Hope Rises: Serving Children In The Slums Of India

Specifics:

Children in the slums of South Asia are no different at their core than any children. They want to be loved; they want to play and laugh and sing.  Before believers made the sacrifice to live and minister in this slum, these children were going hungry, doing poorly in school and getting into trouble. This all changed when two passionate people carried the cross of Jesus inside the borders of the slum.  Children come to the house of Harshvardhan and Asha* and their hungry mouths are filled, they are tutored in their schoolwork and they are loved with the deep love of Jesus.  Are you willing to live for this? Contact us at info@thelastletter.org

Prayer Needs:

Pray that the children who have decided to follow Jesus will take up their crosses daily, sacrificially seeking Christ because of what they learned through this ministry. 

Pray for Harshvardhan and Asha* as they open their home to 230 children every day.  Pray especially for the 72 new children who have joined the program this year.

Pray for the families of the children to experience the passionate love of Christ.  Often, family is the reason many do not come to Christ or choose to keep their beliefs secret.
Pray for the 45 new believers and 50 secret believers.

Many families in the slum come into the city from surrounding villages.  Pray for new opportunities to carry the love of Jesus into the home villages of families who are benefiting from this ministry.

Pray ultimately that the faith revolution beginning among the children and families of this slum will ripple and spread throughout all of South Asia.

Volunteer Needs:

Volunteers have already become a regular part of this ministry to the children of the slum.  They teach the children crafts, songs, games and Bible stories.  They often teach a course in English as a Second Language.  Just spending time with the children is a wonderful way to share the love of Jesus. 

There are also opportunities for volunteers to teach some of the parents and the ladies in this slum who are learning sewing through this ministry.  Because of the changes that the community has seen through the children involved in this project, there are opportunities to minister in family homes as well.

Email info@thelastletter.org to find out how you can volunteer for this project, following Jesus into the most desperate places of the earth.

Hope Rises Story
By Kate Taylor

Walking through an urban slum, your eyes trace the path of the wind as it rustles down a narrow street lined with hundreds of crudely built dwellings, stirring up dust and disturbing several wayward piles of trash. You are in South Asia. Here, your hundred-dollar jeans and carefully highlighted hair don’t seem so fashionable. People stare at you from the openings of ramshackle dwellings and, as your eyes meet in a midair embrace, you feel your heart communing with theirs.

Almond-skinned children with dark brown eyes wander the streets, unsupervised and alone, playing cards and making mischief. A small boy runs past and you lift your feet to follow. The shanty he enters is dark and filled with smoke from a small cooking fire. There is no running water and the nearest bathroom is a public facility which desperately needs to be cleaned and serviced.

There is something wonderful in the eyes of this boy, but you can’t seem to find the word for it. This word seems to be written all about him. You can see it somewhere in the gap of a recently missing tooth when he smiles. As he hungrily devours a meal prepared by loving hands, the word slides down his throat and rides in his belly.  The word floats somehow above the report card he brings from school which, in a few numbers, tells a story of change. His voice pushes the word before his breath as he sings a new song he learned today. 

As the notes hit you, you know what this word is. This word is hope.

“Look well at my handpicked servant;
I love him so much, take such delight in him.
I’ve placed my Spirit on him;
he’ll decree justice to the nations.
But he won’t yell, won’t raise his voice;
there’ll be no commotion in the streets.
He won’t walk over anyone’s feelings,
won’t push you into a corner.
Before you know it, his justice will triumph;
the mere sound of his name will signal hope, even
among far-off unbelievers.”

Matthew 12:18-21 The Message

Harshvardhan and his wife Asha* first entered this slum of over 5000 people in 2001.  The couple, passionately offended by the hopelessness and poverty that surrounds these children of the slum, began a revolutionary work here in Jesus’ name. They desire to see justice here and choose to seek it by way of sacrifice: Harshvardhan and Asha give up everything of their own so that these desperate children can know everything that is Jesus.

Year after year, they have poured out love into these children’s lives and done their best to wrap them in hope and joy.  Their home has an open door as they tutor the children with their schoolwork and serve them a nutritious meal after school.  For some, this is the only food they will eat that day.  The couple teach the children songs and stories filled with truth and hope.

Around these children, the community is changing.  As Harshvardhan and Asha pour out love, that love produces hope which rises in front of these children of the slum.  Like a sweet-smelling perfume, they carry it into their homes and into their schools, touching the lives of all who touch them.  A real change is coming here… and Last Letter wants you to be a part of it.

*Names changed for security purposes