Month: March 2018

M* is a young man from a village. He came to the city looking for success, but instead met with failures in his life and ended up as a drug addict. A friend of his brought him to one of our house churches, where he shared his life story with the church. They prayed for him and promised him that they would be continually praying for him. He regularly began to come to the church, and with the help and fellowship of the believers he was slowly able to overcome his drug habits. A year after being baptized he felt that he needed to go back to his village in the mountains. He knew he needed to share the Gospel with them, because at that time no one had ever heard the Gospel in his village.

The church prayed for him and sent him to his village. After being away for many years, he was now visiting his village as a totally transformed person. He slowly began to meet with people and began to share the Gospel with them but they couldn’t seem to understand anything.

Some of his friends from the church visited him in the village. One evening they were sitting together, singing hymns in their native language. Hearing the songs, the neighbors all came together to listen. The villagers still didn’t understand; they mistook the friends to be wedding singers, and invited them to come and sing for a wedding. Usually in a village, a Hindu wedding ceremony lasts for 5 days. On the first day they stood to sing in front of 150 to 200 people, but the Christian brothers were worried – what were they going to sing? At that moment they prayed, and God brought to mind a worship song they would sing in church. After the prayer, they sang that song and people really appreciated them and wanted them to sing that song again and again. They continued to sing for 2 hours and worship the Lord. This continued every day for the entire 5-day wedding. People from other villages were also attending the wedding. They too liked the hymns the brothers sang and invited them to sing in their weddings as well without realizing that they are worshiping the Lord among the heathens.

As they began to sing in more Hindu marriages, people began to get delivered, healed and touched by the power of God. This opened the door for them to share the Gospel with them and lead them to the Lord.

Today M* and his surrounding villages have 22 house churches with over 350 baptized believers. They meet together for worship in the evenings, in fields near the village. They are pooling their money together to build a church building for the village. They rejoice that they have come to know the true living God. Through Hindu marriage ceremonies, of all places, they have now become members of the Bride of Christ!

Two weeks ago, we were there in one of the house churches to celebrate Holy Communion with 150 to 200 believers!

“And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind…” Romans 12:2a, NASB

Two years ago, a few of our brothers were traveling to a meeting and stopped at a tea shop along the way. There they found a young man sitting and washing the utensils, and as he worked he sang a Christian hymn in the Hindi language. He had a beautiful and melodious voice. When the brothers realized he was singing a Christian hymn they thought he was a Christian. But to their surprise, they found out that he was a Hindu, and had never heard about Jesus in his life. The brothers asked him “Where did you learn the song you were singing?” He told them he heard it on the radio and was touched by it.

One of our brothers sat with him and shared the meaning of the song (it was about the suffering of our Lord Jesus on the Cross). They invited him to the meeting they were going to, about 4 miles away from where he lived. He was willing to come. A brother preached that evening about the suffering of Christ on the cross, and at the end of the message he asked the young man to sing the song in front of 250 people. He had never sung in front of so many people, so with great nervousness he sang the song. It was beautiful and almost everyone’s eyes were filled with tears, including his own. When he finished, he fell on his face and wept. That day more than 100 people responded to the altar call, including this young man.

Today he is one of the leading worship leaders in northern India, leading thousands of people to worship the living God in spirit and truth. Three weeks ago he was the worship leader in one of the public meetings where, when he saw our brother, he came and touched his feet with respect. He led the worship, then shared his testimony of how he came to know the Lord and how Jesus transformed his life from a street boy to a worship leader. This touched the hearts of the people, and hundreds of young people responded to the altar call.

In one of the holiest Sikh pilgrim cities in Punjab, S* and his wife M* have worked as missionaries with our organization for the past 9 years. During that time, they tried everything they could to lead people to the Lord, but they were unsuccessful. For five years, they had a small house church with hardly 20 people meeting weekly. They were feeling very discouraged and disappointed, so much that even their family life was suffering.

The changes began four years ago, when we started a training program in their city. S* and M* joined the 40-day training program, a basic Bible and church leadership training program. Not only were they learning, but each week they were also trying to practice what they learned in their ministry. They began to see changes in their lives as they were drawn to the Lord. They gave priority to the simple truths of the Gospel and the teachings of Jesus. As their lives began to change, they noticed a change in their congregation. People were slowly drawn to the Lord. They also began to pray for one another, collectively addressing the issues they were facing, whether physically, emotionally or spiritually. The Lord continued to move in their lives, and through their lives over the last four years, He has touched the hearts of thousands of people in that pilgrim city.

A few weeks ago, we were there to attend an outreach meeting, where more than 400 local people came, mostly Hindus and Sikhs. Today S* and M* have a tremendous impact on the community and are reaching thousands of people with the message of the Gospel.