1. 1May 2015
A CAMPUS MAGAZINE
Vol. 33 Issue 5 May 2015
FELLOWSHIP -FELLOWS
IN THE SAME SHIP!
2. 3
A CAMPUS MAGAZINE
May 2015
Vol. 33. Issue 5
EDITORIAL BOARD
Chief Editor
Prof. P. G. Varghese
Managing Editor
Mr. Jacob Samuel
Members
Mr. Oommen Joshua
Mr. George K. Mathew
Mr. Sabu Abraham
Mr. Dilip Joseph
Mrs. Alice Neumann
Consultant
Mrs. Shirley Abraham
Vision of UESI
Transformed Students
impacting the campuses and the
nation as disciples of the Lord
Jesus Christ
04
06
14
18
21
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25
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Neither the organization nor the editorial
board shall be responsible for the accuracy
of information contained in this publica-
tion. Statements, opinions & views expressed
by the writers and advertisers are their own
and do not necessarily represent those of the
organization.
Chief Editor
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Editorial
- Alice Neumann
Fellowship- A core value
-Prema Fenn
Christian Fellowship
- Renjan Mathew
Ahscn¡pt{ijvT·mÀ
-Dr. P. C. Thomas
One night at the camp
-Sneha Mariam Sam
The Essence of Christian Fellowship
-Mr. Biju Mathai
Questions Muslims Ask
-Rajadurai
Hudson Taylor
-Eby Roy
DOCTOR PLEASE,
BE HONEST.
IS THE BIKE OK?
3. 4 5May 2015 May 2015
Fellowship is the lifeline of a
believer. The Oxford dictionary
defines fellowship as“a feeling of
friendship between people who
do things together or share an
interest.”Jesus chose twelve peo-
ple from different walks of life to
live, travel and serve together
with Him. After the resurrection
of Jesus, the early believers“were
continually devoting themselves
to the apostles’ teaching and to
fellowship,to the breaking of
bread and to prayer. And day by
day continually with one mind in
the temple, and breaking bread
from house to house, they were
taking their meals together with
gladness and sincerity of heart,
praising God and having favour
with all the people. And the Lord
was adding to their number day
by day those who were being
saved.”(Acts 2: 42, 46, 47 NASB)
Today we do not have time to
relate to others. The fast pace of
life around us and the growing
popularity of gadgets has result-
ed in isolation. Social networking
has taken the place of getting to-
gether in person. Actually, deep
down inside, we all feel lonely. At
the same time the world is trying
to choke out our faith in many
subtle ways. It is time to revive
Christian fellowship. We need
one another. Hebrews 10:25 ex-
horts us to “....meet together....
encouraging one another, and
all the more as you see the Day
drawing near.”
Going to church is a good way
to get fellowship, but we have to
make a conscious effort to stay
after the service and talk to peo-
ple. Often there is not enough
time to get beyond pleasantries
to a deeper level of sharing.
Our first priority is to have fel-
lowship with our Lord, spending
some time in His presence every
day, actually talking with Him.
He always has time to listen and
He also has things to say to us
through His Word. We also need
to spend time with our family
and friends. Family devotions are
guest editorial editorial
Alice Neumann
(Editorial Board Member)
a great way to have fellowship in
the home.
The main ingredients of Christian
fellowship are sharing and pray-
ing. I remember gethering as a
group daily in each hostel where
I stayed as a student. We would
sing some choruses, share briefly
what we had learned in our Qui-
et Time that day and then pray.
We would share prayer requests
and then share praise reports
when prayers were answered.
This helped us to withstand peer
pressure in those days and also
gave us a loving, caring group of
friends whom we could depend
on.
Relating more closely with a
small group of believers is the
key to meaningful fellowship.
The wonderful side-effect is that
others get attracted to this kind
of group.
“It only takes a spark to get a fire
going. And soon all those around
can warm up in its glowing.That’s
how it is with God’s love, once
you’ve experienced it; you want
to sing, it’s fresh like spring, you
want to pass it on.”
So, pass it on!
PASS IT ON
“I want the whole Christ for my Saviour, the whole Bible
for my book, the whole Church for my fellowship, and the
whole world for my mission field.” ~ John Wesley
4. 6 7May 2015 May 2015
True fellowship means sharing
with, caring for and bearing one
another’s burdens in love for
Christ’s sake. We share strengths,
ideas, material and other resourc-
es.
Several years ago two senior
IFES staff workers were present
at a National conference of UESI.
