Madurai is known as a “Temple town”. One of its main attractions to a very large number of Hindu pilgrims and visitors is the huge temple in the centre of the town - the Arulmigu Meenakshi Amman Temple, also known as Meenakshi Sundareshwarar Temple, which is a historic Hindu temple located on the southern bank of the Vaigai River.
There are other, smaller Hindu temples in other parts of the city and the Fellowship of Blessed Hope Church in Madurai sits adjacent to one of them. The church has walls on two sides of its property, but the temple is still encroaching in various ways onto the church property (this is very common in India!) and there is therefore a need for what is known as a concrete “compound wall” to prevent the encroachment.
The need is for a total of 101 feet of 6 feet high (31 metres of 1.8 metre high) wall which will cost about 150,000 Indian rupees – NZ$3,200 approximately. This situation is, of course, a major concern to the pastor - Rev Paul D. Ebenezer - and members of the church.
The compound walls are needed on the left side and at the rear of the building.
Please pray for God’s provision for the construction of the remaining walls on the church property, to keep it safe from encroachment.
Pastor Paul Ebenezer has advised that they held their Vacation Bible School from the 23rd of May to the 29th and had 40 children and 12 young people attend. They gave a copy of the New Testament to all who attended, and these were enthusiastically received.
Pastor Paul also advised that earlier in the year they started a House Church (according to how the early church met in Acts chapter 2) and he wrote that “God has blessed more and we are going to start three more. Please upload your prayers.”
In May they arranged a Discipleship Training course, with guest speakers, for some of their congregation.
Please pray for Pastor Paul and the members of the church in Madurai, as they seek to upskill themselves to share the Gospel with their people in what is a “tough town” for Christian witness.