History of All India Mission
All India Mission
Comprehensive History
In 1975 the district of Simdega, North India, had changed little since the British left nearly 30 years earlier. The British had used this remote, barren and snake infested region as a place to keep its criminals and prisoners.
While there were no prison colonies left in the area by 1975, Pastor N.J. Varughese, then 30 years old, saw an opportunity to preach the gospel to the hundreds of thousands of native villagers in the region who had never heard the gospel of Jesus Christ.
The area had been evangelized somewhat in the 19th century, but converts from that period were known 
as “rice Christians,” people who converted only because the new religion promised a food source. Their descendants knew little of the gospel. Various tribal groups who practiced tribal religions also populated the area. Of course, the majority of the population was Hindu. As far as N.J. Varughese could discern, there were no born-again believers in the area.
And so it was that N.J. Varughese stepped out by faith that year to start a work in Simdega. He chose Brother M. Joykutty to work with him. The two men were from South India and had to learn a new language, Hindi, and a new culture. They worked hard, riding their bicycles throughout the area and preaching the gospel.
They rented a house in Simdega for 50 cents a month. It didn’t have electricity, running water or 
bathroom facilities, but it eventually became a well-known Christian center in the local town and in the surrounding villages. They named the house Shanti Bhavan, which means “House of Peace” in the Hindi language.
The first convert
They worked hard for two years without seeing any fruit for their labor. Then one day, as Joykutty’s open air preaching thundered from under a banyan tree, a young man got very upset and took violent exception to Joykutty’s words, threatening to attack him. Pastor N.J. and Joykutty took this man aside and befriended him. They learned that his name was Satish and that he was studying to be a Hindu priest. Though he was angry with them, he accepted the gospel booklet they offered him and went his way.
Satish didn’t read the booklet. Instead, he tore it up and used the paper to roll an opium cigarette, which he smoked before he went to bed. That night he tossed and turned and could not sleep. In the darkness, he wondered what he had done by tearing up the booklet. When the sun rose, he found pieces of the torn booklet and read the words, “The blood of Jesus Christ cleanseth you from all of your sin.”
Satish refused to believe such “nonsense”. Early in the morning he sought out N.J. Varughese and told him that the book was wrong. Satish had recently walked barefoot for seventy miles in order to take a bath in the River Ganges. According to his Hindu faith, a bath in the holy river was supposed to remove sin from his life. But Satish knew he was as sinful as ever after his pilgrimage. He reasoned that if water from the holiest of all rivers couldn’t wash away his sin, then how could somebody’s blood do it?
Pastor N.J. spent three and a half hours with Satish, explaining the gospel to him. By noon he had received Christ as his personal Savior.
When Satish was saved, the two missionaries started their first Sunday worship service at Shanti Bhavan with only the three of them. The service lasted two hours. From that time on all three of them preached the gospel in public places and from house to house, but they felt great resistance and hostility from the townspeople.
Slow and steady growth
In the year 1981, N.J. Varughese baptized seven new converts. After six years of hard work, the church now had ten believers, including Pastors N.J. and Joykutty. Their prayer was for 50 believers.
Shanti Bhavan means “House of Peace,” but the hard working missionaries would soon discover that on a certain day, there would be no peace at Shanti Bhavan. On the Sunday after a baptismal service, peace would be replaced with violence. The ten of them were gathered together in Shanti Bhavan and just before they began worshiping the Lord, they were besieged by a mob of 40 angry townsmen. They tried to kill N.J. Varughese, the leader, but by God’s grace, they only beat him unconscious and left him for dead. He escaped during the night and did not return to Simdega for several months. Joykutty and Satish remained in the village to care for the new and frightened believers.
Just one month after this severe attack from the enemy, Pastor N.J. met a group of Americans who were conducting crusades in India. He took the bold move of sending them to Simdega where they, with the help of Joykutty and Satish, conducted a citywide gospel crusade. At the end of the crusade 40 people were saved and baptized, so the Lord defeated the enemy in a mighty way. Only one month after the attack, they had the 50 believers they had prayed for!
