singing praise in the islands
Where on earth are the Andaman and Nicobar Islands? This was my reaction when I saw the first issue of Island Spark, a newsletter from the Sheltons, staff in charge of the IFES ministry there. A clue came from the fact that this new work is part of UESI India. Consulting a map, I discovered that these islands are in the Indian Ocean, about 400 miles west of Myanmar (Burma) and Thailand. Further research revealed that there are 10 tertiary institutions and 25 secondary schools on the Islands.
Since his college days in India, MJA Shelton had wanted to invest his life among the least evangelised people of the world. Then one day he met a missionary from the Andaman Islands who told him that students in the Islands needed good, biblical teaching.
God had prepared the way on the Islands for the Sheltons’ arrival: a Christian brother prayed for two years for staff to assist student ministry on the Nicobar Islands; a lecturer opened her home for a prayer cell, as did a principal of a secondary school; Ramesh, a student from India, came with the goal of being a missionary student.
Not that everything has been easy since their arrival in July 2011. MJA writes, ‘Ministering to people from different races with different languages and cultures has been a new experience. Heavy rains, twelve hours of travel through hills and by sea to visit one college, and the high cost of living are all real challenges we face. God has been equipping us and gave us the insight to take these as a rich experience.
‘Every month we hear about the suicide of at least one youth in the islands. Drug addiction is common. Since there is little exposure to the outside world, young people lack confidence about life. The sad life of students from broken families, and the wider opportunities of ministry, have given us the assurance that God has brought us to a needy place.’
Reading the Sheltons’ newsletter, it is hard to believe they have been there less than a year. In Port Blair, the capital city of the Andaman Islands, graduates meet every Sunday to pray for the student ministry, and three families have opened their homes for student prayer groups. Forty first-year students attended a welcome for new students on one island last year, and 45 attended a Christmas outreach. Eighty students from four colleges participated in an event conducted in Hindi on the theme ‘A love that touches your heart’, and many responded to the gospel.
Give thanks with us and the Sheltons for the strong support they have from local churches, and for the student leaders God has raised up so far. Pray with us for evangelistic camps to be held in March and April, and for a Vision Builders meeting for graduates in Port Blair.
Pray that God will use the student ministry to provide hope to young people throughout these islands, and that many will come to say with Isaiah (42:10), ‘Sing to the Lord a new song, his praise from the ends of the earth, you who go down to the sea, and all that is in it, you islands and all who live in them’!
