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UNITED BIHAR HARVEST MISSION LAUNCHED! 55% of the People of Bihar are living below the poverty line

The challenge - 6 out of 10,000 People are Christians Only the Most Powerful Gospel can Transform the Most

Backward State of India!

BISHOP EZRA SARGUNAM

The very name Bihar conjures images of malnourished and disheveled half-naked children in the grasp of emaciated mothers reflecting abject poverty and lack of development; overcrowded trains and ancient rickety buses; nature’s vagaries – deluge and drought; bloody communal and group clashes; corrupt, selfish, indifferent, unruly and megalomaniac politicians exposing themselves unabashedly; violent student protests; gory carnages perpetrated by both left wing extremists like the Maoists who claim to represent the poor tillers of the land and right wing extremist gangs belonging to the rich land owners; police excesses and savage mob justice and lynching for petty crimes watched helplessly by the police. You get a glimpse of these daily occurrences in the front page of this month’s Church Planter. As most of my Indian brethren might know, BIMARU is an acronym that refers to the four most backward Indian states of Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh and also literally means sick in Hindi! Of these four states, interestingly Bihar is number one sick state. The so-called champions of social justice who have been at the helm of affairs in Bihar the last 25 years or so have also become corrupt and have miserably failed to bring about the desired change, though they may claim to the contrary. According to the report of a Central Government Committee on Poverty Estimation, 55 per cent of the people of

Bihar are living below the poverty line, which means these people can barely afford one meal a day, if you can call it a meal at all. As per the 2001 census, the total population of Bihar is 92 million. And only 6 out of 10,000 people are Christians.

In other words, only 60,000 people are reported to be Christians. There maybe a few thousand more, after 10 years of evangelism efforts and mass baptism in the Ganges river. God first sent Rev Augustine Jebakumar and then Dr Devasahayam Ponraj, both from Tamil Nadu, to this most unfortunate state. And now, the Lord of the Harvest is leading FMPB, ECI-ECC and IMM to launch a United Front to take the Gospel to Bihar and relieve the physical sufferings of the people, at least in a small way, and plant churches. It is towards this end that we, representing the above-mentioned church and mission agencies, went over to Patna, Bihar and prayerfully launched the United Bihar Harvest Mission (UBHM) on 30th August 2010. Dr Devasahayam Ponraj of BORN and Rev Sebastian Joseph, our ECI-ECC representative in Bihar, so graciously organised the programme. This is Bihar … and God is calling us to preach the most powerful Gospel to the people of this most backward state in India and plant churches among them. We invite our friends and partners to not only pray for Bihar, but to visit the field and enter into partnership, as the Lord may so lead.

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A Great Step Forward to Reach Bihar for Christ! An unique venture of partnership between Number One Indigenous

Mission joining hands with Number One church planting Denomination Rev P Stephen Joyson, General Secretary – FMPB

Bishop Ezra Sargunam, a visionary being led by the Holy Spirit expressed his long time desire to have a Joint venture by the ECI, IMM, FMPB and ECC in Cross Cultural Missionary Work among a most needy and responsive people group in India. It was agreed in principle that the congregations established under this partnership can be affiliated with ECI from the beginning. On August 30th 2010, members representing FMPB, ECI, ECC and IMM sat for a consultation in the morning at the BORN Office. The partners made an unanimous decision to work in Begusarai and Samastipur districts. While IMM, ECC and ECI chose to work in Begusari district, FMPB chose to work in Samastipur district. During the inaugural service in the evening, President Bishop, Ezra Sargunam shared from the word of God and asked all the partners to lay their hands on the map of Bihar and pray. Bishop led the congregation in prayer raising their voices for Bihar. Thus the UNITED BIHAR HARVEST MISSION was launched in Patna. This is an unique venture of partnership between the number one indigenous mission joining hands with Number One church planting denomination for the furtherance of the gospel in Bihar. The burden the Lord had placed on Bishop Ezra was translated into a reality. I am deeply challenged by commitment and vision of Bishop Ezra, who shared openly that his “only ambition in life is to reach as many of the responsive people groups, die evangelizing and planting churches”. I visualize that by 2020 there will be 20% of Christians in Bihar through the saturation of the gospel among all the people groups we labour. Placing our faith in God who gives the increase we move forward for a rich harvest in Bihar for His glory. We are in the process of selecting some districts where we will be focusing our efforts to reach various responsive people groups.

WHY BIHAR NOW! Rev Dr D Chellappa, National Co-ordinator, ECC Still towards the end of 20th century, the land of Bihar was known as “the

grave yard of missionaries and missions” which is turned to be the “vineyard of mission” in this 21st century. Number of missions and missionary agencies entered into this harvest field, spread the gospel light and winning the people for Christ in big numbers. The so called holy river (as the Hindus say) Ganges, is being used for giving baptism of new converts in hundreds and thousands at a time. Truly it is a great change. It was in the year 2001 ECC entered into this state of Bihar with the clear guidance of our Lord and the specific direction given by Bihar Outreach Network (BORN) and started its ministry among Chamars in the villages of Patna and Nalanda districts of Bihar. The ECC teams have established both small and big congregations in 300 villages. In some of the congregations more than 500 believers gather for worship services on Sundays. Definitely such big size of congregations need a separate place of worship. Uphold us in your prayers. As we strive and march on . . . . into Bihar with the great faith that the Lord will give the land to us (Num 14: 8), we need your support and daily prayers.

