A pastor for the hospital and community

Anil Henry – India

Dear Friends,

After the happenings of the last few months and witnessing the nature of sadness that was brought about in our part of the world from the tsunami, we realize how helpless we are and can only grow closer to what God calls us to do.

At this special time of lent, out little congregation at Mungeli has been able to bring more meaning as after many years, we have been able to have our own resident pastor at Mungeli.

One of the things that bothered me greatly since I have been in Mungeli, a mission station and hospital in existence for the past 110 years, that there was neither a resident pastor or a vibrant congregation. It seemed that there was a need to start at the grassroots to bring about change in the community to catch up with lost time.

I had quickly found out that there was a parsonage that had been there but was in ruins and the church had no money to fix that up.

I believe that God has truly been kind in the progressive work of the hospital and we too needed a pastor in our midst to be a guide to the vision that we have.

Therefore, the hospital boldly agreed to request the church to join hands and agreed to pay the salary for the pastor. We requested him to be the leader both for the community and the
hospital as well. The hospital further agreed to rebuild the parsonage and present it as a gift to the community.

On January 16th, the parsonage was inaugurated (pictures attached) and our new pastor moved in on the 20th. Changes in the church are already beginning to show as the community gathers together in support of each other and people once more feel that they share a common sense of togetherness and strength.

We thank God for all his mercies, vision and the ability to be able to make changes to help steer our community closer to His love.

Blessings,

Anil Henry

Anil serves in India, appointed by the Common Global Ministries Board of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) and the United Church of Christ.