Kingdom Breakthrough Festival
Leave a CommentOn the occasion of India’s 60th Republic Day, the mega event in recent times ‘Kingdom Breakthrough F
estival’ was organized by Mahima Church on 26th January 2010. The programme was held in Mt. Carmel School Auditorium, Anand Niketan, Delhi.
The programme began with Pastor Umanand Gaire of Shalom AG Church offering opening prayer. It was followed by inspiring worship time by Kingdom Youth, Pokhara and Mahima Church Choir. They led the congregation through heart throbbing worship time. Everyone present was immesered fully in the presence of God.
This was followed by welcome session where our guests led by Pastor Ravi Sharma, chief guest, pastors from Delhi, other dignitries and delegates by Janet Rai. All were welcomed with tradition khada. Rev Stephen Rai, chief convenor and pastor, Mahima Church gave a welcome speech and his association with Pastor Ravi Sharma and his team. The major highlight of the programme was the Word. He shared a powerful message from 2 Samuel 6. People listened to the message in rapt attention.
The programme also saw the release of Christya Geetmala, a long waited project. This is an authentic song book containing songs in Nepali, Hindi & English. Pastor Ramesh Bisht, President, United Nepali Churches Association, Delhi prayed for the project and pastors Satish Chhetri and S.T.Bhutia released the book to the public. Later Rev Stephen Rai, chief coordinator of the project gave small speech on the how the vision evolved and dedicated the work to the general public.
In the afternoon the entire group was divided into two. One married couples and another unmarried youth. While Pastor Ruben Moktan assistant pastor of Apostolic Resource Center, Pokhara handled the youth group, Pastor Ravi Sharma and his wife Anukala Sharma together spoke in a very powerful way about the role of Christian family.
Post lunch session was one of the most exciting one. The Kingdom Youth, Pokhara entertained the congregation throughout. Entire congregation witness the whole programme with rapt attention. There were solo, group and special form of art presentation besides the numbers by Mary Lepcha, Pranita Tamang and Grace Chhetri.
One of the highlights of the programme was gospel programme for which the whole church had prayed for. Huge number of non-believers turned up for the meeting. Pastor Ravi Sharma shared powerful message from the Word of God. It captivated the heart of people who attended. As a result, many people gave their hearts to Jesus. Many sick people were prayed for and many received healing and solace.
Though the Festival was organized by Mahima Church, occasion also witness the unity among different Nepali churches in Delhi. Aatmik Ghar, Emmanuel AG Church, Abundant Life Church, Believers’ Church released their members to serve as volunteers for the programme. Despite all human efforts, the success of the programme was because of the prayer of many believers and God’s intervention on that day. Only eternity will tell the outcome of it. Let God be Praised!
GOSPEL CONCERT ORGANISED
Crowd Listening to gospel message
An eventful gospel meeting was held on 30 May 2009 in Dhundara, Kapashera. This is an area which has lot of Nepali migrant workers live. More than 35 people from the area had come to the gathering. Church youth from Mahima presented couple of gospel numbers.
Dushyant Pradhan, a youth member of Mahima Church led the program in a simple manner. In the process he also shared his personal testimony. Rev Stephen Rai, pastor of Mahima Church shared the gospel about the abundant life that Jesus imparts.
Since then we are having regular Tuesday fellowship. We are praying for starting a regular Sunday service soon. Kappashera is about 20 km from Delhi. over the span of two months 12 people have given their lives to Christ.
LITERARY MEET HELD
One evening Christian literary meet was organized by Muhaan Publications, New Delhi. About 30 literature lover had gathered in Mt. Carmel School class room. The program started with the prayer by Pastor M.L.Tamang, Senior Pastor, Triumphant Church.
Mrs. Janet Rai led the gathering into time of discussion. She also later read the
Participants Listening to the Talk
article written by Mr.L.B.Rai in his absence. Mr. Rai is an eminent Christian writer from Darjeeling. The article discussed the merit of ‘Role of Christian Literature in Changing Times.’ The write up was well received by the audience. Mr. Bhuvan Devkota was the guest speaker for the day. Bhuvan shared about the importance of Christian literature. He said, our writings should be practical in nature. He also gave importance to standardization of the language.
