Church planting is a vital part of missionary evangelism. Since we’re primarily working in villages without existing churches, church planting is our focal point. Currently we are helping native pastors in India plant new churches by providing them monthly support and by financially assisting them in the construction of church building. Of the 700,000 villages across India, only about 65,000 have a Christian church. We believe that every unreached village has the right to a church that proclaims the good news of the gospel until Jesus returns. Our vision is to see a living church planted in every one of the remaining 635,000 villages.
Supporting Pastors : When a gospel worker is sent to a new place for planting a church, he needs to be supported until he is established and is able to support himself. Church planting is hard work. Often these workers are sent to villages where there is no electricity or access to freshwater. They live with their families in a 1-or 2-room house. Compounding the hardship is the fact that they labor in areas where there are no other Christian families to support them or encourage them.
Native pastors desperately want to fulfill the call God has on their lives to reach the lost, but they are hindered by their poverty. Jesus Followers ministries seeks to help these gospel workers until they are established. A gospel worker and his family may be sustained in such a pioneering setting with a monthly support of $300. By no means this covers their full living expenses, but will go a long way in meeting their basic needs. As part of this support we also provide bicycles, public-address systems, Bibles, and other gospel literature to equip these gospel workers for effective evangelism and church planting.
Building Church Halls : An important part of church planting effort is to assist native pastors and village churches in building worship facilities. Most churches in Indian villages are made of poor people, usually laborers and farmers, who do not have the means to finance a building project on their own. Many make the decision to follow Jesus Christ and churches are being established for the growing groups of new believers. Often they gather in homes, and in some cases, under a thatched roof. These churches are in need of financial assistance for erecting a simple prayer hall for the purpose of Sunday worship and weekly meetings.