Some highlights of our ministry programs
Sarah's Covenant Homes
(Click the picture above to see Sarah's Blog)
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Children with developmental disabilities and neurological special needs are the most likely to be abandoned and least likely to be adopted children in India. The Lord told Sarah Rebbavarapu, “Feed My lambs.” Sarah finds these overlooked and undernourished (in all senses) lambs languishing in institutional orphanages or hospitals, and brings them home, providing them with love, education, therapy, medical & surgical care, and LIFE in a family-style environment.
Progress to date…
So far, we have gathered 80 children, all of whom were abandoned at birth or
subsequently, and all of whom have been diagnosed as “mentally retarded”
(although for some it may be a misdiagnosis). These children were referred to us
by the government, and were previously housed in orphanages or hospitals
awaiting adoption. Nearly all of the children have been rejected multiple times
by prospective adoptive parents, and the Lord said, “Enough is enough” and
opened the way for them to come to us. The children, ranging in age from two
months to twenty years, live in two locations, in three family-style flats on
church property. They are parented by the local pastoral families. All of the
children seem very happy to be with us. They are attaching well to the families
who care for them and are developing physically, mentally, &
spiritually.
SCH is a response of love by the gift of faith, and we are supported by individuals as God moves them to get involved.
"Thanks for seeing me!"
Church Children's Homes
India is a beautiful and diverse country. Many people who come here have fallen in love with the warmth of the culture and hospitality of the people. Almost everyone who visits India however is deeply moved by the widespread poverty and disease. India is considered to have the highest prevalence of HIV/AIDS in the world with over 5 million people infected, and our state of Andhra Pradesh has the highest in India. Malaria, polio, leprosy and many other diseases are running rampant. Massive flooding wreaks havoc upon the population almost annually. In 2008 alone at least 3000 people have died during the floods and over 22 million were displaced or affected.
It is no wonder then when looking at these numbers that India also has one of the highest numbers of orphaned children in the world. UNICEF estimates that there are over twenty five and a half million orphans under the age of 17 living in India. There are more orphans in India than there are people living in Texas or New York. Only about 60% of orphans aged 10-14 go to a school of any kind, many are left to fend for themselves.
At India Christian Ministries we have established church based family homes, to care for children in crisis from their local communities. We create an atmosphere of love and acceptance, where the children not only have the pastor’s immediate family taking care of them, but the entire church family nurturing them as well. They mature with a sense of self-worth and confidence, which sadly few other children in their circumstances get to experience. Our desire is to see many more orphaned or abandoned children have the opportunity to grow up in this kind of environment.
Each Church Children's Home houses about 10 children. We have three of these in operation so far, seven constructed and waiting for sponsors and over 23 under construction with plans for many more. The children live and learn on the first floor. The top floor is where the church meets on Sundays and throughout the week. In these buildings we meet both the physical and spiritual needs of the children, while allowing them to be part of an even greater community. A healthy, thriving atmosphere filled with love, study and songs of worship is found in each Church Home. 
We believe it is the duty of the local church to take care of the orphans, the widows and the poor; and that a good education is the only way of breaking the cycle of poverty and instilling hope for this generation and the generations to come. As Christ has loved us, so we are called to show that love to others: tangible, torrential, life-altering love. Freely we have received, so freely we give.
Where there is love, there is life; and we are working to ensure these children, and many more like them, will have an abundant life full of all the blessings and as few of the challenges as possible. It is only by the grace of God that any of us have the fortune of family, and it is our aim and our obligation to share that grace with as many of these children as possible.
We invite you to join with us and sponsor one of these Church Children’s Homes or a child. We currently have partners helping us cover the construction costs of these buildings, so our main priority now is finding sponsors for the children. We have very limited resources here, but in India so much good can be done with so little. We hope that these children have captured your heart as much as they have captured ours. Consider how you might get involved with us, whether coming personally to volunteer and invest your time, or investing your resources to guarantee a promising and plentiful future for these children. While the impact you could make may seem insignificant compared to the insurmountable challenge ahead of us, to the children you support it makes all the difference in the world.
Gandhi said that “the difference between what we do and what we are capable of doing would suffice to solve most of the world's problems”. Let’s begin here by unleashing our potential and making a difference in the lives of these children. In the words of Mother Teresa: “I have found the paradox that if I love until it hurts, then there is no hurt, but only more love”.
“Intense love does not measure, it just gives.”
Please contact us if you’d like to support our Children’s Homes. You can sponsor a child for $49 a month, but any size gift, especially when monthly, makes a big difference. We have recently prepared a Church Children's Home Proposal with our detailed vision and cost breakdown. We'd be happy to send you a copy!
Hope Child Development Centres
For less than $750 a month, we can feed, tutor, & disciple around 50 children, six days per week. In this way, they can go to school each day with their homework done, with full tummies, and with a song in their hearts. As of the end of 2008 we have 10 HCDCs in operation, with more of the way.
The Lord blesses those who believe in Him so that they can be a blessing to others. India Christian Ministries is primarily a church-planting ministry, but we want our churches to be a blessing to their communities in every way possible and to display the generous heart of the Father. To accomplish this, we do our best to equip our churches to be disaster shelters, distribution points, feeding centers and more--both in the spiritual and in the natural.
