Nagaland has 10,000 Missionaries Poised to Take the Gospel to Nearby Lands
That’s the surprise message of the Christian president of the “People’s Republic of Nagaland” during a visit to the United States
By Dan Wooding
Founder of ASSIST Ministries
BEVERLY HILLS, CA (ANS) — Nagaland, one of the world’s most mysterious lands tucked in the mountainous, jungle covered northeastern corner of India near the Burmese border, has 10,000 missionaries poised to take the Gospel to nearby lands.
That’s the message of Isak Chishi Swu, the Christian President of the People’s Republic of Nagaland, who made this revelation during an interview before the 85th birthday celebration in Beverly Hills on Saturday, August 23, of charismatic leader, Harald Bredesen, which he was attending.
“We want penetrate China, Cambodia, Burma, Vietnam and Laos and Nepal with the Gospel,” he said, “and we have 10,000 missionaries who are ready to go.”
President Swu said that what is holding up the outreach is the finalization of peace talks between the Indian Government and the four-million people of Nagaland, which borders China, Burma and Bangladesh, who have been in military dispute for many years.
“We want to request the whole world to pray for us so that the peace process with India will be successful so that God will then release us and we can send us to preach the Gospel around the world, particularly in the neighboring countries.
“We are not demanding our independence from India, but we do need recognition.”
The soft-spoken president, who was born on November 7th, 1929 in a hamlet called Chishilimi in the Sumi region of present-day Nagaland, told ANS, that in 1921 my father in was one of the first converts in Nagaland, but he was not converted by preachers but by angels during dreams. He was taught by the angels in these dreams and became a Christian. God used him mightily and he and some colleagues ‘converted’ our whole tribe over a period of four or five years. Before this, our tribe was pagan.
“The American Baptists gave missionaries for our people, but when there was political crisis between the Nagas and the Indian government, they were driven away by the government of India. So the Christians in Nagaland started preaching and by the grace of God, we have 95 percent of our Naga people are now Christians out of a population of four million.”
The President said that Westerners can now visit Nagaland again after it had been sealed off because of fighting between the Nagas and the Indian government troops. “Since 1997, we have been having peace negations with the government of India and now they have decided to approach the Naga problem realistically and find a way to solve it. They have recognized the uniqueness of Naga history and so the peace process is going on.
The Naga people originally came from Mongolia, migrating to Nagalim in the 10th century BC. They lived their lives very isolated in the hills of Nagalim until the invasion of the British in the 19th century. With the invasion of the British, the problems for the Nagas began. The Naga tribes are generally full of folklore. They are fond of seasonal songs, solo, duet and choric. Here man has to fight nature all the time. The struggle however, makes people tough. The people are strongly built, simple, honest and hard working.