Celebrating 3 Decades by Building 3 Churches
By Steven & Peggy Beverly, Global Strategy Missionaries Alongside the Church of God in Sri Lanka
The Church of God in Sri Lanka has celebrated thirty years in 2021! The goal to build three churches is an incredible way to celebrate the three decades of the Church of God in Sri Lanka and to provide continued long-range sustainability for the ministry in a country that is only one percent Christian.
The Haldummulla Church of God in the Mountains
Pastor S. Arichandran currently lives in the small Sri Lankan village of Idalgasinna. He travels difficult and dangerous roads to several prayer cells by motorcycle to conduct worship services in the home churches of believers in the area.
A Church of God in Haldummulla will be a central location for Pastor Arichandran’s prayer cells. The land in Haldummulla is about six kilometers away from the mountain slope where major landslides occurred in 2014. The government is relocating two communities (one Hindu, the other Buddhist) from the landslide danger zone to this area.
The Haldummulla church will serve the existing Church of God believers and have an impact on the developing community.
The Heavenly Vision Church of God in Katupitiyawalla
Pastor Lesley Kanakarathne is the pastor of Heavenly Vision Church of God. He and his family live in a primarily Hindu community. Their home has been attacked and burned because they were bringing the gospel of Jesus Christ to his village of Kurunegala.
Pastor Kanakarathne has been given notice by the owner of the land and property where the church meets that he is selling the property. The goal is to provide new land in Katupitiyawalla, part of a coconut tree estate. The land is in a central location for plantation workers and the prayer cells that are currently part of Heavenly Vision Church of God.
The Pussellawa Church of God in the Tea Gardens
Legend says that ancient kings of Gampola Kingdom when threatened by enemies would hide among in the inaccessible terrain around Pussellawa. These inaccessible hills later became some of the world’s best known tea gardens.
Pastor Henry Devadasan currently rents a church in the small town nestled in the tea garden area. Believers who work all week in the plantations relish Sunday mornings when they make a trip into town to worship God at Pussellawa Church of God and then spend the rest of the day shopping in the local markets before making the journey back to the plantations.
Pastor Devadasan currently rents the facility where the Pussellawa church meets, and the rent gets raised each year. The unsustainable situation has forced the church to seek its own property on which to build a church. Land in the town is expensive, so pray for God to work a miracle on behalf of this congregation of tea workers.
This holiday season, the Sri Lanka: 3 Decades, 3 Churches Project has been selected as one of the ten projects and three global initiatives in our year-end campaign! This means that every gift given now through December 31 is DOUBLED!
All the gifts given to the campaign go into a single fund to be equitably distributed amongst the selected projects at the conclusion of the event. Click the banner below to learn more and give today:
