UNCONDITIONAL CARE
India's Rev Mishael Peter is at one with the Multiply vision to see beyond religious tradition and network churches for the greater work of the Kingdom of God. His recent experience of the 2004 tsunami has shown how great that need is.
REV Mishael Peter, senior pastor of the Apostolic Assembly, Annanagar, Chennai, south India, was leading a church meeting when the tsunami struck on Sunday 26 December 2004. He recounts what happened next.
“I had left my home at 6.42am when I noticed people staring at a building. Five minutes later I had a phone call saying there had been an earthquake. At 9.00am, as I was about to preach, there was a big hollering and people came running towards the city.
“I quit the service and took my bike to see the condition of the sea. The water had reached 10 metres high. People had lost their lives, their houses, their families, their utensils. I saw their boats thrown 1,500 metres away from the seafront. That evening we cooked food for people.
“When trouble comes, we are not supposed to look at religion… I never put a limit on helping others. I went to Hindus and Muslims as well as Christians and prayed with them. All had lost houses, and there was a great need for food, clothes, new water pots. I asked church members and outside social organisations for money with which to buy saris, rice, split peas for dahl, oil and pots.”
From then until March Mishael maintained the church proramme and did his best to give the hundreds of people who came asking for help what they needed. The government then took over the relief effort.
“People said ‘God doesn’t have any mercy on us,’. I said, to comfort them, ‘We were created by small sperm in our mother’s womb. Whether you die as a big man or whether you die in your mother’s womb, it is nothing before God. They are gone to God because He invited them home.’”
As well as pastoring a 150-member church Mishael conducts seminars all over south India to encourage pastors serving in rural areas. “These pastors suffer from their lack of education, and the lack of supportive books to the Bible,” he explains. This costs him thousands of rupees for food and transportation.
“I’d like to join Multiply,” concludes Mishael. “I want our Pastors’ Fellowship to connect Europe and Asia.”
Unconditional Care
UNCONDITIONAL CARE
EV Mishael Peter, senior pastor of the Apostolic Assembly, Annanagar, Chennai, south India, was leading a church meeting when the tsunami struck on Sunday 26 December 2004. He recounts what happened next.
