I am having a great time and am satisfied in ministry to the places, villages and houses that God has been sending me to for the past few months.
These are villages and homes that nobody want to go to. The people’s lifestyle is in debauchery. They are illiterate. Most of the time, they have no job. If they have a job, it is a job that everyone hates (for example: cleaning drainage and toilets, or as cleaners in a bar or restaurants etc.). These people live outside of the village. All of them belong to the lowest cast of society.
No one wants to meet with or talk to them. Nobody wants to shake their hand. Basically, they don’t know what love is. They have no idea and have never experienced how it feels. It touches their heart if someone loves them unconditionally. Both men and women who live in this kind of atmosphere became alcoholics. They do not have enough money to go to a wine shop to buy alcohol, so they usually buy local, man-made alcohol in their villages and streets. This type of alcohol is super unhealthy to their bodies. Along with that, tobacco is like their chewing gum. They will have tobacco in their mouth almost 15 hours a day. They are extremely addicted to these life killing habits.
They cannot afford houses with concrete, so they build houses with rocks, mud, hay, straw, and tarpaulin covers. Some of the houses that I am visiting do not even have a door at the entrance, as you see in the picture. They live in complete darkness with unhygienic surroundings.
Apart from who they are, what they do for a living, and how unhygienic they are, when I saw them, I was moved with compassion.
I remember the situation I was in, when God took hold of my hand and pulled me out of this world. I asked God to give me the knowledge to preach the Gospel in simple language with simple examples so that they can understand about Jesus and why He was on the earth two thousand years ago. While I sit with them and shake their hands, I understand that these people are loved by God to the utmost–even though they are the least recognized by the earthly society. I know that I have a responsibility to take the Gospel to them. I am asking them to not drink alcohol at least one time a week, on the day when they know that I will be coming to meet with them and talk about Jesus, so that their minds will be clear during the time of sowing the seeds.
Praise report: The Lord has been opening doors to new ministry opportunities in different villages! I am starting to see the new believers desiring to grow in Gods Word.
Please Pray for These Requests:
For those who are hearing the Gospel to be saved, and for the new believers to grow and desire more of God’s Word.
For faithful men to be raised up in these villages.
For wisdom on how to divide my time between different villages
For God’s guidance as I plan to put teachings online in the local language.
For my mother to have complete healing to her body. Please pray that her lungs will be fully restored and for her to be able to move freely without a walker.
For my future marriage
Thank you all!
Pastor 7*
*Names and faces have been changed or omitted for security reasons.
I am here with great news about how God is working with His servant in the midst of darkness!
The first thing is that last month, I was blessed by a motorcycle for the ministry! It is a huge blessing to me because the rural villages, where I am going, do not usually have public transportation. Prior to this blessing, I traveled in buses to reach the villages and autos (small rickshaws). It was very time consuming to reach my destinations. Also, in the evening, I was not able to get any vehicle to take me back to my home or even to a junction or local town where I could reach a highway to be able to get private transportation. Getting the motorcycle saves me so much time that I am able to reach many more villages than before. I am also able to spend more time with the people to preach the Good News and teach the Word to believers.
In one of the villages that I have been visiting for last three months, there is an old man. He is one of very few believers of that village. He gave me his tiled house (above) to use for God’s glory–to run a church on Sundays and anytime that I visit that village. I have been using it to welcome children after school to teach them about God. I also have been having Sunday worship in it. It did not have electricity, so I worked with few people to get electricity into it (left). The children are learning some stories from the Bible, Christian songs, and how to pray. The adults are learning the Word of God.
I have now been visiting seven villages every week. I am teaching Sunday services in five villages, with at-least two families in each village. It is such a great joy to meet new people in this journey and help them understand about: the Creator, Creation, Sin, the Holiness of God, the sin nature of man, how God reconciled humanity to Him with His grace, and the need for you and I to believe and accept Jesus Christ as our personal Savior. A few months ago, I had no idea at all about how to talk to these people. Their lives are very distant from technology and they mostly depend on agriculture for their livelihood. But, I asked God to give me wisdom to reach these people and villages with His Good News with simple language and examples that can help them understand about who Jesus is and why He was on this planet two thousand years ago. God has really blessed me with the wisdom to talk to these people who have had their own gods for ages. Every person and every household has their own gods and idols in their villages and houses. It is a big challenge to me to help them understand their need (for a Savior).
