The Cobra and trial of faith!

The call to pray for those who are new disciples

Last week has been emotionally challenging, making me ask the question, “God, how do I counsel this new saved family in the midst of suffering?” In a span of four weeks this family had seen all the four emotional seasons of life. In the first of June there was joy and laughter as Setal hosted a party for his son Vijay Marandi’s marriage which was attended by both believers and unbelievers. Vijay was his oldest son and this first marriage in the family was fully invested into by both the relatives of Setal and the entire village of Bariarpur. That excitement climaxed when Setal’s younger brother Malu came to faith. Setal believed this was a breakthrough in the mission of the house church he was leading. They had been praying for over 6 months for unreached people to be won through the testimony of his church believers. And there it was, the church gathered and welcomed Malu and his family. All was going well, when on the 24^th of June 4pm, his little daughter was bitten by a snake. The children had gathered leaves from the forest and was grinding them for her mother to prepare some delicious stew. There the snake bite her and her father heard her cry for help. He ran up to her and was first shocked. They searched for the snake and found it hiding under the bricks. It was a cobra. In the next four hours they heard suggestions from the villagers, some asking them to appease the evil spirits and some not to. Setal took a stand, that he will not ask the help of the evil spirits. He had the first to accept Jesus three years ago and since then he has led 9 families to faith. He prayed and sought to hire a vehicle to transport his daughter to a hospital 45 kilometres away. They rode the jeep to seek medical care, but on the way his daughter died. He came back home and all his unreached relatives and villagers blamed him for the death of his daughter. “If only you had sought the evil spirits, your daughter would have lived”, they told him. It broke his heart. He has lost two other children just a year ago, one in child birth and the other to dehydration. It seemed to him that the God he had believed in, was unable to protect and care for his family.

At the burial grounds I laid to rest his child, next to the other two of his children. He had lost a total of three children in the last couple of years. It just broke my heart. I shared this verse to Setal and family gathered there, “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of God, Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted,” Matthew 5:3,4.

We came back home and realised that this will incident will challenge the faith of Setal and the church in Bariarpur. Believers are under 0.2% and their faith is tested when they revisit the place of suffering and death that they were accustomed to in their animistic faith. And as a servant of the gospel, it gets painful and hard for me too! Thank you for partnering and supporting the ministry of Engage India to the least reached regions of East India. Your prayers for the new believers and for them to be firm in their faith is much appreciated.

Daniel Ponraj

Engage India ministry

Audacious Generosity - lessons from Abram about giving

Audacious generosity – Lessons from Abram about giving.

Abram give the best to his nephew Lot and asked him to choose from the best. “If thou wilt take the left hand, then I will go to the right; or if thou depart to the right hand, then I will go to the left. “ Genesis 13:9.

 

God blesses Abram 360. He gives his the north south, east and west and all of the land. Genesis 13:15

 

Abram goes to rescue Lot and his possession. He does not exploit his nephew’s state of helpless, when it would have been a very lucrative business move to react in a manner of hostility. Genesis 14:14

 

He refuses to take any of the possession, lest they say, on my account you have become rich. lest thou should say, “I have made Abram rich”. Genesis 14:23

 

God asks him to offer his son. Straight forward command from God. His only son received in his old age and the only hope of the promise made by God. Abraham obeyed and was willing to offer him. Genesis 22

 

On that mountain God asks Solomon to build the temple, on the mount of Moriah. On the same mountain Jesus was crucified becoming the salvation of mankind. 2 chronicles 3:1

 

How audacious is your generosity. Have you challenged yourself to give? As an act of obedience to God, as a show of your faith?

By Daniel Ponraj, daniel@engageindia.in

Women Bridges TOT Jharkhand Training!

On the 18^th, 19^th November we hosted the Women Bridges Trainers of Trainers (TOT) for the state of Jharkhand. 15 women leaders from 8 districts of Jharkhand participated at the event. They laid out a plan to host 4 regional events for the state of Jharkhand through the next 12 months starting January 2011. Through the next year we are hoping to mentor 60 Women Bridges TOT leaders. 

Response of the church to the Naxal movement!

7 states in india and 36 districts are Naxal affected in 2010 stated by the CSDC. I will call this the people's war. The naxals are from the soil of india. They are from within us, from the tribal regions in the red corridor of India. In this corridor you will find over 100 unreached and 15 unengaged tribes. The ones that are caught in the cross fire between the naxals and the security forces is the common man. "We are like a sheet of paper between the blades of a pair of scissors. Whenever the blades clash, we get cut." - Adve Kandu, farmer. The church has the power to make an impact. The church planters of Engage India, preach the gospel in these regions and many have a personal experience of the power of the love of God. Those who hear of the love of Jesus in this red corridor, see Jesus as a hope for the blood and conflict ridden region. They are weary about being in the cross fire and want both of the sides to give up the gun fire. "Jesus breaks the bow and shatters the spear". Please pray for the church planter who works in these difficult situations where there is violence. We as a ministry see our responsibility to nation building and the spread of the gospel. The church has a responsibility to take the peace of Jesus Christ to the broken society we live in and specially to those in and affected by the naxal people's war. Pray and support the ministry of Engage India / BCSD.

