Jossy Chacko

Our Students' Precious Bibles and Tracts, Now Burnt

My friends, I’ve attached some photos of the destruction left by the Hindu militants on the Chhattisgarh training centre – you may have seen them on the Empart website.  These images will leave you speechless, perhaps in utter despair. I know that’s how I felt…

Yet it was the wise words of our Regional Leader in Chhattisgarh that gave me comfort, strength, and a focus of the ultimate task before us – to go out and spread the word of God to those whose hearts or hardened, or who are isolated from the power of the Gospel.

The Regional Leader said,  “Jossy, the enemy will try to stop us making disciples and training leaders but he can not and will not stop God’s Kingdom expanding. We will not stop no matter what happens. Please ask everyone to stand with us in prayer. We are not going to run away. God has sent us here and we will continue to share God’s love in words and deeds but we need you to stand with us. Don’t be worried for us, just pray for us.”

Bedrooms were trashed, bedding and clothes destroyed

This was the Local Coordinator's Room. He Was Bashed and Had To Be Hospitalised

People, I really need you to pray. My friends, our Bibles have been burned, our lessons destroyed, our training centre in Chattisgarh in India has been targeted.
It was the phone call I never wanted to receive, at 1.30 in the morning, the sort of call when you’re still asleep and you hear the phone ringing, you feel immediate fear. And the voice of my old friend sobbing, “They attacked us… Prebhu is seriously injured… the police have arrested three students. What should we do?”

I’m in Melbourne, thousands of kilometres away. What could I do? At first I felt helpless. But I placed my trust in God – Hindu militants may have taken a torch to our training centre in Chattisgarh, but they haven’t extinguished the flame for the Lord in our hearts.

I didn’t have to see the carnage to feel the pain. Our students were attacked and beaten, the angry mob threw all of our materials on a massive pile and set them alight, our students forced to watch. Their own possessions, their uniforms, their study books – all gathered together and burnt.

And then the militants discovered our store room. Every Bible, every tract, every text was added to the flames, and our students, bleeding, wounded, made to sit in silence and watch, or receive further beatings. Our leaders were harassed for the personal details of other believers, and when they refused to give them up, the assaults resumed.

When the victims were admitted to hospital, they were turned away – the hospital feared being attacked as well. The wounded were forced to travel on public transport to hospitals in nearby towns. My heart is heavy for these men, and their families, who have given everything for their love of the Lord. I’m receiving regular updates, and I’ll keep you in the loop but Prebu, the local Empart leader remains in intensive care. The three students accused of defacing the Indian flag remain in custody.

I need you to pray. Please pray for our brothers and sisters who are risking their lives to share the gospel. Pray for a strength of faith among our students who are so close to graduation, so close to stepping out in faith and starting their own ministries. Pray that somehow, we’ll replace those Bibles for with these, we can continue to share the Gospel with millions of people throughout Asia. Log onto empart.org for full details.

Dear Friends,
I want to share an exciting opportunity with you! A friend of mine has made an amazing offer. For every bicycle you buy for our Church Planters/social worker  in India, he’ll buy one too. That’s right – for every $125 you donate for a bike, he’ll match you – up to 1,100 bikes. That means 2,200 new bikes for our Church Planters.

Praise God for our friend’s generosity, which will make such a difference to the daily journeys of our brothers and sisters in India. These bikes are not a hobby or for sport and fitness. In most places this is the only means of transport – a vital means to reach those who have little or no access to Jesus, education and much needed love and care.

In the Bike4Bike DVD (click here to view) I share with you Gautham Lal’s joy when he received his bicycle from me. It was such a privilege to give him this ministry tool. Two months later, I received the following letter from him. “Because of this incredible gift of the bicycle, I’m now able to reach three new villages. Already 15 people have come to Christ”.

He’s so confident that he’ll be able to plant a church in each of these three villages, reaching out to a combined population of more than 18,000 people. What an eternal return on an investment of $125!

Will you please help us buy bicycles? Act now and your gift will be doubled. And please, will you ask your church or friends to consider buying a bicycle as well? You can give online at www.empart.org or in the US www.empartusa.org

It is my personal goal that all of our workers are appropriately supported. They are willing to sacrifice their lives and take the gospel into regions bristling with hostility. The least we can do, as brothers and sisters in the West, is to ensure that they are supported appropriately.
Thank you for helping those on the front line – in eternity you will be so glad you did.
May God bless you and reward you for what you did for the least of these.
For the Lord and the lost,
Jossy Chacko
PS – Click here for our Bike4Bike powerpoint presentation – a valuable tool to share with friends and colleagues.

