June 2013

Our June newsletter heralds the beginning of summer. In the US, school bells will soon ring the end of school for the summer, but all over India those same bells will be calling the children back to school. For many families of evangelists that sound is a stressful one, because they do not have the funds to send their child to school or buy them the supplies they need. This is also construction season, and many areas of India desperately need a building for their assembly to meet. Other evangelists are dealing with the skyrocketing cost of health care, forgoing even their most critical medications in order to put food on the table. In this issue you will read more details about those needs, learn about the first martyr from among the brethren in India, about the man who planted a church many years ago in Gwalior that is still bearing fruit today, about a ministry that comes alongside the assembly outreach in India, and about a Bible college that recently graduated its first class of students. Grab your reading glasses, pour a cold glass of lemonade, find some shade and enjoy this issue!

Operation Barnabas

(Reported by Roy T Daniel)

We are commended from the Bethany Gospel Chapel, Regina, Canada during 1993.  We came to India during March 1994 and started the “Operation Barnabas” ministry.  Barnabas in the Scripture is known as son of encouragement.  So is our ministry.  Our goal and purpose is to encourage the servants of God in India through personal fellowship and practical support.

There are over two thousand Assembly commended workers in India and they prefer to be known as “evangelists”.  Many of them are unknown to the believers outside their small village.  So practically it is difficult for them to have fellowship with other believers and let their needs known.  Hence they go through many struggles daily without the prayer and support of fellow believers.  This was a major concern to us.  So, I began to visit them one by one, find out more about their ministries, their family and their needs and started to the introduce them to the believers.  I have traveled throughout India including the remote tribal villages during the last 18 years, and it still continues.

As I have visited the evangelists, I felt the  need for introducing them to other believers and presenting their needs systematically and regularly.  This has given the birth of a magazine called “Insight India”.  The Insight has tremendously helped our believers to understand the challenges of our evangelists and they began to pray and support the evangelists.  The Lord burdened our hearts to compile the directory of all commended Assembly evangelists and the first “Prayer Handbook” was published in 2001 and the fourth edition of published in 2012.The Lord also enabled us to join in partnership with Project Ezra team in publishing the “Ryrie Study Bible” in Hindi.

During 1996 we started the Funds distribution among the Assembly evangelists as the believers around the world wanted to support the evangelists whom we have introduced through Insight and Prayer Handbook.  This has become a breakthrough for our ministry and great blessing to the lives of these evangelists.  We have also set up a “Medical Fund” to address the health care needs of evangelists and their families. In India there is no Health Insurance.  When major health care needs come, the medical bills have to be paid in advance to receive expensive treatment or undergo major surgery.  The lack of timely funds in their hands seriously affected the health of many evangelists and their families.  This is a huge need, and the funds in our hands can help only the least number of them at one time.  Even as I was preparing this presentation, I got a phone call from one evangelist working in North India, whose parents are also in full-time ministry, saying that his mother is critically ill and he needs help to go and see her.  Immediately we have arranged the funds for her treatment and ticket to travel.

We have also undertaken some humanitarian works since 2006, such helping the Tsunami victims, training house wives in tailoring and coir making so that they can earn a living; helping with the flood relief work Andhra Pradesh; and helping with the riot victims of Khandaman, Orissa.  We were able to provide 75 housing units to these riot victims.

One of the greatest needs in India is building the Assembly halls.  The Church planning ministry is very difficult without proper place of gathering.  The lack facilities for gathering have become a major hindrance for the Assembly growth in India. In many places the assembly meetings are held in believer’s homes.   The new believers coming from other religions are very reluctant to gather in houses.  This is an urgent and on going need in India.

“Operation Barnabas” is a registered Trust with state and federal government and also has the FCRA approval.  Our ministry is diverse and I am called up on to do several tasks.  My wife, Bizy is greatly assisting me with the work in home and the office.

Finally, we want to express our heartfelt gratitude to all the brethren who prayed and helped us for years in many ways including financial support.  We thank for your part in this great ministry in India.  If you would like to make any contribution to the ministry in India, you may do that through Gospel Missions of India in USA, or MSC in Canada.

Bethel Discipleship Training Institute, Gwalior

Gwalior is a pioneer field and numerous people have come to the Lord in the past few years.   In 2012 we started BDTI with 6 students.  On 17^th March,2013 these brothers graduated after one year of intense training.  Now they have gone to their respected Assemblies.

