Diaspora Ministry at the Local Beach

Last spring during our Hamilton Challenge urban missions training course, held in downtown Hamilton, Ont., we invited Pastor Bhupinder from Toronto to teach our Sikh outreach seminar.

An offshoot of Hinduism, Sikhism is a religion founded more than 500 years ago in the Punjab region of India.

Pastor Bhupinder and his wife, both former Sikhs, became Christians after his wife had a vision of Jesus. More investigation and the mentoring of a caring pastor eventually led them to accept Christ.

After Pastor Bhupinder’s teaching session, we went to a local mall where we had an interesting conversation about the Bible
Then that evening we went to a local Sikh Temple (Gurdwara) where we experienced Sikh worship and viewed the Sikh Holy Book (Guru Granth Sahib). We also ate together the traditional Sikh meal called the Langar.

Sikhism preaches a message of devotion and remembrance of God at all times, truthful living, equality of mankind and denounces superstitions and blind rituals. It has about 20 million members around the world, according to Sikhs.org.

Three months after our evening at the Sikh temple, I was enjoying some family time at a local beach. Imagine my surprise when a group of happy people began to assemble near us. Down into the water they went, many wearing long colorful robes. Some were already gathered in the water praying. I looked closer and there was Pastor Bhupinder.

It turns out that he was there to baptize six new believers in Christ from a Hindu or Sikh background. Each one went out into the water and was immersed with much singing and praising God. Although it was all in Punjabi, I could make out many “Hallelujahs.”

Afterwards, I greeted Pastor Bhupinder and he gave me a big hug. He updated me on their church situation—they recently found a church with rental space for their little group to meet for worship on Sunday afternoons.

I expressed my hope to visit this small emerging church on a future Sunday. I wished them God’s blessing as they left to celebrate with these new brothers and sisters in Christ.

I am glad to have had the privilege to witness this joyous occasion and to encourage Pastor Bhupinder and his new church forming in our region, a church of the diaspora. We hope to encourage and eventually partner with more churches like this through the ministry of Salaam 2.0 and Resonate Global Mission.