Nothing in its surroundings prepares you for the sight of Talui Baptist Church!                                                                                                                                    

It had been raining steadily all day. We had been bumping, jolting and sliding along a road composed of mud, rock and craters for hours.  It seemed like forever since we had left the city of Imphal, down in the valley, to begin snaking our way up and down and up again, along incredibly steep hillsides, from valley to peak to valley to peak to....  You get the picture.

Along the way, we had seen a number of simple houses, mostly made with wooden walls and tin roofs.  Occasionally we would see a house with cement block or brick walls.  Occasionally we would see something much simpler, with a roof of thatch rather than tin.

Then, as we ascended yet another hillside en route to the ridge above, I caught a glimpse of our destination, across the valley.  The village of Talui stretches for a long way along the top of a narrow ridge (in this region, the villages were always built on the tops of ridges, to be more easily defended from very warlike neighbors).  Talui has roughly five hundred families, most of whom live in very simple homes.

As my eye followed the ridgeline, moving slowly from one small structure to the next, suddenly an enormous building leapt out of its surroundings:  Talui Baptist Church.  The gospel came to Talui roughly a century ago.  Eventually, the entire village decided to follow Jesus.  As Talui Baptist Church prepares to celebrate its centennial in 2011, it has recently completed a new worship center, capable of seating some 3,000 people at once--the whole village!  

I cannot say what I had expected to find in Talui, but the sight that greeted my eyes was not it.  Of course, it should have been.  After all, I was headed to Talui to participate in the annual meeting of the Council of Baptist Churches of Northeast India (CBCNEI).  Since CBCNEI has over 6,000 congregations and just shy of a million baptized believers, its celebrations can grow fairly large, even in a hard-to-get-to location like Talui.  So, I should have known the sanctuary would be large.  But the bumpy, muddy, slippery road we were traveling... the small farms we were passing... the simple houses we were seeing... somehow all of those things had been working to shape my expectations throughout the day.  So, when I saw the large fellowship hall and the even-larger sanctuary, I was blown away.

When I got over my surprise, I realized it was a good opportunity to check whether any other unarticulated and similarly-unwarranted expectations had crept into my mind.  I had been told we were going to a "village," and that the people who lived there belonged to a "tribe."  Had I unconsciously slipped into assuming that they would somehow be simple? 

If so, nothing could be further from the truth.  The people of Talui grow up speaking at least two different languages and often four or more.  Their village life calls them to learn, respect and use both centuries-old farming techniques and also cell phones and satellite dishes.  Socio-politically, they grow up learning how to navigate treacherous waters.  Their community must finds its way between the rocks and shoals of two conflicts:  both between the national government and multiple local insurgent groups, and also between the different insurgent groups themselves.  There is nothing simple about the skills a Talui villager needs in order to thrive!

It is easy to allow surroundings--or, more accurately, our superficial perception of the surroundings--to shape our expectations of people in very unhelpful ways.  As I looked at Talui Baptist Church looming over the top of the ridge, I was grateful for the reminder that I need to watch out for assumptions and expectations formed unconsciously and too quickly.  As I spent time with the people of Talui, I was grateful for their hospitality and their patience in helping me to catch a glimpse of the complex challenges they face.

By God's grace, the preaching and teaching I did in Talui may have been useful for the lives and work of church leaders there and in the rest of Northeast India.  I certainly hoped and prayed that they would be.  But one thing I know for sure is that the time in Talui was useful for the work God is doing in my own life.

Thanks for your support.  Blessings on you!
Stan

P.S.  If you are seeing this as an email message:    There are 5 pictures that accompany this update.  To see them, click on this link and go to the bottom of the page.