All I am doing is going to the villages, meeting new people there repeatedly, and preaching the Truth. I am giving them the raw Gospel, that’s it. The rest of the work belongs to the Holy Spirit. I am praying for them.
Please pray that I am able to travel to many more villages, because there is totally darkness everywhere. It is my responsibility to bring the light–the Gospel that changes their lives forever!
“How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them? And how can they preach unless they are sent? As it is written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!”
Romans 10:14-15
God bless,
Pastor 7*
*Names and faces have been changed or omitted for security reasons.
I was so happy to meet with brothers from the North who work along with me with our mission in my country. I was very moved with the challenges they have in their ministry locations and the persecution that they are going through. How God is sustaining them in their lives is amazing, especially during this season.
During the January conference, I got the opportunity to share what I am doing and about the many places I have been visiting to plant churches. It was so encouraging for me to have everyone pray for me that day. I was so blessed to be able to attend the classes on “The Purpose of the Church” and to have fellowship with the team that traveled so far to meet us.
Children whom I am visiting regularly contacted me through a video call (above) when I was away for few days. My heart goes out to them when I see how they think of and miss me. I want me to share more time with them and to teach them Sunday school lessons from the Bible.
God is opening great opportunities to reach people who live in obscure places. I have started house fellowships and I am organizing churches on Sundays.
I have now been visiting five villages. I am working on visiting many more during the week days. Please pray that God will open doors to enter into different villages and give me opportunities to share with people who don’t know our Lord.
Love you all!
Pastor 7*
*Names and faces have been changed or omitted for security reasons.
I want to thank all of you for your efforts in supporting us. This first outreach program went better than I even expected! As I began to plan the outreach program, I wanted to use the funds wisely and completely for nonbelievers—mostly to reach villages where there are no churches or pastors for the people in the local communities. As a result, I decided to go to a village that is an hour and a half from my city. We tried to reach the beautiful children there. None of them are believers. Their families are in severe idolatry. However, I was able to reach them through a sister who is gifted in teaching Sunday School. She has been trying to teach the children there about Jesus for the last few months. Almost every child wears a thread or small idol on their neck or wrist, which was tied on by a Hindu priest or parent to try to protect the children from evil sight and black magic.
Our 1st Day Of Outreach
As I went to this new village, I was welcomed into their community with flowers, which surprised me. Then we introduced ourselves to each other. Then, the children in the Sunday School started to tell memory verses they had learned from the Bible, like Psalm 23:1 and other great verses. After that, we helped the children to participate in a skit of Jesus’ birth. Each child had a role in the skit, and as they
participated, they were hearing about Jesus’ birth for the first time. Even though we didn’t have any costumes with us, it went very well.
I had also brought my laptop to show them a video of the Nativity. They enjoyed watching the video, and then we sang some Christian children’s songs with motions. Then, I led a couple of games with balloons for fun. In the first game, the children have to blow up the balloon until it bursts, and in the second balloon game, they have to sit on a blown up balloon until it bursts. Finally, we cut the cake and sang Happy Birthday to Jesus and distributed the cake to all of the children and their families! We used a local government school building as a platform to do the whole program. Afterward, we gave the teacher supplies to distribute to the children, so that each child will receive the following: an English alphabet set, 1 pencil eraser and sharpener, a blue and black pen, and a slate and slate pencil or two note books, and a sketching pen set.
This is the program we followed in every village and with every child—Enter the village, tell about Jesus’ birth and the reason He was born, play games with balloons, distribute school supplies, do a skit of Jesus’ birth, show the Jesus’ birth video on the laptop, and finally celebrate Jesus’ birthday with cake. Then, we would say goodbye to the children and move to another village.
While doing the programs with the children, some of their parents also came to see and hear what we were teaching the children, so I believe they also heard the Gospel in a very simple and clear way.
Thank you all once again!
Day 1 Outreach Program (Part 2)
After reaching out to 20 to 30 children in a village, I went to a neighboring village where I expected about 20 more kids. Surprisingly there were more than 40 to 50 children who participated in the celebration for Jesus’ birthday.
I used the same pattern once again with these children, but my laptop was not big enough this time to show the movie of Jesus’ birth because there were so many kids. In this village, I really felt like I wished I had a projector with a big screen and a microphone with a sound box because some people were standing to see what was happening. If I would have had a big screen, I would have showed the movie to all of them, and at the end I would have been able to explain the Gospel to them. Anyhow, so many children were blessed who participated in this program. At one point, I wasn’t able to control them while I was distributing stationary items and cakes.