They were greatly impressed by
the way the staff workers, grad-
uates and students were work-
ing together in making arrange-
ments for the conference, which
affirmed the fellowship they en-
joyed.‘Fellowship’is big in UESI.
The founding fathers of UESI de-
cided to have a truly evangelical
fellowship which will uphold the
fundamental doctrines of the
Word of God. At the same time
they also maintained that the
doctrines where evangelicals
differ need not divide the fel-
lowship. UESI believes that there
should be no division or lack of
respect on the basis of family,
economic or educational back-
grounds, gifts, culture, caste or
denominations in a fellowship.
Transparency, confidentiality and
respecting other views should
mark any Christian fellowship.
We are not autonomous individ-
uals, but we belong to one an-
other as much as we belong to
God. The qualities and abilities
we have are gifts from the gener-
ous Giver. The differences among
us are not cause for division or ri-
FELLOWSHIP –
A Core Value of
UESI Prema Fenn
(Former National Staff, UESI)
valry, but are signs of richness of
unity in diversity that flows from
God himself.
We need to see everyone in the
fellowship through God’s eye, to
appreciate, help and encourage
and refrain from labelling or re-
jecting people. Jesus said that
the way we treat the needy and
vulnerable reveals our attitude
towards Him (Mat.25:31-44)
Our fellowships/churches today
have enormous ‘frozen’ assets.
Only when we throw out these
assets and release every member
for ministry, the work of God can
be done effectively. We need to
see our gifts not as part of our de-
velopment and fulfilment but as
a way to be dependent on Christ.
Till 1980s, UESI had several mis-
sionary staff couples and single
ladies (from overseas) backed by
their mission agencies. They all
worked under Indian leadership
irrespective of their age, qualifi-
cation and experience.They were
treated equally along with Indian
staff workers. There was no dis-
tinction between foreigners and
Indians and staff from the North
and South, East and West.
An incident is told of Dr.Sterrett
asking forgiveness from Bro.
Chandapilla who was a young-
er person for having hurt him
in a conversation. The UESI staff
fellowship was a time of mutual
enrichment as it involved trans-
parent sharing by the staff.
Concern has been expressed
about the present status of fel-
lowship observed among stu-
dents, graduates, staff workers
and committee members. Is ours
a ‘hi/bye’ fellowship on a superfi-
cial level? Years ago, when we did
not have facilities like vehicles
and phones, people used to walk
or travel by bus, train or cycle and
visit students in hostels and grad-
uates in their homes. But with all
the facilities we have now, our
fellowship sometimes is through
phone, e-mail or sms only. Both
congratulatory and condolence
messages are limited to e-mail or
sms.
cover story cover story
Also when we meet at a retreat
or camp we stop with the num-
ber of people who attended, the
number of people who came to
Christ or about the finances. We
need to go beyond to a deep-
er level, enquiring about one’s
family or their needs. The quality
of ministry to one another at all
levels is reflected in the fellow-
ship and the ministry given to
students.
As we work together in a com-
mittee at various levels, we also
sense at times certain attitudes
in our relationship with one an-
other- ignoring a soft or quiet
Our fellowships/churches
today have enormous‘frozen’
assets. Only when we throw
out these assets and release
every member for ministry,
the work of God can be done
effectively.
5. 8 9May 2015 May 2015
another.
So, in the Body of Christ there is
no place for comparison, compe-
tition, jealousy, superiority or in-
feriority complex or complaining.
But there is place only for accep-
tance, caring, affirming and in-
ter-dependence. In other words,
we must be able to look at one
another in a fellowship and say
honestly, “Brother / Sister, I need
you and you need me.”
Fellowship represents spiritual
unity among members of UESI
family. While the task is import-
ant, fellowship is more import-
ant. Ministry is made possible
person or less gifted person, one
or two in the committee trying to
dominate and run the show. We
need to recognize our diversity
and inter-dependence so that we
are the Body of Christ that God
desires for us. Diversity is vital for
a healthy fellowship. But do we
value diversity in our fellowships?
If not, we will fall into the Corin-
thian trap of valuing certain gifts
and certain people more highly
than others.
Several years back, a staff repre-
sentative at the National Exec-
utive committee had shared a
family problem for prayer. In the
next committee meeting, a se-
nior Graduate member remem-
bered and enquired with concern
about the family situation of the
staff worker which was a great
encouragement to that person.
What does it take for a fellowship
to be a therapeutic community?
Frequent meeting or keeping
in touch (not just through vid-
eo conferencing), transparency,
willing to be vulnerable, caring
though enquiring about each
other’s needs will help build rap-
port among members. Otherwise
our fellowship will be cold, im-
personal, discussing the agenda
and going away.
