Mission Reports
Balliguda, Village Ministry, Kandhamal, Odisha
I arrived in Bhubaneshwar, the capital of Odisha, on 9th October. Ps. Rajan Digal met me at the airport and we traveled that night by bus to Balliguda. I stayed with Ps. Rajan and his family in a house he rents for special events. He also rented another house nearby for accommodations for the Pastors. We had originally planned to conduct the LOVE INDIA Academy program in the village of Puninata. But because of a major Hindu festival that was going on at the same time, the local police advised Ps. Rajan not to conduct any Christian meetings in any villages so as not to risk any communal unrest. So, we relocated our meetings to an outlying area near the town of Balliguda where Ps. Rajan has conducted many other Pastors’ meetings in the past.
Ps. Rajan’s ministry is growing rapidly in Kandhamal district and is expanding into neighboring districts. Just this year, the number of Pastors who have asked to join with Ps. Rajan has grown from 16 to 28 Pastors. These are all village Pastors working in remote, unreached areas. They are all very poor, either working in their fields or doing day labor to feed their families. In spite of this, they are not coming to Ps. Rajan for financial support. Instead, they are simply looking for spiritual fellowship, growth, and oversight. The dedication and sacrifices of these Pastors in the service of God’s Kingdom is truly inspiring and humbling.
LOVE INDIA Academy ministry training in Balliguda, Kandhamal district, Odisha We started the LOVE INDIA Academy ministry training program on Tuesday, 17 October, and it ran through Saturday, 28 October. As with the program in West Bengal, we held classes from Tuesday through Friday and the students were free to go home for the weekend. We started with 24 Pastors and all of them needed to return home for the weekend. We had originally planned to conduct the program for four weeks, just as in West Bengal. But after consulting with Ps. Rajan and the students, it was decided that four weeks was too long for them to be away from their families, their churches, and their work. I decided that I could cover all of the essential materials in two weeks.
All of the Pastors were eager to learn from the word of God and were very appreciative of all the teaching. At the end of the first week, all of the Pastors returned to their villages. I wondered how many of them would return for the second week. As it turned out, every Pastor returned, plus 4 new Pastors joined us. At one point, I asked how many of them were planning to reach out to new, unreached villages and start new churches. Every hand went up. Every Pastor showed a strong zeal and calling to spread the Kingdom of God to unreached villages. At the end of the program, Ps. Rajan and all the Pastors asked me when I can return next year to share the training program with their Church elders and other leaders.
Village Ministry The week after LOVE INDIA Academy, Ps. Rajan took me to several villages to meet with some of the new Pastors and the new Churches. We were not able to visit all of them because they are scattered in remote villages over a wide area of Kandhamal district and into neighboring districts. But in each place where we visited, the Pastors and the Churches were encouraged by our visit. Some of the villages had never been visited by a foreigner.
Testimonies from LOVE INDIA Academy Nilima Kawar Praise the LORD. My name is Nilima Kawar. I thank God and our teachers for giving me the opportunity to study in Love India Academy. Here, I read about Discipleship, Servant Leader and Church Planting. All these topics were very beautiful. I got a chance to learn many things here and after this class I am feeling very excited to do the Lord’s work. This was very new for me but I am happy that I could know these things. Again, I thank Teachers and the organization of Love India Academy. Thank you for visiting us and teaching us. God bless your organization and spread it all over the world.
Sanju Rajbhat My name is Sangu Rajbhat. I am from West Bengal. My church name is Living Fellowship Church. I would like to thank very much LOVE INDIA ACADEMY and to the teachers, for sharing these beautiful teachings among us. We were able to learn in these teachings such as what is the Kingdom of Heaven. The Kingdom of Heaven is a spiritual Kingdom. There is never an end to the Kingdom of Heaven. Today we Learned about and how to build Discipleship. We learned about and how we can read Bible today. We also learned a church should be built and our goal. We want to sincerely thank you LOVE INDIA ACADEMY for bringing these teachings among us and we wish that whatever we have learned can be taught to others. Thank you very much LOVE INDIA ACADEMY.
