Happy Anniversary KGM!
It's hard to believe seven years have passed since God birthed a friendship that grew into the ministry partnership that is now Kerusomen Gospel Ministries. Despite Covid-19 and an uptick in persecution, God is still growing His church. In July 2021, two KGM native pastors planted two new churches and Kerusomen expanded into its 7th state in India, Madhya Pradesh. Another two pastors in that state are being trained as church planters so when they complete their required education, we will hopefully have another 2 churches in Madhya Pradesh.
On this 7-year anniversary of the founding of Kerusomen Gospel Ministries, Tom Caprio, President of KGM USA, tells his story of how and why God birthed this amazing church planting movement to reach the unreached in India:
"When I went to seminary 40 years ago, missions was the furthest thing from my mind.
Now, a friendly piece of advice… Don’t ever tell God you don’t want to do something because He might just call you to do it - for His glory and your growth!
Well, in 2004, in order to thank God for 25 years of marriage, Kathy and I went on a mission trip to India. It was on that trip that I met Sahayadas Simon, a graduate student at the Hindustan Bible Institute in Chennai, India, the same place that tradition says the Apostle Thomas once planted a church before being martyred in India.
That trip planted the seeds of a calling in my life that I could compare to the Apostle Paul’s conversion on the road to Damascus. On that trip – seeing God at work up-close in other lands – was like walking right into the book of Acts. God’s Word came alive in fresh new ways and in time I knew God was calling me to have a passion for India and continue the work the Apostle Thomas started almost 2,000 years ago.
Ten years - and many mission trips - later, Kerusomen Gospel Ministries was founded as a 501(c)(3) non-profit corporation in 2014. It was founded because missions had changed my life and deepened my love for the Lord. And I wanted others to experience that, too.
Neither I nor Pastor Saha ever dreamed that our unplanned meeting would birth a partnership that God has grown by over 300% in just 7 years – going from 17 churches to 70 churches. But that growth, as exciting as it is, is just a part of the story.
This ministry was founded to help Pastor Saha in India, and that has happened in ways that give God all the glory. But God has done much more. Abundantly more than we could ask or think.
His plan was two-fold: First to give us an opportunity to join Him as He reaches the unreached in India. Second, to do a mighty work in us for our good and His glory.
The KGM ministry is helping me and other Christ followers here to deepen our relationship with Christ by living out our commitment to His Great Commission in a personal way, through our prayers and generosity…
As we give back to God with one sole purpose - to reach unreached people who have yet to experience His amazing love and grace - we are better able to hear God's heart beating for His creation. We become more eternally minded in obedience to Jesus command recorded in Matthew 6:20-21: 'But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.'
And as we pray for the billion unreached souls in India, many who have never met a Christ-follower, it heightens our awareness of Jesus’ presence like nothing else. These are the multitudes He wept and died for.
So as I thank God for all of his blessings on this anniversary, I am reminded:
Prayer is our foundation.
Nothing happens without it.
Thank you for praying with us for the last 7 years."
