Sri Lanka, with a population of 20 Million, is known as “the Pearl of the Indian Ocean” because of its natural beauty. The country comprises of 74% Buddhists and 11% Christians. The vibrant capital city, Colombo, has a population of just above one million, attracting several thousands of people daily from nearby places for work and study. The city boasts of the great Colombo University as well as the University of Moratuwa.
Recovering from the civil war between the Singhalese and the Tamils that lasted for decades till 2009, the country is now enjoying freedom as well as attracting tourism and business.
In 1994, the Bangalore Church had sent a mission team of eight disciples from India.
Though the church did well for a few years, the continuing challenge of not being able to secure any long-term visas for Indian leaders caused constant leadership changes, and affected the stability of the church. Eventually, a few disciples who got baptized in Colombo joined the full-time ministry. But the financial crisis in the 2003 forced the church to lay off the staff. From that time the membership declined from 71 to 31. Due to the rising housing costs, most of the disciples moved away from city limits and live in suburbs. Some of them travel upto 40 Miles to attend the church services which are held in the heart of the city. As most of the disciples are currently not able to have much fellowship or encouragement, the morale of the church has been down.
We are planning on sending a new mission team to Colombo, with the focus of evangelizing residents of the city and campuses within Colombo. We have a dating couple, Michael from the U.S. and Nadia from India who are eager to be on the mission team. This is a call for any disciple from churches all over the world, as we need many more disciples willing to relocate themselves to Colombo or do a One Year Challenge to join the mission team. So if anyone in any of our churches has a desire for or feels called for this mission, please contact me at shaijusphilip@outlook.com.
Watch this video capturing an areal view of the city of Colombo.