Paul talks about the nature and
purpose of spiritual gifts in 1 Cor-
inthians 12. He brings out three
important truths from this pas-
sage: we are members of Christ,
we are all different and have dif-
ferent gifts and we all need one
cover story cover story
and sustained through fellow-
ship. The fellowship as a family
needs to exhibit the influence of
the Word of God in their lives.
A girl from non-Christian back-
ground came to Christ in a med-
ical college hostel through the
love, care and unity she saw
among the members of Bible
study group associated with the
local EU.Today she walks with the
Lord and works in a Government
hospital. Fellowship lived out, at-
tracts people to Christ.
It is when we as Christians work
in a fellowship or community,
with all its diversity where each
one is unique, and special, we
can prove to the world that in the
redeemed community of God’s
people, the full potential of each
member is recognized and re-
spected. Such a fellowship in our
EUs and EGFs and UESI at large
could turn the campuses and the
society upside down.
Questions for Reflection
1. What might make some
members of our fellowship feel
useless or envious of other mem-
bers?
a.How can we help those
in our fellowship to discover their
gifts?
b. How would we like to
develop and exercise our spiritu-
al gifts?
2. Recall a moment when
you wanted to restore a broken
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AND STUDENTS IN KERALA
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A CAMPUS MAGAZINE
relationship
a. What were some of
your fears in approaching the sit-
uation?
b.Why is love so essential
in mending fractured relation-
ships?
3. When was the last time
we approached or thanked God
for the gifts of/roles played by
any of the members of the fellow-
ship we belong to?
Ms. Prema Fenn, formerly a lectur-
er in Economics, served as a staff
worker of UESI from 1969 to 1998.
She lives in Chennai and continues
to be involved in UESI ministry as a
field partner. This article is reprint-
edfromherbook‘CoreValues’pub-
lished by UESI Publication Trust.
So, in the Body of Christ there is
no place for comparison, com-
petition, jealousy, superiority or
inferiority complex or com-
plaining. But there is place only
for acceptance, caring, affirm-
ing and inter-dependence.
6. 10 11May 2015 May 2015
My in-laws are from Buddhist
background. But they have im-
mense respect for our faith and
religion and hence when they
come here, they come with us to
Church and other believer’s gath-
erings and prayer meetings. Re-
cently when I was talking to my
Father-in-law on certain issues
in the extended families on his
side, he remarked that issues and
problems are there in all homes
– but you people go to prayer
meetings and other such gath-
erings where there is so much of
love, peace and caring. I was very
much surprised by his observa-
tion and comment because I nev-
er thought taking him to such
places had made such a big im-
pact and impression on him. That
is Christian Fellowship – love,
peace and caring.
Our role model in this world is Je-
sus Christ, who being in very na-
ture God, did not consider equal-
ity with God, but took the form
of man, came into this world,
lived here amongst us for 331/2
years, completed His public min-
istry and finally gave himself up
to the death on the Cross as the
ultimate sacrifice of all mankind.
We understand that Jesus Christ
was fully God and fully man and
hence He had the full powers
of God. But still, when He was
here on this Earth, we read many
times in the gospels that He had
fellowship with the Father. Then
Renjan Mathew Varghese
Thiruvananthapuram
Christian Fellowship –
Christ’s Fellows in a ship
how much more, do we, as sons
and daughters of Christ, still hav-
ing the carnal man in us, need fel-
lowship with God and with each
other.
Fellowship has two dimensions
– the vertical dimension with
God and the horizontal fellow-
ship with our fellow beings. The
primary fellowship should be
with our Heavenly Father and
that should be our priority also.
When the vertical relationship
is right, all other horizontal rela-
tionships will also fall into place
– be it within the family, with our
neighbors, friends or colleagues.
On the other hand, if our vertical
connection is not in tune, that
will be reflected within ourselves
and in our dealing with others
too – we will not be at peace
within us and we will not have
peace with others, leading to is-
sues with spouse, ego clashes
in office, arguments on the road
while driving, difficulty in getting
along with friends and neighbors
etc.
Fellowship – the word fellowship
is usually misused or misunder-
stood as just gatherings or prayer
meetings. But fellowship goes
much beyond that and has very
deep meanings and dimensions.
Like someone has said – the word
fellowship means ‘fellows in a
ship’ – to mean that – they have
one sense of direction, they work
together shoulder to shoulder
to get to their destination, they
share responsibilities as per their
expertise and experience, they
take care of each other and they
share whatever supplies they
have.
