A Providential Opportunity One-third of the world s unreached people groups live in India. This includes 58 million of the Yadav people, the largest unreached people group in India. What if there was a way to offer something that unreached people groups, like Muslims and Buddhists, desire for their children? There is. It is education. Education is highly valued and sought after all over the world as a means to better one s livelihood and escape poverty. This is especially the case in northern India where government and other schools are not meeting the demand and expectations of Indian families. In fact, Hindu, Muslim, and Buddhist parents will eagerly pay to send their children to Christian schools that have a high reputation of educational standards in India. Children learn morals and biblical principles in school and can be taught the gospel after school. Teachers often visit with the parents of the children and relationships are formed. Education, and specifically Christian schools, present a providential gospel platform to reach the vast unreached people groups in India.
Why India? India has the highest concentration of unreached people groups in the world. India is a nation of roughly 1.19 billion people about four times the population of the U.S. and in a land mass approximately one-third of the U.S. After China, it has the largest population in the world. According to the Joshua Project, 33% of the world s unreached people groups are in India (2,033 people groups out of 7,000 unreached groups). This includes the Yadav (58 million people), the largest unreached people group in India. Many of the Yadav live in the state of Bihar in northeast India. Bihar has the highest population density in India (1,000+ people per square kilometer) and the lowest literacy rate in the country (United Nations Development Programme Report from 2011). Of the 375 unreached people groups in Bihar, they have theses religious affiliations: Hindu 82%, Muslims 16%, Christian 0.3% The need in India is staggering.
Our Christmas Offering This Year Reaching the unreached in India through schools is not only strategic, but it has also proven effective. Good News for India (GNFI) is one of College Park Church s global partners in advancing the gospel and igniting a passion for Christ among every tribe, tongue, and nation including the unreached in north India. GNFI is committed to training, sending, and supporting Indian national Christians to preach the gospel and strengthen the church in the Indian subcontinent. Partnering with GNFI, the 2014 Christmas Offering will be used to build a primary school in Bihar and complete schools already serving impoverished rural communities in north India.
How will your Gifts be Invested for Gospel Advancement? Good News for India schools have become an effective way to share and show the love of Christ. Although Christian conversion cannot be taught or advocated by the school, the government allows moral education in the schools, and the Bible and teachings of Jesus are used for this portion of the education curriculum. Each school day begins with the Lord s Prayer and the singing of Christian worship songs. The work of gospel-sharing comes through the work of the GNFI teachers and staff members of the schools. Teachers see themselves as missionaries and utilize their influence to share the gospel whenever possible. They start Bible Studies, prayer meetings, and churches, and are committed to prayer for the villages, students, and families. The 2014 Christmas Offering will provide for building one new primary school in Bihar and finish the building work of three other schools already serving rural communities in north India. Beyond education, the location of the new school in Bihar is near where many church plants have recently begin. The new school will serve to strengthen these churches and encourage additional church plants. The location is strategic in reaching the Yadav as well as provide a place where the children of Christian workers can be educated.
Here s what this looks like: Land will be purchased and a primary school will be built in the state of Bihar. The estimated completion date of this new school is 2017. This is the state in India in which many of the Yadav people live, one of the largest unreached people groups in the world. The remaining funds will go to help purchase land for a growing KJA school in Rudraprayag, a holy city on the Ganges River. The school is growing quickly in rented facilities. Funds will go to the primary/secondary school in Bhagawanpur to help complete its building; the estimated completion date of work is Fall 2015. Land has been purchased and the building begun. We will help to complete building a school for K-10 students. Twenty-one small house churches have already been begun in the surrounding area by GNFI staff. Funds will be given to complete the school in Pathri and provide additional staff housing on the school property; the estimated completion date of work is Fall 2015. This school has 500 students and needs to add rooms for the 9th and 10th grades. In India they start university after 10th grade.
Continuing our Long-Term Investment for the Unreached in India In 2007 we took a Christmas Offering that helped start work in reaching the unreached people groups in India. The 2007 Christmas Offering has enabled the following gospel advancements in north India: Establish a satellite-training center that is training grass-root level church planters for a very needy area of Bihar particularly focused on the Yadav people, a mega-unreached people group of India. Establish a scholarship fund in New Theological College to train leaders for the emerging Christian community among the Yadav people. Complete the construction of our high school in Narendra Nagar through which eighteen churches have been planted in an area where there never was a congregation of native believers before. Expand the school in Pathri that is primarily serving a significant number of the so-called Untouchable children as well as children from other communities that had no access to the Gospel. Help with the operation of yet another satellite training center in Nagpur.
Give the Gospel through education Sunday, Dec. 21 Or give online at yourchurch.com/give 2606 West 96th Street, Indianapolis, IN 46268 317.875.0282 yourchurch.com/christmasoffering