GOSPEL resources, trains and supervises church planters in Central Western India. We also help by coaching young children to do better with their litercy.
In the next 10 to 15 years, there will be more of God’s image bearers in India, than in any other nation on earth. So, because of its huge and expanding population, the depth of poverty and the darkness of Hinduism we see that India is an important mission field. India as a mission field is easily reached and the door is still open for the Gospel to be proclaimed. Because English is so well known all over the subcontinent, we have ease of communication with our director and many of our team leaders. Finally we seem to be able to achieve so much with our strong currency.
A more significant reason for working in India is that we want to be involved and active where the Holy Spirit seems to be at work. While it has not been revealed to us where the Holy Spirit is more or less active, we do believe that it may be a season of a special outpouring of God the Holy Spirit in India at this very time in its history. We certainly see wonderfully “generous” (Titus 3:6) results in Central Western India.
G.O.S.P.E.L. believes that the young churches should become independent and self supporting as soon as practical. Only minimal amounts are being raised by church offerings. Despite receiving good teaching about the importance of tithing, very little is realized in the offerings. It should be noted that nearly all the believers are subsistence farmers with very little food security and relatively little in the way of monetary income. Giving is often in material goods that come from what is produced and only supplements some of the evangelists’ needs.
i) The ongoing need of the hour is the teaching of the evangelists. We understand that a trained ministry is vitally important to the health of the church. We will continue to do this as best we can and with the resources that are available to us. At this moment we are supporting one Presbyterian Theological Seminary (PTS) student who is completing a theological degree at PTS. This student may be used in the future to give further teaching to our missionaries.
ii) A major consideration for the future is to assist the young growing churches to be well governed and provide a good structure. We want to see the churches mature and stay faithful to the Gospel. We don’t want to start another denomination in India, so we are actively exploring a relationship with the Reformed Presbyterian Church in India (RPCI). Our prayerful hope will be that the RPCI may be able to enfold the churches and help lead them to develop as sound congregations.
iii) We want to see the work enhanced and expanded. There are plans to work in new areas. This will be actioned as funds become available.
iv) We want to see the churches self supporting and self governing as soon as is practical. Due to the nature of this mission field, we do not feel it is appropriate to do this with undue haste. We are considering a time frame for churches to become self supporting.
v) We believe that it is imperative to be in close contact with the “field” as regular discussions in India foster clear direction and good relationships. This has been achieved by having Bert Kuipers visit, at least on an annual basis. This should be continued by him or others.
vi) We want to see the missionary’s wives, supported and encouraged in ministry also. They give wonderful support to their husbands.
vii) We are working towards having the children of believers become Biblically literate. When parents are new believers, they do not have good Biblical knowledge. We see this as a most important component for the young churches’ future. This requires “extra” work as parents themselves are in need of instruction. Many if not most parents may be illiterate and the children are often first generation learners. We also know that the demographic window named as the 4/14 Window, describes the years between 4 and 14 when most people first believe. Children come to first hear of Christ and believe in him during those years. Let us not forget that half of India’s population is young (i.e. under 25). We cannot ignore this covenantal component of church growth. To address this need, we hope to appoint children’s workers in as many places as we can.
viii) We are still to do more in the area of fostering economic development and working towards greater literacy in the areas where the churches have been established.
Our God has amply provided each year. We realise that again and again as we see his hand at work at the proper time. (Psalm 145:15). He provides by way of gifts from churches, businesses and individuals who support as a “one off” gift or by way of a regular donation. About a third of the CRCA churches financially support G.O.S.P.E.L. Some funds come to us via the “Compassionate Catalogue” as well. All up we need to raise some $100,000 for our commitments.
All gifts for G.O.S.P.E.L. go to the mission field. The G.O.S.P.E.L. committee has an annual fundraising dinner in Launceston that easily takes care of all the administrative costs such as postage, printing, travel etc.
The latest reports from the field are most encouraging. Here are some news passed on last year:
• 27 new believers baptized on 21st Dec-11 in the Maharashtra cluster.
• 15 new believers were baptized on 11th Sep-11 in South Gujarat cluster.
• 46 believers were baptized in the Rajasthan cluster on 16th, Dec-11.
• Also 35 believers were baptized on 17th Dec-2011 in the Madhya Pradesh cluster.
• There are about 100 believers waiting to be baptized in Central Gujarat and Rajasthan clusters.”
New Worship and prayer groups:
“Praying for the sick still the main source of tribal villagers becoming Christians. After prayer we clearly tell them about cross and forgiveness and not to trust on their healing. There were many sick people came in the fields for prayers and many of them were healed as we all joined together and prayed for them. There are 237 new believers added in our congregations. New worship and prayers groups were added as follows during the year 2011:
• Maharashtra: 3 worship fellowships and 6 prayer groups.
• South Gujarat: 3 worship and 3 prayer groups.
• Central Gujarat: 4 worship and 2 prayer groups.
• Rajasthan-I: 2 worship and 2 prayer groups.
• Rajasthan-II: 2 worship and 3 Prayer groups.
• Madhya Pradesh: 3 worship and 3 prayer groups.”
We are aiming for a massive 30% increase because we have appointed 11 more “new” workers to the field!
Because God continues to bless this work and because the need is so very great, we are continuing to look to God to bless his church in India. We have just identified and organized a “new” cluster of villages where no Christian work exists. They are starting up in February, but at this moment in time we have not yet found support for this team.
Perhaps individuals and churches could prayerfully consider if they would like to support this harvesting ministry. To date some 20 CRCA churches and 15 individuals are being used of God to resource this amazing ministry.
Please be in touch with us if you would like more information or become involved.
Our God is an awesome God!
Yours with thanks,
In His service,
Bert Kuipers
11 Heritage Rise, Riverside, TAS. 7250
(03) 6327 3058 0438 343101
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- Church/religious organization