The purpose of BDTI is to train first-generation disciples in the basics of the  Christian faith.  These brothers turn out to be the best witnesses in remote places.  Many in the first batch have decided to serve the Lord.

Since 2004 we have been conducting short term discipleship training program every year, with 10-12 brothers.  Because of these short term programs, some brothers are in the full time ministry.  Others are undergoing further theological studies.  This program has helped to reach many people with the Gospel.  We want to continue to train and encourage young brothers to go and serve the Lord; impart practical training in ministry experience by taking them directly into the mission field; and encourage them to start New Testament churches with their own people in their own villages.

Ministry in Gwalior – Philip Abraham

The Lord gave me an opportunity to visit Gwalior for three weeks in March. The assembly ministry in Gwalior was started by my father Evangelist Philip Abraham in 1960. An assembly of believers came up shortly, made up of some believers who were already there plus a few whom my father brought to the Lord and baptized immediately after his arrival.

I took over the ministry from him in 1984, and it was followed by brother Babu Scaria. Brother Ranjit Kumar Bagh from Orissa moved to that place in 2004 when brother Babu Scaria moved to Mumbai area for ministry. The work has been progressing steadily and today there are hundreds of new believers in Gwalior and around because of this ministry.

The first place which I visited was Dabra. It is a small town in MP with practically no native Christian population. The labors of Ranjit Kumar Bagh for over a decade has raised up an assembly made up entirely native first-generation believers. After that we visited assemblies in Datia (close to Jhansi) where there is a strong group of local believers. We also visited Banmore which is rural semi-industrial town and where there is a strong assembly testimony. It was an unusual experience to fellowship with local Hindi-speaking, first generation, believers. Most of them need to be taught the Scripture from the start, exactly the way we teach our Sunday School students. I was able to spend considerable time with these congregations and also with individuals to discuss biblical matters.

On March 17th Bethel Discipleship Training Center in Gwalior had its first graduation. BDTC was able to train six first-generation believers in the basics of the Scripture and of the Christian faith. Five of them graduated. The graduation, held in Believers Assembly at Prarthana Bhavan attracted 160 believers. The Chairman, Dr. Sujit Williams, brought the Presidential Address and I as the Director/Principal had the honor of presenting certificates to the graduates. Evangelist Ranjit Kumar Bagh serves as the Secretary of BDTC and Dr. Saneesh Cherian serves as the Academic Dean.

I was able to baptize 12 first generation believers in the Uttar Pradesh area towards the close of my trip. The senior-most of them was 90 years old and the youngest was a teenager. I am back in Kerala now, but pray and hope for another trip as soon as possible. I wish I could stay among them but the excessive heat (up to 50 degrees Celsius in summer) and cold (up to -4 degrees Celsius in winter) makes it difficult for me, but I hope that I might be able to make similar trips during more moderate seasons. Kindly do pray for these ministries.

The First Brethren Martyr – The Legacy of UM Dorairaj

Dr. Johnson C. Philip

(Photograph L to R: Philip Abraham, UM Dorairaj, KS George. All of them studied Hindi at Delhi Bible Institute around 1968)

UM Dorairaj is the first Brethren assembly martyr in India, but very few people have heard about him. That is because he lived, ministered, and died in a generation when books, newspapers, and cameras were not common in India. Thus people in that generation wrote very little about him. However, I still remember the whole history vividly because he was my first Sunday-school teacher.

UM Dorairaj was a first-generation Christian, and a class-fellow of evangelist Philip Abraham (my father) at Hindustan Bible Institute, Chennai. Many of the HBI students used to go to the assembly at Triplicane and Dorairaj and my father were among them. Thus at Triplicane he became my Sunday School teacher. He had a special love for children, and also had the gift of communication and thus the stories he taught are still vivid in my mind.

After his graduation from HBI, Chennai, he served the Lord with the Triplicane assembly for close to two years. During that time the Lord made it clear to him that he was needed in North India. He then decided upon Alwar — an untouched field — in Rajasthan as his future field of ministry. Being a Tamilian who had never set out to North India, he did not know the Hindi language and therefore he went to Gwalior in MP first.

