WE BELIEVE
1. We believe the Bible
that we have today is the inspired word of
God and the final authority for our Christian faith and actions.
2. There is one true God, eternally existing in three persons -
Father, Son, and Holy Spirit - each of whom possesses equally all
the attributes of Deity and the characteristics of personality.
3. Jesus Christ is God, the living Word, who became flesh through
His miraculous conception by the Holy Spirit and His virgin birth.
He lived a sinless life and voluntarily atoned for the sins of men
by dying on the cross as their substitute and rose from the dead
in the same body and ascended bodily into heaven and sat down at
the right hand of God the Father, where He, the only mediator
between God and man, continually makes intercession for His own.
4. Man was originally created in the image of God. He sinned by
disobeying God; thus, he was alienated from his Creator. That
historic fall brought all mankind under divine condemnation.
5. The salvation of man is wholly a work of God's free grace and
is not the work of human works God imputes His righteousness to
those who put their faith in Christ.
6. The Holy Spirit has come into the world to reveal and glorify
Christ and to apply the saving work of Christ to men. He convicts
and draws sinners to Christ, imparts new life to them, continually
indwells them from the moment of spiritual birth and seals them
until the day of redemption. His fullness, power and control are
appropriated in the believer's life by faith and prayer.
7. Every believer is called to live a holy life in all walks of
their life.
8. Jesus Christ is the Head of the Church, His Body, which is
composed of all men, living and dead, who have been joined to Him
through saving faith.
9. God admonishes His people to assemble together regularly for
worship, for participation in ordinances, for edification through
the Scriptures and for mutual encouragement.
10. Jesus Christ will come again to the earth - personally,
visibly and bodily - to consummate history and the eternal plan of
God.
11. The Lord Jesus Christ commanded all believers to proclaim the
Gospel throughout the world and to disciple men of every nation
Missionaries and Mission fields:
House church Members,Orissa
Sisters of Jesus is a sisterhood movement to reach and care the women in
India with the love and compassion of Jesus. The girls who are thrown out of
the family because of their faith in Jesus Christ are accepted into the
sisterhood, to be trained as teachers, prophets, missionaries and
evangelists. They are also given training in family care, tailoring and
home science.
Missionary Training College
Voice of Gospel is operating 4 Missionary training
centers at different parts of India
Click here for Mercy Homes
(www.mercyhomes.org)
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Mercy Home is a
God-given project to minister to the needs of the under- privileged and
uneducated orphans and the poor children. Mercy Home is the place
where these children are offered proper care, good food ,education,
shelter and spiritual upbringing with Christian character. This is not
at all an orphanage but a home concept where children grow in love,
peace and responsibility.
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Charity Bank
(Letter from Pastor. John Joseph)
The concept of Charity bank was very appealing to me. The simple and effective way it operates really surprised me. The problem of bad debts was very nicely solved. Here is how they are working:
A small loan of say Rs.2000. is given to a deserving member of their church.
The Charity Bank board receives application from different needy persons.
Its scrutinizes and short-list the application according to the funds available.
The short-listed candidates are called for an interview.
The projects presented by the candidates are reviewed and its loan repayment capacity is analyzed.
After the candidate is selected, the pastor of the village is called and his approval is taken.
The pastor has to stand as guarantee for the candidate.
Just in case the candidate is not able to repay the loan then the pastor has to repay back the loan. This way the pastor is very much involved in the project and ensures that the project is successful.
The pastor is benefited in time to come because when the business flourishes the member is supposed to pay his regular tithe. This way the church and the pastor is benefited.
Loan is only given to persons who are members of their church for more than 2 years. This way the allegations that money is being given to people to become Christian is ruled out.
Goat Farms: Very early in the morning we went to this village. This village is located on the mountain top and we had to walk a long distance. Babu has been given two goats. One mother and a kid. The total cost of these goats is Rs.2500. The Charity bank gave him Rs.2000 and Babu added the rest. It is expected that these goats will multiply to at least 8 to 10 animals in one years time. The selling price of each will be Rs.1000 to Rs.1200. Very soon the loan will be repaid and tithes will start coming in the church.
Markos has purchased 3 kids goat with the Rs.2000. given to him. He is an old man living with his wife. He has also purchased two rabbits and some chickens. There is no other source of income for this man. He is very happy to have these goats.
Quail bird farm: Quails are very rugged birds but only weighs about 250
gms. Their meat is of medicinal value specially to diabetes and heart patients. Its eggs are very small but are Cholesterol and fat free. Therefore this bird very much preferred to Chicken. Quails require less feed. In fact one chicken eats the food of 5 quails! The space required for its cage is also very small. A simple cage made of wodden planks, measuring 15 x 5 feet x 1 feet (Ht.) can be used to house 175 birds! The quail chicks start giving eggs from 45 days old and can give upto 7 months, then it is sold for meat. The cost of quail eggs is only 70 paise compared to Rs.1.50 for chicken eggs.
The owner of the farm where I visited was Chako (Jacob) at village
Chembenkondom. He is an old man and has his son and daughter-in-law helping him in this business. I was told that he is a good member of the church and therefore given this loan. He already has 275 quail birds of his own. The Charity Bank gave him 125 birds more at the cost of Rs. 2000. His son has a good knowledge about these birds and answered many questions.
These 400 birds are giving him approx. 230 eggs per day, which he is selling for Rs.159 per day. He is getting a monthly income of Rs.4770. If he has 500 birds then the manure can be used to get cooking gas for his kitchen. Presently the manure is being used to fertilizer his coconut farm which is giving 50% more yield because of this manure.
Phenol (Disinfectant) Company: A Phenol concentrate is bought at Rs.55. per
litre. This is added with water and it gives 25 litres. The market price of each litres is Rs.22. The wholesale price of each litre is Rs.10. The manufacturing price comes to Rs.5.
Used/ rejected water bottles from mineral water bottle company is purchased at a very low price. These are repacked with Phenol with a new label and sold in the market. This business is three weeks old and flourishing. Shaji has already hired three full time salesman to sell these products.
Earlier Shahji was not a good Christian and without job. But now because of this business he is very thankful to God and regularly attends church.
Appam (Breakfast food): This man when he was not a Christian lost everything in business. He came to Past. Daniel’s church through the free food program. Pas. Daniel helped him to start a flourishing Appam food industry with only Rs. 2000. He now earns almost Rs.1000 per day selling these breakfast items to hostels and hotels.
Pastor Daniel also has many other Christian outreaches. I have never seen a Mercy Home so beautiful. This is a three story building. The ground floor is the pastor house with a small chapel. The first floor is the home for 9 children, along with their study room. The third floor is an enclosed terrace for the children to play, dry their clothes and also to hold a small gospel meeting. Pas. Daniel has 10 such Mercy Homes and plans to start some more. The cost of maintaining a child is Rs. 600. per month.
I was blessed to see the beautiful church building which Pas. Daniel has built some two years back. The ground floor consist of his office, a 5000 books library and some classrooms. The top floor is a beautiful sanctuary with a seating capacity of 300 people.
I got an opportunity to preach to his Bible School students. He has 50 students in this school and the cost of running this Bible school comes to Rs.600. per student. He soon plans to start an English medium Bible School.
Daniel has started a tailoring institute for the female students that are in the Bible School. This way they will have a trade in their hands once they graduate from the Bible School.
Finally, I found Pastor Daniel a very thorough gentleman who has a very kind heart and wants to help poor pastors. He speaks good English and is very up-to-date with church matters. I personally want to thank you for this privilege you gave me to visit this area. It was an eye opener for me and there was lots to learn."
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