“A friend loves at all times, and a brother is born for adversity” (Proverbs 17:17, NKJV)
I can still remember learning the first part of this verse, “A friend loves at all times,” as a child in Baptist Sunday school. I now suspect that our Sunday school teacher drilled the verse into us to suppress the squabbles and roughhousing that young boys share like childhood colds.
A South Carolina volunteer prepares to cross a border during a 2008 trip to South Asia.I do not recall learning the latter part of the text: “-and a brother is born for adversity.” While I was growing up in a loving Southern Baptist home, adversity was rarely evident. Today, the world I live in is much different.
Serving with the International Mission Board as regional leader for the seven nations of South Asia – India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Bhutan, and the Maldive Islands – I have found that adversity is as common as rice and curry.
Just read the newspapers: India and Pakistan hover at the brink of nuclear war; terrorists attack landmarks in Mumbai, India; persecution of Christians leaves thousands homeless in India’s Orissa state; Maoist rebels topple the monarchy of Nepal only to find that ruling is more difficult than toppling; Tamil Tigers trade bloody blows with Sri Lankan troops in an endless civil war.
Adversity is the lot and life of South Asia’s teeming millions; it has been for centuries. That might lead some to conclude: “Why then would I want to be a brother to such a conflicted part of the world?” But Christ was that kind of a brother, giving himself for a world steeped in adversity. Perhaps this is why his followers are naturally drawn to the same sea of need.
South Asia is home to more than 1.5 billion non-Christians, earning it the title of the greatest concentration of lostness on earth. Given its small percentage of Christians, it is no wonder that the region is racked with adversity.
Into this cauldron of conflict, the IMB has deployed numerous missionaries. About 35 of these missionaries have come from South Carolina, more from this state than any other state in the United States. No state has had a greater impact on South Asia than South Carolina. The South Carolina Baptist family of churches, associations and individuals has poured the gospel into virtually every corner of South Asia. From the mountains of Nepal to the jungles of Sri Lanka, missionaries and volunteers from South Carolina have been brothers in the adversity. From the thousands of villages to the congested urban centers, South Carolina Baptists have been loving friends at all times.
In the midst of this adversity, South Asians are responding. During the past five years, since South Carolina Baptists first adopted their partnership with the IMB’s South Asia region, more than 250,000 South Asians have invited Jesus Christ into their lives and been baptized.
It is not our American wealth that draws them. Neither is it our technology, our education, nor our civilization. It is something they see in our lives, the peace in our eyes, the joy in our smiles, the compassion in our hearts. South Asians are hearing the gospel from friends who are loving them through all the challenges they face, from brothers who are standing with them as they face their adversity. In the gospel, they are finding a refuge from the adversity that has so racked their world. The adversity around them has not abated, but the adversity within them has been quelled.