HEART OF ASIAN OUTREACH / Peter U, Chairman

Half of the year 2021 has gone by and COVID-19 is still determining our lives. We have seen our world broken and fall into despair. Endless days of bad news, testing and trying us. But, as we open the Word to Psalm 51:12 “Restore to me the joy of your salvation and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me.” We ask God to let our passion for life be restored, tasting joy in every breakthrough He brings us and we ask Him to strengthen us so we may stay strong when it feels like we are sinking under. We seek comfort, faith and hope. As believers of Jesus Christ, we must be that HOPE for the nations and reveal the joy of the Lord to those who do not know Him.

We can look positively upon the lockdown rules to stay home as meant to be a time of rest not only for God’s creatures but for the land. (Already air pollution is down in many parts of the world). A time for God’s distracted and self-absorbed creatures to remember that we are first and foremost recipients—and not the creators—of all that is good in our lives: the land, rain and sun, family, friends, work, and most of all God’s grace and provision. It need not be a time of despair but a time of seeking God and asking him “What is my purpose Lord in this season of lockdown?”

We praise God that we have been able to partner with a new ministry in Cebu and will be working with Ps Josephine (Her ministry and testimony is featured in this magazine). We are also pleased to be working with Ps Kikon in Siliguri again and partnering with him in his new ministry, Equip Church Ministry. (His ministry in featured in this magazine too) We look forward to expanding the Kingdom of God in these areas and ushering more souls into the Kingdom. 

In Chennai and in the other districts of India the Foot Soldiers are sharing the joy of the Lord and going about their work quietly bring hope and God’s love to those who are forgotten by society – the elderly, sick and the very poor. They are the nameless sea of faces that are struggling to survive. While India has struggled with hunger and poverty for decades, the pandemic has certainly taken the situation to a deepening state of affairs. For Ps Paul and his team, they know it is not possible to change the world for everyone ... but if they can change the world of one person by giving them hope and showing Christ love, then let them be the instrument.

Rani Rajamani is a widow with one school going son and a teenage daughter and Ps Paul has changed their world. Her husband had passed away and she used to sell fresh flowers on the street to earn a living but the pandemic took away her livelihood. The three of them were starving and had gone a few days without food, eating only morsels they could find. Her heart broke to see her 2 children and she would often go without so they could eat. Walking on the streets begging and looking around for food she was tired and desperate and then a hand reached out to her. The man looked upon her with love and compassion in his eyes and she knew she had found Hope at last. That night her family could have their meal together, though it was probably just dhal and rice, they relished every mouth they took. Now every month she is given food supplies and she is so grateful to Ps Paul and his team. She wanted to know what made these people want to help her and why they were so kind and they shared the Gospel with her. Her whole world was changed when she heard the word and experienced the Love of Jesus. She and her children accepted the Lord and were baptised.

Ranni Amma, a 70-year-old widow, lives in a slum alone having being deserted by her family. She used to work as a domestic worker, but now because of her age no one is hiring her for work. Due to lack of food her health has deteriorated and she has no one to turn to. Hope came to her when a co-worker saw her distress and reached out to her and now, she too has been adopted into their grocery scheme and is given monthly groceries for her survival. An act of love and kindness has changed her world – her life matters and someone cares.

Gandhi Amma is another poor lady living in the slums. Deserted by her children and with an ailing husband she had to work to support both of them. Then COVID-19 happened and the shops where she used to work as a cleaner were forced to close down. Robbed of their livelihood and any hope they had for survival she was desperate until the team heard about her plight and are now helping her with monthly groceries. She and her husband have since accepted the Lord and she is a soul winner, testifying to all who will hear about the love of Jesus.

Everybody in the slums is in the same boat just like you, fighting for survival. It’s a survival of the fittest and the elderly and sick are often forgotten. Some of the children who have been able to move out of the slums have distanced themselves from their parents and their former lives in the slums. Many are third and fourth generation in the slum and some fight and claw their way out of this vicious cycle of poverty others just accept it as their destiny and cannot find their way out. Kids growing up there only see the occupations around them, so they don’t know of other alternatives and even if they do learn about a different alternative – they don’t know how to get there.

Hope comes in many forms to the poor people. Hope brings them love and the knowledge that their life matters to someone. They come to see the tangible love of God through those who reach out to them to help them and yet expect nothing in return for themselves. Jesus instructed his followers to change the world in his name by embracing two very important commands: the Great Commandment and the Great Commission. We are to love God and love our neighbours as ourselves (Matthew 22:37-39), and we are to go and make disciples of others who will do the same (Matthew 28:19-20). Giving them hope and loving them in the process leads them to Jesus and transforms their lives forever. He is God of the slums too.

James 2:18

“But someone will say, “You have faith; I have deeds.” Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by my deeds.”

 

Prayer Points

1. Pray for the safety of Ps Paul and his team from COVID 19 as they go around the slums.

2. God of Justice, open our eyes to see you in the face of those in poverty and open our ears to hear

    you in the cries of those in need.

3. Remind us Lord that what we do to the least ones, we do to you.