Golden Jubilee Year

April 27, 1963 was the day that Pastor Thomas Mathews, came to Udaipur as a complete stranger but perfectly in the will of God and at the right time.  Now this is the 50^th year of this historic God appointment.  God willing we will be bringing out a souvenir to thank the Lord and to remember all the love and affection that we have received from friends and family from around the world.

We will also be doing a convention in Udaipur, where it all began, from October the 11^th thru the 13^th, this year.  We desire in God to honour those who were there in the earl y days of the ministry and also to recognize the senior servants of God.

We have the biography of Pastor Thomas in English and Malayalam and this year, we are working on bringing out the Hindi version too.

There is an opportunity for you to send your greetings or compliments or advertisements as we celebrate.  Your contribution small or great will be a great help as we put this milestone in place for the generations to come.  Ten years, as we worked on our 40^th Anniversary, my Dad had commented, “It is not just God’s faithfulness for his people, but also the loving partnership of God’s people that has brought us thus far.”   It is truer today, ten years later and especially since, Dad has been called Home to rest from his works.

We will be doing a facebook page also, where you could upload pictures and also comment on your relationship with this humble servant of God.

If My People

“It’s a new season, It’s a new day!” are the opening lines of a popular song.  But that perfectly reflect what the Lord is wanting to do in this time among the people of north India at this point of time.  It is time to seek the face of God, not for ministry but to seek his presence.  Not to seek for provision or vision but to seek the giver of visions, not to start something new, but to go back to the original mandate of ‘being with our Master’. Nothing would satisfy us more but to sit in the presence of Jesus, our Lord and our lover.

So as a ministry and as a church, we sat in the presence of God for the first seven days of this month and it turned out to be anointed.  There were no special preachers, no musicians or worship artists, but the raw desire to be with God and to seek Him. 

Out of these seven days, five words of prophecy and confirmation came out strongly.  That God would turn this ministry into a House of Glory, a House of Praise, a House of Deliverance, a House of New Covenant and a House of Spiritual Earthquakes, which shatters everything in the region that stands up against the plans and purposes of God.

We have many things going on, much to do but we have been assigned this new task.  It is not easy since you are used to ‘doing’ things and ‘doing ministry’, but this is a season of seeking!!  We have only begun this wonderful journey and are hearts are tuned to what God would say more to us.  When we get blessed, you share in the blessings too!! You are family and we rejoice with you over this new direction that we have been assigned.

Vela Bhai

Having lost six children, one after the other, I was desperate for help. I tried every kind of worship, went to the witch doctors, but nothing was happening.  And then my uncle died.  These continuous deaths in my home rattled me and I thought that it would be better to end my life.  But the thought of my tired wife and the hardships that she would have to face, forced me to stay alive.”

“Then in a vision I saw a cross and I felt that if somehow I reached it, I would be healed and set free from this curse of death in my family.   I started to ask people where I could find this cross and I was surprised to find one cross and a church very close to my house.   I went there, was prayed for and God delivered me completely from my fear.  Today I have four grown up children and I am also a proud grandfather of three children!”

Pastor Vela Bhai is one of the people serving Jesus with us who have a dramatic story of conversion.  Today he is the pastor of three congregations and he does not have a single minute to waste as he runs between services and villages, doing God’s will and restoring people to God like he himself was restored.

“I was praying for a motorbike to help me move around faster and God gave this bike to me through the help of friends.  I praise God for this gift and I am using it daily to commute and to win more and more people to the Lord. “ “I have seen the darkness and I have seen the light.  I want everyone to enjoy this light and I will do everything possible to share this light with one and all.” 

Vacation Bible Schools

Continuing with our vision of training young children to become passionate followers of Jesus, we are conducting Vacation Bible Schools for children across many of the churches.  In one region alone, we are doing this for over 40 churches.  With trained staff to impart Christian values, we are teaching them songs, scriptures and also Bible stories. 

We are now working on producing our third Hindi Christian video album for children.  The songs have been recorded and now the final editing is to be done.  We need your prayers as we seek to create new media resources for children.

The next one is scheduled to be conducted in Udaipur from the 12-16th of June.  Needing your prayers for the same.

Prayer Drive

As the Indian heat continues to rise unabated amidst the chaos in the political world, we had a team of five young men crisscrossing the state of Rajasthan, praying for each and every district and sub districts.

With day temperatures soaring above 43 degrees, most of the driving was confined to early mornings and late nights.  Every place they went to, they prayed over the land and the people, met kids on the street, taught them songs and shared the love of Jesus. They had a few near escapes from accidents and also miraculous provisions of shelter, food and other provisions.

Meetings were conducted wherever there were believers.  "We never had a prayer meeting in our house since we came here.  This is the first meeting and we are very refreshed with this fellowship, " said a family who had been posted as a government nurse in a remote village for the past one year.

Heat From Within and Without

As the Indian heat continues to rise unabated amidst the chaos in the political world, God and his people are at work in the highways and the byways.  Neither the summer, nor their surroundings is stopping them.  As I write this, I am in awe of again both, God and his men!  I had the privilege of meeting one of our missionary working in Rajasthan.  To put things into perspective, he lives in such a remote location that he has to walk two hours to reach the highway and then take a bus for an hour to reach the nearest city.

But he is not daunted.  He has been faithfully serving the Lord in that region for over two decades now.  But then he had the guts to believe that one day God will allow him to build a church building in this remote place. Where would the materials come from?  How would they be hauled?  He had no answers but he kept praying and believing.  He had to wait long, but he did not give up hope.  

Recently we were able to help him build a small church building in this remote location and I got to witness it personally.  I was once again amazed at the passion they have to love Jesus and to hear his Word.  He ministers in six villages and he is training his oldest son to help him.  “I am happy to do whatever I can to serve Jesus” said his older son when I asked him about his involvement in serving the people."I don't have  any formal training but I join him to pray for people," he continued.   I walked away from that place thanking God for using ordinary people to do extraordinary things.

This was a passionate man and his passionate family.  Thank you for helping us to help them.   Keep praying and keep giving.

Even The Stops Are Ordained By The Lord

“Pastor, can you come in the end of May to be with us and spend a few days with us?” This was the call that I received earlier in the year to come and spend time with our missionaries and trainees from the forest area of southern Chattisgarh. With my heart always wanting to equip and encourage, I prayerfully confirmed my arrival.

I was aware of the tense situation that was there in that region, with a separatist group trying to gain power by forced killings and terrorist attacks.  But every time that I had gone in, God had miraculously protected me and so I felt confident.  Besides, the vibrant ministry and the leadership would definitely be helped, I thought to myself.

Having travelled long, we were hardly 200 kms from our actual destination when God asked me to stay back and meet the believers in another town.  I did not like the idea at first but then I obeyed and met the believers and pastor in this town and we had a wonderful time with God and his people. 

After the meeting, as we went to a small hut for dinner, I watched the news and I was shocked.  There had been a terrorist attack in the region and 29 people were ambushed and killed on the road.  And where did this take place?  Very close to the road that we would have taken.  I kept staring at the news and thinking of how God stopped me from going to that region.  I was not happy then, but I knew better now.

We don’t lay claim to anything except your prayers and the grace of God.  It is important that we do the will of God, but it is more important to keep listening to him every step of our assignment.  As was famously written on George Muller’s Bible, next to Psalm 37:23, “The stops too are ordained by the Lord.”