CROWN OF JOY NEWS FROM THE MISSIONS Issue 8 8

Crown of Joy

News from the Missions

Issue Date

REACHING THE UNREACHED

AUGUST 29, 2016

Editor’s Table

Greetings from all of us here at the Crown of

Joy. May the Lord grant you help from above

to enjoy His presence in its fullness.

We want to thank the Lord for blessing the work of God through Crown of Joy. Each one of you had a part in it this past year. Thank

you so much for the great support for the various assembly ministries in India during

this year. Your prayer and support is a great encouragement to the Lord’s servants in India and they are immensely grateful to you

for that. Please continue to stand with them and do everything possible to enable them to

do greater things for the Lord in the coming year, if the Lord tarries to come. Needs for the work of God by assemblies in India are greater than ever before. Allow us to share

some of them for your prayer and help.

Please note that these workers are not under

any organized group or organization, they are fully dependent on the Lord for their needs. However, it is very true that there are

several Assembly funds in India who support them periodically with very limited funds they receive from the Lord’s people. In most

cases these gifts are not sufficient to meet

their daily needs. We are happy to route your designated gifts for them through Crown of Joy.

We covet your support and prayers

Crown of joy Team

Inspiration

“We are the Bibles the world is reading; we are the creeds the world is needing; we are the sermons the world is heeding.”

Billy Graham

“Life is wasted if we do not grasp the glory of the cross, cherish it for the treasure that it is,

and cleave to it as the highest price of every pleasure and the deepest comfort in every

pain. What was once foolishness to us—a crucified God—must become our wisdom and our power and our only boast in this

world.”

John Piper, Don't Waste Your Life

Persecuted for Christ in India

We can rejoice however, in the fact that persecutions have often helped the growth of the Church around the world through many centuries….

Page 3

ECS Ministries in India

Emmaus India is serving the Brethren community in India for more than 60 years by providing sound Biblical lessons through Emmaus Courses….

Page 4

Ministry updates

CROWN OF JOY NEWS FROM THE MISSIONS | Issue 8 2

Koi Tribal believers conference is planned in

the first week of the month of January 2017 in Bankadi, Odisha. 500 Koi tribal believers are expected.

EVG. ANATA WADEKA, ODISHA

Assembly believers conference is planned in the month of November 10- 13 in Goa. Three hundred believers are expected.

ELDER. DESHMUKH, GOA

Assembly Bible Classes (ABC) for new

believer will be conducted during 10 days Christmas Holidays in Chakradharpur.

ELDER. S.D. EKKA, JHARKHAND

Five VBS camps are planned in Nowakhat, Ulubari and Kadalpara in the state of Assam

EVG. BIREN GOYARI, ASSAM

Gospel out-reach work is going on in Cooch-Behar of West Bengal. It’s one of the most neglected area for the gospel work. Please pray for the team members.

EVG. TANMOY SAH, WB

News from Nepal

Nepal is one of the fastest growing Christian population in the world according to the world Christian data base.

Assembly work is initiated mainly by three groups of brethren.

1. Brethren from Nepal origin

2. Brethren from Indian origin 3. A group of Brethren from German

REMEMBER YUR BROTHER

High in the Himalayas, Christianity is on the rise. And so are religious tensions.

Please remember the evangelist like Prakash Rajbansi, Simon Murmu, Naryan

Tudu, Sam G John, Vikram, Tashi Lama and many others facing opposition in the Lord’s

work in Nepal.

Religious persecution of Christians continues

in India with very little help from authorities to prevent them. It is certainly a matter of

prayer. We can rejoice however, in the fact that persecutions have often helped the growth of the Church around the world through many centuries. There is ample evidence for this phenomenon in Church Anti-Christian violence in India refers to religiously motivated violence against

Christians in India, usually perpetrated by Hindu nationalists.