This is very much true for us
Christians too. We as Christians
have one sense of direction – as
Apostle Paul says in Philippians
3:13-14 “I do not consider myself
yet to have taken hold of it. But
one thing I do: Forgetting what
is behind and straining toward
what is ahead, I press on toward
the goal to win the prize for
which God has called me heaven-
ward in Christ Jesus”. We may be
from different families, cultural
backgrounds, speaking different
feature feature
‘fellows in a ship’ – to mean
that – they have one sense of
direction, they work together
shoulder to shoulder to get to
their destination, they share
responsibilities as per their
expertise and experience, they
take care of each other and
they share whatever supplies
they have.
languages, having different hab-
its and lifestyles, but above all,
we as Christians are united in the
blood of Christ with the same vi-
sion and mission.
We all need to work together be-
cause we have been given one
common Great Commission as
we read in Matthew 28: 19-20“All
authority in heaven and on earth
7. 12 13May 2015 May 2015
has been given to me. Therefore
go and make disciples of all na-
tions, baptizing them in the name
of the Father and of the Son and
of the Holy Spirit, and teaching
them to obey everything I have
commanded you. And surely I
am with you always, to the very
end of the age.” The jobs we do
might be different, but our prior-
ity should be to fulfill the duties
and responsibilities of the job as
per our High Calling.
We have to share our work re-
sponsibilities because God, even
though He has created us in His
image, has made us unique and
different and hence this work al-
location as we read in Ephesians
4:11-16“And he gave some, apos-
tles; and some, prophets; and
some, evangelists; and some,
pastors and teachers; For the
perfecting of the saints, for the
work of the ministry, for the edi-
fying of the body of Christ: Till we
all come in the unity of the faith,
and of the knowledge of the Son
of God, unto a perfect man, unto
the measure of the stature of the
fullness of Christ”
We are expected to take care of
one another – not just fellow be-
lievers, but also others, but with
priority for the former, as is clear-
ly said in Galatians 6:10 which
reads “Therefore, as we have op-
portunity, let us do good to all
people, especially to those who
belong to the family of believ-
ers”. Returning good for good is
worldly, returning bad for good
is devilish and returning good for
bad is godly. God loved us even
while we were sinners and gave
up His son for the atonement of
our sins. How much more should
we love others and always return
good for both good and bad that
we receive and be a true wit-
ness for Him. And God has giv-
en us the Holy Spirit to help and
strengthen us to do this as Apos-
tle Paul testifies in Philippians
4:13 “I can do all things through
Christ which strengthens me”.
We are also expected to share
what we have – we are all differ-
ent organs of the same body. So
when one organ is in difficulty or
in pain, other organs cannot be
indifferent, they also feel the pain
and they should work together
to resolve it. Acts 4:32-35 gives a
beautiful description of the First
Church as it reads “All the believ-
ers were one in heart and mind.
No one claimed that any of their
possessions was their own, but
they shared everything they had.
With great power the apostles
continued to testify to the res-
urrection of the Lord Jesus. And
God’s grace was so powerfully at
work in them all that there were
DANGEROUS FOOD
A dietitian was once addressing a large audience in Chicago. "The ma-
terial we put into our stomachs is enough to have killed most of us
sitting here, years ago ?
"Red meat is awful. Soft drinks erode your stomach lining.
Chinese food is loaded with MSG. Vegetables can be disastrous, and
none of us realizes the long-term harm caused by the germs in our
drinking water ?
"But there is one thing that is the most dangerous of all and
we all have, or will, eat it. Can anyone here tell me what food it is that
causes the most grief and suffering for years after eating it?"
A 75-year-old man in the front row stood up and said, "Wed-
ding cake"
- Clean Doctors Jokes
feature feature
no needy persons among them.
For from time to time those
who owned land or houses sold
them, brought the money from
the sales and put it at the apos-
tles’ feet, and it was distributed
to anyone who had need”. This
is just unimaginable in the pres-
ent world. But this is where, we
as Christians, needs to show the
difference and witness Christ
through our lives more than our
words.
Where there is love, there is for-
giveness; where there is forgive-
ness, there is peace; and where
there is peace, there is caring and
sharing. And that is the beauty
of the Christian Fellowship and
through this we should gain
the whole world for Christ. Paul
says in 1 Corinthians 13:1-3 “If I
speak in the tongues of men or
of angels, but do not have love,
I am only a resounding gong or
a clanging cymbal. If I have the
gift of prophecy and can fathom
all mysteries and all knowledge,
and if I have a faith that can move
mountains, but do not have love,
I am nothing. If I give all I pos-
sess to the poor and give over
my body to hardship that I may
boast, but do not have love, I gain
nothing”.
