India, home to thousands of people groups without the gospel, is one of the most important places for missions to focus on today. Yet only 250,000, a tiny percentage of the overall population, speak English as a mother tongue. Though a much higher percentage speak some English, many are not fluent and speak it only as a second, third, or fourth language. Wikipedia states that 72% of Indian men speak no English, and the number for women is even lower, coming in at 83%.. What does that mean for gospel spread and the training of disciple-makers? We absolutely must get our training in languages other than English.
This has been on our hearts as Disciple Makers Increase leaders for some time. In 2024, it is one of our top priorities.
We are thrilled to announce that in March we will be piloting the first Disciple Making Movements (DMM) course in Tamil! The first Bangla course is slatted to pilot in April. Pray with us for these pilot courses to be fruitful and effective in training non-English-speaking Indians to become multipliers.
Below is a sample of one of the Tamil lessons from the Getting Started in Disciple Making Movement course, adapted and contextualized for that context.
We desire that the disciple-making courses, community, and coaching we’ve seen so effective in DMI in English, would be made available to non-English speakers throughout South Asia. We aim to adapt these materials for five other languages this coming year and more in the future.
To do this, we need your prayers and financial contributions as well!
Pray that God would provide the right translators, coordinators, coaches, and facilitators for these indigenous language courses to be developed, launched, and grown to resource these underserved language groupings. We are beginning with languages that have millions of speakers and few to no disciple multiplication or movement-focused tools in their languages.
To contribute to DMI and this project, please click the button below.
God is expanding His Kingdom in South Asia! As people take these courses, we are believing for many new movements to Christ in India an beyond!