In 1960 he reached Gwalior in MP and stayed with evangelist Philip Abraham for several months to accustom himself to the language and culture of North India. From there he moved to Kota in Rajasthan for the same purpose. Having now become reasonably accustomed to North India, he moved to Alwar in Rajasthan and started operating from a rented house. He used to distribute tracts and sell gospels on a regular basis, as was the custom of all evangelists at that time who had an HBI background. He was a man devoted evangelism and also man of prayer, and used to spend considerable time in prayers.

Alwar at that time was known for its anti Christian population, and it was not easy for a nearly-quiet south Indian to continually minister in this place. Yet he persisted in his work. As is the desire of any worker for the gospel, he wanted to see many coming to the Lord. While such results were seen quickly in South Indian in his generation, the North was different and no visible fruits were seen for some years. This often made him sad, and he did mention this to many of his co-workers, but he kept preaching the gospel faithfully.

Report came soon after that brother Dorairaj has been missing from his room for some days. Evangelists Philip Abraham, MA Thomas and KC John rushed to the spot and found that except for his sandals, everything he possessed was still there in his room. This ruled out the possibility that he had gone out in a planned manner because whenever he went out he used to take his shoulder-bag and Bible with him. This also made it clear that he was somehow rushed out of the house in his household clothes by one or more persons who persuaded him on one pretext or other to go away with them without even a change of clothes. Since there were no marks of struggle in the room, it was clear that someone with whom he became acquainted during his gospel ministries had come to his room to take him away — perhaps in an automobile so that he could not jump out even if he sensed danger.

After much search by these three brothers, many local contacts, and the Police, no lead could be detected that could lead to him dead or alive. Based upon circumstantial evidence these brethren had to conclude that brother Dorairaj was no longer alive and that his enemies had disposed him off in such a manner that even the Police could not get a lead. Thus he became the first to die from the assemblies for gospel-preaching as a Martyr. This news sent chills down the spine of believers in North India, but brother TJ Joseph who was already there in Rajasthan boldly decided that the task of evangelization of Alwar cannot be left incomplete. He announced his decision to move to Alwar to continue the ministry. Valsamma, a Senior Nurse, decided to become his wife to join in this dangerous ministry. I still remember how terrified everyone was at their decision to take up Alwar as their mission field.

Five decades from thence today there is a powerful assembly testimony, English Medium School, a Bible School, and numerous other ministries in Alwar, spearheaded by brother TJ Joseph. The martyrdom of Dorairaj did not go in vain.

Mallavadi Brethren Assembly, Tamil Nadu

The assembly in Mallavadi currently gathers in a rented house, and has currently purchased land and in the will of the Lord planning to complete construction of an assembly hall for the gathering of the saints in that place. This will be a lighthouse for around 20 villages around that area. The cost of the construction is around 7 Lakhs (around $14,000). Please remember this in your prayers. If the Lord leads you to support in this work, please send your gift to GMI, marked for this Assembly construction.

CRITICAL NEED – Education Fund

“Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.” ― Nelson Mandela. As most parents are familiar, the cost of education continues to go up each year. Many of the workers laboring for the Lord in different parts of India are supported by a fund for their various needs of their children’s education. This ministry is a very valuable ministry and serves the workers in a very practical manner.  Sathyam Ministries has been working among the less fortunate children around various villages in India for the past 25 years. Their schools are located in Kerala, Gujarat, Assam, Tripura and Vizag . Apart from these schools they impart education in our Satyaniketan orphanage for tribal refugee children and also in their Satyaniketan special school. They have teams from their school who visit rural areas, where child labour is  prevalent, to enlighten the parents to send their children to school. They have more than  443 children joining them for the first time ever in June when the schools reopens. This will take the number of students in their institution to 2392. The biggest challenge they face is during the month of June when the school reopens and they have to buy the initial basic necessities for the children. This is apart from the teachers and other staff’s salary and other maintenance charges. The cost per student for dress, books, backpack, stationary is around $100. If you want to participate in this work, please send your gift to GMI marked for the “Education Fund”.

Canadian brethren can send their gifts through MSC Canada, 101 Amber Street, Suite 16, Markham, Ontario L3R 3B2,  Canada for the tax receipts.  Those who are in USA can send gifts to GMI or through CMML, P.O. Box 13, Spring Lake, NJ 07762.  You may send designated or undesignated gifts.

If you have any questions, please call as us at 586-247-7924 0r 586-306-5669.

Yours In Christ,
Gospel Missions of India,
P O Box 1043, Warren, MI  48090
Website: www.gospelmi.org 
Email: gospelmi@wowway.com