Bakht Singh

Bakht Singh
Born Bakht Singh Chabra
June 06, 1903
Punjab, British India
Died September 17, 2000
Hebron Chuch, Hyderabad
Burial place Narayanaguda Burial Ground, Hyderabad.
Nationality Indian
Other names Bro. Bakht Singh
Citizenship Indian
Occupation Evangelist, Author
Years active 1926 - 2000
Known for Hebron Ministries
Spouse(s) Rama Bai
Parents
  • Lal Jawahar Mal (father)
  • Lakshmi Bai Joya (mother)

Bakht Singh Chabra (Also known as Brother Bakht Singh) (Punjabi: بخت سنگھ; Hindi: बख़्त सिंह) (June 6, 1903–September 17, 2000) was a Christian evangelist in India and other parts of South Asia. He is often regarded as one of the most well-known bible teachers and preachers and pioneers of the Indian Church movement and Gospel contextualization. According to Indian traditions, he is also known as 'Elijah of 21st Century' in Christendom. According to his autobiography, Bakht Singh first experienced the love and presence of Jesus when he was an engineering student in Canada in 1929. Even though previously he had torn up the Bible and was strongly opposed to Christianity, he then became a Christian. He was India's foremost evangelist, preacher and indigenous church planter who founded churches and established Hebron Ministries. He began a worldwide indigenous church-planting movement in India that eventually saw more than 10,000 local churches. Singh died on 17 September 2000, in Hyderabad, India.[1] He was 97.[2]

Early life

Bakht Singh was born to religious Sikh parents Shri. Lal Jawahar Mal and Smt. Lakshmi Bai Joya in 1903 in the Punjab, British India.[3] He studied in a Christian missionary school. He was actively involved in social work through the Sikh temple. He was married to Rama Bai at the age of 12, on June 6, 1915.[4] After graduating from Punjab University he went to England for higher studies in 1926 and studied Agricultural Engineering. His parents were not in favor of him going to England; they were concerned that he would be influenced by Christians. Bakht Singh promised his parents that he would not be converted. [5]

Life in England and Canada

In England, he enjoyed the freedom of, and was greatly influenced by, the British lifestyle. He quickly adapted to this lifestyle, started smoking and drinking, traveled around Europe, and indulged in all kinds of fun and entertainment. He shaved his long hair, which was a mark of his loyalty to Sikh religion. Years later he went to Kings College in London, and in 1929, Bakht Singh went to Canada and continued his studies in agricultural engineering at the University of Manitoba in Winnipeg, Manitoba. He was befriended by John and Edith Hayward, local residents and devout Christians, who invited him to live with them. The Haywards always read the Bible at every supper; they also gave him a Bible. He liked their company and he visited church and started reading the Bible. After seeking for some time, he became Christian and was baptized on 4 February 1932 in Vancouver, British Columbia.[6]

Christian work in India

Bakht Singh returned to India in 1933 and met his parents in Bombay. He had earlier informed his parents about his conversion by a letter. Reluctantly, they accepted him but requested him to keep it a secret for the sake of the family's honor. Upon his refusal, they left him. Suddenly, he was homeless. But he started preaching in the streets of Bombay. Soon he started attracting large crowds.

Bakht Singh began speaking as a fiery itinerant preacher and revivalist throughout colonial India, gaining a large following. He at first preached as an Anglican evangelist before becoming independent. "Singh’s role in the 1937 revival that swept the Martinbur United Presbyterian Church inaugurated one of the most notable movements in the history of the church in the Indian subcontinent," stated Dr. Jonathan Bonk in Biographical Dictionary of Christian Missions published by Simon & Schuster Macmillan in 1998.[7]

He started thoroughly contextualized local assemblies patterned on New Testament principles after spending a night in prayer on a mountaintop in 1941. He held his first "Holy Convocation", based on Leviticus 23, in Madras in 1941. After this, the convocations were held annually in Madras and Hyderabad in the South, and in Ahmedabad and Kalimpong in the North. The one in Hyderabad was always the largest, drawing up to 25,000 participants. They would eat and sleep in huge tents, and meet under a large thatched pandal for hours-long prayer, praise and teaching meetings that began at dawn and ended late at night. The care and feeding of guests was handled by volunteers. Expenses for the meetings were given by voluntary offerings; no appeals were issued.

Testimonies

J. Edwin Orr, British Church Historian: "Brother Bakht Singh is an Indian equivalent of the greater Western evangelists, as skillful as Finney and as direct as Dwight L. Moody. He is a first-class Bible teacher of the order of G. Campbell Morgan or Graham Scroggie."

Dave Hunt, an apologetics writer: "The arrival of Bakht Singh turned the churches of Madras upside down. . . . Crowds gathered in the open air, as many as 12,000 on one occasion to hear this man of God. Many seriously ill were healed when Bakht Singh prayed for them, even deaf and dumb began to hear and speak."

Dr. Bob Finley, President of Christian Aid Mission: "I have never seen a man who has a greater knowledge and understanding of the Bible than Bakht Singh. All our Western preachers and teachers seem to be children before this great man of God."

Norman Grubb missionary statesman, author and teacher: "In all my missionary experience I think these churches on their New Testament foundations are the nearest I have seen to a replica of the early church and a pattern for the birth and growth of the young churches in all the countries which we used to talk about as mission fields."

Jonathan Bonk: "Singh's role in the 1937 revival that swept the Martinbur United Presbyterian Church inaugurated one of the most notable movements in the history of the church in the Indian subcontinent."

Ravi Zacharias, Indian-born Christian teacher and apologist: "I was a young Christian when I heard of Bakht Singh. His impact for Christ in India and worldwide has been immense."

Death

Grave of Bakht singh

On 17 September 2000, Singh died in his sleep and was buried at Christian Cemetery, Narayanguda.[8] The funeral was attended by nearly 250,000 people.[9]

Books

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Brother Bakht Singh Website". www.brotherbakhtsingh.org. Retrieved 31 October 2016.
  2. ↑ Bakht Singh, an Apostle of Christ from India
  3. ↑ T. E, Koshy. Bro. Bakht Singh. p. 29. ISBN 81-7362-553-0.
  4. ↑ T.E., Koshy. Bro. Bakht Singh. ISBN 81-7362-553-0.
  5. ↑ Brother Bakht Singh Website
  6. ↑ Koshy, T.E. "Bakht Singh of India". Authentic Publishing, 1 March 2008.
  7. ↑ Bonk, Jonathan. "Biographical Dictionary of Christian Missions". Published by MacMillan, 1998.
  8. ↑ "Brother Bakht Singh Website". www.brotherbakhtsingh.org. Retrieved 31 October 2016.
  9. ↑ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 8 October 2010. Retrieved 2010-10-10.
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