Missions Update

Read the article below for the latest from the Indian Churches of Christ:

God has been working in an amazing way in the churches in India and that has encouraged and inspired us in a great way.  We started the year 2009 with a mission of being focused on reaching out to the lost with a passion and so we set a goal of saving a 1000 for the year 2009 in India. By the end of the year we saw God powerfully moving to add 700 more souls. This built up a momentum and kept the disciples motivated and focused on evangelism as God intended for us to do.

In 2009, Bangalore saw 134 souls being added to its numbers and the church recorded a growth of 30 disciples – something we had not seen in the last 6 years. The parents of many disciples became Christians and that was very encouraging.  By having this focus we were able to draw all disciples who were on the sidelines, and see a renewed passion and a new zeal in them and the church is much stronger for that.

Another contributor to that renewal is the carnival that we hold as a church to raise money for missions’ in the Indian state of Karnataka. Every disciple - whether young or old, teen or youth, preteen or children take active part in it and contribute by either setting up a stall, organizing activities, serving, participating in events organized, bring friends, selling tickets or spending heir money but most important of all enjoying as a family.  It was encouraging to see many older Christians joining hands and taking on responsibilities to achieve the common goal of raising money for missions. The Christians had a great spirit about it and they served selflessly. Through this event God helped us to raise Rs.800,000 ($17,400 for missions)  To God be the glory!

Another amazing church is the church in Bidar. Bidar is a satellite church supported by Bangalore. Sent in 2007 today the church has more than 50 disciples and God has been continuously bringing many more to light in the district of Bidar. Philip and Pramila are doing a great job leading the church in Bidar.

The other encouraging sign is to see the teens of the church turning around. Many of them have come forward to study the bible & the spirit among them is very encouraging. Keeping that in mind the church has started a summer campaign. Everyday they come together to evangelize, study bible with people, or be studied with, have devotionals and other activities and they spend the whole day together. Some of the events are Indoor games, outdoor games, art and crafts etc. Basic life skills training are also being organized for and we are looking forward to see God doing many great things among our teens this year.

For the first time in the history of India the Bangalore church organized an ALL INDIA YOUTH CONFERENCE in the year 2009. Almost 500 single brothers and sisters from across south India participated in the event. At the same time 200 single brothers and sisters attended the conference organized by the Delhi church for the north Indian brothers and sisters. God blessed these events incredibly. The singles gathered under one roof to worship our God almighty and went back strengthened in their faith. The spirit in the fellowship was electrifying and it was exciting to see the future generation with dreams and passion for God. We are looking forward for this year’s conference at Chennai in the month of October.

The E Football project which the E Ministries from the San Francisco church helped set up for the special needs children has been producing many miracle stories. Many special need kids with their parents are being benefitted by this program. It is an opportunity for many volunteers – primarily teens who are serving to show the love of Christ through their service. We are hoping & praying to see families being reached out to for Christ through this program

For more information on the Indian Churches of Christ, go to www.incoc.org