Master’s College of Theology • Training Nationals • Caring for Children • Education through School • Helping widows • Water Wells & Medical Clinics
Vision Nationals trains nationals on two fronts – Urban and Rural.
Training up urban leaders centers around our fully-accredited seminary – Master’s College of Theology. Here we train young middle and upper class leaders to reach an educated urban population. With a strong emphasis on practical ministry, each student is required to be actively involved in hands-on ministry while studying with us.
2014 was a challenging year for our ministry as we made the difficult decision to temporarily close our children’s home. Concerned about the well-being of children in institutional settings, the Indian government mandated that completely separate dormitories be built for boys and girls. Both genders could no longer live in the same building, under the same roof, even if they live on different floors, which was the arrangement we had at Master’s Home for Children.
In order to comply with the new law we needed three things that were in short supply: money, time, and space to build. Obviously, there’s a significant cost associated with building two new dormitories ($150,000 minimum), and the time allotted to begin and finish a construction project of that magnitude just wasn’t enough. On top of that, our current campus is maxed out. In order to build more buildings, we need more land. So we made the painful decision to send the majority of our kids back to their guardians or extended families. It wasn’t easy. There were lots of tears shed. But we had no other choice.
As difficult as all of this has been — and at times it’s been excruciating — our response has not been one of resignation. We are still caring for kids. And the sponsorship dollars we receive are still making a tremendous difference. Some of the children’s names and faces may be different, but we are as committed as we have ever been to transforming the lives of children.
It’s the generosity of our sponsors that makes all of this possible. A few months ago, we could have never imagined that the temporary closure of our children’s home would result in more kids being helped, but that is exactly what has happened.
Finally, you may be wondering if Master’s Home for Children will reopen. It most certainly will. As we prepare, by faith, for our next season of ministry in India, we are thinking and praying a lot about what it means for us to impact future generations, and the establishment of a new children’s home is our first priority. We’re still working out all the details, including what this new home will look like, but we believe that over the coming decades it will change the lives of hundreds, if not thousands, of children.
We are genuinely excited about what lies ahead. By God’s grace, the next iteration of Master’s Home will be better than the first, and our sponsorship program, which is fueled by the faithful support of so many, will continue to be a lifeline for the vulnerable, abandoned, and orphaned children we are called to love and care for.
Water is a daily basic need for living, as we all know, but the lack of it can make our living conditions very difficult. In India, especially in rural areas, the lack of drinking water is a serious problem that affects the quality of life and it is the women and children who struggle the most as they are forced to travel great distances in search of drinking water, which is often contaminated due to different factors…
As a result VN has taken initiative from 2015 on to help provide water by digging up wells in villages where there is no drinking water especially in the most needy districts of Srikakulam, Vizianagaram and tribal area of Vizag in the State of Andhra Pradesh.
So far in the span of five years, from 2015 till 2019, we have provided Thirty Five (35) water wells and in these villages. Once the water well was dug we made nice cemented platforms and then fixed hand pumps. Below are a couple of stories.
In Vadavalasa village there were two confirmed wells in town. The problem though was that each time a well was drilled, all they found was undrinkable, contaminated water. It just so happens that the Church was built in the middle of the two wells, roughly 100 feet from each one. There was extreme skepticism from the villagers. What sense would it make to dig another well in the middle of two contaminated wells? With God, anything is possible.
Pastor Raju prayed over the area and the bore hole (where the well was to be dug) that it would produce good water. And it did.
Skepticism turned into joy. Bitter water was made sweet.
The villagers said, “Your God must be great if he can turn the bitter water, sweet!”
It sounds like a Bible story from Exodus 15:22-25
“Then Moses made Israel set out from the Red Sea, and they went into the wilderness of Shur. They went three days in the wilderness and found no water. When they came to Marah, they could not drink the water of Marah because it was bitter; therefore it was named Marah. And the people grumbled against Moses, saying, “What shall we drink?” And he cried to the LORD, and the LORD showed him a log, and he threw it into the water, and the water became sweet”
Amanda Cook: Bitter/Sweet
How we met the need of 4 small villages in Kothavuru of Vizag trial area in May 2019.
V. Kothavuru of Paderu, tribal area in Visakhapatnam District has no proper facility or a proper road. Therefore, it is highly impossible for the drilling machine truck to enter into the village. The village is very remote and have steep and narrow road for the vehicle to enter in. But the villagers had assured the driver that they would do all necessary arrangements for the vehicle to pass through the village and the local villagers made the road leveled and widened for the drilling vehicle to enter into the village.
Pastor Raja Rao cared for these people and constantly brought this need to VN. People bring water from the hills and use it for drinking. Early part of the year 2019, jaundice spread because of the contaminated water and eight people have died as a result. Every year people die especially during rainy season due to lack of no proper drinking water. VN had responded to this need and it was in May 2019 we were able to dig a well in Kothavuru village which is closely surrounded by three more villages. The well was dug 150 feet depth and now provides water for about 250 people from these four small surrounding villages.
One of the great privileges of being a follower of Jesus is that we’re called to participate in God’s work in the world. As we join our King in caring for those who do not have the means to care for themselves, not only is God glorified, but we are aligning ourselves with an agenda that is sustained by the One David described as the “father of the fatherless and protector of widows.”
Jesus’ half-brother, James, insisted that “religion that is pure and undefiled before God, the Father, is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world.” The stain of the world is the inability to give and live in sacrificial ways so that others might be reconciled to their Creator. But for those of us who are in Christ, that stain has been removed, and we have been set free to walk in love.
Empowered by the Holy Spirit and compelled by the love of a God who has sided with the weak and helpless, may we become resolute in our commitment to become practitioners of the kind of religion James describes, and in the process may those we’re called to serve see our good works and “give glory to [our] Father who is in heaven.”
Vision Nationals is committed to caring for India’s most vulnerable. Your prayers and financial gifts make this possible.
Thank you for partnering with us in this life-changing work.