Harvest Bridge 2023 Impact Report

I Have Decided to Follow Jesus, No Turning Back, No Turning Back

India Report By Pastors Jairaj* (Country Director), Suraj* (State Director), Priscilla* (State Director), Thomas* (State Director), Philip* (State Director), Joshua* (State Director), and Priya* (GATE Director)

I lift up my eyes to the mountains—where does my help come from? My help comes from the Lord, the Maker of heaven and earth. - Psalm 121:1-2

The year of 2023 has been a mixed experience year. On one hand, Covid pandemic was finished, on the other hand, the fear of persecution and struggles to sustain the ministries among inflation and threats set in. It is almost unanimous among pastors that inflation after Covid-19 is a significant issue that has an impact on their personal life and ministry. The cost of essential items has gone so high and the income from church is less compared to the inflation. Politically, doing ministry is challenging in North India. The present central government is strongly for the spread of Hinduism and against all the minority groups, especially Christians and Muslims. It is affecting not only Christians, but Muslims and Buddhists. Even those who are from lower castes of Hindus are also being affected by their caste system. This has an ultimate effect on the ministries too. Pastors are doing ministry with tenseness and insecure feeling. Many house churches are closed down. So, the people are afraid. And these are the reasons why we were not always able to complete our goals.

In 2023, we faced obstacles in the ministry, but God has been merciful to us and has shown us His favour in our lives. God has revealed His protection and provision through His Word in Psalm 23 and 121. I (Suraj) would like to convey my heartiest thanks and sincere appreciation for your prayers and financial support, by which we were able to conduct all our ministries and social services. This helped us and our communities, not only to survive but also to share the love and message of Christ and provide relief during these challenging times. Our daily needs were also met; without your support it would not be possible.

Although despair and anxiety have been with us, in the book of Job, the story gives us strength to encourage other leaders with the Word of God. I (Philip) told the leaders that Job reminds us how the blessing of the Lord came. I told them, “You are persecuted. At this time you are in fear.” Then, I told them, “Job did not deny God. You have not denied God so far. In future also, don’t tell Moulvis (Muslim religious leaders) that we do not know Jesus. Then, you are denying Jesus.” And it was encouraging for so many of our leaders. Then, in front of the Moulvis, they have good testimonies. They talked on the topic of the Quran and the Bible, and were standing with Christ. We were excited to see new leaders coming in the Lord, giving their selves to Jesus and excited to preach the Gospel. As the song says, “I have decided to follow Jesus, no turning back, no turning back.”

EQUIPPED FOR DAILY MINISTRY

By the prayerful financial support we were able to meet ministry requirements and also personal needs. These are some examples:

Indu* lives in an outskirt village in Bihar with her three children. She is a widow from Hindu background. She was working as a maid servant. Without the husband it was already tough upon her to support her family and growing children in this poor village. They were already going through poverty and hunger and on top of that faced the flood disaster in July which made them shift to the higher place at a nearby railway station platform. They were going through hunger when they received the food packets. They were grateful to receive it and joy filled their faces.

“I thank God and Pastor Philip and his team, who helped me to buy a horse. Through that I am able to run my family and share the Gospel with the tourists while they are riding the horse as customers.” ~ Abdul*

“Beside doing ministry, I am a farmer and used to work for other people. Sometimes I got work and sometimes not. I was praying that God would give me wisdom so I can start my own work, but I was not sure what to do as I am not so educated and I don’t have my own land for farming. But in the month of September, Sister Priscilla came to me and suggested that I start the grocery shop locally, because there are very few shops available. God heard my prayers and blessed me to start the small shop from where I live with my family.” ~ Hassan*

After attending a pastor’s conference in Odisha, Pastor Dinesh* shared: “I learnt about church growth method. I applied the same method in our church. Now, by God’s Grace my family members and all the congregation are equipped on how to worship through songs and do personal evangelism and also do preaching and teaching the Word of God.”

I thank HB who helped me in my ministry by distributing football and cricket uniforms. God has opened the way to serve among youth with drug addiction through sports ministry.

They don’t have enough money to buy a Bible, but God gave me this opportunity to do this work through your support. The Bible reached those poor people.

