Khiangthaih, a small village of thirty families near the border of India and Myanmar, now has their own church building! Most of the residents of this village were nature worshippers but over a period of years they all came to trust in Jesus as their Lord and Savior. They initially met in houses to worship together, but had a great desire to have a church building. When Pastor *Samuel and his leadership team establish a new congregation in a village, they disciple and train them to become self-sustaining. They form a church committee consisting of eight members who serve for a three year term. They follow the bylaws and teaching from Pastor Samuel. He and his two coworkers visit each church on a regular basis for follow-up training.
On one of their visits to Khiangthaih, church members expressed their great desire for a church building. Pastor Samuel explained to them that they needed to provide 50% of the cost and pray and trust that God would supply the remainder. He explained that to raise the needed money, they would each need to work two or three days each month and contribute the money to the church. All of them are day laborers who work in Jhum (slash and burn) cultivation and struggle just to support their families. For over two years they worked and used their earnings to buy construction materials for the new church. In January, we informed Pastor Samuel that one of our donor families had given $1,000 for a village church roof. Samuel chose this village to receive the donation. After hearing about the money for the roof, they were very excited and worked night and day to complete the building.
Due to corona virus restrictions they had to wait until August to visit again for the church dedication which was held on August 15. Your gifts also provided a new guitar, and churches from other villages gave them a clock, flowers, tea cups, and communion set. As you can see in the pictures, this was a day of celebration and joy. Pastor Samuel shared their thanks: “In our new church building we can nicely and freely worship and adore God. We are thankful for such a wonderful contribution for our church roof! Please pray for us so that we can remain strong in God.”