Shiv Khera, a famous Manage-
ment Guru says “Successful peo-
ple do not do different things;
they do things differently”. I
would like to rephrase this and
say “As Christians, God does not
expect us ordinary people to do
extraordinary things, but He ex-
pects us to do each and every
thing in love”.
Returning good for good is
worldly, returning bad for
good is devilish and return-
ing good for bad is godly.
JOKE
10. 18 19May 2015 May 2015
experience
from behind, “Excuse me”. Ann
turned around; it was the girl
who occupied the bed next to
hers. “Can you help me with my
bag? The lock isn’t opening” the
girl asked. Though Ann was dead
tired and craved for some sleep,
she couldn’t say no. “Sure”, Ann
replied covering with her hands
the yawn which kept remind-
ing her how tired she was. She
went over to the girl’s bed, and
helped her with the lock, twist-
ing, pulling, and trying out ev-
erything to open it. Seeing their
struggle, another girl too joined
them. After half an hour of their
combined effort, the lock clicked
open.“ThankYou”, gleaming with
joy the girl expressed her grati-
tude. “It’s okay. By the way, I am
Ann, what’s your name?”.“I am
Priyanka”, she replied.“I am Elina”
the third girl introduced herself.
Unlike Ann, Elina and Priyanka
had already attended many UESI
camps. The three of them then
began to talk about their camp
experience, their family, their col-
lege life, the hectic studies, and
slowly the ice began to break.
It was then that Ann thought
of asking a question which had
bothered her during the ses-
sions.“Can I ask you something?”
she asked. “Oh yes, definitely”,
replied Elina. Ann started,“Didn’t
you hear the speaker saying
about the dead and the living
fish?”“Ah Yes, it was a very good
illustration of Christian life”, an
excited Elina interrupted. “Well, I
didn’t understand that, what did
he actually mean?” asked Ann
eager to get the answer. “I’ll tell
you”, Elina took a long pause and
then explained to them in detail
about the illustration, enriching
it with her experiences as a dis-
ciple of Christ – the hardships,
trials, ridicules, loneliness- every-
thing she had to suffer for being
a living fish. By this time three
other girls too joined the group.
As soon as Elina finished, Priyan-
ka shared her testimony, which
challenged all of them. Everyone
in the group began to open up
about the problems they faced.
Together they discussed the
possible solutions which they
analyzed one by one, verifying
whether it is in accordance with
theWord of God. All of them were
deeply engrossed in the discus-
sion that they were taken aback
when someone reminded them it
was half past twelve. They forced
themselves to disperse.
On her bed, Ann recollected all
that they discussed together.
“What a wonderful time we had!”
she thought. The fact that the is-
sues she faced were common to
many and that she was not alone
in fighting them strengthened
her.Thesweetfellowshipnotonly
made her forget her tiredness
but also fuelled her for the rest of
the camp. On the following days
too, during intervals, breaks, be-
fore bed and whenever possible
they met together and continued
their discussions. Soon they be-
experience
came good friends. As the camp
was nearing its close, they found
their fellowship to be as motivat-
ing, inspiring, challenging, and
exciting as every other session.
They did not forget to exchange
their phone numbers and prayer
matters as they bid good bye.
Back home, an excited Ann was
sharing her first camp experience
with her parents when her mo-
bile phone sounded ‘Beep-Beep’,
She checked her phone, it was a
whatsapp notification, Elina had
formed a whatsapp group with
the six of them. Every one was
glad that they could continue
their fellowship even after the
camp. They never missed any
opportunity to meet together.
Encouraging, supporting, chal-
lenging, praying, reinstating,
equipping they grew together
in the faith. Thanks to whatsapp,
they have a virtual fellowship
meeting everyday. Ann, who
once thought that fellowship
times were a mere waste of time,
is now the first one to come for
any fellowship meeting. Over the
years she realized that ‘it is not
time wasted but time invested’.
(All characters and events in this
story are fictitious).
Sneha passed the B.Tech exam
and is the daughter Prof. Sam
Alexander.
Reader’s response…
I read through OC April. It gives a commendable presentation
of “Each one catch one; Each one teach one.” The personal ex-
perience of Dr. V. Sam William is a challenge to all, especially to
Christian students. Rajan’s question in the Malayalam article is
well discussed. The study on Islam is worth publishing as a book.
