Ever since our Student Conference this September, I've often questioned what does an uprising in the Indian Churches look like?
How will it outwork itself? And I feel like I might just have got my answer...
A couple of weeks ago, I had a small glimpse of exactly what this Uprising would look like. I was invited to share at a 2-day Kids/Youth Conference in Southend. The theme for this event was based upon Mark 16:15 and was titled "go".
He said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation."
Mark 16:15
On my way there, I was expectant that God was about to shift something in the lives of young people. The leaders of the church had a clear vision for that weekend - to encourage and equip young children and teenagers to become missional in their day to day living.
As the first evening progressed, I had an opportunity to share about how we respond to the call of God to "Go”. For me, Gods call to Go means stepping out of our comfort zones, taking a step of Faith and becoming the hands and feet of Jesus in this world. As I continued to share my heart, the Spirit of God started moving powerfully in the room.
Firstly, young children and teenagers took a step to respond to the call of God over their lives. But after that, something really profound started to happen in the room. I stood in awe as young people started praying and prophesying over each other which, for me personally, is something I have not seen happen in the Indian churches. To take it a step further, they began, with boldness, praying and prophesying over the elders in the room.
This is what an Uprising looks like
Right at that moment, I felt God saying “This is what an Uprising in this generation looks like, it's going to be cross-generational, which has not been seen in our churches before”.
After sharing, I sat down to pray and two girls aged 9 and 10 approached me and boldly asked; "can we pray for you?”. To which I replied eagerly “Yes, of course, you can”. They held my hand and started praying very quietly and timidly asked: “can I share something that I feel like God is saying?” I said “Please do”, and they began prophesying over my life with great accuracy and spoke words of knowledge concerning what I was going through. This moment, as well as the whole event, touched me greatly.
discouragement meets joy and expectation
I've heard countless stories of young people being discouraged from speaking or sharing because of their young age, furthermore, I've also had my fair share of discouraging remarks in my time. But seeing this just filled my heart with joy and my spirit was excited and expectant of just what God could do through Indian students. I left that day filled with a renewed hope for this generation.
From that weekend experience, I believe the uprising in the Indian churches will be:
“A passing of the torch - where an emerging generation will step into their God-given calling and are given permission to do so by the leaders above them”
"When young girls will break cultural church barriers and tradition and take a stand for what matters”
“When Women leaders are encouraged by the church to share what God has put in their heart”
I am praying and believing that we are in the centre of such an Uprising, and we will hear countless testimonies and stories of what God is stirring up in the Indian churches across the UK.
We are going to see a move of God that happens cross-generationally and at the heart of it - I believe - students will be the driving force.
