Mel Fung In India 

Last month, Jesus Club founder, Mel Fung, travelled to India to be a part of a conference to see Jesus’ love reach those in India with disabilities. To give you some context, only 2.3% of India’s enormous 1.23 billion population is Christian.

What took you to India?

I was asked by one of our sponsors, Anglican Aid, to attend the Engage Disability Conference. The conference draws together 350 Indian Christians across all denominations who share a concern for people with disabilities. This was the second Engage Disability Conference, the first one was held in 2014. 

What did you do there?

I did many things! Listened to passionate talks about God’s love for the disabled, met some amazing people and did a 20min talk about Jesus Club describing our journey with disability ministry in Sydney. 

What were some highlights of the conference?

One thing that stood out to me across the talks was the repeated argument that people with disabilities are made in the image of God. The Indian Christians seemed really passionate about this. I asked someone and they said that in India people with disabilities are seen as cursed or evil. So it’s actually a new idea that they could be made in the image of God. There was a talk from speaker Jaykumar Christian about the impact the church would have on India if it loved people with disabilities the way God does. Oh how the people of India would sit up and pay attention to Jesus if they saw Christians valuing the disabled as those made in God’s image.

What can we pray for?

You can thank God for a handful of Christians who are really driving this mission. In a country where Christians are persecuted and people with disabilities are disregarded, this is not work for the faint-hearted. But God has obviously put a fire in some Christians and given them strength accordingly. Pray that other Christians will join them so that the joy and hope we have through Jesus will also be experienced by people with disabilities in India.

• Pray that God would draw in many new Members to these clubs and to his kingdom. 

• Pray that all our Members grow in their knowledge of Jesus' love for them. 

Thank you Club Naremburn

Meet New Club 'Rise' in Dapto

Tell us about 'Rise'.
Rise, standing for Radiant, important, saved by Jesus and empowered is a Jesus Club running at Dapto Anglican Church. We launched this year and have now had 5 nights of Rise. We have 8 regular Members from all different walks of life and 30 volunteers - some who come to the program, whilst others prepare our food, our craft and help with admin. 

Tell us about a Member.
One of our newest Members, whilst nonverbal, has communicated with his mother that he loves Rise and his friends there. His mother is feeling blessed that he finally has a place he can make friends and socialise, as this is difficult when you communicate differently to the majority of people around you. We love having him at Rise and seeing how excited he gets to play games and dance.

What inspired you to start a Jesus Club?
We were inspired to start a Jesus Club at Dapto because of one of the young women who have come through our youth program named Talitha. Tali is 18 years old now and whilst is still coming to youth group and church she also is coming to Rise and getting to socialise with people closer to her own age. At Rise Tali especially enjoys craft and dancing, specifically dancing to Gangnam Style and also using her signing expertise in our Proverbs 3:5-6 song.

Any other comments?
It has been such an incredible experience to meet new people through this program as well as be able to provide a club for Members from our church to socialise, learn about Jesus and have some fun. We are incredibly thankful to Jesus Club for partnering with us to start up our program and allowing us to use their brilliant program as our groundwork for Rise. We continue to pray for the amazing work Jesus Club does across Sydney and now the Illawarra.

Get to Know Dapto's Mel

Each Club Needs Your Prayer 

• Pray that Gladesville continues to be a place where the amazing love of Jesus is proclaimed.

• Pray for a few new Leaders for next year, and in particular for some younger Leaders.

• Praise God for the tireless dedication of the Leadership team over the last five years.

• Pray that our Members would have assurance that they are rescued if they place their trust in Jesus as their rescuer.

• Praise God for consistently attending Members and Leaders willing to help with transport and dinner roster.

• Praise God for his provision of more Leaders after we spoke up the front at church requesting more. Now we have a waiting list of people wanting to be involved! 

• Praise God that our social event with our church's ministry Community Garden went well and that Members got to feel part of our church community. 

• Praise God for a great start this year and pray as we transition to our new venue at St Faiths Narrabeen in 2018. 

• Praise God for the 3 Members joining our Sunday church service and a further Member we have linked into another church. Pray that they will be fully embraced as Members of the church family.

• Praise God for a large and fantastic group of Leaders who are passionate and loving and such a supportive church and group of sponsors.

• Praise God for the opportunity to be a part of this ministry, for having got to the point where the club is "open for business", for so many committed leaders who are enthusiastic, and for our four wonderful Members.

• Praise God for Rhyannah's perseverance in getting the Kings Park club ready to start in 2018.
• Praise God for the Chinese Australian Baptist Church in Thornleigh who are ready to start in 2018. 

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