Church Profile- 15 History of Topajodi Church, Odisha
nearby villages. Topajodi became a gateway to several other villages which later found the living Lord.
In the year 2008, DashoPangi donated his land for the construction of the Church. The Church was coming up well when the anti-social elements demolished it. It was rebuilt again by the grace of God and was dedicated for the glory of God in the year 2010.
Missionaries Bilendra, Santanu, Dhaneswar, Samuel, Kailash, Bostom, Jhituku, Suresh, Titus, Sudanya, Bhagwan, Susant, Kishore and Ajay have served here along with their families. Today we conduct several programmes in Topajodi like Believers ' Retreat, Ladies Retreat, Youth Retreat etc. Though we could teach them with the Word of God, still people lack basic facilities.
Topajodi lies in the border of two districts in Odisha. The area is thickly populated with tribal groups and is surrounded by charming valleys, perennial streams and deep forests. Tribal groups such as Gadabas, Bondas and Koyas make their livelihood here. Their main occupation is agriculture. The first team of missionaries came to this area from our Ramagiri Mission field which is in Southern Odisha. Missionary Solomon Das led a team of missionaries to this area. They found that the people were very much receptive to the Gospel and therefore planned to open a Mission Station here.
The first believer of Topajodi was DashoPangi who came to Christ through their little daughters. The daughters came to the lord first and they shared the Good News to their father. DashoPangi ' s eldest son lost both of his eyes when he was very small. But through the efforts of our missionaries, he was able to study till 10th class using Braille language. There was another person Dhansai Santa who was involved in black magic. He used to sacrifice animals and sprinkle the blood in the villagers ' houses. He came to the Lord when he witnessed the power of God in the healing of his own relative. Slowly more believers came to the Lord. They also started to testify about the Lord to the
In spite of good Government schemes, the people in this area are still underdeveloped. The infant mortality rate is very high. The per capita income of the people is very low. Education and health care is in its lowest ebb. Due to irregular rainfall, people have started to migrate to other parts of the country for better opportunities.
Though we have our Children Homes and Day Care Centres in other parts of Odisha, Topajodi is in need of one. Let us pray that the Topajodi Mission Station will become a blessing to many more souls in the region.
“ I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ”( Php1:6).
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