Miracle conversions

Wycliffe Hall is delighted to host visiting academic Professor Jibu Ninan, who is here on UK sabbatical to write up a fascinating research project examining lived experiences of miraculous conversions.

Jibu Ninan is Professor of Theology at the New India Bible Seminary in Kerala. Since its foundation in 1975 from Pentecostal roots, it has stood for the evangelisation of India and neighbouring countries.

Pentecostalism is currently growing fast in India while other faiths, including Hinduism, are declining.

In addition to his teaching at the Seminary – where he is also Pastor and formerly Registrar, Professor Ninan is currently writing a doctoral thesis for the University of Pretoria - a theological investigation of miraculous conversions among Indian Pentecostals.

For Pentecostal Christians, faith is powerfully experiential: not attainable through ritual practice or intellectual persuasion alone. Ninan’s research, accordingly, has taken him into communities to seek and hear the miracle conversion stories of some 70 individuals.

While each person’s situation and experiences has been different, what they all share in common is that they've experienced some kind of miracle healing or deliverance. 

“Many people in India are struggling with witchcraft and evil spirits”, explains Ninan. “They may have approached many of their own deities already, yet nothing has worked”.

He shares the example of a farmer whose cattle were dying one by one despite the interventions of the veterinary surgeon. The farmer was losing his livelihood. Yet when the Pentecostal Pastor came and prayed with him, the cattle deaths stopped and the rest of the herd was spared.

In another example, a young man was bed-bound, immobile from injury and barely responsive after a motorcycle accident. The Pentecostal Pastor came to the house and prayed with him. The casualty opened his eyes and moved his feet – and within one week was completely healed.

“Once people experience the love of God in their life in such a miraculous way, they never turn back”, observes Ninan. “Even in the face of persecution.”

Yes, persecution is a real issue. “People coming to Christ may be rejected by their families; their communities. Their spouse may leave them. There are quite a number of secret Hindu Pentecostals – people who have made their conversion to Pentecostalism but fearful of excommunication and rejection and losing their job, must try to keep this concealed.”

Ninan hopes his research will shed light on understanding the process of conversion as more than just a cognitive one, and encourage churches from different traditions to work together with a greater emphasis on personal outreach.

“Preaching the gospel and teaching the scriptures isn't sufficient”, he says. “Without some kind of transformational experience, it is impossible to fully bring people to Christ. It's not enough to believe what you hear – you need to experience it. Those who do – they will make up their own minds.”

Ninan hopes to show that bringing people to faith requires action. “You need to get among people”, he says. “Understand their struggles and life situations”.

“Go to their door. Pray with them. Just like Jesus – that was how he worked.”