-Prof. P.P. Thomas
“Some Christians try to go to heaven alone, in solitude.
But believers are not compared to bears or lions or other
animals that wander alone. Those who belong to Christ are
sheep in this respect, that they love to get together. Sheep
go in flocks, and so do God’s people.” ~ Charles Spurgeon
11. 20 21May 2015 May 2015
“I want the whole Christ for
my Savior, the whole Bible for my
book, the whole Church for my
fellowship, and the whole world
for my mission field.” - John Wes-
ley.
‘Fellowship’is one of those‘Chris-
tian words’ that are often over-
used and misused. It has become
synonymous with socializing. But
what is being referred to as fel-
lowship in the Bible is something
quite different from the popular
understanding of the word.
Christian fellowship starts with
fellowship with God which is es-
tablished by accepting the Lord
Jesus Christ as one’s own Saviour.
In other words, ‘Christ is us and
we in him’is the basis of Christian
fellowship. We must know the
reality of fellowship with the Fa-
ther and with his Son Jesus Christ
before we can know the reality
of fellowship with one another
in our common relationship to
God (1 John 1:3). A person who is
not in fellowship with the Father
and the Son is no Christian at all,
and so cannot share with other
Christians the reality of Christian
fellowship.
Biju Mathai
Assistant Editor, Manorama Year Book
THE ESSENCE OF
CHRISTIAN
FELLOWSHIP
feature
There are three words in the orig-
inal Greek that we need to close-
ly look into to understand the
meaning of fellowship. Koinos
is the root word, for “common,
mutual, public” - that which is
commonly held dearly. Koinônia
means “fellowship,” which means
“to share together, take part to-
gether” in the sense of partner-
ship or participation. What all
parties involved share in com-
mon is a relationship. Koinônos
is the noun form of the word,
though used less often in the
New Testament.
The Gospels tell us about the
Emmanuel who is with us and
the Comforter who will live in
us (the indwelling and abid-
ing presence) and guide us and
strengthen us. St. Paul points to
a deeper fellowship in the Spirit
(2 Cor. 13:14 ; Phil. 2:1), a dynamic
experience that is inextricably re-
lated to receiving the love of the
Father and the grace of the Lord
Jesus Christ, the Son. In fact, to be
“in the Spirit” is possible because
of his death and resurrection and
establishment of a new creation.
We also find that the apostle em-
phasizes the faithfulness of God
the Father who has called us“into
fellowship with his Son Jesus
Christ our Lord”( 1 Cor. 1:9 ).
According to God’s word, fellow-
ship is a HEART issue, something
exquisitetobefeltandexpressed,
and something very intense and
very important to be a part of. It
should occur apart from any pro-
gram or activity. It is to be a way
of life for believers in Jesus Christ
as they desire to be in each oth-
er’s company, to share things
together, to help and support
each other both materially and
spiritually, and fulfill the Great
Commission . If one member is
persecuted all feel the pain.
The Biblical Imagery
The imagery of fellowship can be
seen throughout the Bible.
The OT Picture:
The fellowship offerings were
required by God (Ex 20:24) and
they are sacrificial meals shared
by offerer, people and priests.
The name of these offerings
is related to the Hebrew “sha-
lom”, meaning “wholeness” or
“peace”, and they are therefore
also known as “peace offerings”.
Biblical commentators have giv-
en this offering a variety of titles.
“Peace,” “fellowship,” “praise,” and
“thanksgiving”are the most com-
mon. We can also see fellowship
in the relationship between Jon-
athan and David and also in the
lives of the patriarchs in their re-
lationship with God.
The NT Picture:
The NT imagery is evident in the
bride and the bridegroom, Mary
at Jesus feet, Mary anointing Je-
sus’ feet with perfume, the wid-
ow’s two mites, the triumphant
entry into Jerusalem, the upper
room experience, the marriage
feast of the Lamb of God...
The Early Church Experience
The word ‘fellowship’ as used in
feature
12. 22 23May 2015 May 2015
the Early Church went far be-
yond occasional or regular gath-
erings.”They met constantly to
hear the apostles teach, and to
share the common life, and break
bread and to pray. A sense of awe
was everywhere. All whose faith
had drawn them together held
everything in common. With one
mind they kept up their daily
attendance at the temple, and,
breaking bread in private houses,
shared their meals with unaffect-
ed joy as they praised God” (Acts
2:42-47, New English Bible).
