Life Light Schools
Life Light Ministries runs two schools with over 1,200 students. They are preschool – 10th grade, and are government-recognized. Our schools are part of an Association of Christian Schools in India. However, to keep our accreditation according to government regulations, the schools are registered as English schools, and teach Christianity through a moral education curriculum.
This has given us the opportunity to reach and pray for thousands of families. These families allow us to pray with them and share Jesus with them because we have proved ourselves faithful and effective educators. Our schools also generate additional income for the ministry.
All schools in India are tuition-based, so we are able to charge $12 per month as tuition for each child. This helps us pay for all our school expenses. Any additional profit is used for ministry work. This is a long-term solution for the ministry’s self-supporting financial needs. There are now more than 100 people working as teaching and non-teaching staff members. The schools have become our Life Light identity in the community. This is important since the word “missionary” has negative connotations in the culture.
Many Indians are skeptical of Christian activities because they want to preserve traditional Indian cultural. Being an educational institution helps us reach the segment of society that usually becomes defensive if approached by other Christian groups. Life Light has the advantage of being a contributor to the society; this has opened many doors to minister and share the Good News. The school is also an effective tool for pre-evangelism to the thousands of students that graduated from this institution. They have been exposed to the attributes of God in their morality class as they examined principles of Christian living through studying parables and stories of Jesus in the Bible. Non-Christian teachers and students have been open to this method; as it is not forcing Christianity upon anyone.
Many times, parent’s of our students or our ex-students have connections to government offices, which help us get the government permissions that we need. This is to say that Life Light, as a Para-church organization, and its relationship with society over the years, has become ideal in every sense. We are not only able to be the “salt” and the “light” in the community, but we are working with every section of society to be a positive agent of change.
With this identity, we are no longer viewed as a threat but as an organization that is an important part of society. Because of this, we have been able to expand our ministry in health care, HIV prevention, and positive motivation for those who are living their lives with HIV. We are also involved in Bible correspondence courses, primarily for seekers and new converts, and for teaching “seed faith” principles to Christians.