Rita* is from a remote village in South Asia where few people are believers, and even fewer have heard the gospel. When a team of local female OM workers arrived in her village in early 2017, Rita was drawn to them.
“Our purpose for staying in these remote villages is to share the gospel, disciple new believers and plant a church led by the Christians in the village," said Aarti*, one of the girls on the OM team staying in the village. "We do this by building relationships, giving classes in tuition, health and life skills and learning to live side by side with them."
The OM workers started a house fellowship in Rita's village for people interested in knowing more about God. Through this fellowship many people became followers of Jesus. Rita attended because she enjoyed the Christian music and the Bible stories she heard there. “Rita wanted to spend a lot of time with us because she was seeing and hearing new things. Her older sister became a believer in our fellowship after being delivered from evil spirits, and then Rita became even more interested in Christianity,” explained Aarti.
Rita started reading the Bible and realised it was very different from any other religious books she had read. She was surprised when she read that Jesus had actually died and been raised from the dead for everyone’s sins. “She had never heard of anyone who was raised from the dead, so Jesus’ story was a real shock to her,” said Aarti. Rita also learnt that her sins prevented her from having a relationship with God, and Christ had come to restore that broken relationship. After attending a few more Bible studies, Rita made the decision to follow Jesus and accepted God’s forgiveness of her sins.
Consumed by the joy she now had in Jesus, Rita started telling her friends all about the personal relationship she had started with God and why Jesus died and was raised again. Two of her friends also began attending the fellowship. “We started a Bible study with Rita’s two friends and built a relationship with them. Over time, they also accepted God’s forgiveness of their sins and became Christians,” said Aarti. Now Rita and her two friends attend fellowship regularly, and she continues to share the truth in her community that Jesus, the risen King, is for everyone.                Â
“For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures,” – 1 Corinthians 15: 3-4 (NIV)
*names changedÂ
Villagers sit outside their home and enjoy nature as a daily practice
