Bombay is a fantastic place! One of the fastest growing cities in the world, it is a bewildering, overcrowded city of amazing contrast. Some of the largest slums in the world exist right alongside huge new multistory developments and though poverty rages, property sells by the square foot at some of the highest rates in the world. The urban area of Bombay, according to UN statistics, is the fourth largest in the world with 17.4 million people.

Since the mid-1990s, I have worked with New Life Church in Bombay to help develop their already successful ministry. Pastor Joseph and the team of New Life leaders have a remarkable church and one of the fastest growing works in India.

In 2000, when Bev and I launched out in faith to plant churches in South Asia, I began working with New Life to help them expand their ministry. I've spoken to their leaders frequently and ministered in many of their congregations, but our most significant contribution was the introduction of the principle of twelve to their leadership team. I clearly remember the first time I spoke to Pastor Joseph's men and described the powerful strategy of reaching multitudes through discipleship. They already had a successful work and they were skeptical about re-organizing their ministry. A year later, Pastor Colin Dye from Kensington Temple in London sponsored a very effective conference for Pastor Joseph's church in Bombay, where he presented the framework for the principle of twelve.

Pastor Joseph recently wrote an article for Pastor Colin's magazine describing the effects of their transition to the principle of twelve. Excerpts from that letter follow:

We launched into the new Millennium 2000 as one of the fastest growing churches in Mumbai and India. We at New Life Fellowship were very good at winning the lost, but the principle of twelve took the passion for souls from only a few specialized soul winners and released the entire congregation to become a spiritually hungry army for souls.

I thank the Lord Jesus for the London City Church, Kensington Temple and especially pastor Colin Dye and his dedicated team of leaders who invested their valuable resources to help us understand the importance of the principle of twelve as demonstrated by Lord Jesus through His 12 Apostles.

At this time we cannot but also mention the valuable partnership that we enjoy with Pastor Larry Stockstill and his church Bethany World Prayer Center in encouraging us to pursue the vision and enabling us to do so in more ways than one.

Pastor Rick Zachary has been a tremendous blessing to the movement of New Life Fellowship and his contribution is immensely precious to us as he endeavored tirelessly in our journey of new discoveries of the strategies involving the vision. I thank God for these beautiful streams that have flowed into us and brought along with it life, vitality and energy that is now sweeping over every nook and cranny of Mumbai.

The Lord Jesus started His earthly ministry with 12 men from different walks of life. They had no background to qualify them to be in the special 12 that the Lord Jesus was grooming up to carry on with His earthly ministry. The success story of Jesus' ministry gives hope to people from every walk of life, like you and me, that God is no respecter of persons. You just follow His divine principles and they produce results. Where New Life Fellowship is today is the “Faith Proof” of these biblical principles being true and are there for the taking for everyone who would dare. I believe that the most effective ministry model in the world is the one demonstrated by the Lord Jesus Himself and the principle of twelve has come very close to imitating that model.

Pastor S. Joseph, New Life Fellowship - India

Since the year 2000, with your partnership and with the help of Bethany World Prayer Center, Beverly and I have been able to channel $172,150 to New Life Church . That investment has helped them to complete a ministry headquarter building, establish 171 new congregations and add 14,000 new believers! The total weekly attendance of New Life in Bombay is 23,114. In this year alone, 200 new cell groups have been launched, 17 new congregations have been planted, and 1,639 new believers have been added.

Thank you for all you have done to partner with us in reaching the multitudes of Bombay.