What I came to understand through this children outreach ministry is that all of the older generations (the children’s uncles and aunts etc.) somehow knew about Christianity, but they are so opposed to it. So if some of these kids grow up continuing to listen about Jesus Christ and stories from the Bible, within a few years there will be a good church in these communities.
This is A* who is studying 7th grade. She is in the second village that I visited. She is a Hindu girl, but she came to me and asked
“Brother, how should I pray to Jesus? Should I stand or bow or kneel?”
So I said, “It doesn’t matter how your posture looks when you pray, but tell me this–Why do you want to pray to Jesus?”
So she said “It has been a couple years that my parents are not living together. I live with my mother in a different village. My brother lives with my father in this village and whenever I have holidays I come to visit my father. But my father never comes to see my mother. So I wanted to pray to Jesus to bring my mother and father together.”
After hearing her story, I felt tears in my eyes because I knew how it scars a child to have a single parent when all of their friends and others children have both parents. Since I studied in a residential school, most of my childhood was without my parents. So I felt so close to her issue so I encouraged her and told her that I will be praying about her family.
I was very satisfied to meet these types of children and to introduce Jesus to them in their lowest circumstances. This child is super smart, very humble and believing in Jesus, that someday Jesus will bring her family together in unity. I wish I could meet her once again and strengthen in her belief upon Jesus Christ.
Day 2 Outreach Program:
One of the believers from a church invited all of their relatives for Christmas some of whom are non believers and some are believers. So I attended that house fellowship church and preached the Word of God. I followed the outreach pattern with the kids and encouraged them to come to church every Sunday. I was able to meet kids here who are living with a single parent once again and strengthened them in spiritual things and prayed for their financial problems.
All of the kids and their parents were so happy to see the balloon games, cake cutting, and the distribution of stationary items. More than that, the children got introduced to Jesus and they experienced His love towards them.
Day 3 Outreach Program
In this village we went to, most of the people live in huts. After reaching there, we sent out a call to all the children. They appeared slowly. I used the same pattern with these children also.
Some of the children probably held a slate for the first time. The first thing I had them practice on the slate is what I had written on the slate (Love you Jesus) after I gave them the stationary items.
I was so blessed to plant seeds of hope in these little hearts and to give them a few items they need for their education like note books, slate, sketch pens etc., and show them the movie of Jesus’ birth and celebrate Jesus’ birthday.
Day 4 Outreach Program
We have a gas station that is run by the government in our hometown. Prisoners work there under authority and security. My father knows a prisoner who has been working there for the last few years. I told my father that I would like to meet that prisoner and celebrate Christmas with him. So my father helped me meet him. When I met him, I explained my heart for the prisoners. He said “Since it is a festival, nobody will say anything. You can bring a few cool drinks, disposal cups and cakes. I am going to invite my officer who is a deputy jailer to cut the cake.”
So I did as he said. The officer who got invited by the jailer introduced himself to me. I asked his name and added his name in a prayer before the cake cutting. Then 2o to 25 prisoners who work there gathered and participated in the celebration. Since they do not have much time to leave their jobs, I wasn’t able to take their picture altogether.
The prisoner who my father knows told me before I left that he wants to give me an ID card after he is released from jail. This way, I can go into the jail with government permission and spread the Good News. So I am praying for his release.
It was a happy thing to meet the prisoners and their officers and show them the love of Christ. The officer fed the cake to the jailers and jailers fed the cake to officers and I saw equality.
There are no ups and downs at the foot of the cross we all are one I was so happy to see the love of Christ made them equal on that day.
Day 4 Outreach Program (Part 2)
When my mother was hospitalized for more than 4 months in a government hospital, these pharmacists became good friends of mine. They would ask how my mother was doing when I went to the pharmacy. They have seen hundreds and thousands of Covid patients dying in that hospital.
So I went to that pharmacy on Christmas with a cake and soft drinks. I told them that my mother is alive and doing well because of her God and that today is the day that He came to the earth for all of us. Then they welcomed me inside the pharmacy and allowed me to have fellowship with them. All of them are serious idolaters, but I used my mother’s testimony to talk about our Lord. Now, I have more access to them to talk about God and what they have to do in response to the Gospel.
This Christmas season and the funds you guys sent helped me reach them with a great testimony. They know it is a miracle for someone who was admitted in an unconscious condition and to come alive and go home from the Covid ward after four months. So they believe it is only God who can do that.
God bless,
Pastor 7*
*Names and faces have been changed or omitted for security reasons.
