LOVE INDIA Academy Report

1st September – 5th November 2023

West Bengal & Odisha, India

Praise the Lord! It is with great joy that I present this report on my activities for LOVE INDIA
Academy from 1st September to 5th November. This report covers three separate events.

1) Pastors’ Meeting to introduce LOVE INDIA

Academy 1st – 3rd September, Authpur (near Kolkata),
West Bengal

Ps. Prathibha Rao met with a group of Pastors near Kolkata in early 2023. He recommended
that I should visit them and introduce LOVE INDIA Academy. He introduced me to Ps.
Sudarshan Rao, who lives in Authpur, about 30 kms north of Kolkata. Ps. Sudarshan was
very receptive to this idea, and invited me to visit and stay in his home. He works closely with
Ps. Nawin Diwan, who lives in another nearby town.

Together, they organized a meeting for me with about 30 Pastors and other Church leaders. I
met with them on Saturday, 2nd September. They were all very receptive to the vision of
LOVE INDIA and invited me to return next year to conduct the ministry training program. Ps.
Sudarshan and Ps. Nawin are working on organizing the program for March or April,
2024.

2) LOVE INDIA Academy ministry training program and village

ministry 4th September – 8th October, Naxalbari (near Siliguri), West
Bengal

On Monday, 4th September, I traveled from Kolkata to Siliguri, and then to the home of
Ps. Sagar Kumar Nag near Naxalbari. Ps. Sagar lives in the village of Mir Jangla. Mir Jangla is
a majority Christian village. It was a novel experience walking around an Indian village being
greeted by almost everyone saying “Praise the Lord” and “Jai Masih.” Although many of the
people are very poor, they are all friendly and cheerful. There is a strong sense of peace
throughout the village. Ps. Sagar’s church in Mir Jangla has almost doubled in size in the past
year. He now has over 100 faithful church members.

Village ministry
During the first week I was there, Ps. Sagar and two of his co-workers took me to a tea estate
called Damdim in the neighboring district of Jalpaiguri. He is working with and mentoring Ps.
Jyotish Ekka. They are also working with another Pastor in Damdim, Karma Koya. I spoke in
Ps. Karma’s church. Ps. Jyotish and Ps. Karma both sent students to the LOVE INDIA
Academy.

LOVE INDIA Academy ministry training in Mir Jangla village, Naxalbari, West Bengal
We started the LOVE INDIA Academy ministry training program on Tuesday, 12 September,
and it ran until Friday, 6 October. We held teaching sessions from Tuesday through Friday for
4 weeks. On Friday afternoon, after the final teaching session, the students were free to
return to their village for the weekend and return on Monday. Each week, about half of
the students returned home while the others remained at Ps. Sagar’s church in Mir Jangla.
Using money donated by a friend in the U.S., Ps. Sagar had constructed a small shelter for
the men to sleep in. We conducted the class sessions in Ps. Sagar’s church building.

The teaching sessions covered the following topics:

1) The Kingdom of God
2) Our Identity in Christ
3) What is the Gospel?
4) Discipleship
5) Servant-Leadership
6) Evangelism in a village setting
7) Church Planting in a village setting

We started with 16 students – 10 men and 6 women – but for various reasons, three of
the women were not able to finish. So, we ended with 13 graduates. Only two of the 13
graduates were in their 30’s. All the rest of the students were in their late teens and early
20’s. One student was 16 years old and two students were 17. When we first started, I was
very concerned that these young students would lose interest in the teaching and get bored.
Fortunately, they maintained interest and stayed focused throughout the program. In fact,
the 16-year-old was one of the best students.

