Newsletters

December 2011 Newsletter

Tuesday, January 17th, 2012

Dear Family and Friends:
We wish you all a wonderful Christmas season and a very Blessed New Year!

THIS SEASON OF CHRISTMAS
Christ is yet to be born in the hearts of more than 999 million people (only 2% or less people know Jesus as their Savior!) in India. In the month of October India decorated their houses and plants with lights and celebrated ‘Diwali’ which means the festival of lights. We pray that this nation will find the true Light of Life in Jesus Christ during this season of Christmas.

THE 10th SEMINARY GRADUATION
This year God helped us to graduate 37 candidates: Six M.Div; Eight B.Th and Twenty three Diploma holders in Christian Ministry.

WE ARE STARTING THE CONSTRUCTION OF OUR NEW CAMPUS
Please pray for this urgent and immediate needs of finance for the construction. We are praying and looking for people who will commit themselves to pray and give $1000. during the period of one year for our construction needs. We always appreciate you and your prayers and financial support. We are praying for you.
AGAIN, HAPPY HOLIDAYS AND BLESSINGS! Yours in the Ministry of Christ Jesus,

Dr. Samuel & Susan Mathai

Construction of road inside the Campus site started

Labourers’ Working at the Road Construction

September 2011 Newsletter

Sunday, October 9th, 2011

Dear Friends and Family:
Greetings in the matchless name of our Lord Jesus Christ. We pray all is well with you!

REPORTS FROM THE FIELD
We always enjoy reading the reports the pastors of our churches from different fields send to us. In this letter we want to share with you excerpts from some of the letters we received recently from the State of Odisa (Orissa) in India. Trust these reports will encourage you and give you a sense of how the church planting ministry is going on:

Komu M wrote: Greetings to you in the sweet name of our Lord Jesus Christ. By the grace of God, I baptized 14 people on 28/5/2011 and shared Lord’s Supper with them along with other believers. Now there are 7-8 more people are ready to take baptism. Please pray for our believers that through them many people will come to know about Christ. Pray for me that the lord may strengthen me to do this ministry. Pray for a church building because there is no place to sit and worship. Pray for my brothers and my mother that they may come to Christ. Also, pray for a couple who believes for a child. Yours Faithfully, KM.

Shyam Sunda Suna wrote: Please pray against the persecution in the district of B….. In the village of T… persecution comes often. There are much opposition in my ministry. Many fanatics make problems to me, but God is giving me strength and encouraging me to move forward. Jesus told us to love your enemy and do good to those who hate you (Lk 6:27). Also pray for a bicycle for me to go and do the ministry. Sometimes I borrow from others. Otherwise, I will go by walking and do the ministry in the nearby villages. Your’s faithfully, SSS.

Sushil Dhanshil wrote: I am teaching about water Baptism in the church. There are six members in the village of T…. ready to take the water baptism. All together 12 families are coming to worship. I need a bicycle to do the God’s ministry. Pray for me as well. Yours faithfully, SD

Sanjay Kumar Bagh wrote: Greetings to you in the name of our lord Jesus Christ. I am doing God’s ministry in the villages of K…., Go…., and S..nagar. God is using me mightily for His kingdom sake. There are 32 families coming to worship from these three villages. SKB

Sanjay Kumar wrote: By the grace of God there are 57 believers are coming to worship in K…church. We are having three days of worship in K….. This is my prayer that all the believers will grow in the Lord.
• Pray for a church building
• Pray for the believers to grow in the Lord, SK

We love you and are praying for you.
Yours in the Ministry of Christ Jesus,
Dr. Samuel & Susan Mathai

June 2011 Newsletter

Sunday, October 9th, 2011

Dear Friends and Family:
Greetings in the matchless name of our Lord Jesus Christ. We pray all is well with you!

We decided to write* a special newsletter this month on Nepal, where one of our Seminary graduates, Joyte (B.Th. 2000) is ministering. Joyte felt the call for Nepal and he went there in 2002 to raise up leaders and plant churches. Recently Joyte wrote:
“Thanks for your kind prayers and support. Now we (GNN/SSM) have 5 churches and 3 prayer fellowships. We have two fulltime workers and several lay leaders. Every Friday My wife is leading a Women’s Prayer Fellowship. Our ministry is progressing very well and many people are coming to Christ. The New believers are forsaking their idols and now worship the Living God. Hallelujah! Sometimes we have a special celebration when they give up their idols. We have many people who want to take Water Baptism, but we are teaching them the basic things about Christianity before they take the baptism.”

According to the Word of God (Rev 7:10) there will be people from Nepal standing among the “great multitude”, and “before the throne and in front of the Lamb”. With your prayers and financial support you are playing a vital role in “forcefully advancing the Kingdom of God”.*This issue is written by Darrell DeVantier, who is our Development Director.We are working at having a revival among the Choudhiri people group. We also started a ministry among the Tharu people. We are on the frontline for the Gospel. Our work is progressing. We have started two new Churches in two Villages B & D. Kindly uphold us in your prayers. Pray for a church building, the believers’ spiritual growth, and please pray for my wife and children.

