Pastor Emmanuel and his wife, Manju, are pastors of The Great Commission Church, a small independent church in  New Delhi.  Emmanuel is also the NIIP Executive Director.

Emmanuel starts his story with the observation, “today I am serving God because of the answered prayers of my mother.  Every morning when it was still dark I could hear the trembling voice of my mother praying, crying, and pouring her heart to God with tears for our protection and blessing.” His mother was a devout Christian who raised him in the faith.

Emmanuel’s family were poor, and lived in a hut made of mud and grass in the Delhi area.  He attended a Christian run school as a child.  He solidified his faith in 1977 at a Gospel Festival Meeting that was in town.  They were teaching out of 1 Timothy 2:5, “For there is only one God and  one Mediator who can reconcile God and people.  He is the  man Jesus Christ.”  As he describes it:

“During his message the Holy Spirit touched me and the power of God came upon me.  The Word of God spoke to my heart and I was deeply moved.  I asked the Lord to forgive my sins and give me victory over them.  There was a mixture of crying and laughing as I felt God respond to my prayers, which ended with joy in my heart.  Then I was rejoicing and thanking Him for forgiving me.”

Emmanuel describes his call into ministry couple years later, when God responded to his prayers by leading him to attend Bible School.

“Again, I questioned, cried, and said, ‘God my name is Emmanuel which  means God is with us, but where are you in these situations?  I cried the whole night and did not stop telling Him.  I was lying down on my back, ears filled with tears, and the pillow got wet.  I said, ‘God show me what you want from me.'”

“The  next morning a young man named Samuel came and told me about a Bible school that I could attend.  He said they would also provide a stipend for traveling.”

“I took those words as a call of God in my life to prepare to be used in His kingdom.  I would say the Bible School years were my best years of my life.  My questions were answered; doubts were cleared with the Word of God.  John 8:32 became my favorite verse in the Bible.  ‘And you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.’  I obeyed God and completed my studies at Central Bible School with a Graduate of Theology.”

As a student in Bible School, they were assigned to do evangelism in the Delhi area.  This led to the next phase of his calling.

“One day we visited the place called Sunlight Colony.  This colony was called a ‘Christian colony’ because 70% of the people were professing Christians.  It was a colony of people who were poor and could not afford land or a house, who were resettled in this colony.  As I observed them, I thought ‘are they really following Christ according to the Bible?’  God gave me a love and passion for these people.”

“One day I saw an elder man who was drinking, yelling and abusing the little children who came to attend the prayer meeting.  I felt sad and was grieved, and wondered in my heart what would happen to these children.  What kind of next generation Christian leadership would they be in the future?  It was like fire burning inside me.”

“I heard and answered the voice of the Holy Spirit, and felt a burden for these children, so I started a Sunday School.  Then their parents asked me if I could give Bible studies at their homes.  After a few months they asked me if we could start Sunday meetings in their houses.  God is always being so faithful to us since the beginning!”

During this time Emmanuel was introduced to a missionary who was working in the area.  They started working together, and the little house churches started to grow so there was not enough room for people to sit.  Then they rented space in the community center.  This group was the beginning of what is now known as Great Commission Church.

Today Great Commission Church has more than 140 people serving the Lord through Sunday school, village ministry teams, pastor and leader seminars, women’s and children’s ministry.  Teams from the church go out  to other states in North India, including Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, and Rajasthan.  Also, many of those children originally discipled by Emmanuel have since gone out to start churches and ministries of their own throughout North India.

To Emmanuel, this work is not a job, but rather, it is who he is as a follower of Jesus.  Emmanuel started his ministry with nothing — nobody committing to him financially — and that is largely how he has worked since.  That is also the example that he sets for those he trains for ministry.  God is the one who provides, and he has been faithful!  The NIIP Board are friends of Emmanuel, and know him to be a trustworthy and respected man of God who is wise in the Lord.  He has long felt the call to minister to the people of North India.  It has long been his prayer that God open up the way to expand their ministry work in the region.   The opportunities abound, but limited resources have constrained the work.

In a very real sense, NIIP was formed to help Emmanuel and The Great Commission Church, and their brothers and sisters in the Lord, as they faithfully serve the Lord in ministry in North India.  What is described above is only a brief summary of Emmanuel’s 32 years of ministry.  We seek to come along side and help them respond to the many opportunities for ministry by providing some needed resources. We look forward to seeing what God is going to do — how He will answer the many years of prayer.