This turn of events tremendously strengthened Brother N.J.’s faith, and he was able to return to Simdega safely. As his faith grew, he began to pray for 100 believers, then 200, then 500. The Lord provided. He also prayed for pastors, first two or three, later 20 or 30. He prayed for churches to be established in various outlying villages, at first one or two, then three or four, then more and more. In the first ten years since the breakthrough in 1980, they saw slow and steady growth. By 1990 they had about 15 pastors and several churches established.
The film ministry
In the villages of India, millions of people have heard that there is such a thing as a movie, but they have never seen one. Brother N.J. thought that if they had the proper equipment, they could go into remote areas showing a film on the life of Christ. He knew they could attract thousands of people every time they showed the film. But they needed a movie projector, a PA system, a lighting system, a team of eight people, some literature, and a van to carry everything in.
In 1982 the Lord opened the door for Brother N.J. to come to the United States to meet God’s people 
from different parts of this great country. As a result of many prayers and the participation of God’s people in America, the film ministry vision came true. Over time, the Lord provided not just one film unit, but several. For a number of years, the film ministry was the most effective evangelism tool that All India Mission had for reaching people with the gospel. Thousands would gather every time the film was shown, and many hundreds were saved as a result of the film ministry.
Over time the film ministry had to be phased out because of tremendous opposition. When terrorists got wind of these huge gatherings, they would come with their weapons and disrupt the film showings. Eventually it became unsafe to continue the film ministry.
The work keeps growing … and growing
Did the work slow down when the film ministry ended? For years it had been the most effective evangelism tool imaginable. As it turns out, nothing has ever slowed the ministry down. It keeps growing and growing because the Lord gives increase.
In 1984 N.J. Varughese married an American woman named Ellen, and they had two children, Paul and Elizabeth. Shortly after their marriage, Brother N.J. told his newly-wed wife that he was praying for 100 co-workers, pastors and evangelists that would carry the gospel to the remotest areas of north India. He wanted to see people getting saved from different language groups. These native evangelists would then take the gospel to their own people.
At the time, the vision seemed impossible. Brother N.J. had only added two more co-workers since Satish was saved. The entire work force was now five people, including the two original missionaries from south India.
One of the first things the newly-married couple did was incorporate the ministry in India under the name Calvary Gospel Ministries (CGM). This step was required by the Government of India in order for them to receive foreign contributions. In the years to come the ministry would need a steadily increasing number of contributions because CGM kept growing and growing. Little did they realize that in the years to come there would be orphanages, schools, churches to build and more than 500 native missionaries to support.
Slowly, the ministry began to build an army of pastors and evangelists. The ministry grew very modestly 
at first. A few people saved, and a small percentage of those going into full-time ministry. There was slow but steady growth during the eighties. By 1990 there were approximately 25 native missionaries and ten churches.
The move to America
By the end of 1989, it was clear to N.J. Varughese that he needed to relocate his family to the United States. Ellen was having trouble maintaining her visa, and it was proving to be nearly impossible to raise funds from India. After much prayer, the Varughese family returned home in December of 1989.
In 1990 they incorporated All India Mission in the state of California and had their 501(c)3 status approved by April. All India Mission began raising funds for the brothers and sisters in India in May of 1990. Ellen ran the office while raising two children, Paul and Elizabeth, both pre-schoolers at the time. Brother N.J. traveled extensively to India and throughout the United States. In 1994 the family relocated to Olathe, Kansas to be more centrally located.
In India the growth continued to be steady. Now they were adding 10-15 new native pastors and evangelists per year instead of one or two. The number of established churches was also growing.
Tragedy and blessing
In 1995 N.J. Varughese turned 50 years old. It was a year of jubilee for him. That year he finally reached his goal of 100 co-workers, the dream that had seemed so impossible just eleven years earlier when he married Ellen. On November 6th, he celebrated his birthday by riding an elephant.
