Though majority of the people of North Sumatra province are Christian, it is not a guarantee that the pastors and congregation there will have decent church buildings. Indeed, many are still struggling with their minimal church building, and they face difficulties to renovate due to financial limitation. The good news is Anugrah Ministries in the year of 2017 will prioritize Church MakeOver (CMO) program more for the churches that have been connected in her network.
One of them is GPdI Cinta Raja, under the leadership of Ps. Yefta Gidion Sitorus, with his wife, Elisabeth Pasaribu. They have been dreaming to renovate their church building, but until now they could not come up with the funds, since almost 97% of their congregation are traditional farmers with minimal income. GPdI Cinta Raja has joined in the network of Anugrah since the year 2014. They are very joyful to find out that Anugrah Ministries has appointed their church as her 42nd CMO project.
GPdI Cinta Raja is located at Cinta Raja Sub Village, Tanjung Pasir Village, Tanah Jawa District, Simalungun Region, North Sumatra Province. GPdI Cinta Raja was established as a result of unintentional meeting in 1986 between the late Ps. Simon Sitorus – at that time pastor of GPdI Panambean (about 4 km from Cinta Raja Sub Village) with the late Ps. Polycarpus Sormin who was born and raised in Cinta Raja Sub Village but served God in Jakarta.
The late Ps. Polycarpus Sormin requested the late Ps. Simon Sitorus to lead his parents who lived in Cinta Raja Sub Village to accept Christ. He agreed, and they did. After that they decided to congregate at the late Ps. Simon Sitorus’ church. Because the distance between church and their home was so far away, they decided some months later to give a piece of land (measuring 20x30m) to the church. It was on 29th December 1986, hoping that a church building could be built there, so they would not have to travel so far afterwards.
In the beginning of 1987, they started building the church building (measuring 9x14m), though at that time organisationally it was only considered as mission post (not yet an official church) under GPdI Panambean for 10 years. When Ps. Simon Sitorus’ health decreased, he handed this mission post to his son, Ps. Yefta Gidion Sitorus. For 3 years, Ps. Yefta Gidion Sitorus was ministering there. Finally in 2007, this mission post which consisted of 15 families, was officiated as a church: GPdI Cinta Raja, with Ps. Yefta Gidion Sitorus as the pastor until now.
Thursday, 2nd February 2017, the struggle of the pastor and congregation of GPdI Cinta Raja about the renovation of their church building ended. Anugrah Team was there to start the 42nd project of CMO. Joy was in the heart of everybody who came, evident in the smile on their faces. The event started with a short service, continued with the signing of MOU (Memo of Understanding) beween Anugrah Ministries and GPdI Cinta Raja, then we symbolically changed the ceiling.
These are the things that we will do at CMO 42:
1. On the Church Building: Change the Ceiling, Change the Front Porch, Change the Roof, Change the Doors and Windows, Repaint.
2. On the Pastoral Home: Change the Roof, Change the Ceiling, Add a Bathroom, Renovate the Kitchen, Add 1 Bedroom.
Thanks to the partners of Anugrah who have been supporting us faithfully, so up to today we can still carry out the CMO program without much hindrances. Please pray for us so the 42nd project of CMO can be done smoothly and accordingly. If any of you are burdened to support our next CMO projects, please contact us at [email protected] or +6281977435763. Thank you and God bless you!
This post is also available in: Indonesian
