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Gospel for Asia–supported Bible college students and staff in India showed their love for their country with special celebrations on India's 60th Republic Day, which is celebrated January 26.
In the state of Jharkhand, students and staff got a jump start on the holiday by cleaning the grounds of a police station and a government hospital on January 25.
It was hard labor, and clouds of dust flew up at them from the ground, but the group gladly embarked on their tasks.
"Many people who were passing through stopped for a moment and watched our work," writes GFA's correspondent. "Most of them came to us and asked about who we were and what we were doing. At the same time, many people praised our work and also praised God. They told us that only a Christian organization would do that kind of development work in the society."
The next morning, Republic Day festivities started with a word of prayer, a welcome and some songs. Then a political leader they invited as their chief guest raised the Indian flag and gave a speech in which he highlighted the sacrifice and hard work of some of India's leaders.
After the program, the students, staff and staff families enjoyed some outdoor sports and games together. They even played musical chairs!
During the evening, they went into a city area and distributed around 350 packets of food to beggars.
In Delhi, Republic Day dawned foggy and cold, but that didn't dampen anyone's spirits.
After the opening prayer and two songs, a Scripture reading was given from Romans 13, which reminds Christians that God has called them to be submissive to authority because every authority has been instituted by Him.
A GFA leader delivered a special speech reminding everyone of the need to celebrate Republic Day.
Then the Bible college students used cultural dances and songs to represent the many states they came from.
The students enjoyed getting to demonstrate a little bit of their state's culture.
Each presentation was a little different, but each one highlighted the fact that they stood united for their nation despite their varied cultural and language backgrounds.
After the program, the group enjoyed lunch together.
But the day was far from over. At 3:00 p.m. all the students and staff grabbed their cleaning tools and set off to bless their community.
They went to the nearest village and started cleaning up. Villagers noticed their efforts to help improve their area.
"Some of the villagers were caught by surprise when they discovered that the Bible college faculty and students had taken up this challenge to clean their village," writes a GFA correspondent. "Our students wholeheartedly participated in this task because they knew that doing such social work would go a long way in developing healthy relationships with them and opening their hearts to the Gospel."
date posted 03/15/2010
