We rejoice in the Lord for the harvest we had during the 20 days of Christmas Outreach and public meetings. It started on December 9 and went until December 28. When we planned the outreach in October there was some apprehension because of the government’s anti-Christian polices and the Hindu radicals openly threatening believers in northern India that they will wipe out Christianity and cleanse every village in India. There were many attacks on churches, and many house church leaders were arrested, charged, imprisoned and denied bail.
When our leaders discussed this, everyone wanted to be part of the outreach. In Bihar some tribal church leaders met me and shared their vision to reach the unreached villages around them. I shared our Christmas Outreach plans and asked them to join us. They agreed, so 49 churches in a 70-mile radius joined the outreach. They were tribal people, and we had to train them to be polite, calm, patient, and to endure hardship.
On December 9th, 1,782 men and women joined together and started the outreach in five different states. They were divided into teams with 12 or more people per team. 139 teams went out, reaching over 108,700 homes in 497 unreached villages in 13 days of outreach. They met people in homes, villages, fields and on the roadsides. They shared the Gospel, gave out “Gospel of John” booklets, prayed for individuals and families, and invited them to public meetings. By God’s grace, our brothers and sisters were received with joy in most villages, while in some places they were humiliated, beaten up, and forced out of the village with strong verbal threats.
On Sunday, December 22 after an early morning service, we conducted an outreach from noon to 5:30pm. Over 27,000 believers, including men, women, and children, went to over 100,000 homes in the villages, sharing the Gospel, praying for people, and conducting open air meetings. They reported over 780 people accepted Jesus as their personal Savior, and many healings and deliverances took place, while believers prayed for the sick.
In one village, a family of 5 believers (both parents and 3 young children) were sharing the Gospel. Their oldest son ran into a schoolmate unexpectedly, who invited them to his home. The schoolmate introduced the boy’s family to his family. They began to talk, and the believing parents told them they came to their village to share the Gospel and pray for people. While they were talking, many of the schoolmate’s relatives and neighbors entered the courtyard of the house. They were very polite and hospitable. The believer’s family, upon seeing the relatives, and with the family’s permission, shared the story of Christmas. None of the villagers had ever heard the Gospel story. They all had assumed that Christmas was just the birthday of some great man. As they finished speaking and prepared to close with prayer, more people from the neighborhoods came. At this point, the number of listeners was more than 50, so in closing they shared the pure Gospel and gave an invitation. For the man who was speaking, it was his first time publicly sharing. His wife helped him share, and at the end the family sang a few songs and prayed for the people. One young woman who could not stand straight from birth, and had been brought by her parents, was healed in front of the people. Eleven people dedicated their lives to the Lord at the end of the meeting.
But as I said before, there was some trouble also. In another place, 52 believers, including women and children and their pastor, were surrounded by Hindu radicals, who locked them in the public school for 6 hours. Later the villagers informed the police, who came and released the believers.
From December 23rd to the 28th, 172 public meetings were held in different villages. The public meetings were well attended. Sherly and I personally attended 16 of these public meetings, where hundreds of people responded to the altar call. In 6 different places the Hindu radicals came and disrupted the meetings. In two places they damaged the plastic chairs and the sound systems. According to the report from our leaders who were overseeing the Christmas outreach, our brothers and sisters reached over 232,000 families or homes in 1,072 villages in 5 states. They gave out 490,000 “Gospel of John” booklets to the people, held 172 public meetings in the villages. A total of 45,000 people attended these public meetings, and for most of them they said it was their first time in a Christian meeting. At the altar calls, a total of 6,954 people responded. In addition, many healings took place. One 17-year-old young man who, according to his doctor, was 85% blind, was healed in one of the public meetings. In another meeting, a 42-year-old paralyzed man carried in on a stretcher was healed during the meeting and afterwards walked home. Later, his father, who suffered from severe depression and had tried to commit suicide several times, was delivered in another public meetings. These are just a few of the many miracles reported during the public meetings.
In summary, this year’s Christmas outreach was very challenging – spiritually, physically, emotionally, and financially. But by God’s grace and favor, and your earnest prayers, we overcame every challenge by His strength and His favor on us to reap this harvest.
Help Us Share the Gospel
As we lead the many new house churches that were planted in the Christmas outreach, please pray for us that our Lord would give us direction and lead us and guide us to disciple the unreached with the message of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Please consider helping us in this task. Without your prayers and support we would not be able to reap the harvest.
To read more inspiring and exciting testimonies of what God is doing among the unreached people groups of India, click the links on the right, and keep reading!
Proclaiming the Gospel…
…until He comes