An Exclusive Interview with Reverend David Mohan, New Life Assembly of God Church, Chennai

Persecutions Have Never Stopped the Growth of History of Christianity in the World: An Exclusive Interview with Reverend David Mohan, New Life Assembly of God Church, Chennai

Reverend David Mohan of New Life Assembly of God Church, Chennai, is no ordinary person. Having graduated from Southern Asia Bible School, he had set out with a dream of start a new Assemblies of God church in Madras, India. He began by sharing the Word of God with only 7 believers in a small room and that journey he undertook three decades back, led by the Lord, has now borne fruit. Yes, that congregation which was called New Life Assembly of God has come a long way and only through faith and prayers it has reached unprecedented heights, as it will seat 55,000 people when completed, thereby making it the largest Assembly of God church facility in the world. A passionate, devout and prayerful servant of the Lord, Rev. Mohan recently came to Delhi to grace a Worship and Revival program that was attended by more than 4000 believers. When he was approached by Christian Today for an interview, he immediately consented and shared his experiences, thoughts and visions.

Establishing a temple of the Lord that can seat over 50000 believers and that too in the south–Indian state that was the first to legislate the draconic anti–conversion law is not an easy task, to say the least. And on behalf of Christian Today team, I would like to congratulate you in this regard. But please tell us, how was it made possible? To whom or what can you attribute the success of making this dream a reality?

Answer: In my life from the very beginning I saw this sort of miracle. When I started my ministry it was very small with only seven people gathering to listen to the Word of God. It was a small house where only 15 could sit. As the days went by, God gave us hope and faith. We prayed and God answered our prayers. At that time we did not have a single place to worship except under the shade of the tree. I prayed for 9 months to get a place of worship in the main road of the city and after praying for 6 months God spoke to me and he gave me a place. So that was the experience that we already have. You see, the churches are growing but there is no place for people to come. The blessing of the Lord is there. I kept on praying for the place but there was nothing close by. But finally God spoke out and said to me, “Watch out! Go out! I am going to give you the place.” After that, we went out and finally got a place more than 25 acres of the land.

It is all matter of the faith. I started a church just two weeks ago and 1000 people are there. I put up a small meeting and there are already 10000 people. So you see, God's blessing is there and faith is there and we people are all really eager to know about Lord Jesus. Christ is really moving in a very special way in that area. God has always given us the faith and we strongly belive that we will accomplish in fulfilling His Will.

Did you face any stiff opposition or obstacle in making your dream a reality?

Answer: By the grace of God we don't have to face much opposition and but I have gone through a lot of difficulties like natural calamities. One time there was a cyclone that destroyed our church shed and one time a fire spark from the nearby timber depot fell on the church's roof and destroyed it and one time flood came and destroyed it. It is true that sometimes little threats come our way and people say that you should not worship but it is not so big and always God gives us the faith to go on.

With over 30000 attendees, perhaps New Life Church is one of the largest in India. To what will you attribute this phenomenal growth that has taken place in only a matter of few decades?

Answer: Yes. When I came to the ministry, I never thought that I would have that much people. But God's blessing was there because we strongly believe in power of prayer and we always put a lot of effort on prayers. Because of our prayers and faith, the Holy Spirit moved among us and did a wonderful work in bringing the people together.

Initially, I was very frustrated when our church was growing and around 2500 believers were there. When I stood at the door and I saw them, I really did not know from where they are coming or how they are coming. I did not know the faces of the people and I was really frustrated as I did not know how to take care of them. But God gave me a vision to conserve the fruits, to take care of these people. So I visited many countries to learn about it but I still was not happy. But God heard my prayers and from Singapore He sent one pastor who came to our church and taught us about small groups system, the dynamics of small groups system. He told us that when a church has to grow you have to enlarge your leadership base. You see, one pastor can take care of only 50 people but if 200 people come and one pastor is there then he cannot take care of them all and he will burn out. He will not be able to lead them well.

Taking his advice, we started small groups and developed a lot of people and trained them well and engaged them in the ministry. A pastor's main job is developing leaders. He has to invest his time and release the people into the ministries. If one person can save 10 people, imagine what will happen if 100 people come to the ministry… that is what we are doing. Till date, we have 2500 small groups in the city and we teach them about evangelism, nurturing and discipleship. Then we use them in the ministries. This is the strategy that we follow and because of those things the people come.

In India the general elections are drawing to a close with just a few cities and metros remaining for the voting to take place. In the wake of the recent persecutions and religious intolerance shown towards the minorities, what sort or form of government do you think our Father, looking at it, may say, “It is very good”?

Answer: I feel that what India needs is a government that loves all people. In India, everywhere you see, there is corruption and bribery. So they must take care of bribery and abolish it. We need a leader who loves all people. And, especially the poor people must be raised up and nurtured in this country. There has to be a plan for raising them up from that level to the higher level. It will be very good if people who can address those concerns and accomplish those tasks come forward and form the government in India. We need the people who really love the truth, who really love all people and all religion. Because India has different culture, different religion and different people, we must be united as one. If these kinds of people come and rule India, India will truly be blessed.

