A new Ministry Center 7 years in the making

India (MNN) — Seven years of prayer and hard work is a long time. Waiting is difficult, but it remains one of God’s strongest tools to shape His people.

JP Sundararajan of Audio Scripture Ministries and their national partner World Cassette Outreach of India, shares this exciting and long-awaited news: “On May 23rd, we will be dedicating our new Ministry Center in Bangalore, India.”

The project began through prayer seven years ago. Through many obstacle-filled years, God has continued to bless the efforts of the two ministries.

Sundararajan says, “It’s taken us a while, but God taught us how to rely on Him even in these matters. We are absolutely thrilled that in a couple of weeks we will be able to move into our building and start using it for ministry.”

Even before the fund-raising began, ASM had to decide where they were going to build. They ended up tearing down their old building because they felt God calling them to stay at their current location in the city. Not only is the city one of the fastest growing in the world, but it provides the opportunity for many of their recorders, who are often poor and blind, to have easy access to the studio. The project was further delayed until ASM could get a building permit with the city.

“Through it all, it was an amazing experience for us all to grow both in faith and reliance on God for even matters like this,” says Sundararajan.

ASM has supported WCOI in recording the New Testament in 90 languages, many of them for remote tribal groups. However, as much of India is illiterate, there is always a need for more audio Bibles in more languages.

To record the Scripture, WCOI asks tribal people to leave their village for a time and help read and record Scripture. For many of these individuals, it is the first time they have left their village, and they consequently experience extreme culture shock.

WCOI had no way to help this with their old building, but the new building will provide housing on site. Sundararajan says, “We could not take care of their dietary needs, their culture shock issues, etc. And it always broke our hearts that we couldn’t do a better job hosting. Now we will be able to house them on-site which is an incredible, incredible gift to give them.”

Along with this housing, the new center will have another addition: “We will also have a chapel there which will serve as both a place of worship [and] a place where we can train pastors and evangelists and others who discovered Jesus Christ through our audio Bibles and now want to know more.”

Sundararajan views this addition as a whole new avenue of ministry opportunity.

While God has provided the main portion of funding, the center is still in need of furnishings. They will appreciate any gift that you feel called to give here. There is also an opportunity for you to go. Check out opportunities here.

Pray that God will continue to bless the work that ASM and WCOI are doing together, and that interest in the true Word of God will grow daily.