Colony Five Came to Us by Annika Bergen
I lived in India for three months after college, and what struck me most was the intense spiritual hunger and darkness, crammed next to each other as close as the shacks lining the roads. For example, in one slum street we played an audio Bible and 100 people gathered to listen.
That was Colony Four. Right next door was Colony Five, with a police station at its entrance. When our team did outreach there, the police kicked us out, accusing us of trying to convert people (which is illegal in India). After a couple tries, we gave up.
Fortunately, God didn’t. The next year I returned and someone brought up Colony Five in a prayer meeting—“God, we don’t know how to reach them, but please somehow send your gospel there.” The next day my friends and I went out to share Bible stories in a wealthier part of town. We started talking with some older ladies, and a young man stopped to listen. The ladies lost interest, but he was mesmerized. He kept asking questions until I offered to send some team members to his house to share more.
“Where do you live?” I asked. “I’m on my way to work,” he replied, “but I live in Colony Five.”
The same kept happening the rest of my time in that city. I passed out Bibles on a street corner, and a man stopped to take a box back to his home, Colony Five. I taught kids at the vegetable market and a young couple from Colony Five stopped to listen. I shared the gospel at an apartment complex and a man from Colony Five invited us over for chai.
No matter where I went or whom I talked with, it ended with Colony Five, our lost colony. We gave up, but God never did. When we couldn’t go to them, He sent them to us.