Pastor M.L.Tamang doing opening prayer
Rev Stephen Rai, the editor of Muhaan asked some pertinent questions related to the literature and the current dilemma amongst Christian writers and their role in society. The gathering closed with the prayer of Rev Stephen Rai with the resolve to do similar workshop in future
Entering Into the World
I recently heard one Christian say, who had worked on the editorial section of one of the leading English daily for quarter of a century, that we Christian need to create our own media house. Reason: we are not given adequate platform by the secular media. I refused to accept this proposition. Is media unfavorable to Christians? Do we Christian really need Christian media house, and if so what purpose will it serve? There is a clear dichotomy between the sacred and secular, which has marred Christian witness. Christians have always wanted to be separate from the world. This has weakened our witness in the world. But what does the Bible teach about all these?
Bible very clearly teaches that God made the world, and everything God made is good (Gen. 1:10, 12, 18, 21). In fact, the conclusion declares it to be ‘very good.’v.31. The creation, as fashioned and ordered by God, had no lingering traces of disorder and no dark and threatening forces arrayed against God or man. Even darkness and the deep were given benevolent functions in a world fashioned to bless and sustain life. But due to human sin, the world is willfully rebellious against God. As such it stands under God’s judgment. In spite of the world’s sin, God still loves the world. In fact, he sent his Son into the world, not to condemn it but to redeem it.
Jesus’ disciples are to live in the world, yet not love the world’s sinful and rebellious ways. The world is where Jesus’ disciples are to do their work; Jesus does not wish them to be taken from it until that work is done. Many times the word ‘world’ is misunderstood or used in the wrong context. It can mean the universe, the earth, and the people on earth, people opposed to God, or the human system opposed to God’s purposes. When Jesus says do not love the world, he is not referring the world of people or created world, but the world, or realm, of sin (Jn. 17:16; Jas. 4:4), which is controlled by Satan and organized against God and righteousness.
Jesus’ disciples are to be salt and light in the world, preaching the gospel, making disciples, and teaching them to observe the teaching of Jesus. Have we become salt and light in the world in true sense? What has been our impact in the world? We have the most number of Christians living today in the world than ever before in the history of Christianity, but our impact has been minuscule. Everything the culture is not bad, because it is God who created them. As said earlier, Jesus did not come to condemn it but redeem it. We have been all along condemning the culture and not trying to redeem it.
What does it mean to follow Christ today in India? Many a time we are only concerned about where do we stand, but we should also know where we are headed for. Currently there is an increased interest among Christians to engage media. This is indeed a very good development. We had totally ignored this sphere. Christians are now talking more about engaging media. Networks of Christian artist are being formed. God must be really pleased by these developments. Besides, many other changes are taking place and these changes are not incubated at seminaries or Bible colleges. They are grassroots born, coming from people who find marketing, entertainment, more upbeat approach to Scripture to be a potent combination. The message does not change, but the methods are changing to what is current.
Today growing number of Christians no longer sees culture as the enemy. Churches are continuing to do the regular things, but more serious questions are gradually arising. People are learning from culture how to apply the gospel. To certain extent whether churches will sustain their new engagement with popular culture is the key question for many. We need to think critically to create truthfully, and to respond authentically to our generation. Using the pop culture may soon become evangelical norm. We can’t afford to ignore the media, which so saturates our life. For the church not to be able to recognize these trends is a blind spot.
We are not that different than non-Christians when it comes to consumption of popular culture. All but the most legalistic watch many of the same movies, listen to the same music, and watch the same TV shows as everyone else. Interpreting and evaluating popular culture from a Christian perspective and framework is essential. We should have Christian based approach to movies, music and television programmes, enabling reader to engage the media that so saturates modern life. I don’t mean here to appreciate pop culture for its subcutaneous religiosity but rather that pop culture is to be confronted and challenged by an informed faith community. We need to take secular movies and raise questions. We need to develop our own philosophy of art and faith. If we are serious about discipling the nations, we need to infiltrate our society with biblical life perspective. We will need to rethink our life, faith and vocation. Rethink the whole process of art making.
