As my team and I serve with the Covenant Children’s Home (CCH) ministry we learn more about how God works in and through it. This week my focus is on the home parents, the couple God has called to not only pastor the church but also take care of the kids in the home!
CCH @ Vallala
In my last blog I touched on how I’ve seen God use my team and I to draw more community members to Himself and the Covenant Children’s Home church in India…..the question then is after we leave who follows up with them????
The Covenant Children’s Home Pastor, his wife and their church.
Pastor Joseph* and his wife Mary* have been the home parents here since it opened in 2012. They have two children of their own, Sarah* and Timothy*.
*Names changed for security purposes
All four of them live with and love on the 10 boys who also live in the home. (boys going to school) Here is what I learned, after interviewing Pastor and his wife, about God’s call on their lives to serve Him DAILY as parents to twelve children! (Please note these are quotes and my notes from the interview as they spoke Telugu – the local language – not English).
Q: How long have you been married?
11 years. It was an arranged marriage – I (Pastor) heard through a matchmaker about a beautiful girl in the next village over who was a Christian. So our families talked and agreed it would be good to marry.
Q: How did you both come to know Christ?
For me (Pastor), my grandfather was a Christian and so was my father. The Bible was believed in and was taught in my family, and I too believed. I was baptized and went to school and studied acquiring a college degree. In 2005 God spoke to me at a pastors’ conference held by India Christian Ministries (ICM) headed up by James Rebbavarapu I was sleeping in a room alone when I was shaken awake. I went to attend a meeting in which James was speaking about God’s calling on one’s life to be a pastor. For me being woken up I knew this was what God wanted me to do – be a pastor. I submitted my name and was chosen by the ministry to attend Bible training school.
My brother (pastor’s wife) was studying at school and began attending a church where he learned and accepted Jesus. He shared with me and I too believed and became a Christian. I was 12 and my brother was 31 years old.
Q: How did you come to be home parents at CCH?
Before I (pastor) joined the ministry (ICM), I was working to protect children on the street and children working in forced labor (at factories and such). I knew I wanted to work and help poor children and CCH ministry fulfills that. I had the pastoral training and the church and home were built and opened in 2012. We have served here every since.
Q: What is your role at the home?
– Pastor: A father. I care for the boys, as they are my own. I do not show favoritism but spend time with each giving them hugs and teaching them the Bible.
– Pastor’s wife: I cook food for their meals, care for their health and hygiene and am like their mother. I play with them and help them with their studies.
**Personal note – watching Pastor’s wife work around the home I can’t believe how hard she works!!! There is no washing machine, dishwasher, refrigerator, or consistent electricity…ladies tell me how hard it would be to run a household without all those things AND take care of 12 kids and a husband!! I have SO enjoyed learning from her!
Q: What are some challenges and joys you have at the home?
– I (Pastor) want to see each boy have a good position in life after school. To have a good life and do well with studies so I help them with good discipline and good encouragement. I am happy here and the boys are doing well.
– I (Pastor’s wife) want the children to remember us in the future.
Q: What are challenges you face as the pastor with the church?
It is a Hindu village here, so there are many who are not believers. They worship idols and do not believe in Jesus. I pray for the believers with patience even when I am scolded. They tell us to turn down our loud speaker on Sunday’s
We are mocked because of foreigners coming here, but we speak the truth about why they are here and that it is not about money. But through prayer for and with the church members we are seeing God at work.
Q: Can you give examples of how you’ve seen Christ at work in the boys’ lives and also in the community?
For the boys, it has been four years since the home has been opened and we have not had major health problems or issues. They have been healthy and we have seen God’s healing of their illnesses when they have come.
In the community, we have also cast out demons and healed illnesses. There was a woman who had a wrist problem and went to the doctors who said it had to be cut off. She came to me (pastor) and I prayed over her wrist, applied oil, and she was healed. Praise be to God.
Q: Any more comments about CCH or the church?
I (pastor) continue to pray for a burning of the Spirit in the lives of the boys and community. I am happy to be taking care of the children and proud of them. Thank you.
Pastor wife’s favorite verse is Mark 10:45, ‘For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many”.
We too are called to serve others….would you consider how God is calling you to serve others right where you are? It may require some of you to step out of what’s comfortable for the sake of others. It might mean giving up some privacy or personal wants for the sake of Christ and others.
I too want to be known as a servant of Christ and others.
Would you take a moment to pray for Pastor, his family, and the boys at CCH in Vallala?
Saved to serve!
Lauren
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Mark 10:45
