Dear friends,

In a powerful moment related in the Gospel of Luke, Jesus calls children to Himself, yet some people objected. Jesus responds and tells his followers, “Let the children come to me.” In India, we have a wonderful opportunity to introduce countless children to Jesus, and to lay a foundation for each of them to live a life of faith in Christ. Although there are many cultural and government roadblocks, IEM is expanding our children’s ministry to include coordinated Sunday School programs, Vacation Bible Schools, and after-school training and care.

In the state of Odisha, IEM Bible School graduate Saka and her husband Sebak are running an IEM School with over 200 children. At least 50 of these students are from poor families, so they are housed and fed on the school campus. Thanks to the help of some of our faithful supporters, last year we were able to dig a new bore well to provide a much needed water supply for the children. God willing, we are going to take on some additional projects at the school, including building new bathroom facilities and classrooms for the students.

In the state of Maharashtra, IEM supports several churches that operate in various slum areas of Mumbai, and the growing city of New Mumbai. For several years, IEM worker Carmina has been coordinating Sunday School programs for dozens of children amongst these churches. Recently, Carmina organized and conducted a successful Vacation Bible School program, which was a blessing to many children and their families. Included in the insert are some pictures of these children as they enjoy the VBS program.

In the coming months, we are praying about instituting a new Sunday School program, including curriculum that will be coordinated throughout all the churches IEM supports in India. We will train Sunday School teachers from all these churches to nurture hundreds, and maybe thousands, of children with the Good News of the Bible, and teach them Christian songs and Bible verses that will stay with them throughout their whole lives. In addition, we are excited to start a new “Learning Center” in the state of Uttar Pradesh next month. I look forward to sharing photos and an update of this new children’s ministry soon. Thank you for sharing in this important work as we reach children with the life-changing Gospel. May the Lord continue to richly bless you and your family.

In Him,

Dayan Mathai