Before there was a fellowship, there was a group of local and expat Christians that were reaching out to impoverished children in an urban poor community. Their intentions were to spend time with these children and their families and eventually see a body of Christians meeting regularly in this community. But before that could happen, there was a lot of love that needed to be poured out and trust needed to be developed.

One year this group received backpacks from an overseas organization to give out to the children. The backpacks had hygiene and school materials for the kids. There was also a cartoon book that told the story of Jesus in the local language. They knew that there was a risk in handing out Christian literature, but they wanted to be wisely bold. A few days after giving out the backpacks the police came. They wanted to know about books that were given to the children. The Christian workers were also specifically told that they were not to pray with or evangelize to the children and the families. The police recorded the local workers personal information and kept close track of their activities. The police visited the children’s homes wanting to know about the backpack and more specifically the book that the children received. The workers in this area continued to pray with the children and eventually started to share Bible stories again despite the consequences that could come their way.