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The strength of the Bible Society of India lies in our wide network of volunteers. BSI volunteers work tirelessly, alongside our Auxiliaries, to advance the Bible Cause.

The Church Relations and Resource Mobilization Department (CRRMD) conducted five Zonal workshops to build the capacities of BSI Volunteers and Staff in advancing the Bible Cause. “We decided to hold these Zonal Workshops for training our Volunteers and Staff once in 4 years. And so, we conducted the workshops in 2010 and 2014. These workshops have helped strengthen BIS-Church relationships and move further towards financial viability”, says Dr. Miss Leelavathi Manasseh, Sr. Director, CRRMD.

The five zonal workshops were held in

• Kolkata (Eastern Zone) on April 4-7
• Dalhousie (Northern Zone) on April 16-19
• Shillong (North Eastern Zone) on April 23-26
• Chennai (Southern Zone) on May 4-7;
• Ahmedabad (Central Zone) on May 15-18

The theme for 2018 Training Workshops was: “Reformation: Islands of Excellence in the midst of creative challenges”. Besides Dr. E. Leelavathi Manasseh, Rev. Sudhakara Raju, Mrs. Mridula Kumar, Auxiliary Secretaries and other local church leaders were the Resource Persons who facilitated the Training Workshop.

About two hundred participants from across India attended these workshops. The workshops helped the participants to look at various commonalities, uniqueness, capacity building, networking and partnership opportunities to understand the creative challenges and work towards furthering the Bible Cause. The other topics at these workshops included Understanding People, Resource Mobilization, Empowerment of Children, Young People and Adults through Bible/Scripture Engagement Projects. The workshops were Bible-based, Christ-center, Church-People oriented and spiritually uplifting.

The BSI has a large network of supporters and volunteers spread across the country through 16 Auxiliaries. The workshops also encouraged the various Auxiliaries to work together for advancing the Bible cause. Many participants expressed the feeling that the coming together of so many volunteers at the Zonal level was in itself a great inspiration to effectively work together for advancing the Bible Cause. Many volunteers who work alongside the BSI Auxiliaries admitted, “Ministry among People of all Age Groups will definitely bring Money for the Bible work/ministry, as this is doing God’s work in God’s amazing ways for God’s glory alone”

The Auxiliaries and their volunteers were motivated to make a district-wise mapping to identify Churches and People for Ministry. Innovation, Flexibility, Experiential and Participatory learning added value to the teaching-learning process and made the workshop very effective and fruitful. All the participants were blessed by the sessions and participated enthusiastically in the small group discussions.

Dr. Miss Leela Manasseh expressed her thanks and gratitude to Rev Dr M Mani Chacko, General Secretary, Bible Society of India, the Auxiliary Secretaries and the host organizing teams for the success of the workshops. “Men and Women will do together what we cannot do separately, drawing children, young people and adults closer to God and to People through the Word of God, using relevant approaches during 2018 May-2022 April!”, says Dr. Miss Leela Manasseh, with a smile of confidence.

We hope and pray that God continues to bless the efforts of CRRMD and that each BSI Auxiliary would be able to advance the Bible cause in the midst of challenges.