Where language is limited, the gospel still speaks
Following Rev. Parthee’s visit to the States in August 2024, Arise and Thresh directors Caleb Fithian and Caleb Reeder visited the Reformed Protestant Mission in Sri Lanka to see what a 2025 group mission trip might entail.
The three churches they visited in Northern Sri Lanka are part of the Free Church of Scotland (Continuing), the first congregation having been established in 2012. Fithian and Reeder intentionally scheduled their trip to overlap with the visit of the Sri Lanka churches’ accessor elder, Rev. James MacInnes, from Inverness-shire, Scotland.
“The land, which we passed through to search it, is an exceeding good land.”
They were blessed to accompany Rev. Parthee and Rev. MacInnes over the course of their ministries for a full week. During this time they had the opportunity of conducting numerous house visitations which gave the directors an intimate perspective of the extent of poverty in the northern part of the country.
Their first home visitation was with a family from the congregation in Mullaitivu. To Reeder and Fithian’s surprise, unlike in the States where an invitation to dinner includes the hosts and invitees gathered around a table, the Sri Lankan brethren do not eat with their guests but wait until their visitors depart before finishing what remains of the meal. This reminded the directors that true Christian fellowship includes receiving as well as giving. To accept the generosity of those who are temporally impoverished and yet give freely and cheerfully was humbling and instructive.
Spiritually, however, the Sri Lankan believers are not impoverished, but are full of love to Christ, their Savior. The directors saw Christ living in them and experienced true spiritual kinship with these Christians from a culture and place so completely different from their own.
“Lord, bless and pity us,
shine on us with thy face:
That th’ earth thy way, and nations all
may know thy saving grace.”
The Lord’s Day Fithian and Reeder spent in Sri Lanka was full from start to finish.
They began their Sabbath worshipping with the congregation in Mullaitivu. Rev. MacInnes, accompanied by Rev. Parthee translating, preached on Acts 1, considering the 120 in the upper room. His three points were: 1. The Church is small, 2. The Church is submissive, and 3. The Church is sustained. Following the day of Pentecost, the New Testament church could no longer fit into one room!
This message was of great encouragement to all in attendance as they considered how expansive the Church’s reach is. Though small like a mustard seed, the Church is growing according to Christ’s promises of gospel advancement throughout the world.
Following the morning service in Mullaitivu, the directors drove an hour and a half to Kilinochchi, where they had the privilege of partaking of the Lord’s Supper with the congregation there.
The communion address from Rev. MacInnes came from Mark 8 on the woman with the issue of blood. As the saints prepared to partake of the sacrament of the Lord’s Supper, the gospel was clearly and beautifully proclaimed. The woman with the issue of blood risked being exposed by the crowd, but her faith moved her to lay hold on Christ. Sin is the Christian’s biggest problem, but the only solution is to look to Christ’s person and work. It wasn’t enough for the woman to simply have faith in Christ and be healed; Christ wanted to hear her confession and He drew out her faith. Every believer must say, as she did, “Lord, I touched you because I am broken.”
“Behold, how good a thing it is,
and how becoming well,
Together such as brethren are
in unity to dwell!”
Following the afternoon worship service, the directors partook of a fellowship lunch provided by the Kilinochchi congregation. Pastor MacInnes explained during their meal that the chicken curry they were eating was a delicacy which required the people to scrape their resources together to serve their visitors. What had initially seemed of little significance to the directors was, in fact, a considerable sacrifice on the congregation’s part. Upon receiving this information, the love of Christ seen in those dear believers became quite tangible to Reeder and Fithian.
A special part of the directors fellowship with the saints in Kilinochchi was their time with the young people there. They gathered in a circle and, with the help of a few young Sri Lankans who translated, attempted to explain their plan of returning in a year with more believers from the U.S. to organize a youth conference in Sri Lanka.
Afterwards, one of the young women posed a question to the group: “Who is your favorite person in the Bible?” She quickly qualified this by adding, “And you can’t say Jesus Christ!” The group then went around the circle giving their answers, which included Moses, Elijah, Ruth, and Job. Though limited and brief due to the language barrier, the answers to the question provided a window into the souls of the young people and the Lord’s work in their lives.
Their fellowship concluded with the Kilinochchi youth requesting that Reeder and Fithian sing to them! The directors chose to sing Psalm 67, a psalm containing gospel promises that all nations will praise the Lord.
The churches in Sri Lanka have only a partially-translated psalm book for singing. Psalm 67 has not yet been translated for their psalter, but in God’s providence, Rev. Parthee identified that their translation of Psalm 67 in the prose matched a short-metre tune in the Scottish Psalter. Without having to change the words and needing only to rearrange some lines, the Sri Lankan Christians now have the ability to sing the glorious and triumphant words of Psalm 67!
Following their fellowship in Kilinochchi, Reeder and Fithian hastened back to Mullaitivu to conclude their Sabbath Day with the evening service there.
Following the service, Rev. Partheepan requested that the directors address the young people in Mullaitivu as they had done in Kilinochchi. After asking the young people to sit together in the first row, Parthee retired to the back of the church to drink tea with Rev. MacInnes.
Puzzled, Reeder hesitantly approached Parthee. “So, what exactly would you like us to do?” he asked.
“Tell them about your plans for next year—do your thing, sing to them!” was the reply.
Reeder and Fithian turned and faced the young people with the same thought going through their minds: They don’t speak English!
But they gave it a shot, albeit a bit robotically, with several pauses. “We are planning to come back next year and bring a group of our friends with us.”
Blank stares. More silence.
Suddenly, a young lady began to speak, translating what the directors said into Tamil.
Praise the Lord! Reeder and Fithian thought, relieved.
Although they had not met her earlier, they learned that the young woman was in college studying to be a medical doctor. University students in Sri Lanka generally speak English, but only those at the top of their class in high school can attend college. Although college tuition is paid for by the Sri Lankan government, it is difficult to rank high enough because most families cannot afford tutors. The directors learned there are far greater challenges to obtaining the privilege of higher education in Sri Lanka than in the U.S.
After closing their time with the young people in Mullaitivu by singing Psalm 67, they lingered for a time afterwards talking with some families while Rev. Parthee drove the members home, as it was monsoon season and pouring rain.
When their trip drew to a close, Fithian and Reeder departed Sri Lanka with their desire to return to serve the brethren and worship the Lord with them only increasing. Their investigative trip left them anticipating eternity in glory, when they will worship the Lamb that was slain with believers from every tribe, tongue, and nation, made perfect in holiness, with all tears wiped from their eyes.
More information can be found in our article December 2025 Group Mission: Sri Lanka.