Greetings from India in the name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. I, Pastor Lazarus Dharavath, am serving God in the South Indian state of Telangana among the Banjara tribes. My father was the first Banjara Christian and later minister in this area. As a young man I worked alongside another pastor doing village meetings and helping in the children's home. In 1986, I felt the distinct call to s
erve the Lord full time. God has given me a great love for the work of ministering to the growing community of Banjara people. The Banjara tribes are the root or original gypsies of which all other gypsy peoples came from. They used to live in the forest moving often from place to place without permanent housing, education, or regular sources of food. Nowadays they are more stationary living in one village and most are very poor farmers who work in the fields daily just to provide enough food for their family to survive. Many are idol-worshipers and a lot of the men are drunkards. Due to their poor standing in society they are regularly abused and treated badly or taken advantage of by those of higher caste. Because of the fact that a high percentage of the Banjara people are uneducated or under educated, they are even overcharged for the goods and services they require. They face great difficulties, but we know God has great plan and purpose for His beloved Banjara tribal people. Banjara Gypsies are a colorful tribe with their own distinctive culture, unique dress, heritage, customs, language, and religion (similar to Hindus but worshiping different idols) which distinguishes them and typically separates them from the majority of the population in India. It is estimated that there are 5.7 million Banjara people living throughout the world with the highest concentration living in the four south central states of India (Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Maharastra, and Karnataka). Of the total Banjara community there are reportedly less than 1% who are Christian. The Banjara people have been mostly unreached and therefore many have never heard the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Every day countless souls are passing away without the opportunity to know Jesus. Of those that are Christian, many are backsliding because of the lack of teaching and discipleship. Even those that should be leading this flock, the evangelists and preachers, are striving in vain due to a lack of proper training and evangelism skills. We remain positive though knowing there is a great harvest before us to reap in the fields of India! So we pray to the Lord of the harvest to send forth more workers (Matthew 9:38). With this letter, we extend a hearty welcome for you to join us in proclaiming the Good News to the unreached in India and to worship with us. If you are unable to join us in person, please prayerfully consider partnering with us, and those the Lord sends, through prayer and/or your generous love offerings to financially support the work being done with these beautiful people. What kind of work are we currently doing among the Banjara?
• Village Ministry
Nearly every night we visit the various villages around us, some near and some quite far. If the village has never heard the Gospel we set up a simple speaker in the street and share with the people about the Good News of Jesus Christ. In a few villages we have a small but growing body of believers of which we visit regularly. The meetings we have there are very simple. We lay out mats on the ground, we worship together and then share a message to encourage and educate the believers. Following each service we pray for anyone in need either due to sickness/disease or other difficulties. God is moving powerfully in this time and so many are being touched by the Holy Spirit. We are witnessing healing, deliverance, prophetic words, and much more in the mighty name of Jesus! Many of the believers from the nearby villages join us on Sundays for our home church services but others are too far and are not able to travel to us. Because of this, we have been able to build two small church buildings over the years to accommodate these distant village believers and we are believing for more! Even ministry leaders are emerging from the body of believer we serve.
• Children's Home
Because the Banjara people are very poor and there is a dowry system in India girls are at the highest risk. Many girls are either killed or discarded at birth or sold into sex trafficking. Both boys and girls are at risk of becoming orphans due to the high mortality rate of the poor in India. In light of this, and our great love of children, in 2003 we started taking orphaned, abandoned, and fatherless Banjara children into our home. Today we are known as Miss Ellie's Children Home and we provide a safe, clean, and nurturing environment where, by the grace of God, all of their physical needs are met. More than that, however, the children are receiving a proper education and they are growing strong in the knowledge of the Lord! Currently we care for 40 children but over the years we have provided care for nearly 150 children in total, all of whom we care for as we did our own three children (Jeevitha, Sabitha, and Issac). Even when the children are grown, we still consider them our kids and we as a family make ourselves available to them in whatever way is needed. But there remain hundreds of abandoned, abused, and misused children in our area who need help. We are praying that God will put us in a position to rescue and care for even more unwanted or "street" children in our home. Every child should be loved and cared for, given a place of hope and safety, where they no longer have to worry about where they will find their next meal. Every child is a gift from God and deserves a loving home and an education. Your support both financially and in prayer makes a difference in the lives for these precious ones now and in the future! Your personal visit to meet and work with the children is always a joy as the kids love when we have visitors.
• Calvary Love Worship Center
Presently, by faith we have begun the construction of a new church complex. The work began in January 2016 with only enough finances to dig for the foundation but we truly feel this is the Lord's leading. We move by faith and not by sight. This new building, when complete, will be church home for our local Banjara people replacing our home church which currently meets on our patio. It will be the first big church in our area to minister in the Banjara's native language of Lambadi. As far as we know other nearby cities do not even have such accommodations for the Banjara people. We are so excited for what this church will do for our community. The construction plans include the church hall of course, a children's home, prayer hall, conference center, along with living quarters for widows and visitors. This is an endeavor that is far beyond our own capability, it truly is a God-sized dream which He has shown us and led us to pursue. Our deepest desire is that this will be a place that ministers the Father's heart to the broken and hurt people of this area, raises up leaders in our Banjara community, sends missionaries out equipped to minister according to the Great Commission, and a place that gives hope and safe harbor to destitute widows and orphans. It certainly will be a place of great blessing to our Banjara tribal community around our region. How can you partner with us? We truly appreciate your interest in our ministry and our future plans. We ask only that you hold us, and those we serve, up in prayer. Join us in praying for a great awakening to sweep across the Banjara community and throughout the world. Should you wish to visit, our home is always open to you. If the Lord moves upon you to sow into this ministry to help us to care for the children, to donate towards the building of the new worship center or for the more continuation of our ministry to the Banjara tribal villages around us, we want you to know that every little bit helps. As we have already stated the work we have ahead of us is far to great for us to accomplish without help. Our hearts are filled with gratitude as God has always far surpassed our expectations. Through the years with difficult circumstances God has enabled us to reach out with compassion and love to those that have been neglected, forgotten, abandoned, rejected, and oppressed. Even though the challenges we have faced seem impossible for us to overcome, God has brought us through and we have seen His hand in everything we face. He is our healer, our provider, our teacher, our counselor, our strong fortress. Without Him none of what we do would be possible but with Him all things are possible! Thank you for taking the time to learn about our ministry by reading this letter. Please feel free to contact us with any questions you might have. May God grant you His perfect peace and shower you with His abundant blessings and grace in Jesus Christ! Your brother and sister in Christ,
Pastor Lazarus & Susheela Dharavath