My biggest concern, however, was that two of the students were functionally illiterate.
They were unable to read or write in any language. This is a major issue when working
with
people from the villages. The fact that they were not able to read any of the materials
and were unable to take any notes severely limited their ability to participate in the
program. I admire their dedication to and their love for God, but their illiteracy greatly
restricts their ability to learn the word of God. In the future, this is definitely an issue I will
discuss with the Senior Pastors before the start of any training program.
 3) LOVE INDIA Academy ministry training program and village
ministry 10th October – 5th November, Balliguda, Kandhamal district,
Odisha

I arrived in Bhubaneshwar, the capital of Odisha, on 9th October. Ps. Rajan Digal met me at
the airport and we traveled that night by bus to Balliguda. I stayed with Ps. Rajan and his
family in a house he rents for special events. He also rented another house nearby for
accommodations for the Pastors. We had originally planned to conduct the LOVE INDIA
Academy program in the village of Puninata. But because of a major Hindu festival that was
going on at the same time, the local police advised Ps. Rajan not to conduct any Christian
meetings in any villages so as not to risk any communal unrest. So, we relocated our
meetings to an outlying area near the town of Balliguda where Ps. Rajan has conducted
many other Pastors’ meetings in the past.

Ps. Rajan’s ministry is growing rapidly in Kandhamal district and is expanding into
neighboring districts. Just this year, the number of Pastors who have asked to join with Ps.
Rajan has grown from 16 to 28 Pastors. These are all village Pastors working in remote,
unreached areas. They are all very poor, either working in their fields or doing day labor to
feed their families. In spite of this, they are not coming to Ps. Rajan for financial
support.
Instead, they are simply looking for spiritual fellowship, growth, and oversight. The
dedication and sacrifices of these Pastors in the service of God’s Kingdom is truly inspiring
and humbling.

LOVE INDIA Academy ministry training in Balliguda, Kandhamal district, Odisha

We started the LOVE INDIA Academy ministry training program on Tuesday, 17 October,
and it ran through Saturday, 28 October. As with the program in West Bengal, we held
classes from Tuesday through Friday and the students were free to go home for the
weekend. We started with 24 Pastors and all of them needed to return home for the
weekend. We had originally planned to conduct the program for four weeks, just as in
West Bengal. But after consulting with Ps. Rajan and the students, it was decided that
four weeks was too long for them to be away from their families, their churches, and
their work. I decided that I could cover all of the essential materials in two weeks.

All of the Pastors were eager to learn from the word of God and were very appreciative
of all the teaching. At the end of the first week, all of the Pastors returned to their villages.
I wondered how many of them would return for the second week. As it turned out,
every Pastor returned, plus 4 new Pastors joined us. At one point, I asked how many of
them were planning to reach out to new, unreached villages and start new churches.
Every hand went up. Every Pastor showed a strong zeal and calling to spread the Kingdom of
God to
unreached villages. At the end of the program, Ps. Rajan and all the Pastors asked me when I
can return next year to share the training program with their Church elders and other
leaders.
Village Ministry
The week after LOVE INDIA Academy, Ps. Rajan took me to several villages to meet with
some of the new Pastors and the new Churches. We were not able to visit all of them
because they are scattered in remote villages over a wide area of Kandhamal district and
into neighboring districts. But in each place where we visited, the Pastors and the Churches
were encouraged by our visit. Some of the villages had never been visited by a
foreigner.

Testimonies from LOVE INDIA Academy

Nilima Kawar
Praise the LORD. My name is Nilima Kawar. I thank God and our teachers for giving me the
opportunity to study in Love India Academy. Here, I read about Discipleship, Servant Leader
and Church Planting. All these topics were very beautiful. I got a chance to learn many things
here and after this class I am feeling very excited to do the Lord's work. This was very
new for me but I am happy that I could know these things. Again, I thank
Teachers and the organization of Love India Academy. Thank you for visiting us and teaching
us. God bless your organization and spread it all over the world.

Sanju Rajbhat
My name is Sangu Rajbhat. I am from West Bengal. My church name is Living Fellowship
Church. I would like to thank very much LOVE INDIA ACADEMY and to the teachers, for
sharing these beautiful teachings among us. We were able to
learn in these teachings such as what is the Kingdom of Heaven. The Kingdom of Heaven is
a spiritual Kingdom. There is never an end to the Kingdom of Heaven. Today we Learned
about and how to build Discipleship. We learned about and how we can read Bible
today. We also learned a church should be built and our goal. We want to sincerely
thank you LOVE INDIA ACADEMY for bringing these teachings among us and we wish that
whatever we have learned can be taught to others. Thank you very much LOVE INDIA
ACADEMY.

