Dear Liaison Team:

Clement has had a very fruitful time meeting different churches in Massachusetts, Wisconsin, Illinois, Ohio, and Pennsylvania, exhorting Christians to keep the Cross as the center of our Gospel and not to make it a peripheral matter. He spoke on the theme: Christian Contribution to War on Terror.  He encouraged Christians to be World Christians and showed the importance of ushering in Revival to our churches as a means of winning the heart of the Moslems in this context of War on Terror.  The Lord Jesus is still the “Prince of the kings of the earth” and He is in control of our nation and at the right moment will vindicate His people.  “So, we should not lose heart or lose our faith, but pray earnestly as Jeremiah, Ezra, Nehemiah, and Esther prayed.”

It is evident that the work of the Ashram has fruitfully used its current donations.  In addition to the 22 pastors receiving 10 months of training, some 200 more pastors in different cities in the southeastern state of Andhra Pradesh are also calling for this sort of training. These pastors, coming from very poor backgrounds, do make a difference in establishing churches among Hindus and Moslems.  Their congregations can hardly support them, and certainly cannot support the pastoral studies that your contributions make available using the CBSI (Community Bible Studies International) materials that the Ashram has translated into the local language.  Now there are 43 study centers (up from 21).  That means 300 more members, from churches of new converts from Hindu beliefs, can be trained for Christian leadership.  We project that all these efforts can be handled on the current contributions received from America, and the Ashram so far has not done any major “fund-raising”.

However, could we now be more sensitive to this need and prayerfully consider increasing our support to Ashram? Here is why: First, Dr. Clement’s organization needs approximately $12,000 more for the “Mega Seminar” to be held for February 2006.  The week-long Mega Seminar will train about 300 pastors from the State of Andhra Pradesh in India, to help pastors with studies such as Expository Preaching (teaching directly the Bible’s text) and Pastor and Caste (how a pastor should relate his ministry to the caste system). Pastor Doug Stuart and a team of 14 laypersons from First Church Congregational in Boxford, Massachusetts will assist in the Mega Seminar. Second, Dr. Clement hopes to earmark additional funds to start building a Residential Training Center/Retreat Center on a small piece of land in the southern part of Hyderabad.

Would you present our request for increased support to your Missions Committee? We have some resource materials to explain the mission in India, including a DVD with a 3-, 5- or 10-minute presentation. If you have any further questions or would like a DVD, kindly contact me. Contributions can be mailed to: Wendy Cibula, c/o Heritage Presbyterian Church, 2260 Rochester Road, Pittsburgh, PA 15237.

Sincerely,

Jeanne Otto