He then decided to tackle perhaps the most difficult mission field: the unreached region north of the Ganges River. Brother N.J. and his team traveled by van. The farther north they got, the more oppressive the spiritual atmosphere became. The attacks were increasingly intense, and N.J. fell ill. By the time they reached the Ganges, he had developed a very high fever.
The team stopped in a town called Barauni, and admitted Brother N.J. to the local hospital. His fever reached 105 degrees, and remained that high for several days. Ellen wanted him moved to a better hospital in Calcutta, but the doctors refused. He was too sick to be moved, and wasn’t expected to live.
Meanwhile, in Kansas, his eight-year-old son, Paul, was suddenly killed in a tragic accident. Then communication lines to India went down. Brother N.J. didn’t know about his little boy, and Ellen couldn’t find out whether her husband was alive or not.
Eventually Brother N.J. recovered from his illness, but Paul was gone, leaving emptiness that could not be described. The work on the other hand, suddenly exploded. The significant milestone of 100 native evangelists had been reached, and tremendous blessings followed.
Growth begins in earnest
The outpouring of love and support following Paul’s death marked a new beginning in the work of All 
India Mission. In the United States, people began giving with a much greater fervency. One lady sent a check with the following message: “Please use this money where it can do the greatest damage to Satan and his plans for destruction.” In India, people began coming to the Lord in astounding numbers.
As salvations increased, so did the need for more workers. The harvest was plentiful. To meet the need, All India Mission started a Bible school in which to train foot soldiers to take the gospel to the people in the most remote villages where the gospel has never been heard. As one person comes to the Lord, he leads others. Some of the new converts attend the Bible school and become pastors and evangelists. All of the students have been raised up from within the work. The 200 co-worker mark was reached shortly after the Bible School opened.
The medical ministry begins
In 1997 there were more than 50 village churches scattered throughout North India. Although people had come to the Lord, the living standard in each of these villages was very poor. That year Brother N.J. received the tragic news that 25 people from one of those villages had died of cholera. His heart was touched because he knew they, and thousands more around the region, would not have died had they had some kind of medical treatment.
The Lord directed him to pray for a mobile medical team that would go into different villages and show 
the love of Christ to those who were suffering physical affliction. The most difficult thing was to find a qualified doctor to direct the work. As a result of prayer, the Lord brought a wonderful, committed doctor, Dr. Haribabu and his family, to fulfill the purpose of God.
In 1999 the Lord gave us a medical bus, the right medical personnel and the necessary equipment to start our mobile medical ministry.
The six member mobile medical ministry has continued since its inception in 1999, treating over 100,000 children and adults since it commenced operation, but from the very beginning it became very clear that a much larger medical ministry was needed. Dr. Haribabu was grieved when he had to leave seriously ill people in their home villages to face certain death. He asked for a clinic to bring his sickest patients to.
In 2005 All India Mission opened its first village medical clinic in Sode. The clinic employs four full-time medical workers and will see and treat approximately 3,000 people from the surrounding villages each year.
Shanti Bhavan Hospital
It became clear that any number of mobile medical ministries or outpatient clinics would not be enough to serve the one million people in this large region who have no access to a hospital or advanced medical care. During 2002, Brother NJ was on a family vacation to Branson, Missouri when he encountered a theater building that provided a vision to him for a 200 bed, full-service medical center to be built near Simdega.
The land was acquired in 2005, and plans for the hospital began to take shape. A skilled and experienced team of architects from ©Engineering Ministries International of Colorado Springs, Colorado, completed the initial engineering and architectural work. An experienced Indian architectural and construction team was selected, and the building planning commenced.
Construction on phase one of Shanti Bhavan Medical Center began in 2006. By the summer of 2008, fund raising and construction continued steadily to the point that the superstructure of the building had grown to three floors. The outpatient clinic and a 75 bed hospital will open in the fourth quarter of 2011. The 75 bed hospital will be expanded to a 200 bed hospital in a third phase to be completed as funding becomes available.