Jiwanti Xess
Praise the Lord. My name is Jiwanti Xess. I would like to thank Love India Academy for
giving me such a great opportunity. I learned many things through Love India Academy, like
Discipleship, Leadership, Kingdom of God which lead me to learn the word of God very
precisely and I am very blessed. I want to thank the teachers who helped me to learn
the word of God and now with God's grace the work of God is going good. Lord has
helped me in growth of His Kingdom and I believe that the Lord's Kingdom will grow
more and more in the upcoming days. Once again, I thank Love India Academy. Lord bless
this group and spread all over the country.

Recommendations
I have two recommendations for how TAMI can bless these ministries, and help them to
grow and become even more productive for the Kingdom of God.

1. Ps. Rajan Digal’s ministry is growing rapidly in Kandhamal district and is expanding
into neighboring districts. At this point, neither he nor any of his Pastors have a single
church building that would be adequate to conduct even a Pastors’ meeting, let
alone anything larger. Anytime Ps. Rajan wants to hold any kind of meeting, he
must rent a small house near Balliguda. That is what he had to do for LOVE INDIA
Academy. Even that house is inadequate for the number of Pastors who are now
working with Ps. Rajan. His ministry needs at least one church building where all of
the Pastors can gather together and where they can hold other types of
meetings.

One of the Pastors (Ps. Saubabu) lives in the village of Badeketa. He has a thriving
house church there. It has grown so large that it has outgrown his house. Ps.
Saubabu has some land in Badeketa that he has donated to Ps. Rajan to build a
church building, as well as other ministry facilities.

A church building in Badeketa would also provide a place for all the people of the
village to all gather together for prayer without concern for caste differences. Many
 people in the village have told Ps. Rajan and Ps. Saubabu that they want to gather for
prayer, but they cannot enter a believer’s home because of caste issues. A prayer hall
would be very helpful for starting to break down caste prejudices.

Ps. Rajan has put together a proposal for a church building in Badeketa. The total cost
would be approximately INR 4,63,100/- (~US$5,560). I have attached a copy of his
proposal with this report. I recommend that TAMI make this project a priority for
India outreach.

2. By God’s grace, TAMI is growing rapidly in India and globally. Obviously, TAMI
cannot meet the financial needs of every Pastor, every Church, and every ministry.
Looking just at the financial and ministry needs of north India, I believe the only
feasible,
long-term solution to meet these needs is to help our village Pastors and Churches to
develop small businesses so that they can become self-supporting and so that the
ministries can be self-sustaining.

I have visited well over 40 rural villages in Odisha and West Bengal. In virtually every
case, the Pastors are forced to work like slaves just to put food on the table for
their families. They work a minimum of 12 hours a day, six days a week, either
in their
fields or at day labor jobs that pay roughly Rs200 per day. These Pastors have a
strong desire to minister to their own villages and to start new churches in other
villages. But after working all day, they don’t have the energy to do any outreach
ministry and they don’t have the means to visit other villages.

My recommendation is that TAMI and Caritas should make it a priority to raise seed
money to help our village Pastors start small businesses that will lift them out of
poverty and give them the financial resources needed to expand their ministries. It
goes without saying that the economy of India’s rural villages is almost entirely
agriculture-based. But small businesses do not have to be limited to this model.
There are many possibilities for starting small businesses in the villages, depending
on the resources available.

I believe a viable small business could be started in a rural village for approximately
INR 2,50,000/- (~US$3,000). The funds for these projects could be raised in three
different ways:
a) Caritas Canada or Caritas USA could raise money.
 b) A GoFundMe (or some other web-based fundraising) account could be set up
to raise money.
c) An Indian NGO could be set up to raise money in India, primarily through CSR
donations.

I pray that God will guide and empower us by His Holy Spirit, and continue to use TAMI to
spread His Kingdom in India and throughout the world.