Being a Good Samaritan!

                                           Mission Trip - September 2011

Cheers!

Greetings from Charis Seva Mandal and Charis Institute of Leadership Excellence! Thanks for your valuable prayers. We could feel an increase in the bonding between the trainers and the trainees in the Lay Leaders Training (CILE-Session IV) in the Sunderbans Islands. We had one Bengali teacher added to our group, a committed minister of the Nazarene Church and our friend, Rev Trisha Baran Das. We could see the smile in the faces of the trainees to see a teacher, training them in their own language.

Rev Trisha Baran Das -facilitates a course in Hermeneutics 

We had our training in a facilty, where a student of Calcutta Bible Seminary (where we had taught earlier for nearly ten years), Pastor Tarun Singh is working.  The training spot was a beautiful place with all facilities, except electricity. So we could not have late evening sessions, which we used to have in earlier trainings.

Preparing for Bible Quiz

The zeal for learning the Scriptures was seen in the way the trainees got ready for Bible Quizzes in the books of Deuteronomy and the Gospel of John. Though they are materially poor, they are getting spiritually strong through the Word of God.  We distributed old clothing to them which we had collected from friends and well-wishers. The trainees also had sumptuous food that satiated their hunger during the three days of training.

Lay Leaders

This mission trip to the Sunderban Islands gave us more focus as to how to proceed further. Our whole aim in our mission to the islands is to empower local leaders who would transform their places with the power of the gospel.  We have a faculty-in-training who is an islander, who  will be in-charge of the child-care program too and will become our full-time worker from the month of December. As part of the Child-Help program, we distributed school supplies to twenty-five needy students in a tribal settlement in the islands.

School Supplies distributed in a tribal settlement in the islands

Giving School Supplies to Esther, a princess living in Kolkata slum!

We want to cater to selected children of poor migrants in cities too because they are the worst affected when it comes to their education. They do not have choices to learn in their own native languages, but have to go to English medium schools which is quite costly in a city.  We intend to implement the Child Help program in cities of our acquaintance, Kolkata and Bengaluru.

Vibrant House Churches, at least five of them are in immediate need of church buildings. All of the above mentioned works - the Leaders’ Training program, the Child-Help program and the Church Planting initiatives are aimed to empower very needy communities.

Please pray for our forthcoming ministerial visits to Doha, Dubai and the United States. As usual, we covet your prayers for the ministries of CSM. We wish that you would join us in this Kingdom building business by roping in as Good Samaritans. You could offer appropriate voluntary services in any of these programs or pay in cash/kind for empowering needy people both in this rural and urban ministry of CSM. Get in touch with us for more relevant details. May the Lord’s name be glorified in and through all our efforts.

Do not forget to do good and to share with others, for with such sacrifices God is pleased. (Hebrews 13:16)

My e-mail id: graceidarajan@yahoo.com