After a fire burned down 110 plank houses in Grandpass, Colombo, Pastor S.J.P. Jayaprakash of the Grandpass Gospel Tabernacle Church responded to an emergency call for food. Not only was food provided, but the church, community and authorities were mobilized to rebuild houses made of brick. This particular housing complex is home of a 350-family community of Sinhala and Tamil ethnicity where a very small Christian presence exists. Through this process, Jayaprakash found out the community only had two usable toilets with an open sewage drain running among the homes. Enlisting volunteers from the church and community, Jayaprakash completed the project, giving the community 12 toilets and a state-of-the-art septic tank. This community effort has generated much unity among the people and positive response to the church, opening up doors for the ministry among the community. Jayaprakash’s future plans for developing this community include education classes for the children in English, art and other subjects; forming a children’s club; setting up a medical clinic; and renovating the library.Jayaprakash is a graduate and former OC scholarship recipient from Colombo Theological Seminary (CTS), Sri Lanka. He received the CTS Community Award at the 2007 graduation. “My vision is to develop the community rather than to only build up the church,” Jayaprakash says “After all, Jesus himself responded to the needs of the 5,000 by feeding them - with no strings attached.”
Psalm 138
12 hours ago
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