From Sand Dunes to Mountain Tops: The Story of Bishop John Victor Samuel

By Shirin Samuel

Some people read history as bystanders. Others contribute to history. This book by Mrs. Shirin Samuel, examines the life of a man who did both. This book will serve as an inspiration to others to create their own histories, in lives of service and in giving back to the community. All in the hopes that that will further influence others to do the same.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Partridge Publishing Singapore
• Release date: Jan 31, 2022
• ISBN: 9781543767469

Shirin Samuel

Shirin Samuel was born and brought up in a pastor’s home from Methodist Church in North India. Shirin got her B.A/B.Ed. from Lucknow University and subsequently studied Christian education at the Leonard Theological College Jabalpur. She taught at the Teachers’ Training Department in the city of Mathura, India. Shirin came to Pakistan after getting married to John Victor Samuel. Both John and Shirin worked in the Church in different places and positions. She volunteered her time and service to the poor, less-privileged, oppressed children and women and also organized Day Care Centers for the less-privileged children from remote communities. Shirin worked closely as an integral part of the international women’s “Asian Church Women’s Conference.” She later served as one of the executive members. In 1987, Shirin was appointed as the Executive Secretary of the International Committee for the Fellowship of the Least Coin. Shirin has authored several books about her children and Pakistan Church History.

Book preview

FROM SAND DUNES

TO MOUNTAIN TOPS

The story of Bishop John Victor Samuel

Shirin Samuel

68929.png

Copyright © 2022 by Shirin Samuel.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the author except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

www.partridgepublishing.com/singapore

CONTENTS

Foreword

Acknowledgements

Introduction

Chota Sa Mein Bachcha Hun (I Am A Small Child)

God has A Thousand Ways

God’s Plans for Our Lives

Crossing Barriers

Lord Determined His Steps

Growing in Faith

Move to Lahore

Servant of All

Multan, City of Saints

Trials and Tribulations

United Church of Pakistan

Hum Mita Denge Andhere Ki Diwar (We Will Erase The Wall Of Darkness)

An Accident Brings Blessings for A Community

God, Our Refuge, Shelter, and Protector

Dharti Piyasi Hai (The Land is Parched)

What is Man?

Wonders Happened

God Will Remain His Companion at All Times

Bojhati Hui Ankhon Ko Hum Khuab Naye Denge (We Will Give Hope To The Hopeless)

Battle for Identity of Church in Asia

Fifty Years Devoted to His People

The Magic of Books

The Farewell Visit

In Faith We Live

I Am with You in Each New Dawn

image2.jpg

May the story of John Victor Samuel inspire and give hope to all, just as it speaks to us every day.

Aeliya, Aaniya, Anchal, and Adarsh

Grandchildren

Foreword

69479.png

Bishop John Victor Samuel: A Life

Full of Abundance and Blessings

Bishop John Victor Samuel of Pakistan, the fifth general secretary of the Christian Conference of Asia (CCA), was a prominent ecclesial and ecumenical leader who contributed immensely to the enrichment of the Asian ecumenical movement through almost five decades of his deep involvement at the local, national, regional, and international levels. The metamorphosis of his experiences and outlook on life originally began in rural Pakistan, a setting that ultimately shaped his broader concept of the oikumene and God’s purpose in the household of God. His responses from time to time to God’s call to be a faithful steward in his vineyard became evident in his understanding of Christian witness as well as in his committed participation in God’s mission.

Bishop Samuel’s manifold contributions to the church and ecumenical movement spanned over four decades in the ecclesial and ecumenical arena in his native land, Pakistan, as well as at regional and international levels. He was imbued with the spirit of ecumenism throughout his life. The concept of ecumenism and the role of the ecumenical movement he believed in and articulated went beyond the traditional concept of an intra-Christian concern for church unity. Bishop John Victor Samuel—who was firmly grounded in a tradition of spiritual riches, prayer life, and contemplation—embraced the value of ecumenism in a form that transcended the traditional missionary evangelistic concept perceived and promoted in the post-Edinburgh missionary contexts and interpretations.

He was a pioneer in the search for a wider ecumenism. His ecumenical thinking always emphasised the diversity of peoples and how that could be made compatible with the unity of the people of God and the household of God. He believed that the challenge placed before Christians, especially those who lived in the multireligious contexts in Asia, would be the call to live a balanced Christian witness, recognising that God is at work in the entire cosmos and the church is only a servant in the mission of God.