We love you and are praying for you. Please e-mail us at drsm142@aol.com with your prayer requests or words of encouragement. Please keep us, our children and our grandchildren in your prayers.

Yours in the Ministry of Christ Jesus,

Dr. Samuel & Susan Mathai

Interesting Facts about Nepal:Nepal is land locked between the two most populated countries in the world: China – over 1.3 billion and India – over 1.2 billion.Nepal is home to eight of the ten highest mountains in the world with the tallest being Mt. Everest at 29,035 ft. above sea level. Temperatures at the top of Mt. Everest can go as low as -75 degrees.The national flag of Nepal is the world’s only flag that is nonquadrilateral in shape. The two triangles symbolize the Himalayan Mountains and represent the two major religions Hinduism and Buddhism. However, the country itself is predominantly Hindu.Limbini a city in south central Nepal was the birthplace of Buddha.In Nepal touching anything with your feet is considered on offense.

March 2011 Newsletter

Saturday, June 4th, 2011

Dear Friends and Family:

Greetings in the matchless name of our Lord Jesus Christ. We pray all is well with you!

YOUR PRAYERS AND SUPPORT AT WORKS

Some of our Church Planting ministries takes place in the interior parts of India, where the gospel has not been introduced nor has any evidence of the presence of Christians. The South-west part our province is such an area and two teenagers (Lal and Ram) from there found Christ and came to one of our Bible Training Centers and studied the Word of God and trained as pastors in 2007-08 school year.

Standing the Left Our Two Pastors

After graduation in 2008, they both went back to their own people groups at the age of 19 as our partners and chose two places side by side as guided by the Lord. After three years they both have churches. Today, one of them has a church of over 75 members and the other about 45 people. Very recently, we were able to visit them and they conducted a combined service where over 150 people gathered for a powerful worship service.

This GNN church is the only church among the three people groups in that area. There is no presence of any churches within 35 KM. One of the church members promised to give enough land for a church building and we are praying for resources to build a church there.

GNN Church-Combined Service

Thank you for interceding for this ministry and for your continued financial support. Please continue to pray for the Campus Development.

Please note: You can give to GNN ONLINE

We love you and are praying for you. Please e-mail us with your prayer requests or words of encouragement.

Pray with us for revival in South Asia.

Yours in the Ministry of Christ Jesus,
Dr. Samuel & Susan Mathai
P. S. Please keep our children in your prayers-Sybil & Finny, Syril & Jennifer, and Sycil – and their families along with our grandchildren: Ashton, Jeremy, Avery, Reagan, Mark, Zachary, and Timothy Joseph).

Ezekiel 37:3-4:

3 And He said to me, “Son of man, can these bones live?” And I answered, “O Lord God, Thou knowest.” 4 Again He said to me, “Prophesy over these bones, and say to them, ‘O dry bones, hear the word of the Lord.’

November 2010 Newsletter

Thursday, March 17th, 2011

Dear Friends and Family:

Happy Thanksgiving! Trust all is well with you, your family and ministry.

BEING THANKFUL

I still remember years ago, a Dallas Theological Seminary classmate of mine invited me to his home for Thanksgiving dinner. Before the dinner, my friend called his family and I together and read Eph 5:20: “always giving thanks for all things in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ to God, even the Father” and then each one of us memorized it. Then we recounted those things for which we were thankful, Mom and Dad, our spouses, grandparents, uncles and aunts, friends, and all the materials things. But more than anything for Jesus Christ who loved and gave Himself by dying on the cross for the forgiveness of our sins and receive salvation to ourselves.

As we approach the holiday season of giving and thanksgiving, Susan and I are thankful to the Lord Almighty for His Salvation and for each one of you who sent us to convey the salvation message to South Asia through your prayers and financial giving. May the Lord bless you richly!

We are thankful to the Lord for our children and grandchildren. We miss them throughout the year, but especially at this time of the year when families tend to gather together during the holidays. Yet, we are very grateful for the people that God raised up to stand on the frontline of the ministry field – people who are willing to sacrifice their lives for the sake of Christ.

Recently, I had the privilege to meet up with two GNN workers in a village. They told me that the village leaders gave them notices to leave the village or else they will “pack them” (i.e. that they would be killed). After hearing their story, a fear gripped my heart and I suggested that they might leave that place and go to another village. But their response was “We are called by God to this village and we will stay here and work – whether we live or die.

These young men are only in their early 20s, but they have a strong call of God to stay there despite the threat.

Thank you for interceding for this ministry and for your continued financial support.

GNN ONLINE GIVING

You are now able to make online donations to the GNN ministry through our website – www.gnnministry.org.

Samuel is travelling in the US and Canada through the end of 2010. He wants to share about the Campus Development with individuals, pastors and churches, SS classes, Business people etc.

Please e-mail us at drsm142@aol.com with your prayer requests and to coordinate a visit. We love you all and are praying for you.