India (1903-2000)

Born to a devout Sikh family in India, Bakht Singh’s search for God started at a young age. He

desired to know God, but found truth and peace hard to find. According to Sikkh teaching,

peace cannot be found unless one finds Satguru, the true teacher. He would often ask priests

and his parents “ Who is Satguru? How can I find him?”

When he was 23 years old he went to Canada to study engineering, and had an encounter with

the “Living Christ”. Through reading the New Testament, he was convinced of his sin and that

the Bible was God’s book. He was discipled by his host family in Canada for two years and

began to receive frequent invitations to speak at churches. However, he resisted a call to

ministry, telling God to let him be an engineer, so he could give money to God’s work. God

spoke to him clearly. “I do not want your money, I want you”. In 1932 he surrendered to the call

to ministry and began to prepare to return to India to preach the gospel.

When he returned home, his parents welcomed him on the condition that he keep his faith in

Jesus private. He could not agree to this, so they tearfully left him. He traveled across the nation

proclaiming Jesus Christ as the only Savior and asking people to repent as they heard the Word

of God. As he traveled, there were many answers to prayer and many healings as revival broke

out wherever he spoke .But he was very disappointed by the number of converts who quickly

went back to their former ways of life, without discipleship,. He began to establish Christian

communities with the purpose of discipling people to share the gospel, producing gospel

literature and being a place of refuge for Christians who were rejected by their families or

previous employers for believing in Christ.

Wherever Bakht Singh and his co-workers preached the gospel, new churches began to form.

These churches were fully indigenous, following Indian customs such as sitting on the floor, and

taking off shoes. They also taught in the languages of the people and encouraged using

traditional instruments in worship. By the 1970’s God had used Bakht Singh and his coworkers

to start hundreds of churches, they were among some of the fastest growing churches in India.

Bakht Singh believed that this vision for the church and discipleship was not only for India, but

for the whole world. Eventually he began to preach and teach about God’s glory and the church

internationally, traveling through Europe, North America, Asia and even the Middle East. He

never compromised the principles of prayer, hearing God’s voice, and depending only on God

for provision. He desired to see the global church live by New Testament values and to express

these values in their own culture and language while welcoming everyone regardless of their

background.