November has been a challenging month for me in the process of finding out what God has for me in regards to a church plant.
I taught in a church for 3 to 4 months prior to the conference. To make the long story short, I am not willing to be part of it anymore. I have a couple of families who have come alongside me to start a new work for God. So, I started a Bible study in one of the believer’s houses. We are also visiting those who are sick and trying to comfort them with God’s Word and our presence in their houses.
I never thought that being a pastor was this busy. I think that coordinating with people is a big thing. Everybody has a different mind set and everybody wants to be shown on stage. I am asking God to please help me in this. I am the youngest one here and am not married. I am trying to get everyone on the same page. It is so hard. But when it comes to the Word of God, my team is saying to me ‘You have preached so well, your explanation was so good and understandable.’
The Word of God is the weapon. I treasure your prayers during this church planting journey.
Please continue to pray for me and the ministry I am doing for God. My past experience, since graduating from Bible college, has been so different than this. I use to be a ministry worker at Bible colleges in several different places of the country. My ministry was investing the Word of God into students’ lives, taking care of them while they were sick, and observing them on the campus learning new songs for worship and new languages. But now, I am dealing mostly with elders and with almost all age groups.
Merry Christmas to you all. Someday I want to celebrate our Savior’s birthday with all of you!
Pastor 7*
*Names and faces have been changed or omitted for security reasons.
October was a month of refreshing! Refreshment from the Word of God, seeing my old friends, making new friends, traveling to my favorite place, having fellowship with my co-laborers and eating delicious food with all of the saints at the conference.
5 years ago, I graduated from CBI in a nearby country. It was such a happy moment for me to be part of the graduation ceremony of my students in whose lives I was able to invest my time and studies–just like my pastors and leaders did in my life! Students who graduated told me “Thank you for everything!” and “Thank you for your time.” These things that they said blessed me so much.
Meeting my co-laborers all over from my country and a nearby country and Saving Grace’s team was amazing, It was just a few days of fellowship, but it was definitely needed and useful for me to move forward in this race. Everyone has a unique experience of ministry in their lives and hometowns. It was so inspiring and encouraging to hear all of their ministry stories and to learn from their experiences.
I came back with so many gifts that I had received from the U.S team and beloved ones. Every gift is a precious gift to me and every time I see them, it is a reminder of all of your love through our Lord!
Thank you all for your love and support!
Pastor 7*
*Names and faces have been changed or omitted for security reasons.
It is always nice to write to you about what is happening here with me and about the ways God is working among us, as we are growing as a spiritual family and church.
We have been doing a lot of house visitations for various reasons. Some are prayer meetings of thanksgiving. Some are birthdays. Some are different gatherings! Whatever the reason is, we are meeting and giving glory to God for what He is doing in our lives.
One of our church members was diagnosed with breast cancer. She is about 60 years old and uneducated. For this reason, I took a lot of time to talk to her doctors and was involved a lot in helping her to the point of having an operation and getting chemotherapy. We have been visiting her regularly as a church family to comfort her and show the love that is in the Bible.
Please continue to pray that our church believers would grow in the Word of God. Please pray that they would see the real depths of love that God has for them from the ages. Also, please continue to pray for my mother’s health. May God heal her lungs completely so that she can breath normally. I am travelling to a neighboring country for a conference. Please pray that I will be strengthened, encouraged, and refreshed with the Word of God once again and with the fellowship of the beautiful saints!
With love for you all and prayers,
Pastor 7*
*Names and faces have been changed or omitted for security reasons.
I am happy to write to you about the many things that God has been doing in the ministry here.
I am continuing to teach on Sundays from 1st Corinthians. I am about to finish chapter 2.
We had a marriage celebration at the church. The bridegroom is from our church, so it was a good time to have all of us attending the marriage and spend time as a church family on that special day.
I have been visiting so many houses of those who are desiring to have prayer meeting in their homes. Through this, I am trying to reach their family members, friends and relatives who have not experienced the grace of God yet!
We are also personally visiting a few homes to comfort families who have lost their dear ones, and to help them heal their broken hearts with the Word of God.
Once again, I am so grateful to my leaders who taught me the Word of God in such a way that changed my life. Now, I am seeing how believers are responding to verse by verse teaching from the book of Corinthians. It is totally amazing to see people coming to church regularly and listening carefully while I am preaching.