From Sand Dunes to Mountaintops—written by Mrs Shirin Samuel, Bishop John’s life partner—illustrates many inspiring stories and incidents from his eight decades of marvellous life that had many seemingly impossible objectives, which were ultimately and wonderfully made possible by divine grace throughout his life. Mrs Shirin Samuel proudly remembers, and testifies to, the way she and her dearest husband, Johnny, lived together for 56 years, complementing and enriching each other’s life. An Indian national married to a Pakistani national at a very young age, Shirin left her nearest and dearest ones and her ancestral land in India to join her husband.

When she had to leave her home and move to her husband’s native land, Pakistan, everything there was totally strange for her. Yet Mrs Shirin Samuel gracefully adjusted to every situation she had to face, whether smooth or turbulent. She further narrates how her life journey together with her dearest husband reached its apex but then took them through the sad experience of his illness towards the end of his life. However, she adds with great satisfaction and admiration that she would not like to say it was a long journey; in fact, it passed by like a little twinkling star. It was a journey full of blessings, happiness, joy, hope, fulfilled expectations, interdependence, prosperity, growth and maturity.

Shirin Samuel, who spent more than five and a half decades of her life starting from 1962 to 2018 with her husband, affirms that God’s great mercies surrounded him and took him to the green pastures, finding joy and contentment. In fact, during their life together for 56 years, complementing and enriching each other’s life, she proved herself to be an excellent wife who was the crown of her husband (Prov. 12:4).

Bishop John Victor Samuel’s life was filled with stories of many dreams that were realised only with his hard work, diligence, and struggles. The encounters he had undertaken often took him away from the tasks he generally enjoyed doing. Various instances and stories Shirin selects from her husband’s early childhood and hard labour in rural Pakistan describe how his life experiences prepared him to take life’s unexpected situations seriously and wrestle with them to find solutions. She recollects the memories he had shared with her about the way he often ran to school and became the last one in his class row; often got scolded by his teacher but studied hard to be the best to get the highest position in his class. It is inspiring to learn that a person who had undergone numerous such struggles and hard experiences in life was ultimately chosen to be the first national bishop of the Methodist Church in Pakistan at 38.

When he was consecrated as the first native bishop of the Methodist Church in Pakistan, Bishop J V Samuel was entrusted with the task of giving hope and preparing local congregations with a new vision of the church. It was indeed necessary at that time as the missionary era was taking its last breath in most Asian countries, especially in the Indian subcontinent following the end of the colonial era. The Methodist Church in post-independence Pakistan found in John V. Samuel a leader with steadfast faith in God’s grace and power, and was endowed by the Almighty with invincible courage, dedication, initiatives, patience, wisdom, intelligence, and charisma to lead and guide its members. God chose the young J. V. Samuel to be the shepherd of the faithful in their new situation.

When a united church in Pakistan was formed as an outcome of the organic union of different churches in the country, Bishop J. V. Samuel became the first bishop of the Multan Diocese of the newly formed church of Pakistan and subsequently its moderator. He never disappointed the members of his church but took them along on the path of change with strong conviction and faith and accepted the success and defeats with magnanimity. Bishop J. V. Samuel was graciously and kindly taken to hilltop experiences to serve the church and the ecumenical movement in various capacities and positions at national and international levels in a spirit of humility, commitment, and obedience to the will of God. His leadership was widely recognised across the ecclesial and ecumenical world, and he would emerge as a staunch leader who could easily cross the turbulent storms he had to face.

While thanking God, who graciously made everything possible in their journey, Mrs Samuel, who deeply admires her husband’s manifold talents and qualities, also admits that there was despair, failure, challenge, defeat, illness, pain, or fear of loss at different times in their life; but God always kept them together in great faith in his everlasting love and guidance. In expounding the fascinating story of her life partner, Mrs Shirin Samuel writes, His story is an amazing anecdote. The readers would feel that how God was working in his life in different ways, protecting him from many dangers of life and blessing him with good health, unimaginable opportunities, innumerable achievements and a great number of infallible people who supported and encouraged him; his living faith made me strong in my faith that he was ‘God’s Chosen One.’

Living and working in a majority Islamic country’s context in Pakistan, he was convinced that dialogue of life and hospitality needs to be promoted in multireligious contexts where people live in open neighbourliness and share joys and sorrows, problems, and concerns. Based on such convictions, he emphasised the vital need for interfaith dialogue, helpful in breaking down prejudices and misconceptions and in correcting the way different religions have understood and approached religious life in other traditions.

