October 2017
Church Profile - 20
History of Dobbara Church, Madhya Pradesh
The 'Katori' family attended a Christmas function
through an invitation by one of their relatives who were
believers in Jesus Christ. They were very much touched by
the life and death of the Lord Jesus Christ. They also
believed that Jesus came to the world to take away the sins of
the world. They became the first believers of this village.
They wanted to take this Good News to their own village,
Dobbara. They invited the missionaries to their village
which was in deep interiors. People lived there with much
difficulty. There were no roads to this village, nor were there
any medical or electricity facilities. Gospel was preached
door to door in this village. Since the literacy level was very
low, they had many blind beliefs. Medical treatments were
given by local witch doctors. Many women were found to be
possessed by evil spirits.
In one of the Gospel meetings, people brought a
woman possessed with an evil spirit. The evil spirit cried to
the missionaries, “I will leave this woman and this village.”
And it left. When the villagers saw this, they were much
surprised and put their faith in God. The congregation in this
village grew rapidly.
decided to build a church in the same manner i.e. with
stones. As the believers started to build, some of the anti-
Christian elements threatened the believers. When one of the
believers tried to speak, he was beaten up. The church
building work was temporarily halted.
More prayers were mobilized for this church.
Believers and partners prayed earnestly. By God's grace, the
work resumed again and the Church was dedicated for the
glory of God on 23rd December 2014. Praise God!
Today the believers are growing in the Lord through
the systematic teaching of the Word of God. They also take
the Gospel to the nearby villages and to their own relatives.
Pray that the Gospel might take inroads in the hearts of the
needy people. As we see in the New Testament and also in
the Church history, persecution always helped spread the
Good News of Christ, and the history of church in Dobbara
attests to that fact.
“The one who falls on this stone will be broken to
pieces; and when it falls on anyone, it will crush him”
(Mat 21:44).
The people here lived in houses built by stones cut
from the ground. Since there was no place for worship, the
missionaries bought a small piece of land. They also
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