The acts of violence include arson of churches, re-conversion of Christians to

Hinduism by force and threats of physical violence, distribution of threatening literature, burning of Bibles, raping of nuns,

murder of Christian priests and destruction of Christian schools, colleges, and cemeteries.

Violence against Christians has been seen by

Human Rights organization as a tactic used to meet political ends

The Indian Church is growing in leaps and bounds. Nevertheless, times like these also provide us opportunities to review our current strategies related to gospel

proclamation and presentation. Our full time workers should position themselves as

contributing agents to the society they live in, through community services and institutions. Our approach should be more

and more holistic in nature modeled after our Lord

Jesus Christ

PRAYER POINTS

And ye shall be hated of all men for my name's sake.... Matthew 10:22

Above picture was taken during the violence against Christian in Odisha. Many were beaten to death and were forced to leave their homes.

CROWN OF JOY NEWS FROM THE MISSIONS | Issue 8 3

ONGOING EVENTS

Gospel Out-reach in Nepal Gospel out-reach work is going on in Jhapa district of Nepal. Its three months’ program to reach the entire district of Jhapa district. Please pray for the team.

Short Term Bible Class Bible short term course is going on in Chamurchi, at West Bengal, (India Bhutan border). Please pray for 25 students studying God’s word.

FAST FACTS

2.3% 1.26 Billion is the total population of India out of which 23 Million is Christian population. Can we do something?

33% Approximately 33% of the total population is still un-evangelized. Will you join us to reach them?

FOR MORE INFORMATION

Mrs. & Mr. John & Narelle Melville

Email: johnm@melco.com.au

Story of an evangelist in North India

Evangelist Antony was born and brought up in a Catholic family in the southern coastal area of Kodungallur in the Kerala state. At

the age of 18, Bro. Anthony had an opportunity to attend a Bible Class in a nearby Brethren Assembly. He came to the Lord in 1983 and was baptized in 1984. After

graduation he came to Alwar, Rajasthan and continued there as a class teacher for a few years. In 1990 he received the call for the

full-time ministry and started his work in Satna, Madhya Pradesh. He is married to

Prabha and blessed with two children – Enoch and Grace.

Both Bro. Anthony and Sis. Prabha used to concentrate on village evangelism and the Lord blessed their labor and now there is a growing assembly in Satna. But his growing work immediately got the attention of anti-gospel elements that have repeatedly attacked and harassed them.

On May 22, 2016 a group of people came to their church and started to shout and abuse

Bro. Antony accusing him of converting people to Christianity. After the church meeting, Antony and his family returned to their home along with few others. On the

way to home, a group of people stopped their vehicle, and started to abuse and manhandle both Bro. Anthony and Sis.

Prabha for 2 hours. Then they were forcefully taken to the local police station.

Under severe pressure from the leaders of enemies of the Gospel, the police filed non-bail able charges against them and produced

them before the court. The court denied their bail and jailed them. They were falsely

charged with illegal conversion and

desecration of the Indian flag which is a very

serious offence in India. But the Lord intervened and they got bail after being in the jail for a few days. According to Bro. Antony, the Lord blessed the time they spent

in the jail, and he got the opportunity to share the love of Christ with inmates.

Although they got the bail, the case is still pending and we need to pray for the peaceful

resolution of his case and that he will be able to continue the work in Satna. If you need more specific information on this case,

please contact the

crownofjoy@gmail.com

Prayer Points

* Pray that in India God will give the government divine wisdom in dealing with

the immensely complex issues of this large and multi-cultural nation. May there be

security with justice, development with sensitivity and may religious freedom be recognized throughout the nation.

* Pray that God will be the refuge and

strength for the vast number of believers going through fiery experience. Pray for

healing for their physical and emotional wounds and that the ever-present Holy Spirit may comfort and counsel their hearts.

* Pray for continued church growth in the

midst of oppression and suffering in the nations of India. May Christians display the refreshing righteousness of Christ in the

midst of nations struggling with corruption, dictatorship and injustice

(Philippians 2:12-14).

