Plant a Church

History

In November 1972, Lilly and P.G. Vargis left their home, people, and secure lives to serve the Lord as pioneer cross-cultural missionaries in the North Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir. They began in the Hindu pilgrimage town of Katra, in the lower Himalayan Mountains. Facing ostracism, persecution, hunger, and death threats, this family persevered in Katra and soon the love of Christ broke through.

Within a year, a church of hundred first time believers was birthed. This was the first church and still is the only one in this sacred town. Meanwhile, P.G. and the lay leaders he had trained began to reach out to the neighboring villages. The local church in Katra began to grow and daughter churches began to be planted in the nearby mountains. Within two years after founding the Katra church, twelve new churches were birthed in the surrounding mountains.  Revival, unheard of in North India, was beginning.

Persecution and poverty came together very forcefully along with this spiritual breakthrough. However, absolute commitment—even unto death—for the cause of the Gospel was a core value for these pioneer missionaries.

Meanwhile, churches continued to be planted, indigenous church planters continued to be raised from these pioneer churches, churches kept giving birth to daughter churches, trained church planters planted more reproducing churches in far removed cultural regions and raised up mature disciples. A movement was forming. This revival fire eventually spread beyond Kashmir, across the unreached villages and towns of North India and gradually spread across South East Asia. Eventually, several distinct cultural or geographical church planting movements were birthed and established in North India, Nepal and Bhutan.