The experiences he gained during his work with the Student Christian Movement (SCM) as the general secretary of SCM of West and East Pakistan, general secretary of the National Council of Churches in Pakistan (NCCP), a president of CCA and moderator of the World Council of Churches (WCC) Commission on Interchurch Aid and Refugee Service provided him wider exposures and experiences, which helped him hone his leadership skills in the global ecumenical movement.

When Bishop Samuel was elected as the fifth general secretary of CCA at its ninth general assembly held in Manila in the Philippines for a five-year term in 1990, he announced his vision by declaring I am a facilitator. I will sincerely work hard to lift the leadership in the churches who in turn will implement the policies of the CCA for a better future. In fact, his utmost contributions to the grooming of the future ecumenical leadership in Asia were evident in various ways across the continent. CCA’s four general secretaries who succeeded him, including me, happened to be former staff members who were selected and recruited by him to work for CCA during his tenure.

I am indebted to Bishop John Victor Samuel who recognised my talents and invited me to work with CCA in Hong Kong in the 1990s when he was general secretary. I remember the special effort he had taken to meet with me twice at a hotel in Hong Kong where I was attending a conference; he convinced me to accept his offer to work for CCA. He was keen that I should leave India and take up the assignment and use my expertise for a specially assigned task in the Asian ecumenical movement to deal with complex situations of estranged church and state relations in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia where the churches were facing difficulties under Communist regimes.

After seven years of my work with CCA when I was appointed as WCC’s Asia secretary in Geneva, he was so delighted and blessed me. He always contacted me and conveyed the message that he continued to pray for me, and he blessed me again when I was selected to be WCC’s international affairs director. He expressed great happiness when I was elected as the general secretary of CCA in 2015. Although he graciously accepted my invitation to attend the diamond jubilee celebrations of CCA as well as the Asia Mission Conference held in 2017 October in Yangon, Myanmar, he regretted his inability to attend those events as he was unwell those days.

It is with profound joy that I thank God Almighty for the life and witness of this renowned Asian ecumenical leader, Bishop John Victor Samuel, who was instrumental in shaping the ecumenical movement in Asia for several years. The Asian ecumenical fraternity is deeply indebted to him and appreciates his leadership in the global ecumenical movement. It is with immense pleasure and privilege that I commend his life story, From Sand Dunes to Mountaintops—written by his beloved wife, Mrs Shirin Samuel—for wider reading and reflection. I congratulate her for her patience in gathering the materials for writing this volume and the meticulous way she has narrated his life and witness. I am sure many will be impressed by the matured and qualitative ways in which Bishop J. V. Samuel led the church and society in Asia. May his legacy continue to inspire many more in our common ecumenical journey. May his memory be eternal.

—Dr Mathews George Chunakara

General Secretary, Christian Conference of Asia

CCA Headquarters

Payap University, Thailand

Acknowledgements

69479.png

My sincere wish to write a book on the life of my husband was supported by many people. I started writing it without recognising that it is not an easy task, which was made easy with help from friends and family. I am thankful to those who came forward to help me when I approached them for help, such as providing materials for some important decisions in his tenure in the diocese of Multan and during his time for five years in the Christian Conference. I appreciate the quick response of the present general secretary, Dr Mathews George Chunakara, for his help with some of the CCA materials. I gratefully appreciate the hard work of Ms Roseline, who collected the material of activities of my husband’s five-year tenure. It must be a time- and labour-consuming task. Again, I asked Dr Chunakara to get my husband’s photos. He showed his goodwill with his immediate response and made arrangements with his office staff. I received his photos within a few days. I send my enormous gratitude to them and special thanks to Dr Chunakara for attending to my requests when he was away for a Christmas break.

I am also grateful to Rev. Ashraf Masih, who collected the materials in Pakistan and sent it to me to complete his life story.

My very generous sons provided not only materials but also their technical expertise. They edited the book and ensured the book was perfect and ready for many interested readers. Our eldest son, Ajmal Samuel, in Hong Kong was always willing and ready to help me in the middle of his important work. My younger son, Dr Arjmand Samuel, has taken his precious time to put my written material in a book form to make it a book of memory of their father and my husband that he served God and his people as God’s chosen one.

I have no words to express my enormous gratitude to our sons and daughter to express their love, appreciation, and tribute to their very loving, gracious, and kind father. I am grateful to the multitude of people who willingly and happily extended their cooperation to him in serving God for many years and in different places and positions.

Introduction

69479.png

It was not an easy task to write the life