Caring For the Untouchables of India
Independent Church in India’s home is called the Promised Land Leprosy Community, and our Promised Land Leprosy Church is providing and caring for the spiritual, physical, and emotional needs of residents and those who attend the worship services. Each person feels that they are special and loved by Christ. ICII is providing food, clothing, and the medical needs of these special people.
All of the Promised Land residents and those who attend the Promised Land Leprosy church were once rejected by their families and by society. Many have never felt truly loved by anyone before. Through your compassion and support, they now feel that they are accepted and loved by God who truly cares for them. Our goal is to continue to give them loving care and the hope of eternal life through Jesus Christ! Also, through the compassion of ICII’s supporters, many lives are being saved during the COVID-19 pandemic. Read in this issue how God is powerfully using two girls who grew up in one of our orphanages and have now graduated from college. These young women are taking the Gospel to the lost and saving lives by bringing much-needed food and supplies to those with leprosy.
Read on to learn about those who have come to live at one of ICII’s homes, whose lives have been changed through our supporters.
Young Girl Rescued From Slavery
Kopika is fifteen years old. She and her family lived in a remote village. They were very poor, and would only have food to eat if they woke up early in the morning and went to work. She and her younger sister (who now also lives at the Promised Land Children’s Home) could not attend school during their childhood. Instead, both of them had to work slave jobs in their village for food. One day Kopika’s father was in a terrible accident and died, leaving his family in debt from what he had spent on alcohol. The landlord, to whom the debt was owed, came and took Kopika for slave work until her mother could repay it. Kopika worked in a flower garden as a slave for two years. She would be required to wake up early in the morning to gather flowers, and at night would have to sleep out in the open field or in the cowshed. She was often sexually abused. During one night while she slept out in the field, two men snuck up on her and raped her. The landlord for whom she worked had also abused her many times. This would only be the very beginning of her unthinkable life in child slavery.
Promised Land For The Outcast
My name is Looruthumary. I was born in a remote village and my whole family was very poor. When I was thirteen years old, I discovered a small, patch-like mark on my body. It was completely white. I was eventually taken to the hospital to have it checked. The doctor examined me and said I would need medication for six months. Even though I took the medicine, my condition did not improve. By the time I was twenty years old, the patches had spread all across my body, and finally, I was diagnosed with leprosy. When my family found out, they no longer wanted me to stay at home, so they sold me as a slave to one of the local landlords. There, I took care of goats and cows and cleaned up after them. I was given just scraps or a little leftover food to eat. The landlord treated me badly, so I escaped from there and went to a government hospital, but they would not give me any treatment.
I decided to go back to my village where I was able to occupy a small hut by myself, and so that is where I lived. I would go out and beg for food to live on. One day I heard from someone about the Promised Land Leprosy Church, and I started to attend the church services there. It was there that Jesus touched me and healed me! I started to follow Jesus. I asked the people there about the Promised Land Leprosy Community, and I was invited to stay there. Since I came to live at the Promised Land, I feel happy, and I now have hope for my life! Looruthumary shares: “Throughout my whole life, I had never been loved or accepted, but after I came to the Promised Land Leprosy Community, I started to feel happy. Now I feel like I have a family! Everyone is encouraging and loving each other here. Thank you so much for all of your prayers and support! I now have hope that I will go to Heaven one day!”
Caring For Covid Victims In A Leprosy Colony
Rajee and Kokila, two girls who have lived from a young age at ICII’s Promised Land Children’s Home, have graduated from nursing college last year. Later that year they visited a leprosy colony to help the children there. They ended up being stuck in the colony for some time due to the COVID-19 lockdowns. During their time there, they found a lot of the children were malnourished. Later on, they went back to the colony to provide food for these children and to educate them.
Right now, God is using them mightily among the children in this leprosy colony. They have started a Freedom School there to educate the kids. More than thirty children at this leprosy colony are being cared for by Rajee and Kokila! The Lord has also used them to visit four leprosy colonies to give out food during the epidemic.
Rajee shares: “One girl told me, ‘We were wandering in the street, but every day you are providing food for me and I am learning a lot about Jesus. Thank you for helping us!’ ”
Kokila shares: “During the pandemic, I was praying to the Lord and asking Him to please use me to be His instrument in the villages. My friends and I visited four leprosy colonies. We gave them food and prayed for many people. My heart is to reach a lot of people in the colonies and help those who would be unable to keep surviving there. In the colony where I am staying, many men and women are suffering from a lot of health issues. I met a woman who begs for food in the street every day. I sat with her one day and shared that Jesus will give her new life. That day, she received Jesus as Savior. Now she came to live in the colony. My heart is to reach out to people who suffer and don’t have food and clothing. My whole life, I always want to serve Jesus”.
Words cannot express how much the Lord is using these young women who once came to one of ICII’s orphanages in hopelessness, but now have bright futures and the compassion to help others!
ICII Supporters Are Saving Lives!
