AGAPE BIBLE FELLOWSHIP - MINISTRIES
AN INTRODUCTION


OUR VISION: Reaching the unreached, teaching the reached (Matthew 28:19,20).

GOD'S PROMISE: There remains yet very much land to be possessed (Joshua 13:1).

THE HUMBLE BEGINNING:
Agape Bible Fellowship, is an indigenous, non-denominational ministry and is registered as a Christian charitable trust. I am, Reuben M.Sathiyaraj, who has been in the Lord's ministry for the last 24 years , having started this ministry in 1990. My vision is to reach the unreached masses of more than 980 million Indians, especially those who are living in spiritual darkness, and with the specific vision not only to reach the nonchristians, but to bring each believer to spiritual maturity, so that they may also have a vision and commitment to reach out to their people.

I believe that everyone has the right to hear about the life changing power of the Holy Spirit, the gospel and the love of Christ. Therefore, we focus on outreach to the needy, especially those people living in slums and rural areas, helping to provide both their spiritual and material needs. Also, we try to make them aware of ways that they can help themselves. To achieve this God given vision, we at Agape are directly involved in training believers and publishing the relevant materials in regional languages.

WHAT WE ARE TODAY:
In August 1990, I started this ministry as a Bible study group with 3 families; it has now grown to 700 new believers consisting of 6 language groups. I am shepherding the parent Church in Bangalore. This Church is in a rented building, and we conduct two services each Sunday, at the 07:00 and 09:30 hours. Every day the building is used to spread God's word through Bible studies, children's clubs, counseling, etc.

We have about 100 children attending a special Church service on all Saturday evenings, mostly Hindus. In diverse kinds of ministries, daily we take the glorious gospel by personally visiting people and through passing out literature.

I also believe that the church must serve the people, so it is fully utilized as a community center. My office is a small partitioned room at the back of the church, and I live beneath the church in a small house with my wife Flora and two children Jim Elliot and Sabina Livingbel. My heart felt vision for future development is to purchase the church and grounds and provide a 24-hour shelter and safe place for the street children and ragpickers. Please pray for this vision.

We firmly believe that the plain teaching and practice of the Holy Bible in daily life will bring a Biblical revival in the life of the Body of Christ. To meet this vital need, it is our firm hope that literature can play a vital part in the Lord's ministry. So, we publish various types of gospel literature for free distribution and follow-up. We repeat the printing as the Lord provides the financial needs.

We work to raise up the new believers with the plain teachings of the Word of God. We have published some books in the Tamil language. It is our great burden to translate and publish English books for Christian growth and Bible study materials of foreign authors, if anybody comes forward to give us the permission and financial support.

1. It is our great burden to train up full-time Christian workers, those who are already in the field, but without any Biblical studies. Presently we are offering a one-year Diploma in Biblical Studies, conducted on all Saturdays, both for men and women. We are now in our 5th year of study, and our students come from many different denominations and churches. Most of them are full-time Christian workers, along with their wives and Lay leaders.
   
   
2. Since we believe the main task of the church is evangelizing it's own people, we send local missionaries and support them through prayer and financial provision. We, as a church, have sent out five missionaries to plant churches. We also carry out charitable activities in the areas of need. At present we have four congregations consisting of five language groups. Our congregations work among the nonchristians, and we are presently supporting five local missionary families.
   
   
3. Our activities include Biblical counseling for drug addicts, uniting broken families so that they can enjoy new life in Christ, visiting the sick, Bible clubs for children, publishing gospel verses in the newspapers, follow-up through literature and by personal visits, Bible study cells in various places, and lending books and cassettes which are helpful in Christian growth. We would like to set up a resource library for the Christian workers.
   
