…but Jesus said, “Let the little children come to me and do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of heaven.” (Matthew 19:14)
About eight years ago, a young man named Bro. Godson Valayil was inspired to share the Gospel with children on a wider scale. He sought ways and means through which he could implement his objective. His research in this area led him to the use of puppets, media, moral stories, object lessons and appropriate Christian literature in schools. His primary objective is to communicate the good news of salvation through Jesus Christ effectively in an understandable and interesting way to as many people as possible, in as many places as possible, especially to the children.
Through his unique ministry to schools, he could reach out to a substantially large audience of great diversity in a short period of time with great effectiveness and acceptance. But the question is, in these days of anti-Christian sentiments in the schools and colleges, is it possible to present Gospel in the public and private schools? The answer is, Yes. The pictures you see in this report and Bro. Godson’s experience over the past eight years are enough proof that there is great acceptance and appreciation for his services in the schools.
For several years Bro. Godson also appeared on the local TV channel during the children’s program with his puppet show and storytelling. Usually, the TV station charges about Rs.15,000 for religious broadcasts, but Bro. Godson’s programs were broadcast for free. Such media exposure gave acceptance to his programs in schools.
Because his team and programs are well known to children, when they conduct a Vacation Bible School in the vicinity of a school where they had previously conducted a program, a lot of children show up for the VBS and they bring along their friends as well.
[Bro. Godson has a Master's Degree in Theology. He also has acquired specialized training for work among children from Child Evangelism Fellowship, a Christian organization specializing in children's outreach. In addition, he had a short-term training at the Haggai Institute which helps him to focus, plan and organize his ministry for greater effectiveness. In order to meet the many counseling challenges in the ministry, Bro. Godson also attended a postgraduate counseling course at the Christian Counseling Center in Vellore and obtained Certification in Psychological Counseling last year. From the year 2006 onwards he is a full-time evangelist commended by his home church, the Puthenkunnu Brethren Assembly. He has been serving in that capacity, primarily among children and youth in the southern states of India.]
The Potential
In the year 2011 Bro. Godson’s team was able to reach out to over 30,000 children. In 2012 they exceeded their expectations and reached out to over 50,000 children. They are reaching out to more and more schools in the six districts of Malabar. However, despite their best efforts, hundreds of schools remain unreached, and the doors remain wide open to this unique ministry.
Dozens of schools are lined up for the presentation of the program and sometimes they get requests from schools for repeated visits. The children and teachers very much appreciate these programs. The visits to schools also provide them with great opportunities to distribute large quantities of appropriate tracts and booklets and also a chance to introduce the well-known Emmaus Bible Correspondence courses to both teachers and students.
As you can see from the pictures in this report, thousands of children are reached through this program and many of the children come from Hindu and Muslim backgrounds. Literature distributed to these children will reach thousands of households and will be read by many. In a country with restrictions on evangelism and with increasing incidents of attacks on Christians, only by the Lord’s grace are they able to use this open door in a timely manner to proclaim the Gospel.
The Opportunity
There is a governmental provision for moral education in all the private and public schools in Kerala and the schools have set aside a one-hour period every week for moral science or religious study. Bro. Godson’s team has structured their program around such moral lessons with interesting stories, songs, puppet program and PowerPoint presentations. Toward the end of the program, they present a story from the Bible with clear Gospel. Along with the other tracts and informative booklets, they also distribute Our Daily Bread (a well-known devotional booklet by Radio Bible Class) and a booklet titled “Men Who Met the Master,” published by the Emmaus Correspondence School; both these booklets are available in the local language (Malayalam). Innumerable enquiries are received through the contact information in the booklets and the team actively follows up such enquiries with phone calls to connect the seekers with the local churches where possible.
The programs for the children are done by a team of brethren using special screens. This requires transporting the team members, puppets, projector, PA system, screens and long rods for the stage screens, etc. to the schools. For several years the team used motor bikes to reach the school, but the police stopped them three times in one year for carrying long rods and other props on the bikes. Then one of Godson’s relatives loaned the team an old minivan (Maruthi-Omni) for a short while. This was very useful for their outreach. But they need a reliable vehicle for travel to and from the schools, especially late in the evening from distant schools. Getting stuck in the rural roads of Malabar late at night can be a very unpleasant experience; such incidents resulted in cancellation of scheduled programs at schools the following day, and sometimes for the entire week. Punctuality and limiting to the time allotted to our programs are very important to schools.
In recent years the Lord provided enough resources for the ministry. Now they use several puppets with a full set of stage screens, PA system, Laptop, LCD projector, etc. and also the use of PowerPoint and object lessons and other means as tools to communicate the message to an audience as large as 1,500 children at a time. Student population at some of the schools exceeded 3,000. In such cases, the program is presented in two sessions of 1,500 children at a time. In the year 2013, the Lord helped the team to minister to more than 60,000 children in 77 schools.
Result of the Ministry
When they interact closely with children and their families in the course of the ministry, the children often share their personal problems and concerns with the team members. The team has been instrumental in leading several children to Christ who were a problem in their school and home before. There are cases where children who ran away from their homes were saved at the short-term camps and retreats. Sometimes, grieving families were counseled and even helped materially. Recently, the team and their church fasted, prayed and counseled an alcoholic and he has been saved. His broken family relationship is now restored and his family and relatives are happy. Now that family provides a good testimony in their church and community. During the course of the ministry, the team encounters many individuals and families needing specialized counseling and help and they do what they can with their limited resources.
God willing, Bro. Godson intends to develop several teams to expand the ministry to cover all the districts of Kerala and also to cover some of the states outside Kerala. With this in mind, occasionally, the team visits Tamil Nadu and Karnataka and Goa.
How You Can Have a Part in this Unique Ministry
The team members are volunteers and they do not receive any regular financial support from any source. They look to the Lord for all their ministry needs. The team is committed to work for the Lord as long as there is light and as long as the doors are open to the ministry. When we think about the lack of freedom for a similar ministry in the 57 Muslim countries, China, North Korea and some of the other countries in the world, we praise the Lord for the opportunities we have in India. It becomes even more wonderful that you could be a partner in this ministry wherever you may be.
The team readily acknowledges the fact that this extensive work in the hundreds of schools cannot continue with their skills, strategies or resources, “For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places (Ephesians 6:12).
The team’s request to you is the same as that of the apostle Paul to the Thessalonians – “Finally, brethren, pray for us, that the word of the Lord may have free course, and be glorified, even as it is with you: and that we may be delivered from unreasonable and wicked men: for all men have not faith. But the Lord is faithful, who shall stablish you, and keep you from evil.” (2 Thessalonians 1:1-3).
The year is still young and by the grace of God, the team is on track to reach out to over 100,000 children in 2014 and they seek your prayers and participation in this team effort.
Some of the Immediate needs:
(1) More Christian literature for free distribution to students and teachers.
(2) A good jeep for the ministry.
(3) Daily operations expenses for a team of seven.
(4) Provisions for conducting VBS at 100 locations in a year.
If you are led by the Spirit of the Lord to support this outreach to school children, you may send your tax deductible gifts to:
Gospel Missions of India
P.O. Box 1043 Warren MI 48090, USA
For online donations, please visit www.Gospelmi.org
For further information or clarification, please contact us:
Jacob Mathen, New York +1-914-610-0862
Jose Thomas, New Jersey +1-201-587-8917
Roji Varghese, Texas +1-469-628-1266
Email: athmamanna@yahoo.com
[Arabian Voice]