One of ICII pastors in India was recently hospitalized with severe COVID. Pastor Sammy has been working with the ministry since 2018, He evangelizes in the villages daily, leading the gospel team of fifteen missionaries. He has planted three village churches. He also serves with ICII’s TV ministry, answering phone calls from viewers who want to learn more about Jesus. Pastor Sammy shares, “God had been using me in the remote villages to preach the gospel. I saw many come to know about Jesus for the first time in their whole lives. Radicals attacked me three times. But my heart always goes towards the lost souls who are dying without Jesus.”One of ICII pastors in India was recently hospitalized with severe COVID. Pastor Sammy has been working with the ministry since 2018, He evangelizes in the villages daily, leading the gospel team of fifteen missionaries. He has planted three village churches. He also serves with ICII’s TV ministry, answering phone calls from viewers who want to learn more about Jesus. Pastor Sammy shares, “God had been using me in the remote villages to preach the gospel. I saw many come to know about Jesus for the first time in their whole lives. Radicals attacked me three times. But my heart always goes towards the lost souls who are dying without Jesus.”
Pastor Sammy was struggling to breathe and was on oxygen support. Pastor Sammy was able to get help and was released from the hospital, and now he is recovering at his home. His life was saved through the compassion of ICII’s supporters. Now Pastor Sammy will continue to be used of the Lord winning souls and reaching the poor and needy. We give thanks to those who have helped to save Pastor Sammy and many other missionaries that dedicate their lives to savings souls.
Language Projects Continue To Reach Multitudes
Fifteen years ago Independent Church in India launched their first Bible Videos in the Indian language of Tamil: the Gospels of John and Mark in SD format. Since then many of the epistles, the book of Revelation, and the Gospel of Luke went to HD format. Our latest projects are the Psalms and a new version of the Gospel of John, both in 4K. Our goal is to update all eight of our Indian language versions of John, plus our Pakistani and African languages, all into 4K format. We also plan to make new languages of the Gospel of John, the Epistles of 1st and 2nd Peter, 1st through 3rd John, and Jude in six languages in the state of Odisha and three languages in the state of Bihar. Pastors and missionaries will load these books of the Bible on flash drives and take them into the remote villages so the illiterate, new believers and unreached people can hear the word of God for the first time as they watch beautiful HD and 4K videos of God’s beautiful creation with powerful cinematic background music.
There are thousands of testimonies of people in India, Pakistan, and Africa whose lives were on the wrong path, but when they heard and watched ICII’s Video Bibles they repented and gave their lives to Christ. Video media, with TV broadcasts and Bible videos in different languages, has become one of our most powerful tools for getting God’s Word out to a lost and dark world! The Gospel of John will be played on TV stations in India and Pakistan, where they have the potential to reach millions of souls with God’s Word. The videos will be put on our Book of Life Gospel Media website so people can watch from all over the world.
Bible Schools Equip Missionaries In Three States In India
Independent Church In India’s main focus is to raise up more native missionaries to preach the gospel. In India, most people have a polytheistic belief system and a completely non-Christian worldview. Pastors and evangelists who work there need to be very firmly grounded in the Word of God in order to be effective in reaching souls and declaring the Biblical truth in this mission field. By God’s grace and through a partnership with our sponsors and supporters, ICII’s Book of Life Bible College is conducting a two-year Bible College for fifty students in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. Our two-year Bible course is designed to prepare new pastors and missionaries for the field and to provide further education for those who are already doing ministry. Each day they meet in groups as the teachers come online or to their locations to teach. ICII also provides a meal at their meeting places and each evening the students go out for field ministry sharing the Gospel, teaching the Word of God, and ministering to the hurting.
One of the teachers, Pastor Thangamani, tells: “We can see the hunger among the native missionaries to learn the word of God better to be more effective in the field. Every day students will travel from their villages to a meeting place to wait for the teachers to come online. Now, after they began studying the Word of God in the Bible school, two of the students are already pioneering a church in a remote village!”
Pastor Samuel from Tamil Nadu told this: “I have been following Jesus for the past ten years. I always share the gospel with many people but oftentimes I felt uncomfortable in doing it. Many times I have asked myself, am I explaining the gospel the right way? But now that God has opened the door for me to enroll in the Bible school, I am learning the word of God and preaching the gospel boldly. My pastor assigned me to a certain tribal area. Now I am sharing the gospel there without fear and many are coming to know Jesus.”
Through this, God also opened the door for us to expand our online classes by starting new Bible school extensions in northern India. In both Punjab and Odisha, twenty-five pastors and their wives are attending classes online through Zoom for in-depth study of the word of God which totals 100 students!
Pastor Bagh, who heads up the extension Bible school in Odisha, shares this: “All the pastors who are attending the Bible school classes have been preaching the gospel in the tribal areas. They have been living
with the tribal people to learn their languages so they can reach them with the gospel. Some of the pastors have to walk four miles through the forest to find cell reception so they can attend the Bible school classes on Zoom. But I saw a thirst among the pastors to learn the Word of God so they can be more effective in the ministry.”
Pastor Avtar of Punjab shared, “I lived in a very remote village. I was on the way to commit suicide when a man of God rescued me and shared the gospel with me, and I believed in Jesus Christ. I have been a pastor now for five years. Because of my economic situation, I was unable to go to Bible school. But this Zoom Bible school is the best way for me to learn the word of God. Verse by verse Bible study is very helpful for teaching people God’s word. Online Bible study has helped me to have a closer relationship with God. Spiritual foundations class is very helpful in learning to teach others how to have good behavior in Christ. Thank you so much for giving us the opportunity to learn the word of God.”
For more information please contact us:
Independent Church in India
PO Box 238
Fredericksburg, PA 17026
Email: info@indchurch.org
Phone (717) 865-7885