CROWN OF JOY NEWS FROM THE MISSIONS | Issue 8 4

ECS Ministries in India

Emmaus India is serving the Brethren community in India for more than 60 years by providing sound Biblical lessons through

Emmaus Courses. We also support, in a limited way the ministries in our neighboring countries and the Gulf through these

courses.

In India, we promote Emmaus Courses in 14 Indian languages and also in English, Nepali

and Dzongkha (Bhutanese).

Emmaus course books are helping many new

believers to grow in maturity and also a great help in evangelism. According to the present situation in India, open-air preaching and

gospel meetings are restricted in many parts of North India. Therefore, personal

evangelism and literature ministry is become more important in these days.

Here is a brief summary of the work carried out in the year 2015-2016.

ASSAMESE LANGUAGE: 6 Courses are available, more courses under translation. Courses are distributed through our

Evangelists and Assemblies. SBS/VBS

Conference in Guwahati has helped to promote the Emmaus Courses.

BENGALI LANGUAGE: 12 Courses are now

available and they are helping in Church planting and outreach ministries.

In Sundarbans Islands, more than 700 people

are studying Emmaus Courses, 465 of them completed 10 Courses, resulting in 16 local gatherings in the Island. Emmaus Bengal also provides Courses for ministry in Bangladesh.

HINDI LANGUAGE: 11 Courses are now available, including 5 recently added courses.

4 more courses are under translation.

Activities included:

NEPALI LANGUAGE: 8 Courses are now

available. A new initiative was recently taken to reach the Nepali Community at both sides

of India/Nepal border, Sikkim and Bhutan. A Conference was held in Siliguri on 7&8 June, 2016.

ORIYA LANGUAGE: 6 Courses

are available now and more courses are under translation. Course distribution is being

carried out through Assemblies and Volunteers. A highlight was

the recent promotion of the courses through SBS/VBS in Bhubaneswar

PUNJABI LANGUAGE: 4 Courses

are available. Hindi and English Courses are also distributed in

Punjab.

Steps are being taken to revive the ministry

in the Punjabi language.

Emmaus Ministry is carried out through the

free will gifts of believers from the

Assemblies. The courses are translated,

printed and distributed by volunteers from our Assemblies and distributed free of cost. It takes about Rs. 30/- for a course to reach a student.

You can sponsor a course in an Indian language with an amount of Rs. 30,000/-,

which would cover the cost of printing of 1000 booklets and reaching 1000 precious souls for the Lord Jesus

Christ!

For more information, contact

P. SAMSON – ECS North India

Coordinator psamsonckp@gmail.com

.

CROWN OF JOY NEWS FROM THE MISSIONS | Issue 8 5

Serving the Lord’s servant’s

More than 2000 Lord’s servants are serving the Lord in India. Few are well supported but man y are not having basic needs met. They struggle for their Children education, house rent, medical needs and many activities in the ministry of the Lord. Through the free will gift of AUS Brethren, Crown of joy is able to support few needy workers for such cause. Crown of joy uses such designated funds to encourage Lord’s servants for the gospel work and also for the social development and building up good society.

Like:

Financial help for the evangelist’s

children education

Helping the widows by providing

cloths, blankets, medical aid, solar

light etc.

Help to start and run Free tuition

center - to give free tuition to poor

children.

Provide training to the women for

stitching cloths and craft work as a

self-employment.

Building small budget assembly hall

in village area.

Conducting gospel out-reach,

conference, Special meeting,

leadership training program, VBS

etc.

Providing medical aid to the needy

evangelist.

Financial help to the poor

evangelist’s daughter’s marriage

expense.

Providing two-wheel motor bike to

The evangelists for the gospel work.

We praise God for your

encouragement in the Lord’s work

Initiative projects of Mr. John Melville & Brethren of AUS (A brief report on the support extended by the believers of AUS to the “Crown of Joy” for the various ministry & social development work.)