Ministry of the Word to Dhanoo

The burden for the spreading of the ministry of the word to Jammu and Kashmir has been brewing within my being. A brother who once enjoyed his church life in Gruugram has been inviting me to visit him. His invitation was the trigger point for me to follow up and consider visiting the entire state of Jammu and Kashmir. Based on his invitation, I fellowshipped with the brothers concerned and made plans for the ministry of the word literature journey to Jammu and Kashmir.

Meanwhile, this brother had called up a 'bishop' he knew and mentioned our visitation. Thereafter, this brother who is a bishop called me and all the planning was done. All the places that the Lord wanted us to visit in this journey were all prearranged by the bishop and his coworkers.

On this distribution trip, I felt it best to first visit the brother who had been with us in the church in Gruugram before he shifted back to his village, Dhanoo. Therefore, we began our ministry journey to Dhanoo.

In Dhanoo we spent one day and one night and had a wonderful time of fellowship with our brother's family. Our first visit to this village was a few years ago when his father was still alive. Now that his father was gone, he has taken up the responsibility of his father's burden for the Lord's testimony upon his shoulder. A couple of families used to come together weekly basis on the Lord's day for a meeting. Our brother has been shepherding them. Obviously, it was made known to us through our fellowship that our brother himself needs much shepherding. His wife herself has not yet been baptized. Though there were a couple of young ones, his cousins, who were also meeting with him, they need a lot of shepherding. 

One afternoon in our fellowship, we touched on the matter of God's eternal plan and the need for men to be saved first to receive the divine life in the spirit, and also the need for water baptism to prepare all the unsaved family members. So far, they have no entanglement in the organized Christianity. Therefore, we have the burden to shepherd our brother so that he can be gained to be a pillar for the church in Dhanoo one day. In his entire village, only his family has accepted Christ as their Saviour. Though he has many relatives in the village who are open to him and also to the gospel, a time of shepherding visit will be a good beginning to lay the foundation for the Lord's testimony in this village. 

One morning, this brother took us for sightseeing on a bike ride to a mountain where tourists have frequented for Cloud Camping and other hiking activities. The villages in these areas are scantily populated. As we rode through these villages, we called upon the Lord's name out loud and prayed for the salvation of these villages with the raising up of the Lord's testimony in these villages. We strongly believe that the local brothers can be strengthened and we can accompany them in the gospel preaching to evangelize the people there. 

May the Lord give us the wisdom to discern when to visit these villages again and how to shepherd our brothers' families so that through them, the Lord's testimony can be established and many other lampstands can be raised up as well. 

Lord, raise up the church in Dhanoo! And also save the people in Tikri area.