As followers of Christ, God calls
each of us to commit ourselves to His mission, making disciples, whether that is
across the street or across the world. We are currently making disciples in
Homer, around Alaska, in Brazil,
the Philippines, Peru, and India. For the
last few years we have used the PFD drive to raise money for furthering God’s
mission across town and across the world.
This year we are raising money
for one
particular missionary, Paul Wiig, who has been making disciples
in India since 1985 by
working with orphans, in bible training, and planting churches across
India. One people group he has been
unable to penetrate is the 220,000 Gond people of the Adilabad District in the
state of Andhra Pradesh in south central India. The
Gonds are classified as an Unreached People Group (UPG) with less than 200
Christians. Having established a fund for an UPG of $40,000 we asked Paul to
give us a proposal for reaching an UPG in India. He came
back to us with the Gond Project, a three phase project to establish reproducing
churches among the Gond people.
Phase One, with a budget of
$32,000, founded adult literacy programs, established sewing centers in villages
in order to equip women with skills to help them support their families, and
shared the gospel with three thousand children through evangelistic sports
programs. This phase has been fully funded by us.
Phase Two is currently in process
and has a budget of $15,500. Paul has produced an evangelistic movie, Hope
Giver, in the Gond language to present the gospel through media programs and
Vacation Bible Schools. His goal is to expose five thousand Gonds to the gospel
with this film. We have contributed $7500 for this phase to date. Our goal is
to raise the $8000 still needed through the 2011 PFD
drive.
Phase Three will focus on church
planting and has a budget of $16,500. From those who have come to Christ,
Paul’s team will identify and train leaders to be church planters among the Gond
people. This will include both residential training and supervised field work
through 2012. Paul expects to train fifty church planters and plant over twenty
churches among the Gond people. We also hope to begin funding phase three
through additional fund raising in the next several months. By giving 10% or
more of your PFD, you will be helping to establish both a gospel presence and
reproducing churches among a group of people who face a Christless eternity.
Prayerfully remember the Gond Project when you receive your PFD this
month.
For the sake of the Mission,
Pastor
David
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