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Impacting India One Bicycle at a Time: Sister Divya’s Testimony
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04/23/2020 Washington D.C. (International Christian Concern) – In November 2018, International Christian Concern (ICC) launched an ambitious campaign to help bring the Gospel to India’s rural and unreached communities. We called this the Bibles and Bikes for India Initiative.
Through this Initiative, ICC set the lofty goal of equipping 1,000 rural evangelists with a new bicycle and 100 Bibles. With these simple tools, evangelists are empowered to bring the Gospel to rural communities previously beyond their reach.
To date, ICC has empowered almost 700 rural evangelists. While their outreach work has been impacted by the coronavirus pandemic, as well as India’s national lockdown, ICC remains in close contact, providing support and following up on their ministries.
Sister Divya Velan, age 25, received her bicycle and 100 Bibles in January 2020. Sister Divya, an evangelist in India’s Tamil Nadu state, used public transportation or her own two feet to bring the Gospel to the unreached. That was before she was empowered through the Bibles and Bikes initiative.
“The bicycle is the best mode of transportation for rural outreach,” Sister Divya recently told ICC. “There are many benefits in addition to just being able to reach new villages and communities.”
According to Sister Divya, the bicycle has allowed her to connect with those she is ministering more frequently. She also says that using the bicycle has had the added benefit of keeping her fit and healthy.
“The bicycle has helped me to travel to more interior villages and share the love of Jesus to those who have not had the chance to hear the Gospel,” Sister Divya continued. “I am thrilled to see already 40 people professing their faith in Jesus through the visits I have made in the last three months.”
Using the bicycle provided by ICC, Sister Divya can visit and minister to 30 villages. In these villages, she has been able to establish seven new Christian fellowships in just the last three months.
“I am so thankful to ICC,” Sister Divya said. “The people we are seeing coming to Jesus would not have been possible without the Bibles and Bikes Initiative and the bicycle I received from ICC.”
The coronavirus pandemic and India’s national lockdown will likely continue to affect the evangelists empowered through the Bibles and Bikes Initiative. However, ICC will continue to follow up with these evangelists to support them and record the impact their ministries are having on India’s rural and unreached communities.