Helpers to the Helpless (A medical center without walls)
Not only will Shanti Bhavan serve as a clinic and hospital for several million people from the thousands of villages surrounding it; Shanti Bhavan will also serve as a medical education center. The staff at Shanti Bhavan will train up to 400 native village women (Helpers to the
Helpless) in basic healthcare so that they might return to their native villages as trained ‘medical practitioners’ to conduct nutritional and sanitation training as well as provide the first level of preventative healthcare, emergency care and to triage those people who need additional medical care to Shanti Bhavan Medical Center.
Other ministries
In 2002, attention was given to the countless homeless children in India. The first orphanage opened 
with five children. Today there are four orphanages providing for a combined average of 150 children.
When Paul Varughese died, one of the pastors started Paul Varughese Memorial School in his honor. Today the ministry operates two elementary schools with over 150 elementary children who are learning to read and write in villages that have no other school. If it weren’t for these schools, these children would still be illiterate.
Attention is also being given to economic development in the villages. For the ministry to continue to grow and the new Christians to flourish, the ministry must lead the way to financial independence for the workers as well as native villagers. 
The goat project is a very good example of the kind of micro-economic programs that are being devloped within the ministry. A family is given four goats, and within 3-4 years they will have approximately 25 goats to sell and to raise more goats. After three years, we require the family to give us four goats back so that we may give them to another family. This ministry now has established over 50 family goat herds, and will create income indefinitely for each family, and will increase the economic welfare for their communities.
Fish farming also offers great potential for making pastors and their families self-sufficient. Ministry workers dig a pond, 100 by 100 feet for a cost of $5,000. Then 6,000 fingerling fish called Rahu are released at a cost of $100. At the end of two years 4,000 mature fish will be harvested and sold for $2.50 each; a very profitable venture. The pond will then be restocked to begin the process again. Each fish farm will support ten native pastors and their families. In the future, the ministry plans to dig ten additional fish farms, which will support 100 pastors and their families indefinitely as these fish farms mature.
A very significant gift
In 2007, Hospital Corporation of America (HCA) built a new hospital in Lee’s Summit, Missouri. HCA leadership generously donated all of the furniture and equipment from the original hospital to All India Mission for Shanti Bhavan Medical Center. The gift, which filled over five shipping containers, included all the beds, chairs, basic medical equipment, kitchen equipment; even the operating theater equipment to our mission (over six million dollars in replacement value).
We now have in storage, on the ground floor, much of the furniture and equipment required to outfit our outpatient clinic and the 75 bed hospital. The elecrical systems being built into Shanti Bhavan Medical Center will accomodate the the 120 volt systems of the equipment that was provided by HCA and other contributing organizaitons.
A testament to God’s love…
All India Mission has demonstrated its ability to effectively serve God while serving His people in a number of ways:
· The salvation and training of 650 pastor/evangelists
· The founding of 364 churches
· Evangelism and salvation of more than 20,000 native villagers
· The opening and operation of four orphanages with an average of 150 children
· The founding and operation of two elementary schools with over 150 children
· A Mobile Medical Ministry that has treated over 100,000 since its founding in 1999
· An outpatient clinic in the village of Sode that is treating 3,000 people per year
· A good start to economic stability for thousands of native villagers through the newly commenced micro-economic
· projects.
What a history – what a future!
All India Mission has already successfully secured over $5,200,000 and much of the furniture and medical equipment for the Shanti Bhavan Medical Center. We are now seeking an additional $7.500,000 of additional funding to complete Phase1, the outpatient clinic and 75 bed hospital, so that construction can be completed, equipment installed, staffing hired and made fully operational by early 2012.
Realizing that it will be unlikely that any one funder will be willing and/or able to fund the entire contruction of Shanti Bhavan Medical Center, we have broken all construction and equipping costs into individual phases. A funder can select the construction element that best suits their budget or funding criterea.
We would be pleased to meet with you and any other leaders of your organizaiton to answer any questions you might have and discuss your organization’s participation in this critically important project.
