The Scope
SEVEN HUNDRED MILLION people, increasing at the rate of 13 million a year—this is Southern Asia today. An overwhelming number, which from a purely human view of gospel evangelism becomes still more baffling, when one considers the hundreds of dialects and approximately 25 main languages, involving a dozen distinctly different scripts such as Sanskrit, Arabic, Dravidian, and Roman. Add to this the many religions, races, cultures, and castes and you have probably the most diversified and colorful cross section of peoples anywhere in the world. You also have what has been for centuries the greatest meshwork of resistance to the gospel in the world.
Distributed in round figures according to countries, the population is as follows: India (540 million), Pakistan (110 million), Burma (25 million), Afghanistan (16 million), Ceylon (12 million), Nepal (11 million), Bhutan (750,000), Sikkim (162,000), Maldive Islands (100,000). Divided according to religion, the population in Southern Asia would be approximately the following: Hindus (477 million), Moslems (176 million), Buddhists (35 million), Christians (17 million), Sikhs (10 million), Parsees (100,000), Jews (30,000).
We have as yet no native baptized Seventh-day Adventists in Afghanistan, Nepal, Bhutan, Sikkim, or the Maldive Islands or in many of the interiors of the other countries mentioned above.
There are 50,000 Seventh-day Adventists in all of Southern Asia in this year of 1970, the fiftieth anniversary of the division. Of this number, approximately 40,000 are in India, 4,500 in Burma, 4,000 in Pakistan, and 1,500 in Ceylon. The exciting thing about this number is that it is a 50 percent increase over the number of baptized r members at the last General Conference session. As a result of the 7,700 baptisms that took place in 1969, Southern Asia is probably the fastest growing division in the world, with an 18 percent growth for the year. So we look now to the day when there will be hundreds of thousands of baptisms. The opportunity is here, and the question is Will we take full advantage of it? We must, for what are 50,000 Adventists, or 17 million Christians, for that matter, among so many millions of people?
The Qualitative Challenge
We must not think of the challenge in a quantitative sense, but qualitatively. Here we have an excellent foundation to build on in our church in Southern Asia because we have a vigorous, active, fast-growing indigenous church. Foreign missionaries can act as a catalyst to get the work started, but for real progress the church in the country involved must move, and this is what is happening. It is the indigenous evangelists who are the centurions and half centurions in Southern Asia, and lay preachers by the hundreds are working alongside the evangelists, especially in South India.
Evidently the impact of Christianity is far greater than we realize, as can be ascertained by the reaction seen in recent laws forbidding conversion in some parts of Southern Asia today. The impact can also be seen by the large contributions made, in ever-increasing amounts, to our institutions by the leading non-Christian businessmen of these lands.
Every conference president, secretary, and departmental man holds at least two evangelistic meetings a year. Even conference treasurers have become evangelists in some instances. Union and division staff are also engaged in at least one campaign each year. Coupled with this is the Bible in the Hand plan being carried on by the laymen. If there is any one word that describes the division action today, it is evangelism. There is no television to hinder this witness. Radio is available to us in only a few broadcasts over Radio Ceylon and Maldive Island Radio Service, but we have the largest Voice of Prophecy correspondence school in the world, which is responsible for about 1,000 baptisms a year. Whatever the means, none are of much value, however, without Spirit-filled workers and members.
The Need
Our greatest evangelistic need is the ability to immediately take full advantage of the opportunities in South India and Burma.
Southern Asia teeters on the edge of what might be called the second revolution, which most newly independent countries face. The first revolution was against foreign imperialist nations; the second revolution is against the upper money-classed societies. It is for this reason that Indira Ghandi appointed an outcaste, Jag Jivan Ram, as president recently. This revolution is upon us in Southern Asia, and whether it comes constitutionally or by force matters not. What matters is the opportunity it presents for the gospel.
The main obstacle to taking full advantage of our opportunity in Southern Asia is lack of funds and of vernacular literature in sufficient quantity and variety. The organization of our church, good as it is, tends toward an ever-expanding system that requires a strain on funds to operate properly. Funds are quickly absorbed, and insufficient funds remain to take full ad vantage of new evangelistic opportunities, great and small.
Opportunities are often partially or wholly lost, as in the Sikh-Moslem upheaval, in which 11 million people transferred residence in North India in 1947. At this time many thousands could have been won had we acted with men and means immediately. Also, in Assam a similar result could have been realized before military action closed the area. Now we have Burma and South India and many other such areas in the world before us.
A Proposal
An "opportunity fund" of possibly 2 mil lion dollars should be set up in the General Conference to be used according to the size of opportunity and the availability of workers and members locally to take ad vantage of the doors that open.
With proper means and enthusiastic indigenous personnel in action, the fusion power of the Holy Spirit will take over— at which point, watch out for the tremendous explosive results, for the Lord is at work and the results will be earth-encompassing.
