Lausanne World Pulse – Brother Flack: Missionary to India Offers Insight to Younger Missionaries

June 2006

By Chacko Thomas

Q. Was it difficult to go to India after this adjustment to a late marriage?

A. The adjustment was only that now I had to think and provide for someone else. Bachelors can be very selfish and self-centred. I had already been in India for twelve years, but for Meg it was different and difficult. It was very hot and Meg’s respiratory system did not work properly. She was lonely because she could not speak the language; I was so busy with meetings. We prayed the Lord would give us children but he did not. But the Lord was first in Meg’s life and he helped her to endure as a good soldier of Jesus Christ. She was a wonderful help to me; she enriched my life tremendously and served the Lord with all she had. We were partners for fifty-one years.

Q. What did you hope to accomplish in India?

A. To be “a worker together with him” (2 Corinthians 6:1) in his programme of building his Church. My gift was not as an evangelist; my gift was to teach the word. I had no training, but the Lord gave me the gift of teaching and taught me how to use it. I travelled extensively throughout the land.

Q. What did you learn from your Indian brothers and sisters?

A. Yes, I learned about devotion to the Lord. Their zeal was something I had not seen in England. They delight in the Bible. They have none of the inhibitions such as we have. They kneel in the streets to pray. And their service one to another is precious. Their soul-winning zeal and all-night prayer meetings are remarkable.

Q. Would you have any advice for the Indian churches?

A. The biblical pattern is mentioned in Philippians 1:1: “Saints … bishops (elders) and deacons.” This is the order seen in the early Church. The missionary should seek the maturity of the local church and be on the lookout for “fathers” who are begetting children in the congregation. These are the prospective elders. The congregation will have noticed them and have confidence in them. They can be brought forward, commended to the congregation and appointed elders. Ordaining elders was what the apostles did in Acts 14 and what Paul instructed Titus to do in Titus 1.

Senior, mature members of the congregation recognising the need and time may call the congregation’s attention to those in their midst who have their confidence. Hands may be laid on these men to acknowledge they are being set apart as overseers or elders. The laying on of hands is a representative act. Those who are marked out and set apart as elders are not elders for life. There is an age limit for the Levites (Numbers 8:23-26) which shows a principle for all engaged in the Lord’s service. There is a time to “retire” or step down. These men can continue to help, but the responsibility of elder passes to younger men.

Q. You said you do not take sermon notes to the pulpit. What advice would you have for preachers?

A. Jeremiah 48:10 says, “Cursed is the man who does the work of the Lord negligently.” First, every preacher must prepare diligently. Second, pray until God drops a word, thought, text or subject into your heart. Third, study the context carefully. Fourth, ask God to guide you to other relevant passages. Fifth, decide carefully how you will begin your sermon. It is important to capture the attention at the beginning. Sixth, get all your material in order and know where you are going and how you expect to get there. Last, remember you are to be the “Lord’s messenger in the Lord’s message” (Haggai 1:13).

I once asked a colleague what a certain brother’s ministry was like. His reply was, “It was a bit bookish.” If we are reading our message to our audience, it will appear bookish as well. Our mind, heart and spirit must be in the message. That is why I do not preach from my notes. Paul says, “May the word of God dwell in you richly” (Colossians 3:16).

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Chacko Thomas is coordinator of Missions Mobilisation Network (MMN). He is also a missionary with Operation Mobilisation, having served in India, and on three of OM’s ships, the Logos, Doulos and the Logos ll, in various ministry and leadership roles.