Demolition Day!

Chembur Church Rebuild - Mumbai, India

After years of praying, we just received a report that a construction team in India has finally started work on the Chembur Church Rebuild project!

Around 12 years ago, the city of Mumbai declared the structure of the Chembur church unsafe. Neither the local congregation nor the Section could afford the repairs needed, so the church closed down. Seeing the building was unused, the neighbors started storing their junk in the entryway. Until now, the Chembur church members and Bible Workers have had no church to call their own and have been meeting in renting buildings.

Jon and Natalie Wood, Jesus for Asia Co-founders, first visited this church in 2011 and learned it was condemned a few years later. Some of our team visited in 2019, and their hearts broke when they saw the church’s deplorable condition. They knew JFA had to do something to help.

The inside of the church when our team visited in 2019

Check out the difference between the church in 2011 and 2019

The doors of this beautiful church were shut and barred.

Mumbai is one of the world’s largest cities, and most of the churches there are in the outskirts. The Chembur church property is in one of Mumbai’s major suburbs, within the urban sprawl of the city. God gave us a dream to rebuild the church and create a center of influence so that the building could be used for community outreach.

We started praying, aired a show about the need, and sent out newsletters. Through God’s grace, many of you have given your prayers and support to this project. But we hit roadblock after roadblock: COVID-19, contractor issues, permitting issues, and more.

Finally, God has opened the way for this project to start! The construction team has begun demo-ing the old building. The photos show how dangerously weak the steel beams had become.

The steel beams have visible holes in them. 
Click here to see short video clips showing more of the demo.

All the old furniture from the building

We are so excited to share this update with you and request your prayers for this project as it continues.

If God inspires you to help repair or rebuild other worn-down or damaged churches in India, please click the button below.