“Isolated” and “remote” are two words that describe this village.  It is not the easiest place to get to. It’s off the beaten path. It is eight miles off the main road down a narrow, single-lane blacktop road. From there it’s down a dirt lane for several more miles until the road abruptly ends! More than a year ago the bridge that connected the village with the outside world was washed away in the rushing waters that followed the monsoons.

As Pastor Ashok says, the village is “almost an island.” The village and the fields around the village are surrounded by water on three sides. Going over the canal is the quickest and easiest way to get to work, shopping and school. Going via land adds about forty miles to the trip.

The government is building a new bridge but it will take some time. The alternatives available are a small boat and a rickety bridge. To call it a bridge is being really kind. The “bridge” consists of small tree limbs widely spaced and loosely strung over poles. The swiftly moving waters in the canal were easily visible beneath our feet as we struggled to maintain our balance.

Having negotiated the canal was only the start of the journey. The men waiting for us on the other side of the canal had umbrellas to protect us from the blazing sun.  Shoes that were black and shining at the start of the journey were dirty gray by the time we padded along the dusty road to the worship service.  But the journey was well worth the effort. More than forty men, women and children were crowded onto the verandah of a school, a verandah that has been their place of worship for the past four years. They meet there rain or shine. They meet there in the cold of winter and in the scorching heat of summer because there is no other place in their little village that will accommodate such numbers or that they would be allowed to use.

The people in this congregation desire a worship facility of their own. They can’t fit their entire congregation onto the verandah.  When everyone is present, some members are exposed to the elements. There are those who don’t want to worship on a verandah and so they stay away. Others want to see the stability and roots that a permanent place of worship will bring.

The members have been saving for four years. They have registered a half acre of prime land in the name of the national church. They have saved ten thousand rupees and they have promised another ten to fifteen thousand. Some in the congregation have purchased bags of cement, some will donate doors and windows and others have purchased roofing sheets. That’s a lot for people who make their living toiling in the fields often for less than two dollars a day.

But, their love for Jesus is strong and their desire to have a church home is equally so. God is gracious and their prayers will be answered in the next few months. Money has been set aside from the India building fund to help them build the church. It will be more expensive than the average church because the building supplies must be trucked over long distances, but the members are willing to bear the extra cost.

The Lord willing, in four months we will again make the trek to this village for the dedication of their new worship facility. The new bridge won’t be done but their little church should be.  It won’t be a soaring cathedral but it will comfortably seat all the present members with extra room for the others in the village who do not yet know Jesus as their Savior. The church will be built and situated in such a way that it can be easily expanded to make room for more if the Lord should grant an unexpected influx.  Please pray for this little flock. Pray that the Lord will give them patience for just a little longer. Pray for their gospel worker who, through faithful work and evangelism, has built the congregation up from a small nucleus to a group numbering well over one hundred souls.  Pray that God will continue to lead people of other faiths to know Jesus as their Savior.