Luke tells us “They were devot-
ing themselves to the apostles’
teaching and to fellowship, to
the breaking of bread and to
prayer”Acts 2:42 (The NewTrans-
lation Bible). Study and prayer
are two of the most important
means of growth and effective-
ness in Christian life. Yet, Luke re-
cords that these early Christians
also devoted themselves to fel-
lowship. They just did not have
fellowship, going through the
motions of being with each oth-
er; they devoted themselves to it.
In Acts 2:37-47 five things
that kept them together and
strengthened them are recorded.
1. They continued together in
one accord.
2. They preached and taught the
Gospel exhorting people to be-
lieve (vs. 40, 43)
3. They had fellowship together
(vs. 44-45)
4. They practiced the ordinances
of baptism and the Lord’s Supper.
5. They prayed.
What does fellowship involve?
1. Christian fellowship has at its
heart love and acceptance: Eph.
3:17-19 It means having unself-
ish love (agape) that we all need
to live by. We accept each other
with our faults, problems and
failures. We esteem others higher
than ourselves (Phil.2:1-11). That
would solve about 95% of prob-
lems that come up.
2. Fellowship is a family rela-
tionship: You become a part of
the family of God on earth. We
are called to experience that fel-
lowship in our EU groups and
churches.
3. Fellowship requires having a
spirit of restoration and concern
for one another. Galatians 6:1-2
4. Fellowship requires confession
and forgiveness. James 5:16
5. Fellowship involves encour-
agement and availability. He-
brews 10:23-25
6. Fellowship Involves informality
and flexibility. Heb. 13:1-2;14-16
7. Fellowship must be a priority
As iron sharpens iron, in true
Christian fellowship Christians
sharpen one another’s faith and
stir one another to exercise that
faith in love and good works for
the glory of God.
Are you in fellowship with God?
Are we in fellowship with one an-
other?
Biju is an EGF member in Thiru-
valla. Wife: Anu, Children: Adriel
& Allan
experience
Having studied the basic
teachings of Islam we move on
to the questions that Muslims ask
Christians.
We’ll concentrate on two ques-
tions that Muslims often ask as
they have been taught from their
childhood in the Madrasas. Ma-
drasas are religious school where
children are sent at a very ear-
ly age to learn Arabic and other
teachings of Islam. Here they are
also taught about Christianity,
most of which is distorted.
1. The Bible is corrupted: The rea-
sons why Muslims accuse Chris-
tians of corrupting the Bible is
a. They believe
that Jesus is only a Prophet like
any other prophet sent by Allah.
In order to make him God, his dis-
ciples corrupted the Bible.
b. Secondly, they
believe that Allah has been send-
ing a book to each of the proph-
ets. Accordingly Allah gave
Prophet Moses the book of Thau-
rath (the Pentateuch). Since the
Jews strayed away from Allah, the
Rajadurai
QUESTIONS
MUSLIMS ASK
mission
(continued from the last issue)
feature
13. 24 25May 2015 May 2015
mission
book was taken away to heaven.
Then God gave the Injil (Gospels)
to Isa Nabi (Jesus). Since Chris-
tians too strayed from the path of
Allah the Injil was also taken up
by Allah. This means the present
Bible is not original.
c. Finally they be-
lieve that Quran is the ultimate
revelation from God and it can-
not be corrupted and contains
no mistakes. However on com-
parison with the Bible one can
find many contradictions. They
have been required to believe
in the former revelations like the
Thaurath, Zabur (Psalms) and In-
jil. If those books are also from
Allah there cannot be contrac-
tions among them. The only way
to resolve this problem is to con-
clude that since Quran cannot
contain mistakes, the Jews and
Christians must have corrupted
their books.
How to answer them?
The best way to answer
a question is to ask them certain
questions.
1. Who corrupted the Bible
2. Where is the uncorrupt-
ed Bible?
3. If someone corrupted
the Bible how did all the other
Christians accept it?
It could be seen that the errors
pointed out by them relate to
numbers which might have oc-
curred during manual copying of
manuscripts. Since the Scriptures
were written thousands of years
ago, we do not have the original
manuscripts. But many copies of
the original are available. Recent
archeological discoveries prove
that the Bible that we have is very
much close to the original.
2. Jesus is not God but only
a prophet/Jesus is not God/Jesus
is not Son of God/Jesus did not
die on the cross:
Muslims believe that Allah is one.
The greatest sin one can commit
against Allah is to equate any one
with Him. Jesus is like any other
prophet sent by Allah. Hence to
equate Jesus with Allah is a sin
and not acceptable to them.They
have a wrong idea of Trinity. They
believe that the Christians be-
lieve Allah had sexual intercourse
with Mary and begot Jesus. Thus,
according to them Trinity is Allah,
Mary and Jesus.