Daniel Ponraj - daniel@santaltribe.org
www.engageindia.in
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Bridges 2 course in Village Timothy Schools

11 people are sitting under a jack fruit tree singing songs of praise to God. They are being led by Evangelist Cornelius Marandi. You could overlook this small group and walk on, but for the enthusiasm and glow in the eyes of the Leaders. Don’t mistake them for ordinary people by looking at their simple clothing. They are leaders of churches and leaders of the church movement. They are learning the Bridges 2 to be able to lead their church planting movement to greater heights. They are into the second lesson in the course.  They are focusing on the stories of Paul in the book of Acts and the corresponding teaching his letters. Cornelius presents the core ideas to the group and then they break up to discuss and relate them to their lives. One person in the group reads the Bible aloud as others in the group listen. They recite the story to remember it and discuss the issues that come out from the story. They reflect on the teaching form the letter of Paul. They come back and share their learning to the group. The leaders get together to enact the drama. One of them becomes Paul, the other Roman leader and the other a man in the public and they enact the drama. When the drama has been enacted they are so overjoyed. They debrief their learning from the act and affirm the learning. One of them presents a song on the topic. He sings it in the typical Santali tune and wow they people are so happy. The school session wraps up with the leaders committing to one another. They commit to going and teaching it to their own discipleship groups and set the points they will be accountable for. They spend a while in prayer for each other. It was a time of drought for the region and the area needs rain. Cattle were dying and people have to travel long distances to get drinking water. They prayed for some time on this need. They got up to go to the house of Cornelius to sit again for some delicious lunch. Cornelius’s wife Mariam had prepared some great beef curry and rice. It was Thursday and the market date. One of the leaders had brought some cabbage from the market and Mariam had prepared a great cabbage curry. They had a great meal and dispersed back cycling. They will regroup for the Bridges course in their Timothy school class in a couple of days. They will revise the Bridges learning and present to the group what they have taught in their Church groups.

Presently the Bridges 2 is being taught in 5 Timothy Schools with over 45 master trainers in attendances who are teaching 800 students in their churches and ministry setting.  They are held in houses, under Jack fruit tress, in local community centers and in house courtyards. Two important outcomes emerge out of this: the gospel is being spread where the gospel has not been preached and the new believers are being systematically taught to become disciples of Jesus Christ.

Testimony from the Bridges movement in Jharkhand,

Posted by Daniel Ponraj, Engage India/ BCSD

daniel@santaltribe.org   visit www.engageindia.in 

Challenges for independent india.

I have been invited to be a part of the guest party to hoist the indian national flag at shalom christian school. It is 15th august and people take this day really serious. They are in their best clothes and the pivot of celebrations is the schools. The beautiful flag of india is raised in all schools and most important locations. It a bright occasion. You should see the decked up students and campus. It is really beautiful. I am sitting on the front stage and I am going to be called to speak in 5 mins. I have heard some hard core fiery patriotic speeches already. There are 500 children and 25 of them are christians. To me it is an opportunity to speak on the love of Jesus. I feel gagged as I wonder about the thought I should leave with the children and parents. I then decide to speak from my heart and I drop the written out sheet of paper.
I spoke from 1 cor 10:24. Every man show seek not his own but his neighbors good. I asked the people gathered to transform their community into people caring for each other.
In today's india there is more and more polarization of the society. Cultures and religions are getting more secluded and divided. There is much pain. We need as people of india to care for the people around as. Love is the greatest of them all.
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Chennai Network - Friends of Engage India / BCSD

On the 25th July evening, 8 of us met at an upstairs room in Chennai. This was a seed meeting organised to bring friends together and ask them to support the ministry among Unreached tribes. I see the need for groups of supporters in every city in India and the world who can be the backbone for the Engage India /BCSD ministry. I made a presentation to the friends and supporters gathered there and the response i got was "wow, i did not know this. I want to be involved". Originally scheduled from 5:30 to 7:30pm including dinner, the meeting wound up at 10pm. At the end of the presentation there was much energy. We decided on some small steps to gather a momentum for the network in the city. I will report on this in September 2010. I see a great dream for our Engage India/ BCSD ministry in Jharkhand. What will be the bones and flesh of these networks in different cities, i do not know right now. But i believe a time is coming when this inevitable support structure will be built up and when ready and running will uphold the ministry like none other. We need people to pray, support and engage in the ministry among unreached tribes. This vision of the ministry "reach the unreached tribes" can take us from a small village in Jharkhand to the ends of the earth. And that is the limit. There is much at stake. The unreached tribes breaks the heart of the Lord and we have a mandate to fulfill. I want to thank those who came for the event and sacrificed much to be there. They are heroes to me because they trusted me, though we are small and insignificant. Praise God.