Church Without Walls - Only a Tarp

From a young age, mental disease blighted his life, keeping him home from school, even forcing others to physically restrain him. His family, very devout Hindus, regularly worshiped idols, practiced black magic and participated in temple rituals. But temple rituals did not help Amit. Even medical science did not help him. His family, searching for a cure, looked everywhere and tried everything. Fortunately, in the end, the cure found its way to them. While Amit was a teenager, a church formed nearby and his mother and sister became Christians. At the church, Amit’s mother shared about her son, his mental illness, how it blighted their lives, and their search for a cure. The church prayed for Amit and he was healed. Now sane, Amit accepted Jesus and longed to know more about his healer and Savior. He learned to read, which his illness had prevented; he grew in the knowledge of God; he grew in the grace of God. His powerful testimony attracted to the faith many from his community, so many that a group of them began to meet and worship together, a group that now numbers 150 people. Their church “building” is nothing more than a few poles and a tarp, but the Lord is present. Amit is their pastor. One day he took Ebenezer Samuel, who was visiting, along with him to a family he had been witnessing to for several months. That day, the family accepted Jesus as their Savior. Ebenezer felt great joy at seeing one more family added to Amit’s church. Amit is just one example of thousands of independent pastors that the Lord has raised up in India. The mission of Serve India Ministries is to help such pastors plant more churches. Amit, along with twenty other pastors, all in the same region, is now part of a Serve India Ministries Mission Field. Each pastor who joins a Mission Field agrees to a goal of planting five more churches. To facilitate their work, Serve India Ministries puts the pastors through the BILD curriculum (see http://www.bild.org/), valuable weekly training that develops the skills they need for ministry and gives them fellowship with other pastors, which they find to be a joyful source of encouragement and prayer support. The pastors carry back home what they have received, using it to teach children in Stepping Stone Centers and to train elders in their churches, elders who pass on the skills and knowledge to their congregations. There are many ways in which you can become a part of this story. You can support the development of whole new Mission Fields, just like the one Amit is a part of, by giving to the Mission Field Development Fund. You can support individual pastors. Or you can help children by supporting a Stepping Stone Center. Amit’s region is an extremely poor area. Stepping Stone Centers, while teaching the Gospel, assist children with their school work, which helps to lift them up out of poverty. $150 per month provides for 50 children. There is an enormous potential in the Mission Field of which Amit is a part: only 0.01% of the population is Christian. Thousands of churches could be planted. Millions could come to know the Lord. Help us bring in this harvest.