To spread the love of Jesus among the lost, Harvest Mission to the Unreached is involved in several ministry and social activities. Besides the various ministry activities, HMU is also working among street children, leprosy patients and slum-dwellers. The compassion ministry of HMU is going on well in different places of India and Nepal. This particular wing of our ministry is very effective in reaching the lost with the unfailing love of Christ. Even the people who are against the mission activities are welcoming such projects and are willing to cooperate with our missionaries.
Tailoring Center
As the Lord guided us, we have started a tailoring center among the slum-dwellers in Sholapur, Maharashtra.This training is provided for the poor women especially widows who are living in slums. The majority of the women who come to our tailoring center are involved in rag picking to earn their livelihood. Before or after their time in the tailoring center, learning how to stitch dresses, they go to pick up the drags from the containers that are kept on the roadsides by the Government agencies.The duration of the training program is for three months. Besides helping the women to stitch on sewing machines, we also give them training on making dresses by hand too. The hand-making dress training will provide them sufficient work after the completion of their course. But if we provide them with sewing machines, it will help them to earn more. Presently we have one sewing machine which is used for training and ten plus women are under training. All these women are from non-Christian backgrounds. Besides teaching them on dressmaking, we too teach them from the Word. The main purpose and concern of our project is to reach the unreached with the Good News of Christ. Therefore, a prayer meeting is regularly being arranged for them.
As a result, many of them attend the worship service with us on Sundays. Pastor Jaikumar is working with HMU in Uttar Pradesh have similar story to share. He started a tailoring center in his mission station, aiming to reach the lost in his ministry area through this project. Right now, six women in the neighborhood are attending this dressmaking training. All these women are from poor backgrounds, and the training program is being done free of cost. Pray that such programs may continue to be successful and win souls for the heavenly kingdom.
Food to the Lepers
Occasionally we provide food to the least fortunate people. Most of these lepers are beggars. A church planted by pastor Shaji Abraham in the early years of our mission has reached out to the leper colonies. Pastor Shaji's church has planted two churches among these people. Each year in celebration of Christmas HMU provides the funds necessary to buy a new set of clothes for each man, women, and child associated with the leper churches. For visiting mission teams from the USA it is always a moving experience to see the fingerless hands of these precious people clapping as they praise the Lord in song.
Disaster Relief
As the Lord provides, HMU gives occasional assistance to the victims of natural disasters. In 2010, a devastating monsoon hit North India causing massive flooding and devastation. Many areas in the outskirts of Delhi were several feet under water. The slum areas were hit especially hard by the raging flood. The drainage facilities could not handle the enormous volume of water which caused the drains to back up. Filthy germ infested water flooded the slum colonies. A viral fever along with other epidemics such as dengue, malaria, etc. spread rapidly to most of the flooded regions. Hundreds have already perished. The hospitals and medical clinics were overrun with the suffering. During these great crises, Harvest Mission to the Unreached reached out to those in need. HMU decided to do whatever we could to wipe away the tears of our fellow brothers and sisters living in the slum areas. The most struggling families received aid and help from our volunteers. Food such as rice, wheat and flour was handed out to show the love and concern of our Lord for His people. HMU also provided similar aid and help to those living in the leprosy colonies as well.
The Lord had provided a way for us to help some of the Tsunami victims in South India. Being a Christian and watching the devastation and death that came from the Tsunami, "I desired to go to the aches of Southeast India to help and do my part" says, our Director. Though HMU has no work in South India, shortly afterwards director Saji said we would be going to Madras, and that some churches had donated money to the people in need, to help out as best they could. God answered my desire to go. We were able to give some immediate help to several of the victims. Later we bought a boat for the fishermen.
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