INDIA CHURCH OF CHRIST MISSION – 2009

I give all honor and glory to our Heavenly Father for all the wonderful things that He has done for and through ICCM. Praise God! He was very good to all the mission work this past year. Also, I thank all the churches and individuals who supported this ministry with their prayers and financial donations. Words seem insufficient to express my thanks. But from the depth of my heart I want to say a big THANKS to you all.

New Year meetings in churches

2009 was started with thanksgiving meetings in all our local churches. Watch night prayer services were conducted in all our churches.

General convention and graduation service at India Christian Theological College (ICTC)

January 7-9 we had our general convention. We had the opportunity to preach the salvation of Christ to thousands and thousands of people. Three souls were baptized into Christ. Thirteen students graduated from ICTC. They all are working for our Lord in different parts of India as evangelists and pastors.

Baptism of our son, Jerry Thomas

It was great joy in the Lord for all our family members last year. Our son Jerry Thomas was baptized into Christ. I am so glad that I could baptize him.

Local Convention

January 17–20 we conducted a local Christian convention at one of our churches in Vaipur.

New Bible College and ICCM campus

For the last nine years the Bible College and ICCM headquarters were very far from my hometown. Traveling to and from everyday consumed most of my time, energy, and money. So for the last few years I was praying for a change and God in His time has given a new place which is very close to my hometown. I have constructed three buildings. One is for the office, classrooms, and hostel (youth home) for the boys. The second is for the kitchen and ladies hostel. The third building is for the library.

Library

Thank God for the wonderful library that we have. We have more than 30,000 books and our library is one of the biggest in our state. We are still working to arrange it according to book category and title. We still need library software and more steel racks to accommodate the books. We have to hire a librarian from another Bible College to arrange the books. He is ready to teach one of our Bible College teachers how to arrange the books. I thank all the brethren who donated the books and the library team for their great work in packing the books and shipping them to India.

Orphanage

It is the government law in India that all the orphanages should be registered under the social welfare section. We applied for the registration and for the last several years we were waiting for it. Praise God we got it.

Vacation Bible School

During the school summer vacation time we have conducted Vacation Bible School classes for one week each in all our local churches.

School supply distribution

This was one of the great social activities that ICCM could do in 2009. With help from IDES (International Disaster Emergency Service) we were able to distribute school supplies to more than 350 needy children.

Monthly meetings of the preachers

On the10th of every month all our preachers gather at mission headquarters and share all their work and experiences from their local churches. It is also a time of prayer and fellowship.

Ladies meetings

All our local churches have a ladies meeting regularly in their churches. Once every three months on the second Saturday they gather in one of our local churches for prayer and fellowship.

Christian monthly meetings

All second Saturdays (other than the second Saturday of the ladies meeting) all the Christians from our local churches gather for a one day meeting. Besides these meetings the local churches have their regular Sunday schools, bible studies, Friday fasting prayer meetings and outreach programs.

Bible College outreach program

During the month of August, the Bible College students and teachers went for a gospel tour to one of our high range states called Idukki. During the one week program we would visit several houses, pray for them, distribute thousand of tracts, and conduct evening public gospel meetings.

Sad News

We have lost a couple of churches and workers in 2009 because we were not able to buy land and make church buildings for them. They were with ICCM for several years.

Again, thank you all for your prayers and financial support. Request your continuous prayers and financial help to carry on this great work of the Lord.

With Christian Love and Prayers,

Thomas Abraham
ICCM, Kerala India