How to answer them?
For all their questions about Je-
sus, Quran itself offers answers to
them as follows:
He was born of a virgin
(S.19.20)
He was sinless and holy
(S.19:19)
He is the Messiah
(S.4.171)
He is God’s word
(S.4.171)
He is the Spirit from God
(S.4.171)
He created life
(S.5.113)
James Hudson Taylor was a
British Protestant Christian mis-
sionary to China and founder of
the China Inland Mission. He was
born on May 21, 1832 at Barnsley,
England. Taylor was born into a
Christian home. His father was
a chemist and a local Methodist
preacher. Once at age 4, Hudson
told,“When I am a man I mean to
be a missionary and go to Chi-
na.” However, soon young Taylor
became a sceptical and worldly
young man. At 15 he entered a
local bank and worked as a ju-
nior clerk. His conversion is an
amazing story. When he was 17
years of age he went into his fa-
ther’s library one afternoon in
June, 1849 in search of a book to
read. Finally he picked up a gos-
pel tract entitled, “It is finished”.
He came upon the expression,
“The finished work of Christ,” and
the Holy Spirit spoke to him. As
a result he received Christ as his
Saviour. At that time, his mother
Amelia was praying with tears for
his conversion.
His vision to go to China grew
strong. In preparation he stud-
ied about the geography and
customs of China. He studied
Latin, Greek and Hebrew. Also he
learned to read the New Testa-
ment in Chinese. For five years he
worked in his father’s shop. Also
he worked as an assistant of a
doctor and studied medicine. He
usedtogivetwothirdofthemon-
ey he earned, for missions. Finally
on Sep 19, 1853 he went to Chi-
na with the support of Chinese
Evangelisation Society. On March
1st 1854 he reached Shanghai,
China. Initially he worked with
LMS missionaries. He faced lot of
challenges with food, language
etc. He started learning Mandarin
language to get access to local
areas. He along with his mission-
ary friends distributed 3000 New
Testament and 7000 Tracts in 3
Eby Roy
[Member of Chathannoor EGF. Working at
Brillio Technologies, Technopark, Trivandrum]
Missionary Biography
Hudson Taylor
biography
(Continues on Page no. 26)
14. 26 27May 2015 May 2015
months.
In Jan 20, 1858 Hudson Taylor
married Maria Dyer. She was a
good support to him in his mis-
sion work. But on July 23, 1870
Maria died at the age of 33 due
to Cholera leaving behind 8 chil-
dren and Hudson. At that time
all the missionary works in China
were done around the port cit-
ies only. Taylor had the desire to
work in the interior parts of China
also. As Chinese Evangelisation
Society becomes inefficient, Tay-
lor began to work independent-
ly. Thus the China Inland Mission
was born on Sunday, June 25,
1865. As part of strengthening
his mission work he came back
to England. When he went back
to China in 1866 a team of vol-
unteers including 18 elders and
4 children accompanied him. By
1870 there were 33 missionar-
ies with 13 stations and 8 sub-
stations. Many Chinese people
came to know the Lord. By 1905
out of 18 provinces in China, Chi-
na Inland Mission reached the
17 provinces and there were 849
missionaries at that time. At the
age of 73 God called him home
and he was buried with his Maria
at the foot of green hills near the
Yangtze River in China.
He healed diseases
(S.5.113)
He raised dead to life
(S.5.113)
He came with clear signs
(S.19.2, 21.19)
He will be great both in
this world and in the next world
(S.3.45)
He was raised to heaven
(S.4.158)
He is going to come
back to judge the world (S.43.61)
When Quran itself attests to the
virgin birth, death and resurrec-
tion of Jesus and to his omnip-
otence, they have no reason to
question the divinity of Jesus.
One word of caution: when they
want to argue with you, it is bet-
ter to politely withdraw from the
argument and present the gos-
pel in a gentle manner. Continue
to pray for them. The Holy Spirit
will do His work and draw them
to Him.
(to be continued)
The author serves as Director –
Member Care, Neighbours Peace
Ministries, a missionary organiza-
tion, and works among Muslims.
(Continues from Page no. 24)
biography
15. Printed by Prof. P. G.Varghese & Published by Christudas K.V. on behalf of UESI PublicationTrust &
Printed at:Thomson Press. Designed byVithosh. Editor: Prof. P. G.Varghese
Our Contact RNI Reg. No. 36127/83 Published on 4th May 2015 uesikerala.org Rs 20/-
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