Our state has more child laborers than any other state in India (There are 1 million 662 thousand child laborers in Andhra, according to Krishna Yadav, Minister of Labor and Welfare in the legislative assembly). There are so many great opportunities available to a young person with a basic education--it's a shame that so many children are condemned to a life of poverty because they were denied instruction in the basic 3R's as children. We have often witnessed the shame of many adults (especially women) when caught in a situation where they're forced to admit that they can't tell time, read, or sign their names.
Inheritance
Inheritance pays tuition so that children of native missionaries can go to good schools. It also assists families in purchasing uniforms, books, supplies, and bus fare or room and board. In addition, Inheritance provides for immunizations and basic medical/dental care of the pastor's children, and ensures that they have clothes to wear and nourishing food to eat, and provides a monthly stipend for the care of each child. To help meet the children's spiritual needs, Inheritance holds "P.K." events periodically.
To fully sponsor one of these children is US$30/month - but any size monthly gift is a blessing to these children.
HIV/AIDS Support
ICM has always had a heart for those afflicted with HIV/AIDS, but in the past several years we stepped up our involvement. AP has a high incidence of HIV cases. As a state, we account for about 10% of all HIV/AIDS positive people in India. Prakasam District, where our headquarters is located, reported the highest incidence of HIV with 4% in urban areas. The government launched an AIDS Awareness Program in Ongole and we are participating in this.
ICM spent several months identifying many who are afflicted with this disease. We have selected 450 families that we can help feed and provide care. Our goal is to increase this to 1,000 in Prakasam District. We are using our churches as centers for these families to come to once a month to get their supplies.
Medical Outreach
The work load for village men and women is grueling in India. The villagers often spend most of their days in the fields working with crops, or shepherding livestock. It is back breaking work in the hot sun, and their bodies ache continually from it. They haul everything on their heads and shoulders, so they suffer from constant headaches and backaches.
For the villages without bore wells, the water the villagers drink is hauled from long distances away, and is usually taken from a nearby river or stream. These waters are not clean, and cause many different types of gastric illnesses.
There is very little access to normal medicines that most Westerners would take. Many of the poor in remote villages die from diseases that are curable, because of the lack of availability of medical care.
MEDICAL CAMPS: ICM encourages medical teams from other countries and from within India to visit the poorer villages as often as possible to minister to the needs of the physically infirm. Each medical camp ministers to many hundreds of people. ICM goes to the more remote villages and announces that they will be conducting a medical camp for all who want to come. ICM provides transportation to the medical camp, serves them lunch, gives them free consultations with doctors from the USA and from India, provides them with free medications, and helps to arrange any further treatment that might be needed.
ICM also tells the villagers about Jesus and offers to pray for their illnesses. Many people have been healed through these camps and have come to know about Jesus. ICM has conducted a number of these types of short term medical camps and would like to do more. Ideally ICM hopes one day to have a full time medical staff and a mobile hospital that could travel from village to village to take care of the medical needs of the villagers.
EYE CAMPS: ICM also holds ‘eye camps’ from time to time. Optometrists come and give free eye exams and fit the villagers with glasses, which are donated for this purpose. During one eye camp we gave away about 1000 pairs of prescription glasses after eye exams and performed about 100 cataract surgeries.
(Please view our medical team movie on our videos page)
Covenant Churches
CSAM
Covenant School of Apostolic Ministry
The Covenant School of Apostolic Ministry (CSAM) is a brand new school where we make disciples, train leaders, provide on-going teaching for existing pastors, and send all of them out into the harvest field of Andhra Pradesh, India and beyond.
To find our more about our new pastor's training program, please visit the website at www.CovenantSAM.com.
Covenant Worship
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God is breathing new life into the Church’s expression of worship in India. For many years now the change has been gradually occurring leading us to this point. Only a few years ago, worship music among believers was performed by just a singer and a single drum, and often singing songs decades old. Now we have fresh songs being composed and performed by worship leaders on keyboards, bringing a unique style and flavour to the worship within our churches. We have just released our 6th worship album, with songs coming out of our local churches.
Just as introducing keyboards into our churches took planning, provision and perseverance, so will the next step in our development. We are creating a worship team that will travel around the state, leading people into the worship of God, and also demonstrating the fullness of a life of worship. We have acquired our own professional sound system that will enable us to be more self-sufficient when playing at larger venues. We are training people on instruments other than the keyboard such as the guitar, bass guitar, and percussion.
Our greatest needs right now for Covenant Worship are more instruments that will enable us to better equip and train a new generation of worship leaders in this developing worship movement. Each new move of God is accompanied by a renewal of worship, with new songs and new sounds appropriate for the age and culture. India Christian Ministries has been instrumental in laying the groundwork for what is now quickly intensifying: a passionate, God-breathed, fresh experience of worship.
OUR VISION
1. Restoring Intimacy w/ God
2. Renewing Passion and Purpose
3. Revitalizing the Church & Reviving Nominal ‘Christians’
4. Reaching the Lost & Recruiting Disciples
5. Resting in His Presence & Remaining in Him
6. Receiving the Gifts and Fruit of the Spirit
7. Revealing the Glory of God
If you are a worship leader or worship team member who would interested in bringing a team to lead worship here, train our worship leaders and assist in further developing our worship program, please contact worship@indiachristianministries.org.
We have other outreach and ministry programs not listed above.
For more information about our other various programs please contact us via e-mail.