Trio of local churches aid new congregation in India

Pastor Obanna stands on the site where the Golla Church in Karnataka, India, is being built, thanks to the donations collected through three Jefferson City congregations.
Pastor Obanna stands on the site where the Golla Church in Karnataka, India, is being built, thanks to the donations collected through three Jefferson City congregations.

Using their own hands and often excavating without powered machines, the members of Golla Church in India are joyful they soon will have a place of worship.

Three Jefferson City churches recently joined to sponsor the cost of the building materials for the congregation of about 170 in the state of Karnataka.

House of Prayer Family Church was familiar with the International Cooperation Ministry.

But when Pastor James Jackson, his wife, Dorene, and 18-year-old Josh Goins returned from a vision trip to Guatemala through the ministry, they had an enthusiasm that quickly spread through that church and to Jackson's pastor-peers, Gary Behrns at Christian Fellowship of Jefferson City and the Rev. Scott Musselman, pastor of Our Savior's Lutheran Church.

"I shared my excitement with these guys, and it sparked in their heart," Jackson said of the trio who have met for more than a decade twice a month for prayer.

This is not the first project the distinctly different denominational congregations have done together. And it won't be the last.

"This is the next step as we consider opportunities to show the community what churches can do in Christian love and unity," Musselman said. "It's compelling when you could construct a church building in India for $7,500, divided among three congregations."

At House of Prayer, one family was impressed by God to donate toward an entire additional church project.

At Our Savior's, the children responded.

"They felt keenly all kids need a place for church," Musselman said.

For several Sundays, the worship service began with a child asking the congregation to support the ministry and then passing coffee cans for a "noisy offering" as members brought in their collected change to give.

The wealth necessary for the congregation to build its own facility was something the Indian congregation never would have been able to manage on its own.

"For us, it's a blessing to come alongside Christians across the globe to bless them in a way that's difficult for them but relatively easy for us," he said. "It's a nice connection."

The International Cooperation Ministry has kept the conversation open between the donors and the growing church.

The pastors agreed they are impressed with the success of the ministry's pragmatic business model.

"It would be a good model to use in here in the U.S.," Musselman said. "We can learn from the people in India, too."

After constructing its own worship center, the Golla Church is obligated to start three more churches in the next five years.

The region of India where the Golla Church is has made a "significant faith statement." People of other religious groups there have threatened and destroyed the Christian groups and their churches.

Among India's population of 1.3 billion, less than 3 percent are Christian. The International Cooperation Ministry has been there more than 25 years. The first six churches the ministry planted have helped start more than 1,500 new congregations.

"Those are the kind of things that speak to our lives," Musselman said. "They don't have money. But in every other way they inspire us. The joy of following Christ is so obvious."

Despite their hostile environment or the absence of a worship center, the Christians in India and other places served by International Cooperation Ministry are driven by their faith.

"I was embarrassed," Jackson said. "Their passion is incredible.

"They're thinking: "Get it done for the cause of Christ is to bring people in.'"

Link:

www.icm.org