Anoop Jolly Bhengra - Worship and Sermon

Anoop Jolly Bhengra conducted his evaluation worship and sermon on 19 November 2008 at Gurukul chapel. The theme of the worship and sermon was "Call to discipleship." The text of the sermon was Acts 9: 10-18. He derived three points from the text: 1) Manifestation of God's love in one's life
2) The filling of Holy spirit and 3) To be witness of Jesus Christ. Hindi and English songs were sung during worship. Bhengra was confident and audible. He has good leadership qualities and we hope that he may further develop his talents for the effective ministry in his GELC church.

Dr. Monica Melancthon chosen as the Distinguished Alumni 2009 of LSTC

Dr. Monica Melancthon was chosen as the 2009 LSTC Distinguished Alumni by the Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago Alumni Board. She will be honored at a banquet at the seminary on February 10 and receive the Theological Education in the Global Church Award. Melancthon is the author of numerous articles in leading international journals. She serves on the Lutheran World Federation and other international organizations. Gurukul is proud of having her in its faculty as the Head of the Department of the Old Testament and professor of women's studies. Other recipients of the 2009 award are the Rev. Dr. Martin Marty, the Rev. Melody Eastman, and the Rev. Dr. Fred Strickert.

We congratulate Dr. Monica Melancthon on this great recognition by her alma mater.

Joseph Christopher's evaluation worship and sermon in Gurukul

Joseph Christopher conducted his evaluation worship and sermon on 12th Novemeber, 2008. Worship started with a beautiful invocation song led by N. Among Jamir. As prelude to worship Flute was played by Jacob Jebaraj. Daniel Thambiraj played the Key Board. The theme of the worship was "Unique Covenant for a New Life." The sermon was based on the text Jeremiah 31:31-34. The sermon was divided into four sections: A new loyalty and obedience, 2) A new family and community, 3) a new intimacy and access to God and, a new acceptance and freedom. The preacher tried to emphasis the newness of covenant in Jesus. We are living in the age of the new covenant and we we need to realize the newness of the Gospel in the life of the Church. Mr. Joseph Christopher Chitturi is a member of the AELC and we pray that God may bless his ministry abundantly.

Anjali Lama's Worship and Sermon

Anjali Lama conducted her B.D. evaluation worship and sermon in Gurukul chapel on Wednesday, November 5, 2008. The Nepali Invocation was sung by Dn. Aby paul. A Hindi song, written by Sonia John, composed by Sandeep Paramarth and sung by Alice Jose added flavour to the worship. The theme of the sermon was "Christ's Vision of Women as Apostles." There was a choreography on the theme by Sweety Helen. The text used was John 20: 11-18, the resurrected Jesus appearing to Mary Magdalene. The text was enacted by Sonia John, Daiju Joseph, Jeremiah and Belinda. Anjali included some additional material on the story from the Gospel of Thomas. The disciples rejection of witness by Mary was thus strongly communicated. The song, prayers, choreography, enactment made clear the theme. The sermon had two main points: 1) Restoring the vision of Christ by enabling women's agency 2) Restoring the vision of Christ to enable women to become apostles. She strengthened the sermon by narrating her personal experience as a woman in the Church and society. There was a rangoli (alpana) at the entrance of the chapel depicting the Chinese symbol of mutality, Yin-Yang, which conveyed the thrust of the sermon, as commented by the staff evaluator, Dr. Suneel Bhanu. The sermon was delivered with clarity and conviction. Anjali's reply to the comments from evaluators has been gracious. Anjali is a memebr of Independent Pentecostal Church, Kathmandu, Nepal. She has joined Gurukul as a B. Th. upgrader. She proved herself to be a good student and an able worship leader. We wish her ministry all success.

Jose P. Mathew's Worship and Sermon in Gurukul Chapel

Captain Jose P. Mathew, from the Salvation Army, India South Western (Kerala) region, now studying in Gurukul, conducted his evaluation worship and sermon on 29th October 2008. The invocation was led by Jose himself. During the invocation Salvation Army flag, representing victory and authority ( the colours of which symbolized Trinity: bluie - Creator, red - blood of Jesus, yellow -  the work of the Holy spirit), was elegantly carried by the young daughter of Jose. His wife, Alice, a good singer, led the Bhajan which was written by Jose himself and composed by John G. Varghese. It reflected the   theme of the sermon, prophetic mission of building a new community.

The sermon was based on the text, Ezekiel37: 1-10. Jose started his sermon with the story of Colonel Yesudasan, founder of the Salvation Army in Kerala, who brought new life to the marginalized and the downtrodden Dalits of Kerala. Jose P. Mathew lamented that instead of building a community, now the "spiritual mafia" is taking over the church, making the Church, a religion of the market, without any sense of  divine call or  clear vision. Ezekiel is an example of a prophet who had genuine call from God and a clear vision for  the society:  The "dry bones," he saw represented the pathetic situation of the people in the valley. Today the Churches are insensitive to the realities of the valley --  the injustice, poverty, violence against the dalits, women and the marginalized in society. Instead of a people oriented ministry what we have now is a " task oriented and tradition oriented ministry."  "Creating a new community out of dry bones is the mission of the Christians," he said. "Building community is not to convert people from other religions or bring people form other churches. "He quoted Mother Theresa who once told a journalist: I convert Hindus to be better Hindus, Muslims to be better Muslims, and Christians to be better Christians. Mission is liberating people form spiritual and physical bondage. Kingdom of heaven is the place of a liberated community. Jesus' sacrificial work on the cross was laying down his life for building a new community. Jose P. Mathew delivered the sermon in a  clear and convincing manner. He was confident  and proved himself  to be an efficient worship leader.

Jose and his wife  are  experienced ministers in the Salvation Army. Salvation Army always encourages team ministry of the whole family. We pray that Jose and his family would make  the minstry of the Salavation Army  much more effective in India.