Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Enter, you who are blessed by my Father! Take what’s coming to you in this kingdom. It’s been ready for you since the world’s foundation. And here’s why: I was hungry and you fed me, I was thirsty and you gave me a drink, I was homeless and you gave me a room, I was shivering and you gave me clothes, I was sick and you stopped to visit, I was in prison and you came to me.’
Matt 25:34-36 MSG
To the praise and glory of God, 23 new church works were planted by our graduate trainees after spending three months of in-house church planting training at our centre this year. To date a total of 150 churches that came forth from our training centre ministry. The graduates upon returning to their home villages would begin to share the Gospel and have weekly Bible study with those who respond. Soon a group of believers would form and they come together regularly to worship the Lord and listen to the preaching of His Word.
After three years of ministry a church plant here on the average would have at least 50 to 80 believers. During these three years our training centre would equip the church planters with regular upgrade trainings. We aim to nurture each planter to help them grow and build their church ministry. Most of our church planters have come to see the importance of lifelong learning in order to keep growing and leading. They would seize every opportunity and set the time to come for re-training whenever we recall them to the centre.
The believers proudly and joyously celebrated the opening of their completed church building in November. When a church reaches 80 to 100 members, they will have the capacity to construct a permanent premise for their weekly worship. Often our centre helps growing works in acquiring the land and the church will build the building. In 2012, 9 new churches completed their building project in the village.
Majority of our new works are located in remote areas where there is no Christian witness. Our church planting ministry is making inroads with the Gospel in the Himalayan region. As far as the local bus would take you, one must be prepared to walk at least 3 hours up to a day’s journey to reach our believers. There are no guest houses available for travelers in such off-the-track villages. Likely our church planter and his wife would sacrifice their basic but clean bedroom to accommodate you in your stay with them. Life in the 21st century in most of these villages is largely bare and simple. The living conditions can be harsh with the hard labor of carrying water from the river and gathering of wood from the jungle for the daily chores of cooking and washing. Most of the new churches are planted in this type of physical condition.
