We want to thank you all for your prayers and support for the annual missionaries and pastors conference. Since 2019 we have not held our annual meeting, although we continued to hold quarterly statewide meetings, and monthly area-wide meetings. From the morning of November 1 through the evening of the 3rd, we held our annual conference, where 156 of our pastors and missionaries came together to seek the face of the Lord, to pray for one another, and to fellowship with one another. It was a time of rejoicing for all of us.
The theme of the conference came from Matthew 8:3, “I AM WILLING.” From the first session until the last session, everyone spoke on the subject and the Holy Spirit was speaking very clearly and specifically to everyone. Almost every session we saw our Pastors and missionaries respond to the move of the Holy Spirit and come to the altar and our brothers were ministering to one another.
One session was set aside for praying for one another. It was really a blessing to see they were ministering to one another in the gifts of the Holy Spirit. Two afternoon sessions were set apart for sharing testimonies, and there were some amazing testimonies that came out of these sessions.
A village church grew from 19 to 312 in the past 3 years. One of our missionaries came from a remote tribal area where many people practiced witchcraft, and other evil practices are followed. He reported that at the last mission conference he attended in 2019, the theme of the conference was “not to be served but to serve.” He said he went back with a heart to serve, and he continued to serve the people in whatever way he could, even in the pandemic seasons. His love and willingness, and his serving attitude drew many people to the Lord and many of them became followers of Christ. Many experienced physical and spiritual healing through prayer in the church. This encouraged many new believers to invite more people, their friends and relatives, to visit the church. Today his church has grown from 19 to 312 baptized members! And most importantly, four of the witchcraft doctors came to the Lord and got delivered. Today they are going through our house church leaders training program.
Another missionary, who works on the Nepal border, reports that they are seeing supernatural displays of God’s power among the Nepali people in their area. In every meeting, they are seeing people transporting their sick in ox carts to the village church. When the church prays for them, they are seeing more miracles than before. God is healing people from many different sicknesses, then the ones who experience the healings come back the following week with more sick and demon-possessed people to the village church. Several villages are now open to the Gospel message because they have seen friends and relatives are being healed. Over the past three years, our 5 missionaries in that area have started 63 village churches and last year trained 28 house church leaders. Another 32 are going through the training this year. New churches have been started in these areas and many of the tribesmen have been trained to do evangelism and church planting.
Yet another missionary reported that in their area many Muslims are drawn to the Lord, many house churches have started and 103 Muslims were saved and received baptism. This is in an area where asking someone to change their faith carries a mandatory three-and-a-half-year jail sentence, and baptizing a person into the Christian faith carries a seven-and-a-half-year jail sentence!
Christianity is growing despite the obstacles. Another missionary reported they are seeing a great move of the Holy Spirit in their area. This county, which has a population of 2 million people, only had 230 known Christians 5 years ago. Today there are more than 4,500 Christians! According to him, God is using native believers to spread the Gospel among tribal people in different areas.
Due to the growth of the church in these areas, the Hindu radical groups are attacking the house church leaders and, with the support of the local authorities, are making false cases against them and arresting them. Seven of our house church leaders were invited to conduct a meeting in someone’s home, only later to realize the people were Hindu when they were arrested. By the grace of God their congregations were able to keep meeting, and all of the church leaders have since returned home. One of the missionaries said “there is a sense of fear in the atmosphere. Not knowing which church would be attacked, or when, is a constant threat in the hearts of the house church leaders”
During the conference, we made sure to minister to all our brothers who have suffered persecution, have been jailed, or have been humiliated in any way by anti-Christian groups.
Help Us Share the Gospel
Hearing the reports of our brothers from different areas, truly we can say our Lord is moving in a very special way, and He is building his church in India, despite all the hindrances, persecutions, and hardship.
To find out how your support will help us, click here. 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,