Greetings in the matchless name of our Lord and savior Jesus Christ. We just want to give you a little update on our ministry in India. God has been blessing us and this ministry through your generous support and prayers. We would like to share a new request and need with you so that you can pray and possibly help us financially with it.
Ever since my father started his ministry in 1984, we have faced different persecutions and problems from our neighbors in the neighborhood where we currently have our Siddipet church. The church in 1984 started out on the lower level of our house. At the time we received complaints about the noise, the low amount of parking space, and more. Some of the persecutions involved anti-Christians and the police. There have been tires cut on vehicles, keying of bikes and auto rickshaws, and playing of loud music to disrupt the worship services. Due to all of these persecutions, in the year 2000, we built a second level on our house in Siddipet. This is the current location of our Siddipet church.
However, the current church is still receiving complaints from neighbors. It is also hard to reach by auto rickshaw and by car. The roads in the area are small and there is no parking for extra vehicles. So the roads are very congested and can sometimes be blocked due to events or festivals.
Through prayer and endurance, we finally were able to purchase a one and half acre piece of land five years ago. God gave us more than a church for a vision. He showed us that we should build a function hall. Why a function hall? Function halls are used all the time in India for marriages, engagements, graduations, and birthdays, religious gatherings, etc. Christians also require these places for events as well. However, here in India, Christians have to pay bribes, more money, or are turned away because owners do not want them to do Christian events in their place. Either way you put it, it is a form of persecution.
By building a function hall we have three main goals: *Minimize and escape Christian persecutions *Have a place where Christians can be treated fairly and host their events *Have a place that we can use has a main church for Siddipet
Recently, we broke ground and have begun construction of the function hall. We are very excited and cannot wait to have this new place of worship.
In closing, we ask firstly for your prayers for this project. Please also consider financially supporting this project. Due to lack of funds we took out a loan so that we could purchase the land. We hope that you understand the need and the impact this function hall will have. It will introduce many new people to God and this ministry and will help other Christians who have been persecuted by owners of other function halls. We ask for your continued prayers and support for this project. My family and I wish to thank all of you for what you are currently doing. May God's love and blessings be with all of you.
Please send your donations to:
Vemula Family - Church/Function Hall Project 100 Stinson Drive Poplar Bluff, MO 63901
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