Missions Professor Ministers 3 Weeks in India

Dr. Gary Royer, SAGU Missions Faculty, recently returned from a 3-week missions trip to India.  While in India, Royer taught a synopsis of the SAGU course “Understanding the Spirit World” in several settings.  Royer also spent a day with the SAGU “Contact” team helping a church plant.

According to Royer,  “It was thrilling to teach this seminar in several settings in India.”  He taught the seminar at a pastors’ conference in the northern state of Bihar; to the students at the Buntain Theological College; at a monthly gathering of cell groups leaders of the Buntain Assembly of God, Calcutta; to the pastors of the Hindi fellowship in Calcutta; at an all-church Break Free weekend conference for all eight language groups of the Buntain AG, Calcutta; and to students at Lucknow Bible College near Dehli.

Royer has done much study on the subject of spiritism.  When he worked with students coming out of spiritism in Brazil 37 years ago, he realized his need for a greater grasp of the topic.  He later pursued the subject in his doctoral studies.

“This trip was one of the most memorable experiences of a lifetime,” Royer commented.  “I have been in nearly 30 countries around the world and have seen a lot, but I must say this trip was unique in many ways!”

Though he went to teach, the trip was also a learning experience for Dr. Royer.  He remarked, “Now, that I have participated personally in the 8-language/8-auditorium multi-congregational model of the Buntain Assembly of God, I have a new model of a multi-ethnic/multi-congregational church to share with my graduate class Ministry in Cultural Diversity!”

Royer also spent a few days with the SAGU Contact team, who dedicated a great deal of their summer with missions director Chad Germany to plant a church in a very difficult city in northern India.