How You Can Turn An Overgrown Rubbish Heap into a Church
Oct 9, 2015 1473
Can you help turn this into a church?
The believers in Ramapuram have nowhere to meet. They are asking for our help so that they may have a church building. The Hindu village elder has even asked for them to have a Christian church in his village, and a suitable plot of land has been offered to the believers. The purchase of the land will cost $1,300 and the construction $1,100 (Australian dollars).
GNU is not usually in the business of building churches. However, this is different. Why? Because I have visited Ramapuram myself, and I have seen the poverty, faith, and sincerity of these people. And when I was there, my heart went out to them.
For that reason, I made them a unique offer: if they could raise half of the money required, GNU would try to match their efforts with the other half. That means that you have the opportunity to help contribute towards only $1,200 (GNU’s share), which will make this church a reality.
Pastor Joseph takes up the story of how this all happened:
Here are some of the believers in Ramapuram. They are all praying. Will you help answer their prayers? (Pr Joseph Usala is in the centre.)
When I first went to their village, I was afraid, but by the grace of God and the Holy Spirit I did visit them, and I asked some of the people if they would like to hear about the gospel. The village people were divided; some people wanted to hear about it, and some did not. But I was given permission to preach and conduct a prayer meeting. And by the grace of God, the people received the gospel, some people were even healed and people asked me to come back every month, and I was happy to return.
One day the village elder attended my meeting. He was inspired and touched by the Word of God. He asked me to buy some land and start a Gospel Preaching and Prayer Hall. I told him that such things cost a lot of money and he should pray about it.
And that is what we have been doing. When we meet, we pray to God that he will guide us and that he will provide a Gospel Preaching and Prayer Hall so we can spread the good news to everyone.
The people have such a great need for this place in their lives. Even though they have so little, they have together found a way to raise some of the money for this. But they need help, and our prayer is that the GNU community will be guided by God to help with this great work for these people.
The village people also have their stories to tell:
Baburao
Baburao has come to accept the gospel from Pastor Joseph’s visit.:
Our ancestors died without knowing about Jesus, but now, because Pastor Joseph has preached the holy Gospel to us, we have come to know about Jesus, and our children must also learn about him. This gospel meeting every month has changed our lives, and we want to know more and more about Jesus.
Sarojanama
Like everyone in the village, Sarojanama was brought up a Hindu, not knowing there was another way, until she attended Pastor Joseph’s meetings:
I came, but I stayed at the back because I knew nothing about Jesus. As I was listening to the Word of God, my heart moved and I was touched by the Holy Spirit of God. Then I accepted and believed that Jesus is our real Saviour and Redeemer. Pastor Joseph prayed over me and my family. From that day, I and my family have been well and much more happy. We all attend Pastor Joseph’s meetings because we want to learn more about Jesus. We pray for the day when we will have a church where our coming generations can know about Jesus so they also will be saved.
Marthu
Marthu says, “it is Pastor Joseph who taught me about Jesus through the Gospel evangelism prayer meeting every month. All my life I have been a fisher woman, working with my husband so we can live. Then one evening I came to the Gospel prayer meeting and heard Pastor Joseph preach the Word of God. I had never heard anything like this before. This powerful Word of God changed my life and my husband’s life. We are praying for a church in our village so we can worship God and learn more about Jesus.
Sbharao
Sbharao, like his ancestors, has been a fisherman all his life:
For all my life, I knew nothing about Jesus. All I knew were the rituals of my ancestors. Now I am a strong believer in Jesus, but I need to know much more about him. A church in our village will be a place where my children and the coming generations will come to know about Jesus so that they will be saved in Christ.
Rupa
Rupa’s introduction to the Gospel came because she was il:
I had some problem in my stomach. I did not attend the prayer meetings, but one day a lady who was attending the Gospel meetings visited me. She said that she wanted me to come to the prayer meeting and she hoped that I would also accept Jesus into my life. I decided to go and I listened to Pastor Joseph, and after the meeting I asked him to pray over me. After he prayed, my stomach pain was gone and I accepted Jesus Christ into my life. I now have great faith in Jesus because his gospel words have changed my life. I pray for a Gospel church in our fisher village so many more people can come to know about Jesus, and can be saved by hearing the holy Gospel.
Pastor Joseph concludes by itemising the costs of this project: to buy the land will cost approximately $AU1,300 and to build the hall, approximately $AU1,100. His plea is for the GNU community to contribute half of this cost to help this gospel project. The believers have committed to finding the rest, which is an enormous sacrifice for them.
Now, GNU doesn’t have spare funds to contribute to this work; but, along with Pastor Joseph, we believe God wants this church to be built for these precious fisher people. So we’re sponsoring a special request to our GNU supporters to help build this church. If God is moving you to contribute to this wonderful work amongst his poorest, please give today. And please mark your donation for the Fisher Village Gospel Hall, so we know that this money is special.
– Eliezer Gonzalez and Joseph Usala
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