About The Missionary:
Rev. Ben Oliver was born in Karungal village of Kanyakumari district. His wife Ms. Jeba, supports them in the ministry. They have two sons Beno and Benin, Beno is a software engineer in Sutherland and Benin works at Madras Medical Mission. He accepted Jesus Christ as his Lord and Personal Savior in 1970. He gave himself to the Missionary work since 1973 he associated himself with Vishwavani an indigenous church planting movement serving in 23 States in India. He is actively involved in church planting for more than 30 years in southern part of Gujarat where the Vindhya Satpura hills are situated and ministering among the tribal people over there.
Rev. Ben Oliver was born in Karungal village of Kanyakumari district. His wife Ms. Jeba, supports them in the ministry. They have two sons Beno and Benin, Beno is a software engineer in Sutherland and Benin works at Madras Medical Mission. He accepted Jesus Christ as his Lord and Personal Savior in 1970. He gave himself to the Missionary work since 1973 he associated himself with Vishwavani an indigenous church planting movement serving in 23 States in India. He is actively involved in church planting for more than 30 years in southern part of Gujarat where the Vindhya Satpura hills are situated and ministering among the tribal people over there.
The Mission Field: Gujarat
Gujarat state came into existence as a separate State on 1st May 1960 in India.
The State is situated on the west coast of India. It is bounded by the Arabian Sea in the West, by the States of Rajasthan in the North and Northeast, by Madhya Pradesh in the East and by Maharashtra in the South and South East. The State has an international boundary and has a common border with the Pakistan at the northwestern fringe.
The two deserts, one north of Kachchh and the other between Kachchh and the mainland Gujarat are saline wastes. The State has a long coastline of about 1600 kms. And is the longest among all States of country. For the purpose of administration, Gujarat State at present comprises of 25 districts, sub-divided into 226 talukas, having 18618 villages and 242 towns. Gujarat has geographical area of 1.96 lakh sq. kms. and accounts for 6.19 percent of the total area of the country.
The People of the Mission Field:
The tribals of Gujarat are found concentrated in the south-eastern part of Gujarat particularly in the district of Panchmahals, Surat, Baroda, and Broach. The main tribal groups are the Bhils, the Dublas, the Naika-Narkdas, the Gamits and the Dhankas. The other tribal groups are Chowdary, Hookanah, Varli, Vasava and Kottuvaliya.
Their Profession:
Their Religion and Lifestyle:
This people practice Animism and another strange practice is they Stripe the new born babe with heated iron rods over the stomach and over the forehead in order to protect the child from death. They are highly superstitious and Idol worshippers. They also have the practice of witchcraft and Black Magic. They have less commitment to moral chastity and discipline They consume alcohol to a larger extent, women and children consuming liquor is most common. They are unhygenic and women are more prone to utreus related diseases. They are good dancers and Singers.
The Mission Work:
Rev. Oliver work was mostly with the foresaid tribal groups of Gujarat. Home visit is the first step they adapt to make a contact with the people the missionaries then listen very carefully to the problems and pray for them with lot of concern. The lord immediately responds to the particular problem or the sick is healed miraculously after the prayer. This many times draws attention of the people and draws them to Christ. He narrated an interesting incident, they (missionaries) prayed for a sick cow the Lord heard and the cow was healed and the particular villagers accepted Christ.
Ha added that after accepting Christ the tribal people were blessed with healing, they had abundance in their harvest and settled all their loans. Since they are healed through the precious blood of Jesus, they now have no necessity of going to the Witch crafts/ magicians. They are now neatly dressed, healthy and Hygienic. On their changed lifestyle because of Christ in them attracted masses towards Christ.
Missionaries come across lot of resistance from the locals sometimes, which go till the extent of destruction of the churches in Vad and Thaduada in 1999. They overcome this through the love of Christ and the tolerence, which God had given.
He says to win souls of tribal people for Christ we must…
Believe them
Love them
Eat what they give
To be one among them and win their confidence
Rev. Oliver now occupies a senior position in Vishwavani and requested us to pray for the Bhils in particular who are more than 1 crore in population in that area. Added to that he says there are more than 100 Crore people whom the Gospel of Jesus Christ have to be preached and many are required to do this ministry. He says Jesus Christ is the guiding force of his ministry, he guided him, showed him the people and had did every thing, he simply preached and prayed for the people and Jesus Christ did mighty and miraculous things transforming the lives of the tribal people there.