During the month of October, we are going to have government holidays for over a week for those who are in school/education for the biggest festival of our state, Dussehra. There are a few children and toddlers in the church. This would be a great time for me to invite them to church during the week to teach them about God from the Bible and maybe have more time of fellowship and worshiping our Lord. Pray for this upcoming season. May my desire also be the desire of all the youngsters in the church, and may the holidays be great days to focus on spiritual life growth for them. I have not announced this yet in church, but this is my thought of using their holidays for God’s glory.
My mother is doing a little better than she was in previous months but she is still in need of supplemental oxygen 24/7. A year has already passed, since my mother was admitted into the hospital on September 6th, 2021. God has been so faithful in providing for her medical needs. Please continue to pray for her complete healing.
Thank you everyone,
Pastor 7*
*Names and faces have been changed or omitted for security reasons.
I have been teaching the young girls in the church new songs, music and about how worship in the church should look. They are enjoying the new songs, and the meaning in the songs. The instruments and singing are becoming in tune with new sounds. I also explained to them that worship should not just occur at the church building, but it should be their life style!
The other believers also enjoy worshiping the Lord with new songs. I am slowly training them not to sound like gentiles (the world) when we gather and worship but we should be decent and in order in the fellowship.
While sharing the Word of God during the first month, I taught them some basic fundamental Christian principles from the Bible. It has now been almost 6 weeks. I have started to teach verse-by-verse from the book of 1st Corinthians. I was amazed at how the believers took it. It was like me at Bible College! I had never known about verse-by-verse teaching prior to Bible college. Now it is the same way with the believers here in the church. They love the way we are studying the Bible. The beauty is that they were amazed at how much they can learn the Word of God by studying the Bible verse-by-verse in depth. I am so glad that they are really able to taste the Word of God through this recipe. I am about to finish up the 1st chapter in 1st Corinthians. I am teaching about unity and how we ought to love one another and how we should have the same testimony as Christians in this society!
I teach 2 times on Sundays. From 10 AM to 12:30 PM, I share at a church in the city which is close to my home. From 7 to 9 in the evening, I share at a church in a village that is about 16 miles away. We are praying to start a church in another place also. Right now, we are waiting to hear from that family who is planning to host us and open their house for church fellowship.
I have great satisfaction to see how God is using me in this ministry and believers are learning the Word of God. They are on their way to become more mature disciples, instead of believers with stunted growth.
So please pray for these churches. I am truly happy for being busy in studying and making sermons for different churches on Sundays and for house fellowships, birthdays and different occasions during the week. It’s so joyful to me to watch how God is filling these believers with His Word and speaking and ministering to their hearts and mine.
Love you all!
Prayers
Pastor 7*
*Names and faces have been changed or omitted for security reasons.
One of the thing that I have failed to do during the last seven years is to get to know the other pastors who are doing ministry in my hometown and district. Mostly, I thought, “They do not know the Word of God properly. Most of them are not educated and did not go to a good Bible college. They love to teach prosperity teachings–some unknowingly and some knowingly.” So what happened was, I built a wall between them and me. But, as we all know, knowledge puffs up, but love edifies.
Sharing at a Local Church
I felt that I do have a responsibility to reach out to the men of God and people who are waiting for teaching about love and an exemplary life. So, for the past few months, I have been trying to get to know them. I have been going to them to teach and preach to their congregations. Interestingly, some of them are very humble and welcomed me with a great heart. They gave me a good time to feed their flocks. However, some of them thought I would take away their flocks.
I’m focusing on the pastors and congregations who are interested to know the Word of God. It is actually a beautiful thing to get to know some of the great men of God who are thirsty for Truth. As I read in a book, “God has sent you as a missionary to the place where you were born, so start preaching the Gospel from your neighborhood and your street.”
In my district their are 3 big cities and 13 towns. There are also over 1,040 villages and the second fastest growing city. So, even though I have been praying for a long time for my district, very recently I have realized that there is so much work to do in it. I am honestly praying to start a church in my hometown. My thirst is to teach the Word to people who are capable of teaching others and to see the growth of believers in the grace and knowledge of Christ. I have started doing a few things in order to work towards this.
Please pray that God would show me the steps and guide me in order to reach my goal for His kingdom. I am very glad that God has given me this great experience with men of God during the past seven years from 2016 to 2022. I am praying that this is the time that I will be able to actually use that experience into a God guided action. Hopefully, I will get back to you with great ministry updates next month. I know how much you all love me and have been understanding with me during this season. I owe you all a lot for that.
God bless,Pastor 7* *Names and faces have been changed or omitted for security reasons.