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Leaders of FMPB, ECI, IMM and ECC placing their hands on the map of Bihar and in faith

claiming Bihar for Christ

18 candidates from BORN and ECI were ordained and 21 were licensed to preach the Gospel in the state of Bihar during the inauguration of United Bihar Harvest Mission (UBHM)

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ECI CHENNAI DIOCESE BELIEVERS PLEDGED TO GIVE RUPEES ONE CRORE AND FORTY THREE LAKHS (US$ 320,000) TOWARDS IMM MINISTRIES FOR THE YEAR 2010-2011! There were cheques and cash offerings of total Rs. 29,00,910/- (US $ 67,000) Indian Missionary Movement organised for a missionary challenge for the ECI Chennai believers on 12th September 2010 at St. George’s School campus. Inspite of heavy rain nearly 5000 people participated in this meeting and were challenged about the need of discipling North India, specially Bihar. On that occasion Mr K Manoharan gave Rs. 10 lakhs towards the cause of ECI ministries in North India. There were many churches and believers who donated liberally for North India ministries. On that day, we received twenty nine lakh rupees for IMM ministries. Further, from the churches and believers we received the pledge for rupees one crore and forty five lakhs for the IMM ministries for 2010-11. We thank and praise God for the Chennai Diocese churches and believers who give generously for building God’s kingdom in India through IMM. Lives of several hundreds were touched by the impact of the programs, powerful preaching and generous contributions to missions.

Need and importance for missionary works is emphasised through the cultural programs presented

by Calcutta Bible Seminary students and Madras Theological Seminary and College students. Participants were moved with the skeleton dance depicting the concept of

Ezekeiel prophesying to the dry bones

Mr K Manoharan, Vice-Chairman of IMM, presented the first cheque for Rs. 10,00,000 (US $ 23000) towards his pledge of one crore towards the IMM High School Project in Jharkhand

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70 SENIOR AND YOUNG LEADERS (HOUSE OF JOSHUAS AND MOSESES) OF ECI PARTICIPATED IN THE LEADERSHIP TRAINING SEMINAR

WITH DR MALCOLM WEBBER AT NEW DELHI From 23-25 August 2010, we had three days of leadership training seminar for the selected 70 leaders of ECI. All the participants were motivated and challenged through the training sessions taken by Dr Malcolm Webber, an outstanding leadership Guru.

ALLAHABAD BIBLE SEMINARY STUDENTS AND FACULTY CELEBRATED INDEPENDENCE DAY AT NAINI CENTRAL JAIL, ALLAHABAD

Allahabad Bible Seminary faculty and students celebrated Independence Day at Naini central jail in Allahabad sharing the good news of freedom through Christ. Rev Pervez Sethna, the Academic Dean of ABS preached about the freedom that is available in Jesus Christ. Rev Pervez says that “We are praying and seeking permission to have programs every week-end at the juvenile jail and also the women’s jail”

CHURCHES DEDICATED IN THE MONTH OF AUGUST

ECI Durgampalli, Andhra ECI Airoli, Mumbai ECI Ezhil Nagar, Chennai

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YOUR LETTERS OF ENCOURAGEMENT

I enjoyed and was encouraged by your lead article in the August Church Planter “Can These Dry Bones Come to Life”. Praise the Lord for the work He is doing through ECI in Bihar and other parts of India. May the Lord continue to bless you, keep you healthy and work through you. - Dr David Long, President, OMS I just received and read the latest “Church Planter” which was great as usual. A lot of good articles, updates and pictures. I especially was excited to read the section on the recent Women’s Conference that Hannah and Charla Duggins participated in under Sunlight’s leadership. This was SO GREAT to see! It is the fulfillment of a lot of years of preparation and inspiration in Sunlight’s life. She is certainly emerging as one of the great women leaders in India in general and ECI in particular! - Dr J L Williams, Founder, New Directions International (Retired)

PRAYER AND PRAISE CONCERNS:

1. Pray for Rev Jacob Johnson who will be consecrated as the first Bishop of ECI Kerala Kanykumari Diocese on 26th September that the Lord will anoint him to strengthen the churches under his care. 2. Pray for the BILD training which will take place at Bangalore for the Karnataka region that the leaders will be trained in the way of Christ and His Apostles to plant churches among the unreached people groups in the state of Karnataka. 3. Pray for the ECI All India Conference which will take place in the month of October 27 and 28 that the Lord will direct the church to move forward with the goal of planting 10,000 churches and 100,000 house churches. 4. Praise God for the Lord heard the prayers of ECI Harda church believers in Madhya Pradesh and provided the funds to construct a church building for them. Pray that the work will be completed soon. 5. Pray for the financial needs of our ECI Bible Schools so that many grassroots level church planters will be trained through these schools. 6. Pray for the children in our Schools and Happy Homes who are writing their exams that the Lord will grant them His wisdom from above to do their exams well. 7. Pray for the believers of ECI who will be celebrating the harvest festival in their churches in this month that they will be ever thankful to God for all the blessings they have in their lives.

Note: Readers are free to circulate this newsletter in full or in part to their friends and well-wishers. If you no longer wish to receive this e-magazine kindly make it known to the Editor, or if you would like your partner friends to receive this newsletter kindly send their email ID’s to us.

Evangelical Church of India has more than 3400 churches and 13 Bible Schools in different parts of India. We move forward with a goal of planting 10,000 churches and 100,000 house churches. Hundreds of people are turning to Christ every day and Churches planted. If you want to know more about the overall ministries of ECI, please write to: Bishop Dr M Ezra Sargunam, Evangelical Church of India, No 1, Second Street, Ormes Road, Kilpauk, Chennai, India 600010, ecindia@vsnl.com / bishopsargunam_eci@yahoo.com