“I thank God for giving me a chance to be His Witness. I was praying and God heard my prayers. I thank HB who helped me in my ministry by distributing football and cricket uniforms. God has opened the way to serve among youth with drug addiction through sports ministry. I have made two teams and all are seekers, who want to know more about our saviour Lord Jesus Christ.” ~ Azlan*

“My name is Mahesh*. I am from a village in Maharashtra. I believed in Lord Jesus since two years ago. I am in very poor family. I didn’t have money to buy Bible. But I got it from God’s servant, Pastor Pradeep*. I got the Bible for free. I thank God for that.”

“I am Pastor Saran*. Jesus gave me the opportunity to do Bible distribution in a village in the month of May. Persecution is going on there. In such persecution, God gave us the opportunity to do the work of Bible distribution in those places. They don’t have enough money to buy a Bible, but God gave me this opportunity to do this work through your support. The Bible reached those poor people. One reached the hands of a sister named Sunita* who belongs to a Hindu family. She is a believer in Jesus Christ since last four years. Tears welled up in her eyes and she kept that Bible near her. We saw that people are very hungry and thirsty for the Word of God. This work was very successful and blessed by your prayers and God made my journey successful. I thank you all.”

IN THIS WORLD YOU WILL HAVE TROUBLE

Later in the year, Pastor Saran and his wife Sundhya* were arrested. While Saran and his wife, along with other believers had been praying for a sick child, a radical Hindu organisation came there and called the police to take action. Police took them. Since their mobile phones were seized by the police, we could not communicate for long time. Since then, we have regular communication and we are encouraging him, trying to counsel the family and restore their mental health. They had been tortured physically and mentally. Due to fear from the Hindu activist groups, most churches are shut down, even local pastors are hiding. There is none from locality to stand with them. But Harvest Bridge supported for legal, medical, and other family needs. Pastor Saran later wrote: "The false case of [forced] conversion was registered against us and police also beat us a lot. I and my wife were sent to jail. We endured a lot of struggle and difficulties. Our children remained in sorrow for a month. They cried every day and asked ‘where are mom and dad?’. Their education stopped, the church was closed, our health deteriorated and even today we are surrounded by persecution. But because of your prayers God has been helping us.”

The most difficult part of 2023 was anti-conversion laws and regular vicious propaganda and threats through media. There was persecution of believers and planned attacks upon pastors and churches. Certain groups of individuals are physically assaulting and intimidating. Many places prayer cells have been closed. Whatever our pastors and missionaries do, some local people try to stop our work. Even when we help someone they stop us to help.

I (Priscilla) am encouraged by the word of God in John 16:33: “I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world." That connected me to the verse of John 15:20-21: "Remember what I told you: ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted me, they will persecute you also. If they obeyed my teaching, they will obey yours also. They will treat you this way because of my name, for they do not know the one who sent me.” That whole chapter is like that: the world hates the disciples. And I came to know personally this persecution. I was praying for my persecutor and asking, “Why is he doing that?” And through this verse, I got to know, like…yes, obviously he’s going to hate me. Because the world hates the disciples. It’s an encouraging word of God. That helped me a lot throughout 2023.

TRANSFORMED LIVES

Badri* is one of the newly supported missionaries and shows how hearts can change:

“I am very happy to share my testimony among you. I came from a Hindu background and my village is surrounded by hills. I was actively against Christian work because there were no Christians in my area. But finally, [after meeting a Christian], God chose me for His work and I came to Christ. And now I am a good follower of Christ in my village. I have a wife and four children. We are worshipping the real and living God, but my family (parents and siblings) still do not believe in Christ. Please pray for my family. Now my wife and children are very happy to be doing ministry of Christ in our area. I am very much thankful to God and also you for joining me in ministry.”

Signs and wonders have been powerfully performed by God through our pastors and missionaries. Many people were saved through them. Many people were healed, many were delivered, and the best part was many followed Jesus by taking water baptism – 843 new believers were baptised. 92 new house churches and churches were planted in 2023. Sister Anya* shared a miracle, similar to many stories from 2023:

“Ayush* is 8 years old and he lives next to our church. He is part of our Sunday School, but his family did not attend our church service. One day he was playing along with his friends in his school and while he was playing, unexpectedly he fell on the floor unconscious. The school staff called to his parents and took him to the hospital. Doctor took him and kept him in intensive care unit and declared he was in a coma. They didn’t know when he will return to normal life. After 50 days in the hospital, his father and mother came to church. They were requesting us to help them with prayer. While we were praying, we felt Ayush would be healed. Very next day we heard Ayush came out of the coma into normal life. Because of supernatural healing, Ayush’s parents received Jesus Christ as their personal saviour. They said, ‘We would like to give thanks to God forever and also to the pastor.’”

