Agents of Transformation
John K. Mathew, California

We are living in a changing world. Anyone who has lived through the last fifty years has seen more changes, more dramatic changes, than were made in all of the centuries before that time. The man of one hundred years ago never dreamed of a “horseless carriage,” an automobile that would run eighty or ninety or more miles per hour. The thought of a jet plane flying through the air at six hundred or more miles per hour would have been beyond his wildest dreams. And the thought of a building over one hundred stories high would have overwhelmed him.

The computer and the internet provide an unlimited amount of information. Knowledge doubles every year, and it is available at our fingertips. Change is God’s order. Christians have played a decisive role in making changes in the world. We are change agents. Sometimes it starts from humble beginnings. How many different kinds of cars do we have on roads today? It all started from humble beginnings. Jim Mateja’s account of its gradual progress in the Chicago Tribune in 1996 on the one hundredth anniversary celebration of the auto industry is interesting.

1. 1896 Duryea Motor Wagon. For the first time more than one vehicle was manufactured from the same design (thirteen the first year).
2. 1901 Curved Dash Olds. This was the first mass-produced vehicle (425 the first year).
3. 1908 Ford Model T. Known as the Tin Lizzie, this car put America on the road.
4. 1941 Willys Jeep. The jeep helped win World War II and proved to be the forerunner of the sport-utility vehicle.
5. 1949 Volkswagen Beetle. This was “The People’s Car,” and in 1973 it overtook the Ford Model T as the world’s best-selling car.
6. 1953 Chevrolet Corvette.
7. 1964 Pontiac GTO.
8. 1964 Ford Mustang. The Mustang set a first-year record of 417,000 sales, and drew a cult following.
9. 1984 Chrysler minivan. It replaced the station wagon as a people carrier.
10. 1986 Ford Taurus. By 1992 it was the industry’s top-selling car.

Ten cars that made a big difference in the auto world.

Like these cars, each of us is called to make a difference in our world. We are change agents. God calls us to be salt, light, ambassadors for Christ. He wants each of us to leave our workplace, family, neighborhood, church a better place than when we came.”

A few icons in the Christian world acted as instruments of change in different parts of the world.

Martin Luther: He was born in 1483 to a peasant couple in Eisleben, Germany. His father, a miner, pushed him toward the study of law, sending him to the University of Erfurt. But a narrow escape from death by lightning made young Luther change course. He entered an Augustinian monastary in 1505 and became a priest in 1507. In 1517, the German monk Martin Luther, who had discovered the concept of justification by faith through his study of Scripture, launched a reform of Roman practices.

William Carey (1761-1834): A British cobbler immigrated to India with a burning passion for lost souls, and caused considerable change in the land. Sati (An evil practice which existed for centuries, maintaining that the wife must die in the funeral pyre of her husband to please him, regardless of his or her age!) was abolished by his effort. The Bible was translated into the classical Indian languages and intellectuals were attracted to Christianity.

Charles G. Finney was born August 29, 1792 and heard almost no gospel preaching during his early years. At the age of twenty-six he joined a law office in the small town of Adams, New York. Here he was able to attend church services and prayer meetings regularly. On October 10, 1821 while praying alone in the woods outside the village, Finney experienced a powerful conversion. By 1832 Finney’s revival movement had added several hundred thousand to the churches.

Pandita Ramabai, a brilliant woman and former Hindu social reformer, became a nominal Christian, but in 1891 was wonderfully converted. She had built a center for Indian widows, and she bore a special burden for the younger widows and orphans. In 1901 she had some two thousand girls in her institution, which she called “Mukti” (salvation). Ramabai felt strongly the need for revival among her young widows and very consistently prayed. On June 29, 1905 the Holy Spirit came upon a large group of the girls. They were changed and transformed.

It was a Tamil convert named V.D. David, known as Tamil David, who brought a great revival in central Kerala. His meetings along with L.M. Wordsworth led ten thousand people to the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ in three months, in 1892.

If they can, you can! Yes, we are agents of change and transformation. I am confident that American-born Kerilite Pentecostals are smart enough to act, sincere enough to pray, willful enough to give, mindful enough to include, sympathetic enough to go. The Lord will act on our behalf. “Therefore, go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit.”