In the heart of Bangalore's tech industry, the Central Kannada Church, which began in classrooms and laboratories, faced challenges finding space for its growing congregation. Thanks to the support of the 13th Sabbath Offering, the church obtained a property and is now constructing a new 4300-square-foot building, enabling them to expand their ministry among the city's middle and upper-class residents.
Bangalore is sometimes referred to as the "Silicon Valley of India" because it’s the center of the nation’s tech industry. With large, multinational technology corporations setting up their headquarters here, Bangalore is home to top-tier engineering and research institutions.
Starting a church congregation here has been challenging, yet a new group of believers has been started on an Adventist school campus.
“When I was younger, we were running this church in the classrooms. After a few years, we went to laboratories to have church.”
The Central Kannada church was organized in 1971 with 30 members. It has grown so much over the years that the congregation needs more space.
“On any given day, we have almost two hundred plus or two hundred fifty-seven, to be precise, people visiting us at this church. If you can see behind me, you will see the whole church will be filled.”
Church members prayed for a bigger place to worship. In order to accommodate the church activities there, the school inaugurated a church facility on campus. Most people who attend this church speak Kannada, the third-oldest language in India after Sanskrit and Tamil. Almost half of this city's 8 million residents speak the Kannada dialect.
This church has a youth group that engages with the community.
“It's very hard to keep these guys in the church. In other words, they love to go and do outreach.”
“So it was time for us to put things into practice, Go out. Share this gospel message. So we went, we visited. We spent whatever activities with them. It's unique. They loved the activities. They found someone is there for them to care for. And I'm sure through us; they're going to connect with Christ.”
Most of the youth are young professionals working in the medical field and tech companies. Time is their scarcest resource, yet they still engage in ministry. For Global Youth Day, they extended a one day event into a three week program. They distributed tracks and visited people in the community and distant villages where there is no Christian presence.
The Central Kannada Church needed a separate church building structure because they outgrew the school's facilities. Thanks to your 13th Sabbath offering in 2020, they found a property and are moving forward.
“The biggest Kannada church in Banglore doesn't have its own building until now. The Lord opened its ways, and just a couple of streets from here, we are building our new church.”
“It is 4300 square feet. And now we are constructing two floors there. The ground floor is for parking, the first floor is a church, and the second is a balcony. Altogether, around 400 to 450 people can be accommodated in that church.”
From humble beginnings in a small laboratory classroom, this congregation will have their own church. The prestigious location offers plenty of opportunity to carry out more ministry, particularly among the middle and upper-class residents in the area.
Please pray for the Kannada Central Church members in their ministry. Thank you for supporting this and future 13th Sabbath Offering projects around the world!
“Important note for footage needed:”
“Groundbreaking ceremony by Ted Willson for the new building”
“Video of the church that is full outside (overflow)”
“Video of chairs inside the church that is full of people”
“Video on Sabbath service (in 2nd and 4th Sabbaths) that is overcrowded”
“video of youth doing visitation in the village churches, activities with the church members, GYD”
“Video of youth involved in the audiovisual stream (technology side)”
“Group picture of the youth in AY or Sabbath school classes”
“The new church building inauguration videos”
