MESSAGE OF LOVE
The long journey to reach those who have
never heard the name of Jesus

 ... by Kathy A. Smith

 The main mission of Independent Church in India is to reach those living in remote villages and mountains that have never yet heard the name of Jesus. The Lord has placed in Pastor Britto's heart a burden to reach eight hundred villages in the next five months. Even in the midst of persecution and even threats to his life, he and his team workers are determined to fulfill the burden that God has placed in their hearts. Carrying out this mission in India is not always as easy as it is for us and getting in our car and driving into town or even driving many hours to another state. But these men of God at Independent Church in India are determined to do what ever it takes to preach the Gospel where ever their Lord may lead them.

Pastor Britto and Pastor Richard have been praying for an opportunity to share the Gospel with the tribal societies.
The Lord graciously answered their desperate prayer when they met an orphan boy named Chinnan at one of the children's outreaches they were conducting. Chinnan invited them to come to share the Gospel with his people in the mountains.
THE TRIBAL SOCIETY

Chinnan is living with a group of people called a tribal society. They live in the mountains and call themselves the frustrated people from their own society. So through family relations they have formed their own society of around fifty members. Each of the societies have a tribal leader.

These societies have a very hard life and many of them live like slaves. Their land lords give them a very small amount of money to cultivate and oversee their coffee fields. They begin this work from early in the morning to late at night taking their children along with them. They survive mainy by living off the land.
Pastor Richard stands by the bus that took them as far as it could go by road. Now the rest of the journey had to be by foot.
Now God had provided an open door for them to share His glorious gospel with those who had never yet heard. But their next task was to actually get there, for they knew that it would be a long journey ahead.
Twenty-five mountains had to be crossed to reach this orphan's tribal group. No distance was about to stop them because they knew that their Lord wanted to pour out His love upon these people.

Starting very early in the morning Pastors Britto, Richard, and two of their branch Pastors Isaac and Nesan took a bus that crossed over ten mountains.

After this bus ride, they would be on their own because of the hard and stony roads, they had to continue either by walking on foot or riding horse. They decided to walk. Meeting up with their new orphan friend Chinnan made it possible for them to find their way to his people.

 From left to right; a branch Pastor Isaac, an orphan named Chinnan, Pastor Richard and branch Pastor Pastor Isaac. Pastor Britto is taking the picture.

 

 
So the pastors began their long journey. Crossing all these fifteen mountains was very tiring in the heat. Many times they would need to rest under a shade tree.

After around 10 hours of intense walking these faithful and determined men of God finally reached this frustrated group in the evening, but no one was there. Eventually around 8:00 that night the tribal people came home from a long day out in the coffee fields.When they seen Britto and his ministers they thought that they were policemen that had come secretly to arrest them, because the previous night someone had been murdered.

 Pastor Richard is sharing the Gospel and giving tracts to the tribal leader of this group.

This is when the orphan boy introduced them that they were not policemen but had come to
preach about God's love. This convinced the orphans tribal group to receive the pastors and they welcomed them giving food to eat. There main food is called weatoppuma and it smelled horrible, but the Pastors knew that the Lord wanted them to love these people, so they ate it to show the love of Christ. They were determined to preach the gospel no matter what the cost.

Pastor Richard sharing the Gospel with the tribal group.

After eating together with them the Pastors shared the gospel with the people, and the tribals received it with joy. They were very eager to hear about Jesus Christ for they had never yet heard about the wonderful plan of salvation before. One man told them that his people have a great desire to educate their children but they have no money. Many times we have to put our children to bed very hungry. But after your preaching about Jesus we believe that Jesus will provide our needs and also take us to heaven!

That night they stayed with the
tribal group and in the early morning before the tribal group went back out to their fields to work another long day Pastor Britto and his ministers prayed for them and asked them to share their burdens.

After this, Britto and his team returned on their long journey back home.

 After the meeting Pastor Britto is rejoicing and singing songs to his team members. They are very tired from the long day of walking. Pastor Isaac is not feeling well.
Please pray for these tribal groups. Independent Church in India is praying that God will open more doors so they are able to preach the gospel. They must know someone in each tribal society so the people will accept them when they go to preach. The tribal groups live in many different places in that area that have never even heard about the Lord Jesus Christ and His wonderful free gift of salvation.

Pastor Britto and his ministry have a special burden for these people. They love these people so much and it breaks their heart that they can not provide more for them. If you would like to help Independent Church in India to reach these unreached groups with God's wonderful message of love and also to help provide basic needs for them and their precious children please donate here.

This ministry is also praying that God will provide a vehicle so Pastor Britto and Pastor Richard can take their teams with them to preach the gospel. If you would like to help them to reach these far away villages please click here to see the vehicle that they are believing God for.