Dr. Sana Singh, the new director of Baptist Mid-Missions’ Partnership Missions, holds a tremendous advantage as a liaison between American and Asian churches: he is our first Asian national to lead the ministry.
A successful Asian-North American partnership
Partnership Missions (PM) operates on the premise that nationals can best reach nationals with the gospel, especially in areas where foreign missionaries are prohibited. Through help from North American churches, Partnership Missions provides Asian churches with needed resources for ministry training, evangelism, discipleship, and church planting. As PM director, Dr. Singh will partner with church associations in India and Myanmar to help them use these resources with the wisest stewardship possible.
As an Asian national who fully understands the culture and people, and who has already worked with some of these church associations, Dr. Singh can easily move into his new role. And, being based out of India, he will be on-site many more months out of the year than previous American PM directors could be. Also, as Dr. Singh seeks PM partners in the States, he has a strong American connection through his US-born wife, Nancy, and through studies done in the US.
Preparation and Training
Dr. Singh grew up in northeast India and was saved in 1964 during a gospel presentation at BMM’s Makunda Leprosy Hospital, where his father had been on staff. During college he took active part in the evangelism ministry of the local church and helped his mentor, missionary Jim Garlow, translate Sunday School materials into Bengali. He joined the Indian Army as an officer in 1969. Sensing God’s call to ministry, Dr. Singh resigned from the Army in 1973 and accepted an invitation to become General Administrator of the Makunda Leprosy Hospital. There, he met BMM missionary Nancy Lewis, and they married in 1978.
In 1985, Dr. Singh sensed the need to get further training. He and Nancy moved to the US, where he received an MDiv, ThM, and later a DMin at Baptist Bible Seminary in Clarks Summit, Pennsylvania. As Dr. Singh studied Greek, he realized that he could help produce a much better translation into his own and other Asian languages. In 1992, he and Nancy became the first national staff members for Bibles International (BI), BMM’s Bible translation division. They joined as full-time BI missionaries in 1997.
Current Work
Dr. Singh has since been working with BI as a translation consultant on more than 15 language projects in India and Myanmar. The Singhs also helped start two churches, the most recent at Pailapool, India, where he is a pastor.
As new PM director, Dr. Singh plans to continue the good work already done through Partnership Missions. His desire is to make the most of the enormous potential of fulfilling the Great Commission in Asia by strengthening churches, training new workers, and sending them out to start their own churches.
For more information about Partnership Missions, visit http://www.partnershipmissions.org/.