In India, more than 750 million people live in enforced slavery, by dint of their caste. They are known as ‘the untouchables’ – and 70% of Indians fall into these castes. Eighty percent of them are illiterate, they earn approximately 50 cents a day.

They live with no hope, and resigned to their fate of eking out a living performing menial tasks for the higher castes.  By law, caste discrimination is illegal but it rules every aspect of society. Millions of our brothers and sisters are trapped, and cannot find a way out. Watch my video – it will change how you think.

11 years ago, when I started Empart, I thought I knew my Bible and had all my theology sorted out. How wrong I was! Since then I have been in continual instruction at the best and biggest theological seminary in the world: the Asian Church.

My life has been turned upside-down by my teachers in the Asian Church. Many of them are new believers who have only known Jesus for 1 – 2 years; some of them don’t even have a Bible. But their intuitive and cultural understanding of what it means to truly follow Christ, to be a real disciple, is profound.   Every trip I make to North India is like another adventure of faith. It is like walking through the New Testament. These believers in the Asian Church have not only impacted my life but the lives of hundreds of other people who have gone on short term trips with Empart.

Ironically, most people going on short term trips think they are going to give – but almost all of them return home know they have received more than they had given. They leave Asia grateful for the privilege of sharing in the lives of our brothers and sisters. It is these new believers – the poorest of the poor, who have only just learned about God for the first time in their lives but live as radical disciples – who are powerfully impacting the people from the west.

Kathy, a mum from the US, remembers her experience – “My trips to India with Empart have changed how I view missions forever!  I was unprepared to be as blessed as I visited Empart children’s homes where the children sang for us, recited Bible verses and danced and promised to pray for the children in our church in America.  My spirit was renewed by the passion for God’s Word in the young men from the Training Centre.  I was humbled by the hundreds of Pastors at the pastor’s conference who labor faithfully in the midst of opposition and discouragement that I will never experience.  We were inspired by the young women of the Sewing Centre, and thrilled to present them with their Certificate of Graduation and their new sewing machine.  And I was encouraged by the Indian leadership team who serve with passion, skill, and an unwavering focus on the mission – I will never be the same”

Ian, a business owner, also from the US, has just returned from an Empart mission trip to India. “I now think of my Christian faith from an international perspective. The cross cultural worship gave me a glimpse of the future, with the knowledge that I will worship the Lord together with these dear Indian believers in Heaven. My understanding of worship has been changed”

“I saw a demon-possessed girl and was able to pray for her. I saw firsthand how powerful the Name of Jesus is. I went there expecting to leave a mark but instead a mark was left on my heart. The staff really impacted me – their courageous faith and desire for God. God took me on an adventure! He taught me how to be less of a control freak and instead trust Him for my every day. I learnt how to be bolder and more faith-filled,” said Leonie from Australia.

“My trip with Empart to north India was an adventure of a lifetime! We visited the front lines of Gospel proclamation and saw first-hand what a world without Jesus looks like. It is nothing short of life-changing to worship with people who have truly counted the cost and paid the price to follow Jesus. Most of them have nothing but Jesus, and by comparison, I realized how impoverished I am in my affluence. I quickly realized that these Indian believers had far more to teach me than I had to offer them. It was such a privilege to serve and encourage these superstars of the faith. I pray for these brothers daily, and look forward to God opening the way for me to serve them in person again soon,” said Jeff, a businessman from the USA.

Friends, we can learn much from books and theories but there is nothing like meeting people who are on the frontline, and learning directly from them.  Just going to see the Asian Church will not guarantee your learning – you need to go in humility, with a heart willing to learn. If you do, I know you will be changed forever!
My good friend Ps. Bob Roberts from Northwood Church in Dallas says,  ‘The hope for the western church is to learn from the Asian church… they are gaining ground for the Kingdom and we are losing it…’

If you have been blessed through believers in developing counties I would love to hear from you. Where did you go? How did they bless you? What did you learn? write your thoughts in comments.
For more life-changing information about short term trips, please click or in US visit www.empartusa.org

Have a wonderful day – look out for what God may want to teach and show you from people and ways that you may not expect.  Blessings and love in Christ
Jossy Chacko