We don’t have Christian artist in the church. If there is Church often does not know what to do with the artist in our midst, let alone present an atmosphere in which they can flourish in their gifts and talents. There is a great need of engaging media, art and literature, because it constitutes our society. Christians are to do art not only in the church to glorify God, but especially to do art out in the world to carry His message of salvation to those who do not yet know him. Jesus is Lord over the whole of our lives, even and especially those parts that are very unreligious in nature.
As Jesus prayed, ‘I’m not asking you to take them out of the world but to keep them safe from the evil one.’ We should not encourage gifted artist to separate themselves from the world. They should not be encouraged to be Christian filmmakers or Christian musicians, but rather filmmakers and musicians who love Christ. If they have the gift to create something truthful and beautiful, why should we keep it to ourselves? One of most recent example of this is Mel Gibson. If The Passion of the Christ was a Christian movie, thought it is in content, how many people would have had interest in seeing it? It is a Hollywood movie, but it has become one of the most powerful ways of communicating the gospel truth. It is definitely a new age gospel. We should be overjoyed when Christians appear on rock and pop charts. It means they are communicating a message that the world considers relevant. There are also other ways of communicating God’s truth to a searching world. Sometimes communicating God’s truth means simply following Jesus’ example in a media workplace. After all, how can a television producer correctly portray a Christian on his show if he doesn’t know any Christian?
Jesus’ parting words were to go in the world. God is calling pop culture missionaries as well as people committed to praying for those working in arts and entertainment. The only requirement is love for Christ and a willingness to be real and honest with unchurched people. I believe that accessibility and realness was the essence of Jesus’ popularity. While religious leaders hid themselves away, he interacted with the people they avoided. And Jesus was a master of the arts. He engaged audiences with stories. One particularly interesting thing about Jesus’ stories is that they were not overtly religious.
We need to encourage a new generation of artist, filmmakers, musicians and writers to do the same. If we really want to disciple our nations we should have Christians in all these spheres. We do not draw people to Christ by loudly discrediting what they believe, but by showing them a light that is so lovely that they want with all their hearts to know the source of it. Speaking in the vernacular of culture will work.
Carried by Light of Life, December 2004.
Introducing Partners India
Our Family Photo
Partners India is a not for profit Christian organization established to reach out society with the transforming power of the gospel. The ministry was born as a result of prayer and God-given vision and passion. It is registered with the Government of India under Trust Act. Rev Stephen Rai serves as the Chairman and is supported by other members in the board.
Soon after completion of postgraduate in theology, Rev Stephen Rai got the calling from God to minister in the city. He relocated to Delhi and has since pioneered church planting work among the migrants. He has also been instrumental in starting bilingual magazine which is published every quarter. He is passionate about reaching people with the love of God.
In order to fulfill the vision, following intervention has been initiated:
CHURCH PLANTING: One of our main focuses is Church planting. We are passionate about establishing Kingdom churches which would serve as model to the community around us and demonstrate God’s love. Strong emphasis is given to the process of discipleship. Since we began in 2002 God has blessed us manifold.
YOUTH MINISTRY: As an organization we take youth ministry rather seriously. It is often said that youth are the future of our nation, but we say they are also the present of our nation. If mobilized, they would be an agent of societal change and transformation. This is one area of ministry Rev Rai sees himself getting involved for long time. He has in the past involved in many youth meetings, forums and also speaks on the issue of social justice and youth ministry.
COMPASSION MINISTRY: Ministering to the needs of deserving children would always remain supreme task in a country like ours. We are currently at the begging stage of this ministry. If meaningful partnership could be formed, we would like to develop scholarship programme for the deserving children.
PUBLICATION: As mentioned above we are involved in publication work for the last six years. Besides regularly publishing the magazine, we have so far published two books by Rev Paul Simick. Our goal for this year is to publish two more books and an authentic hymn book.
If you would like to know how you can get involved, please write to the following address:
Rev Stephen Rai, Chairman
Partners India, 194C/2, Sharda Bhawan,
Second Floor, Mehrauli,
New Delhi 110030, India
Tel. +91 9971278899, 11 26643715
