A Church Planted Despite Adversity

Pastor Lewys had been threatened. Stop your work, the villagers had said. Don’t continue your ministry in our village, they had advised. But he would not stop, nor could he.

Persevering Despite Opposition

In 2014, Pastor Lewys went to a village with around 55 families, most of them non-Christians. The villagers were stubborn in their ways and held strongly to their traditional practices. But that didn’t deter the pastor. He visited the villagers’ houses, stopping by to offer counsel to broken families and pray for any illnesses. In every encounter, Pastor Lewys did his best to demonstrate Christ’s love to all, whatever their need. Some people did not appreciate his acts of compassion, and they told him to stop. But the pastor could not.

Three years of faithful ministry had seen but a few of the villagers accept Christ as Savior, but this didn’t deter Pastor Lewys. The pastor and his small but growing group of believers prayed continually for the village and for a church to be established there.

God answered their prayers.

The Lord Provides

Eventually, Pastor Lewys’ burgeoning fellowship expanded into 20 believers. Then, after Pastor Lewys shared one Christmas about the reason Jesus came into the world, five more believers joined the growing fellowship. As their number grew, the believers needed a much larger space to meet.

The entire congregation gathered supplies and came together to build their own church building. Constructed of bamboo and tin sheets, it was not intended to last forever, but it was theirs.

“I am happy and thankful to Almighty God for helping us to have a church,” Pastor Lewys said. “Some people tried to stop my ministry, but … [I knew] that the Lord will help me to do a remarkable thing one day. Today, His plan has been fulfilled. Praise the Lord!”