By Lincoln Willett*

“When you walk through the fire, you will not be scorched, nor will the flame burn you” (Isaiah 43:2b, NASB).

JHARIA, India–How long has it been since you walked through the fire?

Maybe you have recently watched someone you love battle addiction or sickness. This is certainly a fire to walk through.

You are very familiar with the promise from God’s Word that says the flames will not consume you. It takes courage to walk through hard circumstances with faith and hope rather than fear.

I recall the story of the three young men who were thrown into the fiery furnace. The flames did not consume them. They were standing firm in righteousness. God saw fit to change the physical properties of fire and flesh. This served to lead people to see that this God was awesome and powerful.

Some of us are more accustomed to avoiding the fires in life, finding reasons not to walk through the fire. At times, the Holy Spirit gives us wisdom and leads us to avoid hard circumstances.

Most definitely this is not always the case. Sometimes God even leads us into the fire. He chooses to do this for many reasons. He desires that people will see His glory and power as in the case of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego. Sometimes it is for our own faith to grow. He may lead us into fiery trials to increase our faith and dependence on Him. At other times, he leads us to hard situations simply to serve hurting people.

On my last trip to India, I discovered a city in crisis. Jharia is a city of 100,000 people in India’s Jharkhand state. This is a small city by Indian standards. Under the ground that Jharia sits on, fires are raging. Literally, coalmines are burning underneath the city. These burning mines give off heat that you can feel above ground in certain areas. Noxious fumes drift from these mines into homes and neighborhoods. Black soot covers large portions of Jharia.

I recently had a chance to visit this place. It was surreal. My eyes saw the filth, the smoke and the horrible situation — but my mind could not fully grasp the reality of it.

A short visit with a family of Christ followers helped me understand what life is like in this place. This Indian family was new to the faith. A pastor had told them about Jesus. Joy and hope filled their hearts. This new faith had changed everything for them — everything and nothing. The circumstance they lived in had not changed. They still lived in a city that was in danger of collapsing any minute. They still lived with the burn from the smoke in their eyes. But everything had changed, because this reality was no longer the end for them. They were able to live without any fear in a situation where life could end suddenly. They now had hope that Jesus was there waiting for them, if everything did indeed collapse around them.

We worshipped together that Saturday afternoon. I was torn between pity and envy. One part of me felt bad about the conditions in which my new friends lived, while another part felt that they had something I was missing.

This family is not the only Christian family in the city, but one of very few. There are no churches in Jharia, and no church planting is under way.

My friend and I asked some area pastors about ministry efforts in the city. They told us that the area has many strongholds and that it is very difficult to share the Gospel there. They asked us to mobilize prayer support before they started any ministry in the city.

As I rode on a train that night, I reflected on what I had experienced that day. I realized that to do church planting in Jharia someone has to walk through the fire. At this point, Indian pastors are not willing to believe that the flames will not consume them. I am not being critical of them. These men face many challenges that I know nothing about. The fact is, however, that there are churches with Christians in a city just 20 minutes away — and they are not going.

Perhaps it will take a foreigner from another country to walk through the flames first. Perhaps it will take you and your children going before the closest church will even consider going.

Please pray that a church will be planted in Jharia, Jharkhand, by the end of 2010.

Jude 1:23a (NASB) says, “Save others, snatching them out of the fire.” I could not help but think of this verse as I left the city that day. About 100,000 people need to be snatched from the fire. The city is collapsing around them, and Christians wait. We are not willing to reach into the fire and “snatch” them out of danger.

Father God, forgive me; forgive us. Place an urgency on our hearts today for the many cities like Jharia around the world.

–30–

*Name changed.

Lincoln Willett is a Southern Baptist who serves the Lord among South Asian peoples. Readers can contact him at SouthAsiaNews@wigtake.org. For more information about Jharia’s burning fires, visit http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jharia.