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Many dedicated themselves to serve the Lord, and soon there was a large group of evangelists spreading the gospel throughout the southern parts of India. The late M. E. Cherian became one of the first Indians to resign from a full-time secular job to enter full-time Christian ministry. Though his resignation and entry into faith-ministry met with some resistance from some foreign Brethren missionaries (and particularly their wives) who felt it a threat that qualified local people were entering full-time ministry, Mr. Cherian was not deterred. He became sort of a pioneer when he left his native place and moved to another state for cross-cultural evangelism. He was followed by other pioneering young men like T. A. Kurian (Saugor), K. M. Mathai (Bhopal), V. T. John (Chandigarh), T. E. Easow (Patna) and Philip Abraham (Gwalior). Only Philip Abraham, 88, is alive as of this writing. These men became models of the Missionary Wave among the brethren, that depended only upon Indian resources and logistical support for expanding the work indigenously throughout the country, and even beyond.
==Growth==
The Lord honored the faith of the new believers, and the people added to the church kept increasing by the day. Soon there were churches all over the state of Kerala, Tamil Nadu (Madras), and Andhra Pradesh. Meanwhile some foreign missionaries who had come to India care of non Brethren missions were also won over the New Testament truths, and they also started laboring with the people of God in India. V. Nagal, E. H. Noel and Handly Bird being some of them.
Many dedicated themselves to serve the Lord, and soon there was a large group of evangelists spreading the gospel throughout the southern parts of India. The late M. E. Cheryan became one of the first Indians to resign from a full-time secular job to enter full-time Christian ministry. Though it met with some resistance from some foreign missionaries (and particularly their wives) who felt it a threat that qualified local people are entering full-time ministry, Mr. Cherian was not deterred. He became sort of a pioneer when he left his native place and moved to another state for cross-cultural evangelism. He was followed by other pioneering young men like T. A. Kurian (Saugor), K. M. Mathai (Bhopal), V. T. John (Chandigarh), T. E. Easow (Patna) and Philip Abraham (Gwalior). These men became models of the Missionary Wave among the brethren, that depended only upon Indian resources and logistical support for expanding the work indigenously throughout the country, and even beyond.
The second generation of the Brethren had their paths cut out by the first, so they were able to advance much beyond their predecessors. This then became the time for establishing assemblies, para church ministries, schools, orphanages, and hospitals. The third generation spread the flame throughout the country because they now had a strong army of people to support them. The fourth generation brought a lot of career-seekers from other denominations, mostly castaways from there and uncommitted to the assemblies, and created quite some problem due mainly to their deliberate attempts to hoard the massive but untapped social and financial resources that suddenly became available to them in this group. These men also became the leading voices that challenged the values, biblical practices, fundamental doctrines, and even the esteemed leaders that the Brethren Assemblies had held dear in the first seven to eight decades before this migration took place. Under the influence of the fourth-generation migrants to the Assemblies, groups of people even moved into cultistic directions, but the trend was arrested soon due to a remnant who sensed the danger and sounded the alarm.
The fifth generation of leaders and evangelists brought a new era in leadership, teaching, disciple-making, and planning. A large number of them were trained under non Brethren teachers, and therefore they were able to fill in the blind spots to which the leadership in the earlier generation was oblivious. What's more, a large number of them were men of high caliber and high professional background. This resulted in many changes, two of which are notable. First, they successfully put a cap to the rivalry for resources that was seen in the preceeding generation. Second, they began emphasizing quality along with quantity, resulting in a quantum leap in the overall quality of teaching from assembly-based pulpits. This also became the generation that began producing high quality theological and doctrinal books.
The sixth generation is now emerging, and only time will tell what it will be like. However, most observers at present are quite optimistic about the immediate future.