Christians constitute just over 2.5% of the total population in India. Do you think the Christian community has any voice in the elections and otherwise? If yes, what role do you see Christians playing in the elections and in the progress and development of India?

Answer: If we think about percentage, Christianity is really a minority community. Even though many do not confess openly that they are Christians, yet, they love Christ very much. Percentage, as such, may not make much impact. But all Christian must go and vote. Sometimes one vote can make a big difference. So all Christians must go and vote. All Christians must play an important role for the later days. I really believe that in later days there will be really good politicians, and some of them will be Christians. So we must practice from today and wherever we are, we must cast the vote.

In this modern era, do you think TV evangelists and self–proclaimed faith healers have a significant role to play in bringing the lambs to the Lord? Where would you place the TV evangelists and the faith healers vis–à–vis the grass–root evangelists and missionaries who actually go out to the towns and villages, sharing silently the suffering of the millions?

Answer: The TV evangelists and big evangelists…they have a part to play. But these days they cannot touch the people. But grass–root level evangelism, person to person, if you really go and talk to them and touch their hearts, that would bring more result to the local churches rather than seeing evangelists in the TV and having a big crusade. Such things are good for advertisement but for the real church growth, the grass–root level, the local evangelists, the local people must go out and speak to the people, person to person and bring them in, forming real friendships and relationships. You must build relationships. Do evangelism, through that you will really touch the lives and bring villages and cities to the Lord rather than these things. One time God used big evangelists through TV and crusades. But the result in terms of percentage is not very big. The local churches are not blessed for that. But the local church must evangelize in their community in a very simple way so that it can impact a lot of people. The crusades and other things…maybe 2% of people may come as a result of it, but through these personal evangelisms, going out, personally talking to them and making relationships and friendships, about 86% or more of the people come to Christ.

Presently there is a lot of angst that hardline non–Christians bear against the Christians. What do you think should the Christians do to dispel the unwarranted fear and apprehension of the brothers who have not yet found the true Lord?

Answer: The Bible says that we must love our enemies in spite of all these hatred and other things. Through this only the leaders will be united. And we must really pray for it is our prayers that can unite the people. We must pray for the country and the leaders who are leading us, we must pray for the people who are persecuting us. The Gospel will be very effective in times of persecution. That is the time when God touches all souls and everyone become united, even the non–Christians and they will come to Christ. Everywhere in the History of Christianity there was persecution but because of these persecutions the History has never stopped. So we should not worry about these things. Through persecutions, many people will come to know about Christ. As Christians we should not hate those who persecute us, we must love them, we must pray for them and we must stand firm in our decision. There the work of the Holy Spirit will be more and will touch the lives of the people more in times of persecution.

Recently while addressing a Revival program, you were exhorting for the churches to become one and united in the Lord…Does this reflect any form of apprehension that you may be having that Christianity may not progress in India because there is division within the community?

Answer: Yes, that is the main thing. There are lots of divisions within the Christian community and denomination. They don’t really love each other. But slowly these things are changing, and now denominations and leaders are coming together and respecting each other. The recent persecutions in India have really encouraged the leaders to meet each other, pray for each other, appreciate each other and express their solidarity. Because of lots of division and differences, everyone is doing their own things and not putting their efforts together to reach out to the nation. And that is why we are lagging behind. But if we all come together and put our efforts together to show the real love of Christ to the community, then we will see a better result in the land. That is really what the Holy Spirit wants to do and He has started it already in Delhi and it will also spread to a lot of other cities. Truly, God will transform our nation.

What role do you see India play presently and in the future in the world in building the kingdom of heaven for the Lord? What vision do you have for India?

Answer: The whole of India must come to know the Lord Jesus Christ. The Revival must come to India. That is what we have to pray for. Every church must pray for the Revival. Many countries have already experienced revival but not India. So we must focus ourselves and pray more for India and we must love India and we must see that India is one for Christ. That is the vision that I have. I want to see that the unreached people, the unreached groups in India are reached properly. Every church must become a mission minded church, must reach the unreached people and they should always look beyond the visible world. If all the churches took the efforts to reach the unreached, definitely it will be a blessing. We must also pray for that.

Indian pastors and evangelists are really rich in their experience and strong in the Word of God. Because of the enormous difficulties and sufferings that they go through, they gain a lot of experience in their lives. So they can really cater to the needs of any people in the world. They are good preachers and they can definitely go out and give the Word of God to different nations. So we must not always focus our minds about our own needs; the money part of it – money will be supplied by God if we trust him, but we must go out and preach the Gospel and build the Kingdom of God in different parts of the world.

– Surojit Chatterjee

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