Jiwanti Xess Praise the Lord. My name is Jiwanti Xess. I would like to thank Love India Academy for giving me such a great opportunity. I learned many things through Love India Academy, like Discipleship, Leadership, Kingdom of God which lead me to learn the word of God very precisely and I am very blessed. I want to thank the teachers who helped me to learn the word of God and now with God’s grace the work of God is going good. Lord has helped me in growth of His Kingdom and I believe that the Lord’s Kingdom will grow more and more in the upcoming days. Once again, I thank Love India Academy. Lord bless this group and spread all over the country.
Recommendations I have two recommendations for how TAMI can bless these ministries, and help them to grow and become even more productive for the Kingdom of God.
- Ps. Rajan Digal’s ministry is growing rapidly in Kandhamal district and is expanding into neighboring districts. At this point, neither he nor any of his Pastors have a single church building that would be adequate to conduct even a Pastors’ meeting, let alone anything larger. Anytime Ps. Rajan wants to hold any kind of meeting, he must rent a small house near Balliguda. That is what he had to do for LOVE INDIA Academy. Even that house is inadequate for the number of Pastors who are now working with Ps. Rajan. His ministry needs at least one church building where all of the Pastors can gather together and where they can hold other types of meetings.
One of the Pastors (Ps. Saubabu) lives in the village of Badeketa. He has a thriving house church there. It has grown so large that it has outgrown his house. Ps. Saubabu has some land in Badeketa that he has donated to Ps. Rajan to build a church building, as well as other ministry facilities.
A church building in Badeketa would also provide a place for all the people of the village to all gather together for prayer without concern for caste differences. Many people in the village have told Ps. Rajan and Ps. Saubabu that they want to gather for prayer, but they cannot enter a believer’s home because of caste issues. A prayer hall would be very helpful for starting to break down caste prejudices.
Ps. Rajan has put together a proposal for a church building in Badeketa. The total cost would be approximately INR 4,63,100/- (~US$5,560). I have attached a copy of his proposal with this report. I recommend that TAMI make this project a priority for India outreach.
- By God’s grace, TAMI is growing rapidly in India and globally. Obviously, TAMI cannot meet the financial needs of every Pastor, every Church, and every ministry. Looking just at the financial and ministry needs of north India, I believe the only feasible, long-term solution to meet these needs is to help our village Pastors and Churches to develop small businesses so that they can become self-supporting and so that the ministries can be self-sustaining.
I have visited well over 40 rural villages in Odisha and West Bengal. In virtually every case, the Pastors are forced to work like slaves just to put food on the table for their families. They work a minimum of 12 hours a day, six days a week, either in their fields or at day labor jobs that pay roughly Rs200 per day. These Pastors have a strong desire to minister to their own villages and to start new churches in other villages. But after working all day, they don’t have the energy to do any outreach ministry and they don’t have the means to visit other villages.
My recommendation is that TAMI and Caritas should make it a priority to raise seed money to help our village Pastors start small businesses that will lift them out of poverty and give them the financial resources needed to expand their ministries. It goes without saying that the economy of India’s rural villages is almost entirely agriculture-based. But small businesses do not have to be limited to this model. There are many possibilities for starting small businesses in the villages, depending on the resources available.
I believe a viable small business could be started in a rural village for approximately INR 2,50,000/- (~US$3,000). The funds for these projects could be raised in three different ways: a) Caritas Canada or Caritas USA could raise money. b) A GoFundMe (or some other web-based fundraising) account could be set up to raise money. c) An Indian NGO could be set up to raise money in India, primarily through CSR donations.
I pray that God will guide and empower us by His Holy Spirit, and continue to use TAMI to spread His Kingdom in India and throughout the world.
