DPM-India And Sri Lanka Update

A Personal Letter from DPM-India Directors, Elsie and Danny...

Greetings from India!

As we look back over 2022, we are grateful for all that the Lord has done. After nearly two years of being unable to hold our regular pastors and leaders’ conferences, this year we were able to restart the conferences, both in India and Sri Lanka, ministering to many leaders who were struggling from the after-effects of Covid on their ministries.

Fast growing congregations suddenly began to slow down, and church attendance dropped by nearly 25% in many places. This has brought much discouragement amongst the pastors and leaders. But we were able to minister to them, especially through Derek’s messages about the end-times and sharing that the birth pangs will only continue to increase, so we need to gird our minds with the truth of the Word of God that will help us put on hope as a helmet.

This year we were also able to conduct two Youth Leadership Training programmes in India for young leaders. We held one each for young men and women, with 25 and 20 participants in each training. The testimonies that came out of both the trainings were amazing. One of the young leaders said:

“I was almost ready to quit the ministry I was doing and moving on to find a secular job. It was at that time that I got to hear about the DPM Youth Training Programme and decided to attend. The moment I came here, I understood that God had not given up on me and He had led me to the right place to receive His guidance. Through the training I have received both encouragement and direction – and now step out knowing that He will bring to fullness all that He has purposed for me.”

Sri Lanka Report

• To watch Elsie’s video report on their ministry trip, you can watch it here.
• We last visited Sri Lanka in May 2022. On our return last November, our focus was to visit those places where we had not previously been, whichare shown on the map.
• We held seven meetings for mostly pastors and Christian leaders, plus one meeting held in Galle at an addiction centre. Meetings ranged in size from 100-400 people.
• We found that the key issues and challenges faced by the pastors and leaders include discouragement, due to the political and economic situation in Sri Lanka, and the number of lives lost through Covid, along with spiritual battles including demonic bondages (sickness, depression and fear).
• We were able to bring encouragement to those people still here, who are trying to do what God has called them to do. We taught them to break down the strongholds of the mind that Satan would try to capture to prevent them
• from effectively ministering to the Lord and their congregations, and taught them to replace these with faith, hope and love. We had a wonderful response from the pastors – they told us they have learnt new things that will help them in their spiritual warfare and they were so encouraged and blessed.
• Some pastors were familiar with Derek’s teaching and were glad we had come to bring teaching and resources to help them in their ministries. They told us this is such a clear and balanced teaching of the Word of God, founded in the truths of the Word, in a time and age when we are exposed every day to new doctrines and are away from the Word of God. They know this truth will set them free.
• Testimony: The pastor of a large AOG church in Valaichenai, on the east coast, said “thank you for coming and bringing Derek’s teaching into Sri Lanka; I have been personally blessed by his teaching. I have a library of Derek’s books and his teaching on They Shall Expel Demons has been a vital part of my ministry. It has taught me how to minister deliverance from demons to people that come to me. You can see the effect of it in my congregation, which is the reason we have so many people – many have been set free from bondages.” This encourages us to get Derek’s books out to as many leaders as possible in Sri Lanka so they can learn how to minister to their congregations.
• We can see the hand of God working in this nation, which is still suffering. The country is still in economic and political chaos, but in the midst of it, God is raising Christian leaders and people are learning their responsibilities in Christ. People are learning that their prayers and the Word of God is the only thing that can bring a total and complete deliverance in people’s lives and bring the change they so desire.

Thank you for giving us this opportunity to share our journey with you. We also ask that you pray for the nation of Sri Lanka, which needs a move of the Holy Spirit, and churches need a fresh outpouring of the Spirit. We have been able to bring teaching of the Word of God and also see a revival in the spirits of the people we met, but it goes far beyond those people. There are still many more churches that need to be reached and many people who do not know Christ, so the leaders need to be encouraged and taught to raise up disciples. We plan to visit Sri Lanka again in April, so your prayers and financial support would be really appreciated.

New Opportunities in 2023

This year we plan to hold three more of the young leaders training weeks in India. Two courses will be for new applicants and the other for those who wish to go on to the advanced training. The cost to hold these three training weeks is NZ$4,500. We also plan to reopen our DPM leadership conferences in North India where the calls for help and encouragement have been many. From our 2023 budget for these 15 conferences, the cost is NZ$16,500.

Young leaders training programmes are also the need of the hour in Sri Lanka, where there is a huge lack of direction amongst youth, especially with the volatile economic and political climate prevailing there. We plan to hold these trainings along with pastors’ conferences in April in districts not previously reached. The cost to hold one youth training seminar is NZ$1,500.

With Derek’s books playing a vital part in these conferences, we have translated three more books into Hindi, namely Applying the Blood, What’s So Important About the Cross? and Hearing God’s Voice. Micro SD cards with Derek’s voiced messages will also be made available to these leaders.

Thank you for supporting us as we reach out into these nations which are recovering from the ravages of Covid and which face great political instability due to the spreading hatred towards Christians. We know that “no plan of His can be thwarted” (Job 42:2) and that ultimately His Word will reach hungry souls. Would you be able to help support these new opportunities in 2023, please, as we “Reach the Unreached and Teach the Untaught”.

Thank you and God Bless.