SERVE India

SERVE India builds up the local church by supporting the pastors. The pastors in rural villages often have had little if any formal Bible training. SERVE India is building a training center so that the pastors can come to get practical and doctrinally sound Biblical training. In order not to deprive their churches of their leadership, the training will be packaged in relatively small increments. Provision is also being made for their families to accompany them, so that they also can be trained, refreshed, and encouraged.

Since India is a very poor country, it is often very difficult for a small village church to support a pastor full-time. SERVE India provides monthly financial support for pastors to supplement what their church provides. Our policy, however, is not to provide 100% support, because we want to encourage the local churches to participate as well.

We also encourage pastors to develop new pastoral leadership in their church so that the work can be multiplied and new churches can be planted. Our training center and monetary support help these apprentice pastors develop to the point that they can start a new church.

Most Indians live daily on what we would consider pocket change. By providing vocational education and training, we can help these people earn a better living for themselves and their families. Not only does this bless them as individuals, but it also helps the work as the church as the body has more resources to put to kingdom purposes. Instead of being dependent on charity from the west, these people can see themselves as full and complete partners in the mission of the Gospel.

But this work is not only for believers. This kind of outreach can also be a powerful way to reach the entire community. Lives can change when they see that their circumstances are not hopeless.

Some of the vocational training includes carpentry, sewing, and computer skills.

In India, those who suffer hardship, loss, and poverty are seen as deserving their fate. They labor under the double curse of their difficult circumstances and the social stigma attached to it. Society’s discrimination reinforces their difficulties as they find it harder to get an education or find employment.

SERVE India helps these people break this bondage. In obedience to Christ’s command, we show them that God loves them in a practical way, by meeting their immediate physical needs. SERVE India accomplishes this through the local church. We do not want to build a large, visible infrastructure that carries our name. Instead, we want to empower the local church to care for the poor among them.

We do this by helping village churches setup small orphanages and schools to take in the many parentless and abandoned children. The churches also provide comfort, support, and purpose for widows, who face a bleak future in a culture that blames them for their husband’s death.

In all this, the local churches shine with God’s love, that everyone in the community can see.