The Life and Ministry Impact
of Ezra Sargunam
By David Dick
Vice President at Large
In the 1960s, a young man and his classmates from Allahabad Bible Seminary in
India distributed tracts to the Hindu pilgrims gathered for the Kumba Mela (Hindu
Grand Festival). However, the event
turned violent. An angry mob attacked,
chasing and beating them. In the stampede, the young man was knocked to the
ground and trampled. To escape the ire
of the militant Hindus, the student’s bus
driver left without him.
The young man walked back to his
campus, utterly dejected, and contemplated quitting the ministry. At the seminary library, his eyes fell on a large Bible
on display. He saw Paul’s exhortation to
the Ephesian elders: “But I do not account my life of any value nor as precious
to myself, if only I may finish my course
and the ministry that I received from the
Lord Jesus, to testify to the gospel of the
grace of God” (Acts 20:24).
This verse became a determinative
text for the rest of Ezra Sargunam’s life.
After that night, he continued his education, and God has continued to use him in
mighty ways.
Rev. Dr. Ezra M. Sargunam was born of
first-generation Christian parents on July
19, 1938, in an obscure village in South
India. They named him after the scribe in
Nehemiah 8. In 1957, he accepted Jesus
Christ as his personal Savior and became
a pastor in the Evangelical Church of India
(ECI). When he initially tried to enroll at
Allahabad Bible Seminary (ABS) at age 16,
he was refused because of his youth. He
pleaded with the administration. “If I am
unable to do the work after one semester,
turn me out and make me go home. But
if I can do the work, then let me stay and
prepare for the ministry.” They agreed.
During his years of education, Ezra was
exposed to the great church growth principles, including reaching the unreached
and the least-reached people groups, beginning with the most responsive ones.
In the early 1970s, ECI had less than
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