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These points apply to Sri Lanka equally well. The Buddhist monk is one who has renounced possessions to live on people's charity. But the people regard the giving of alms to a monk as a meritorious act which helps them accrue good karma. Thus usually a monk who performs a service is given alms. The result is that alms becomes almost an essential payment if one is to receive their services. This makes it difficult for the poor, who may have to hire a taxi, provide a good meal, and give a gift if they want a monk to come to them. The Christian minister, on the other hand, will go to a place of need and offer his help to alleviate suffering.

Christians have been in the forefront of relief operations in connection with the unrest in Sri Lanka and also in connection with alleviating poverty. This has made the people receptive to the gospel. My wife and I belong to the majority Sinhala race, and over the years we have kept several Hindus from the minority Tamil race in our home during times of tension for the Tamils. I know of at least two of them who are now Christians.

Understandably, the growth of the church has resulted in much opposition to evangelism in the country. There is the constant talk of unethical conversion, where Christians are supposed to be winning converts by bribing them with financial and other inducements. Organizations have been set up to monitor Christian activities and oppose what they call "proselytization" resulting in these "unethical conversions." Attempts are being made to introduce legislation that restricts the freedom of expression of faith "in the interest of religious harmony." The opposition has also taken more violent forms with the torching of as many as 21 churches over the past few years and with assaults on Christian workers.

Some of those who joined the church have reverted to Buddhism as the opposition has intensified. Because of this, we are learning how essential it is that people attracted by the power of God are introduced to the other aspects of God's nature and salvation. Many churches in Sri Lanka seem to be weak in this area. Through observing the pattern of professed conversion and falling away, I am convinced that while most people come to Christ to meet a personal need, they stay with Christ because they know the gospel is true. After many followers of Christ had left because of his "hard teaching," Peter said that the disciples could not leave him because he had "the words of eternal life" (John 6:68).

This lack of teaching of the "whole counsel of God" may also account for evidence of a lack of godliness amongst a significant portion of the leadership of the church. Leaders often leave the group they belong to and join another group when they encounter problems (and there are foreign sponsors who are waiting to grab them as their representatives in Sri Lanka!). It is heartening, however, to see the new churches taking an interest in theological education. This is evidenced by the rapid growth of the four-year-old interdenominational Colombo Theological Seminary here in Sri Lanka.

The difficulties encountered by the church have also been an opportunity for great heroism. Lionel Jayasinghe was a Buddhist monk whose quest for the truth resulted in his becoming a Christian. On completing his studies at Lanka Bible College, he went as an Assemblies of God "missionary" to an unreached area in South Sri Lanka. After the church he started had grown to about 35 converts, he began to get threats that if he didn't stop preaching he would be killed. His brutal murder was witnessed by his wife, sister-in-law, and one-year-old son. Lionel's wife, Lalani, did not leave the area. She stayed on and continued the work even though she has also received death threats. Ten years after Lionel's death, his church has given birth to four other churches with about 1,000 believers in the five churches. The sister-in-law who witnessed the death, with her husband, leads one of these daughter churches in one of the most difficult places in Sri Lanka for doing evangelism.

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November 16 1998, Vol. 42, No. 13