Clay City | Ruth Trowbridge remembers crying as a fourth grader when she heard about the great poverty and spiritual need in India. Now in her 60s, Trowbridge was 10 when a school lesson gave her a burden for a country on the other side of the world.
“Somebody needs to tell them about Jesus,” she thought then.
Last September, Trowbridge finally traveled to India to do just that. After years of dreaming about a mission trip, she went with a small group of Americans to help train Indian Christians to share the gospel. Through an interpreter, Trowbridge taught a women’s Bible study. Her husband, Ed, worked with local pastors.
“It was a dream come true,” said Trowbridge, a member of Community Baptist Church in Clay City. The Trowbridges traveled with a small team led by Southern Baptist evangelist Bo Shedd. Along with facilitating training sessions for adults, their team worked with children and also led evangelistic services in the evenings.
During their two weeks there, the team ministered to more than 1,000 people. In India, Trowbridge said, only about 1% of people are evangelical Christians. And in the villages where her team worked, people have had no way of hearing the gospel.
“You’d think there wouldn’t be a part of the world left where they haven’t heard the gospel,” Trowbridge said. The team worked with an Indian family whose Christian heritage goes back to missionary William Carey. The family has planted several churches in remote villages in southern India, and have also established a training center to help pastors in the region.
When asked if her trip was everything she’d imagined it would be, Trowbridge said, “And more.” She’s already planning and praying about a return in early 2019.