There’s no doubt in my mind that last Friday was a highlight in ministry I’ll never forget. I stood there in a muddy pond in the middle of a remote village baptizing one person after another. For many of these individuals their baptism meant they would no longer be accepted by their families or community. One young man was told by his parents that if he went through with the baptism not only would he not be welcomed home, but he would no longer be recognized as their son and not be able to receive his inheritance. He showed up anyway.

Threats of violence forced us to move the baptism service last minute.

Nalpur Baptisms from Seth Jones on Vimeo.

Three years ago I went to India for the first time and I felt God calling me to start churches and schools in areas where no such ministries existed. Since that time a few friends have come along side to expand that vision and take it to a whole new level.  These days God is allowing us to make an unbelievable difference in India, but we really need your help.

We now help run projects in five places around Kolkata, several of which I’ll tell you about in this post. There is so much need in India. Though estimates vary, roughly 50% of India’s 1.2 billion people live on less than $2 per day. Fully, one third of the world’s poor live in India. What you’ll see is that most of our projects are in rural areas, some of them quite remote. With so much poverty, you can go anywhere in India and serve the poor. We focus on areas where no other organization is doing work. These days the rural poor are often neglected. As followers of Jesus, we want the gospel to touch every corner of the world – including every corner of India – in as many ways as possible. For us, that currently means running churches, schools, feeding programs, and vocational training at each of our locations.  Our schools teach bible lessons and Christian morals but we welcome Hindus, Muslims, and Christians to attend – and they all do. In fact, very few of our students are currently Christian.

Last February, we partnered with two churches to expand the work we’d undertaken. One of the pastors of one of those churches, Skyler Goodman of Northwest Family Church in Chicago, traveled with us to India this year. This is what he had to say about the work he saw in India:

“I’m almost ashamed to admit that I had to fly to the other side of the world for God to reach my heart.  Days after returning from visiting the projects in Kolkata, I’m still processing what I witnessed.  God is doing an amazing work in India.  My perspective is still being wrecked.  I’m praying each day that I can see the side of God that some of these people are seeing.  They seem to understand and fully grasp that EVERYTHING IS SPIRITUAL.  They take nothing for granted and are fleshing out the Gospel.  Lives are being changed each day. A generation that was left to fend for itself is now getting a voice.  And it is a loud one!  Seeing what God is doing through them has awakened a desire to do more than just maintain life as usual.  I want to invest in something much bigger than myself.  My perspective is being crushed and I couldn’t be happier!”

Skyler partnered with us last year. It’s not only impacted India, but his life and the life of those in his church. Today, I’m asking churches (and maybe a few individuals) to partner with us in bringing justice, hope, education, and the gospel to hundreds of people currently living in poverty.

Below is a summary of the projects and programs we’re seeking partners for. If you want a chance to change the world, or at least a very small, often overlooked, sliver of the world,  just shoot me an email at pete@crosspoint.tv.

KHALPAR PROJECT – 110 students

Slum in the Salt Lake area of downtown Kolkata. Residents live on less than $1/day.

Basic School and Expanded Feeding Program – $1000/month (education only in Bengali language)

• Sends 110 students to school. Covers teacher salary, school clothes and shoes, school supplies, boarding school fees for 9 students in at-risk situations, spiritual teacher honorarium.

• A significant issue of poverty is malnutrition. Malnutrition not only stunts a child’s physical growth but also their intellectual growth. Studies have shown that malnourished children are, on average, 20-30 IQ points below those who aren’t malnourished. Education is a great thing but the students’ bodies and brains need to be at their best. We currently provide one hot meal per day. We would like to supplement this with daily nutritional drinks which have been proven to help children stay healthy.

Advanced School – $500/month (education in Bengali and English)

• Helps cover salaries for dance, music, art, English teachers. Helps build a small computer lab.

Church and Vocational Training – $1000/month

• Most of the mothers in Khapar work 10 hours a day seven days a week as maids and make about 50 cents per day. This work schedule has thus far prevented us from planting a formal church in the slum. Presently, we hold a bible club on Fridays for the kids and those whose parents are around. Our great desire is to train the mothers in jewelry-making and basket-making so they can gain more income. This would allow us to start a church that would, according to our surveys, be widely attended.

• Covers pastor salary, spiritual materials (bibles and bible study materials)

• Covers cost of jewelry-making teacher, basket-making teacher, sales and distribution, and supplies at the beginning of the vocational training

GHORAGHATA PROJECT – 110 students

Ghoraghata is a small rural village about 1.5 hours west of downtown Kolkata. The main source of income is growing flowers – specifically, china roses – which are used in many Hindu festivals. Ghoraghata is the first project where we created a vocational training program. The women who participate in this program typically work for 3 hours in the flower fields each day and they make an average of one dollar PER MONTH. Through our jewelry-making program, they can easily make that in a day. It’s made a huge difference in the lives of their children who are now eating more and better food.

Advanced School – $500/month (education in Bengali and English)

• Helps cover salaries for dance, music, art, English teachers. Helps us build a small computer lab. Ghoraghata, in particular, has some incredibly bright students whose horizons could be greatly broadened

NALPUR PROJECT – 110 students

Nalpur is a rural village 2 hours west of downtown Kolkata. The Christians in Nalpur are experiencing persecution – both as a church and, for some, individually from their parents. Debasish, a 21-year old university student has been disowned by his family for becoming a Christian and being baptized while we were there. In spite of this, the Friday before we left 20 Hindu families from the village asked for their children to be admitted to our school. Unfortunately, our school is already at capacity. Northwest Family Church in Chicago supports much of this village, but we want to expand our current curriculum and also build another school to accommodate more students.

Advanced School – $500/month (education in Bengali and English)

• Helps cover salaries for dance, music, art, English teachers. Helps us build a small computer lab.

School Expansion – $1000/month

• Helps us hire additional teachers to educate another 100+ kids. Allows us to build another school. Provides one hot meal per day for each of the kids, school uniforms, school shoes, and school supplies.

I would love to answer any questions you may have as well as dream with you about possibly partnering with us on one of the programs above. Hit me up: pete@crosspoint.tv