   
4. To bring the ragpicker and street children in to the love of Christ, we spend much of our time befriending them and encouraging them to bathe and wash their clothes. We also give them clothes donated by parishioners. Now, through the grace of God, ten boys are staying in our hostel and growing in the Lord. Already we have placed one needy and abused rag-picker, who was living on the streets, with a local Christian family, and they have adopted him as their son. It is our desire to see the other boys placed with Christian families. The boys are addicted to solvents, drink and drugs. Evil people physically and sexually abuse them, and it is our tearful prayers to bring them out of this hell.
   
   
5. On all Wednesday nights we conduct a well attended youth club to attract these boys. We provide games, informal talks, and hot meals. These boys have integrated well with other children from the church. Some boys are as young as six years of age and are fending themselves on the streets.

VISION FOR THE FUTURE:
It is our long-time prayer and plan to send out more missionaries and to establish churches among the Bengalis, the dominant group in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, where I worked as a missionary for several years among the tribals. Also, we seek to place Kannada speaking missionaries among the unreached Kannadigas of this vast and neglected state of Karnataka.

Our vision includes the following:

• Raising up Christian workers and lay leaders through short-term courses, seminars and training, Bible correspondence courses, and through starting a residential school of evangelism.
  
  
• Supplementing the work of the local church through encouraging the establishment of Bible study groups, by giving training, and by providing printed study materials in regional languages.
  
  
• Sending more youth leaders to reach the ragpicker children (around sixty thousand) and the street children (around fifty thousand), who are living in extreme physical and spiritual poverty, in more than 750 slums in and around Bangalore city.
  
  
• Establishing residential family homes and 24-hour drop-in centers for the street children and destitute. We seek to rehabilitate them by providing job-oriented training, health care, and education, so that they can read and write. We also have a vision to offer educational scholarships to the needy children of the new converts.
  
  
• Setting up vocational training centers and self-employment programs, such as agricultural extension work with the rural poor, and by providing safe drinking water and rural health centers.
  
  
• Publishing Bible study materials regularly in the local languages for the growth of new believers. It is our great burden to offer the Biblical studies through correspondence courses.
  
  
• Establishing a residential School of Evangelism and conducting seminars to train the Christian workers and lay leaders in the areas of prayer life, worship, and evangelism, and to motivate them to be a blessing to their own community.

OUR FINANCIAL STATUS:
Till now we receive no regular financial support from any national or international source. But the tithes and freewill offerings from our congregation are meeting our needs. We feel that we should be responsible for our own people and vision, and we always encourage our believers to take up the responsibility themselves by supporting the Indian missions with their prayers and giving. It is not our intention to compete with other organizations and charities, but prayer and financial help would be greatly appreciated from the saints of other countries. Apart from supporting our ministry, you can encourage other believers who have a heart for missions to pray for our ministries and to support us as the Lord leads and enables them.

YOU CAN BE A PARTNER IN THIS MINISTRY:

1. YES, you can be a partner, even though you may not be directly involved. You can help us to reach the millions of Indians by expressing your support through prayer, concern, suggestions, Bible study literature, books, and financial help. Here is an opportunity for your fellowship or church to become involved as a partner in our growing ministry. Times are changing, and this is a most opportune and exciting time to be involved in the Lord's ministry; we should not let it pass by fruitlessly.
   
   
2. Even you can talk to your church leader about the possibility supporting us by joining our projects, and we will be very happy to receive your suggestions and help, to go forth in this God given ministry.

ADMINISTRATION and OFFICE BEARERS:

• Agape Bible Fellowship is registered with the government as a charitable trust. Our accounts are well managed and are audited regularly by a well-recognized chartered accountant.
  
  
• Dr. Arunkumar Y. Gundimi, who is the national Director of Prayer Life Seminars-India and a well-known Bible teacher in our country and some other parts of the world, is our President.
  
  
• Pastor Reuben M.Sathiyaraj, with several years of experience in missions, is serving as the General Secretary, and has taken the full responsibility to mobilize the vision to reach the unreached.
  
  
• Mrs. Rekha, A Higher Secondary School Assistant Principal and an active lay leader, is the Treasurer.
  
  
• Several other committed believers from various walks of life are included in the team.