chennai 09 - day 7

Reposted from the Grassroots India blog,

Probably the last blog from this trip, typed in the hotel whilst waiting for food. In 2 hours we are off to the airport with, as always on these kind of trips, mixed emotions.

today was Sunday - church day. We gently excused ourselves from the first service of the day, commencing as it does at 5am. (Where is our committment I wonder!?)

Arriving at 9am to avoid a red card for lateness we were soon joined by 250 or so passionate beleivers. Their joy and enthusiasm for worship was matched by its prodigious volume. Deborah is a great worship leader and seems to know all 6 volumes of the Tamil Songs of Praise entirely by heart - no mean acheievement. I spent one entire song trying to work out how to write 'Praise the Lord' in Tamil by counting the words to the over head projector slides and was excited to be told I had clearly written 'ord'. Zut alors.

the congregation consisted of 220 women and maybe 20 men, a perfect illustration of what for some of us represents the key issue of this ministry. How to address the imbalance is far from simple but Hugo, Catherine and Stuart all spoke again on breaking chains, coming to find the true God of Israel in the slum and the long walk of faith towards freedom.

Everyone on the team was involved in praying for the people afterwards, hungry for as they were for blessing.

After lunch, we did a 1.5 hour kids church Brity style to the apparent delight of 100kids. The seeions varied from pretty spot on concentrsation and participation to near riot. The greatest chaos errupted as we gave out pencils to a feeding frenzy (closely followed by a sharpening frenzy) but distributing sweets was carried out in relativly somber quiet. Which is of course the exact opposite of what would happen in the UK.

We talked to them about prayer. Keep talking to God, prayer is water to yuor souls, Jeremiah 3v33 and thre five fingered prayer chart. We pray that young lives will be strengthened and changed as a result.

Finaly, more church as Sam preached up a storm at the evenijng service talking about God's good words over us. Stuart managed to record one worship song that went on for 12 minutes 17seconds - Deep Purple better watch out.

And so.... please remember this wornderful mission in your prayers and pockets. Kevin and deborah have given up everything to serve these deprived people. They have spent their inheritence buying the church building, they have had Typhoid as has their daughter, thery get hardly any sleep as people come to them with needs at all times of the night and are never turned away - and they are loved in the community because of it and Jesus is seen there.

They are the only protestant church in, as far as we can ascertain, any of the 10 slums in Chennai.

Stuart

Day 7 photos