The slums of Madurai, South India, have not been forgotten by God. A team of YWAMers in this Tamil city of one million is making sure that slum residents know they haven’t been forgotten by Christians either.

YWAM Madurai recently completed a month-long outreach running Vacation Bible Schools, where they ministered to over 1500 children in five different slums. All told, some 32 YWAMers worked together to run these schools, as outreach teams from a DTS in Orlando and an arts team from Pune also joined the effort.

God was on the move during the four-week run of Bible classes. Here’s a report sent to the International Communications Network from Mark Kannan, YWAM Madurai director.

Testimonies of God on the Move

In Komespalayam slum, some people looked at our VBS materials and were very upset that we had come to share about our relationship with Jesus. They tried to stop us from conducting the classes. But by God’s grace, many slum residents stood with us and helped us with the classes, which defused the tension. Praise God for the local people who supported us.

Meet Lakshmi. She is a 13-year-old Hindu girl. She wanted to come to the VBS but her father told her in no uncertain terms that he would not allow her to attend. He also threatened her by telling her that if she attended the classes the local gods would take revenge on the slum residents. Lakshmi prayed that God would change her father’s mind and he would allow her to attend the VBS. On the first day of class her father suddenly changed his mind and allowed her to go. Lakshmi was elated and learned that if she believed and prayed, Jesus will answer her prayers. She learned this lesson from the class too.

Meet Malar. Before attending VBS, she never listened to her parents before attending VBS. Instead, she spent lots of time watching television and engaging in destructive behavior. During VBS she learned to have faith in God and made the decision that she would listen to her parents. She also decided to curb her excessive television watching.

Meet Prabu, 17. Like most teenagers his age, he frequently made bad choices and did destructive things. During our classes, Prabu learned about spiritual warfare. From that teaching he came to realize that the Kingdom of Darkness works against him and wants him to actively engage in destructive behavior. Prabu made a decision to walk in the Kingdom of light, and he’s a completely different person now.

Many children testified to the great change they experienced during the weeks of class; many of the 1500 said they learned to have friendship with Jesus and faith in God, and learned how to share their problems with the Lord. Another miracle was in the area of weather. Summer here in South India is very hot, a real distraction for teachers and students. We prayed for rain and good weather. God answered our prayer. We had rain, but it was never a hindrance to our classes, and didn’t disrupt our final program.

YOUTH CAMP

We conducted a one-day youth camp for 72 young people. The youth came from the various slums where we do regular ministry. We taught them songs and did a small skit entitled “whom we have to give our hearts”. The Rev. Raja Magesh explained to them clearly about God and Jesus. Please pray that all these children grow in the Lord and that they may be witnesses to their family members. Some of the children have difficulty paying their school fees. Please pray that God will show them His faithfulness and meet their need.

Please pray for our work in the slums of Madurai, and for more financial support for our ministry.

For more information on how you can get involved or financially give to the work in Madurai, please contact YWAM Chennai.