INDIA – Baptisms at FBHC Church at Teynampet

Rejoice with Pastor Regi Christopher and the members of the Teynampet Church in Chennai, India. They recently had the joy of welcoming 13 newly baptised members (pictured below right with Pastor Regi Christopher and his wife Grace – front left) into their fellowship of believers.

Teynampet is a slum suburb close to the centre of Chennai city and the FBHC church is located within the slum boundaries and the majority of the members live close by. The church building literally opens out onto the road (see picture below left) and the baptistry is at the front steps of the church, so the candidates’ profession of their faith in Jesus Christ was absolutely public! Please pray for them and for the leaders of the congregation as they nurture these new Christians in their faith – pray that they may in turn become disciples who bring others to faith.

The church currently has 120 families in membership – 250 people – because the building cannot accommodate all the members at one time and there is no room to expand the building, they have two services every Sunday morning and the congregation continues to grow.

Rev Regi Christopher, who followed his father-in-law Pastor R. David as pastor, has ministered to the congregation at Teynampet for sixteen years and during his tenure they have substantially upgraded their building and the membership has increased dramatically. He holds an MA degree in economics and an MABS degree – Master of Arts and Biblical Studies.  He conducts an evening service every Sunday evening at an outreach location at a distant suburb on the outskirts of Chennai City – Greenways – approximately 20 believers attend that service each week.

Rev Regi Christopher was elected President of the Fellowship of Blessed Hope Churches about the middle of 2012, and prior to that he had been the Treasurer for a number of years. His has been a very difficult task of leadership of the Fellowship through a period of stressful division. Please pray for him and the other FBHC leaders as they seek to bring unity back into the group.

(Ernie Schache)

Please pray for those baptised at the service – a public commitment to Jesus Christ is not always an easy thing to do in India. Please also pray for the church and for its ministry of the Gospel in Teynampet and Greenways, and for Rev Regi Christopher and the leadership team of the Fellowship of Blessed Hope Churches.