DELIVERANCE HOUSE OF PRAYER
AS NARRATED BY SHANG SHANGNE, FIRST SECRETARY OF NECFC [2015-2017]
THE LORD’S DOING:
Staying away from parents and dwelling amidst people of an entirely different language, culture, trends and traditions for reasons like studies and career is ultimately challenging. In the recent past with spas, restaurants, malls and hair dressing studios blooming up almost in every nook and corner, metropolitan Chennai has turned to be a hub for people from other states willing to build up their career on those grounds. With many people from the North East India comprising of Nagaland, Manipur and the others residing in our neighbourhood for similar reasons, any born-again believer is urged with a burden to reach unto them and share the Gospel of Christ’s love. This gap is easily bridged if the believer is one from their own community.
Surprisingly, in obedience to the Holy Calling, Pastor. Kaso Shaiza, of North-East India obliged to reach out to the souls of the Chennai dwelling North-East Indians for God’s glory for a few years now. In due course when we were meeting up as a handful of passionate youths at one of their small houses, we were in search for a bigger place of worship, for the Lord was adding souls to the fellowship. It was at this juncture we approached the Pastor of Assembly of Jesus Christ Church, Pastor. Ronald Jacob who generously agreed for the same, for we were like minded in striving for the expansion of the Lord’s Kingdom. We discussed on the practices and procedures; needless to say, the Lord made all decisions to come to pass for His glory. Truly, as Malachi proclaims, “Then those who feared the Lord talked with each other, and the Lord listened and heard” (Malachi 3: 16). We later came to know that Pastor. Ronald Jacob along with yet others at AJC had been discussing on means to reach out to the Chennai dwelling North-East people.
VISION AND PURPOSE:
With a vision to reach out to the Chennai dwelling North-East people, we march into the field with prayer and preparation and harvest precious souls unto the Kingdom of God.
Quite a huge number of youths from the North East force themselves to lead a sinful life, engrossed in drugs, personal affairs and backsliding, unto the extent of prostitution. One of the prime reasons for their evil ways is the fact that they are not being cared of, as they live as a company of friends with no elderly supervision. With this in mind, we, at NECFC embrace them with the love of God, providing them personal counselling on leading a life holy and acceptable unto God emphasising the scripture, “Don’t you know that you yourselves are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in you?” (I Corinthians 3: 16).
LEAD SO FAR BY HIS GRACE:
Providing moral support in times when they are stressed due to issues at work-spot with the words of the scripture and by bending our knees together, the Lord deserves great praise for bringing them out of such situations. We thank God for letting us to be of good social support in times of their physical illness, natural catastrophes, sudden demise of near and dear ones, and in times of inexplicable emergencies. We confess as a congregation synching with Apostle Paul, “For I am(we are) convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 8: 38, 39).
We come together at 10pm at the AJC Church, Adambakkam on Sundays for a splendid time of worship, intersession, scripture reading, special numbers and the word of God. What amazes us is the thirst that the youths have within them which nudges them to step into the house of God inconsiderate of being tired at the end of the day after hectic weekends (for spas, restaurants, malls, hair dressing studios serve the peak of their valuable customers only on weekends). Snacks and soft drinks are served after the service winds up at 11.45pm to achieve the purpose of having a few minutes of fellowship with one another such that they could be strengthened through prayer. Cab drops those who stay few yards away to ensure the safety of the sisters who join us at that hour of the day.
Just like the Israelites marched forward and dwelt in houses not built by their own hands and drank from the wells not dug by them, God had blessed AJC Church with high end musical instruments well in advance; we sing praises to the Lord with all those instruments for God’s presence to descend and deal with every soul at our fellowship gatherings. On Saturday evenings, we come down as a choir for the practice sessions for every upcoming Sunday services. The Lord is leading us in ways we had never imagined of! The Scripture, “But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him” (I Corinthians 2: 9) is absolutely true with us, NECFC Fellowship.
Commemorating the initiation of this fellowship, we had the Annual Special Fellowship on October 11, 2016 at AJC church from 5pm onwards. It was such an incredible evening to see the North East Indian brothers and sisters in and around Chennai dropping in with their family and friends to relish the Lord’s faithfulness. The scripture verse, “How good and pleasant it is when God’s people live together in unity!” (Psalm 133: 1) proved right on that evening. Praise God. Coincidentally, Pastor. Ronald Jacob shared the word of God from the same scripture verse. Glory be God!
MOVING FORWARD IN FAITH:
Much burdened for the Chennai dwelling North East Indian youths, we move forward in faith, clinging on to His grace for He is able to lead us in reaping souls for Christ until death rips us apart or the Lord meets up in mid-air. We confess together with Apostle Paul, “Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 3: 13, 14).
All praise, glory and honour be unto the omnipotent name of Jesus, the King of Kings and Lord of Lords, who was, and is, and is to come! Praise Jesus!