFC is reaching out to that community with the hope and love of Jesus.

Some of the ways that happened was through explanations of SAFC's vision and methodology of friendship evangelism, a scavenger hunt through the main shopping street and an authentic Indian dinner. Something new that we tried this year was taking the team to visit a Hindu temple not to worship or experience, but to simply observe. We were extremely cautious on the planning side of things and even more prepared through prayer. Our time there was spent listening to Israel (the Hindu man in the first few pictures) explain his Hindu beliefs. It was amazing to watch as our students asked questions in a non-offensive way that poked through the holes and circular logic that was being used as they all pushed towards the truth we know in Jesus. We spent about 30-45 minutes at the temple and throughout the entire experience our students had a physical discomfort or uneasiness about being there. There was a recognition that the purpose of that temple and the practices done there were not honoring to God and because our students carry Jesus in them so strongly wherever they go it was evident.

After we got back to SAFC Pastor Aneel led us through a Satsang. A Satsang is a Hindi-contextualized worship service that honors the One True God, not the 330 million Hindu gods. Just like the temple there was incense and we sat on rugs on the floor and there was chanting. The difference is the chants were worship songs translated into Hindi and the message given was about following Jesus. The Satsang is meant to reach out to Hindus and those with an Indian background and reach them with the religious practices that feel normal to them. In all reality it's very similar to the approach we take at GCC to contextualize the Good News in a way that can be heard. It was an amazing experience to worship God with Sunita and Aneel and his family. We even ended with our team sharing one of our worship songs!

As we spent time debriefing the day with the team every single student and leader agreed that it was an incredibly stretching day but it was clear it was a day that helped everyone own their faith more and stand firm in the truth that we all hold. Everyone seemed to enjoy the Indian food (supplemented with a snack run to Walmart on the way home) and then we had some team pool time to unwind the long day.

Tomorrow, it's back to the Blitz Build!
-John