Update from Bihar, India

Less than one half of one percent of the population in Bihar, India, is Christian. Bihar, located in northern India, is one of the poorest states in the country. Nearly half the people living in Bihar are illiterate. Most do not have access to clean water or any type of health care. Through a partnership with the Transform India Movement (T.I.M.) that began four years ago, NC Baptist Men (NCBM) is working to help change lives in Bihar. T.I.M seeks to train and place church planters in villages without access to the Gospel, as well as meet physical needs throughout these villages. “Ever since we started this partnership North Carolina Baptists have been great supporters of the work being done in Bihar,” said Richard Brunson, NCBM Executive Director-Treasurer. “We are still adopting villages, sponsoring wells and sponsoring church planters.” In the past four months, thanks to the help of partners like North Carolina Baptists, 94 wells were dedicated in Bihar villages. Ninety new believers have been baptized in the past three months and another 150 will be baptized soon. T.I.M. sponsored a Nehemiah Leadership Training event in December 2010 and one of those students, a former Hindu priest, is now sharing the Gospel in his village. More students began training this month in order to become more effective church planters and witnesses for Jesus Christ. North Carolina Baptists are also helping provide sewing machines so that many poor women in Bihar can support themselves by learning the trade of tailoring. More women are now having opportunity to attend a six-month sewing school sponsored by T.I.M. Some of those women go on to open their own sewing business. More than 100 women are now in training and a sixth sewing school opened this month. Priyanka Singh has benefited greatly from the sewing ministry. In fact, her life has been changed forever. Singh heard about Jesus Christ last year while in sewing school and became a Christian. Last year she celebrated the true meaning of Christmas for the first time. Singh and nearly 62,000 others attended a special Christmas outreach event in Bihar sponsored by T.I.M. Church planters reported that they shared the Gospel with many people who had never heard about Jesus and many responded that they wanted to know Jesus Christ. A Christmas outreach event was also planned for literacy teachers. As a result, thirteen teachers received Jesus Christ as their personal Savior. Children and youth also came to know Jesus Christ. Church planters are now following up with people from the Christmas outreach and seeking to make sure they have opportunity to attend prayer meetings and to learn from other believers. “Please continue to pray for the church planters and believers in Bihar who are trying to be faithful to the call of God on their lives,” Brunson said. “Some of these people, because they are Christians, do not have the support of family and friends. They need our prayers in order to remain obedient and to stand firm for the cause of Christ.” To date, more than 100 villages have been adopted in Bihar; but many more still need to be adopted. Every village that is adopted benefits from a drinking well, literacy training and medical clinic. “More than 100 house churches have been started in Bihar – we pray 2011 will be a year when many, many more are started,” Brunson said. “The reason we are in Bihar is to see people come to know Jesus Christ as their personal Lord and Savior.”

Learn more about how you or your church can be involved in Bihar.