GATE (GYPSY AND TRIBAL EMPOWERMENT)

2023 starts very good actually. But after a few months it’s so much hard time to handle. Because the Gypsy and Tribal people and pastors lost many things in COVID and after that, flood comes, and after that, a lot of sickness comes in their area. It’s very hard to handle. Emotionally, physically, they suffered a lot. Hardest part is flood. It destroyed all. No homes - without clean water, without food. People couldn’t sleep for three, four days continuously. And it takes time to recover, even a month and two months later. The flood has damaged everything. They lost everything.

I’m so happy and I’m so proud because when I started this small ministry like very simply, no one respect me... But now God is always walking in front of me, opening all the doors. And I am entering.

I (Priya) want to say to those who gave in 2023, I am thanking them. To all who supported us, it’s a very grateful thanks. Prayer support and financial support. Our pastor team also are thanking. Every month support is received from Harvest Bridge for relief package, and the covid, and more. Even babies - if you had not supported for GATE ministry, the babies surely die. So, you saved a lot of children and elderly people. Just in December, we helped 2500 families, like 12,500 people, with food and clothing and shelter. You saved a lot of souls in GATE ministry. So really, I’m so happy to say thank you. Really, I want to hug you all. I don’t know how to expose my feelings, so it’s hard to say, but you touch us, you are in our hearts.

Encouraging part in 2023 is the 13 pastors doing the ministry with me gathered and prayed to God and it helps them to be more stronger and stronger. Physically, pastors were affected and mentally they were like sick. They asked “who will relieve us?” So in that moment, for our team, Isaiah 41:10 was our most encouraging word to each other: “So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.” It brings us like more stronger and stronger to do our ministry. The pastors never give up. The pastors never say “Oh Priya, this is a really hard time, so I couldn’t go for the Gypsy mission.” They never said to me. So that’s encouragement for me.

One of the best parts of this year: we applied for the ID cards and got them for 516 people so far. This is the first time the tribespeople are getting this, and it is through our GATE! Aadhaar card is the most important for all the Indian people, that’s our identity card. So, I applied for Aadhaar, ration card and voter card for the people. This is very important. For the first time, the people are going to vote. Actually, people are saying here that the Gypsies and Tribals are not Indians. Once they get their identity card, they are treated like human beings. We are planning for the big celebration because many years they have waited. You know, 70-80 year-old people, they didn’t get their identity cards till now. For generations they have been fighting for it. I call it freedom fighting.

To make this happen, I went to the media and the newspapers. And everyone looks, the political people look. Now, the government says, “Priya is coming. No, no, no, what does she want? We are happy to give, just ask her to stop going to the media!” I’m so happy and I’m so proud because when I started this small ministry like very simply, no one respect me. Everyone looked at me like, “What’s she going to do? What, she is a woman?” But now God is always walking in front of me, opening all the doors. And I am entering. So GATE is doing so much, so many works. And people are happy. They are no more like slaves. They are going to be a freedom people. I feel happiness when I think that.

As I told you, Isaiah 41:10 gives me so much revelation. Because all the Gypsies are learning lessons and God is saying that nothing is impossible. That’s the word I got from God. People are following me to Jesus Christ so they can also know the love of God. So most of the people have accepted Jesus Christ now. After a few years, the whole community will have accepted Jesus Christ. They will be in heaven. So that’s my revelation. All the Gypsies and Tribal people in heaven with me to rejoice, “Praise God, praise God!”

EXCITEMENT TO GROW

In 2023, God was working in our families, and He was working within our leaders’ ministries. We are growing in faith and prayer, and we are getting courage. And we are receiving God’s Word deeply, and there is excitement and desire there to grow in God’s ministry. In difficulties, we are ready. One time in a month, we gather all the ministry leaders in our area for a spiritual meeting to worship. In this, God’s Spirit speaks to His sheep from His Word. And our spiritual encouragement happens, and we have great courage. We are all growing in prayer together. Compared to before, we are now in prayer more.

Within this past year, what was good for the ministry was that God gave the opportunity for us to go to new places and locations. So, this is a very happy thing for us, that God is using us and souls are being saved of new people in new villages and there are new worship and prayer meetings that have started. We are excited through your support that we will reach our goals in 2024.