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Bible literacy changes many lives in India

Literacy can mean the difference between life and death in some places.

Dave Stravers is with Grand Rapids, Michigan-based Mission India. Their Bible-based literacy classes often introduce the students to the Gospel for the first time, as it did with Sunita. "She was recruited into the literacy class and began to learn to read. At a certain point, the teacher, who was a believer, shared with her that she could pray to Jesus about her problems. She decided to pray, and two months later, they're both believers."

Stravers tells us about another woman whose situation was similar to Sunita's. "In this case, we got there too late. A literacy learner--a young woman named Surekha--had two children and also had a husband who beat her and the kids."

Two weeks ago, Surekha came home from her literacy class and found her husband there, drunk. An altercation turned into another beating, but he was enraged this time. Stravers says, "Her husband set her on fire. Neighbors came and took her to the hospital, but she died." Surekha had not yet come to the Lord. While her husband is in prison for her murder, she leaves behind a 5-year-old boy and a 3-year-old girl, who are in the care of relatives.

It's stories like this that drive Mission India toward expansion. Learning to read, by itself, is not the life saver. Rather, it's the inevitable introduction to Christ that is fueling the urgency.

The class materials include three Bible-based lesson booklets for each student, slates and chalk, a large chalkboard for teachers, and a kerosene lantern.

Mission India developed a 12-month, five-nights-a-week, and 2-hours-a-night literacy course designed for areas where literacy is low. This course is now available in 17 languages and can be effectively taught by instructors from depressed areas who have little formal education themselves.

By MNN

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[03/19/2008]

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