MERCY HOME INDIA is a home for orphans, the destitute, elderly widows, and the handicapped.

My wife Grace and I began our small orphanage ministry by God’s command on November 11, 2000, with seven poor orphan children whom we found fighting and eating food from garbage cans. Our hearts were touched! We wept and cried for the Lord to help us save these starving precious children from the streets! Our orphanage, Mercy Home India, has grown to 43 children (22 girls and 21 boys). Many of them have been saved, with the help of police, from child molestation, abuse, prostitution, slavery, and begging on the streets. Some of the children are from the tribal villages. Their parents died due to lack of medical facilities, black magic, HIV/AIDS, drinking country alcohol, and even snake bites. Besides the orphans entrusted to our care, the Lord has blessed Grace and me with two biological sons.

Grace and I go door to door for alms, gathering food and collecting used clothing from the villagers and neighboring villages. We also pray for them for healing and deliverance and preach the good news of Jesus Christ and His love for these underprivileged children. They give small offerings and sometimes leftover food after weddings or birthday parties. A few are able to bless the orphanage with money. We live by faith and with strong prayers like our great leader, Bro. George Muller, who is my inspiration! God is good all the time!

We sold our belongings, gold, and jewelry to care for the orphan children and pay for their schooling, food, clothing, and renting a home to house them. We know that our wealth has no value in God’s sight and no value in heaven. Our Lord Jesus preserves our treasures in heaven for doing His kingdom work. Amen!

Apart from caring for the orphans, we feed and take care of 20 aged women and 20 widows who sleep on the streets and at bus and train stations on cold floors. Some of them were forced out of their homes by their children when they became a burden due to poverty. Some never had children. We are able to give them food but cannot provide shelter as we lack funds to do so, and our orphanage is in a rented building, sufficient only for the children. We registered with the Government as a volunteer organization in 2007. Kindly pray for a permanent building for the orphan children and aged widows where they can live together, as presently we are paying all of our money for rent. The widows also need the blessing of self-employment—sewing machines and material—so they can be saved from prostitution.

Going out to ask for alms and food for the children takes up most of my time and energy. If we had more support, I could go out to minister the Word of God to unreached tribal villages who have never heard about our Lord Jesus Christ. They do not know the real God, the Creator. These people believe in man-made graven images. They worship the creation instead of the Creator, believe in black magic, and worship dead spirits. I fight with the village elders as I reveal the Truth from the Word of the Living God, just as the apostle Paul did with the heathen (Acts 17). These tribal jungle people have never had a church, and they are far away from civilization. I have been able to win some souls, and we built two small churches in two different villages and have another one under construction, awaiting funds for flooring and a roof. The tribal villages are in need of church planting, Bibles, preachers, and evangelists who can help them understand the Word.

I chose 30 men and taught and trained them to equip them as pastors and disciples of Jesus Christ. They were appointed as tribal pastors so they could carry out the work of God in my absence and help me win souls for the kingdom. To God be the glory for using me as His vessel for His kingdom work! Hallelujah! However, these poor pastors need financial support to care for their families, and they are in great need of transportation (motorcycles, cars, or gospel vans), as well as Bibles for distribution, gas lights, and sound systems, so they can do the work of God and win souls. Hundreds and even thousands of souls are being brought to Jesus in many tribal villages and are receiving the Light of God, coming out of darkness and accepting Jesus as their personal Savior, and getting baptized in His mighty name. Glory to God! Pray that India will turn to Jesus!

We need other missionaries to come visit us and strengthen us spiritually. In India, only 2% of the population are converted Christians. 98% are Hindus, heathens, Muslims, Buddhists, Jains, and Sikhs. I am greatly in need of prayers and support to reach these people with the truth of God through Jesus Christ.

In April 2012, my wife and I, along with five pastors, were arrested on trumped up charges by the Hindus, who dislike Jesus Christ and Christianity. I was in jail until June 2012, and the pastors were in jail until August 2012. This did not dampen our zeal to spread the gospel, because the devil cannot defeat our faith in Jesus. We believe Jesus has already won the victory against the devil and evil spirits. However, many Christians of different denominations are rejecting us for teaching the truth of accepting Jesus Christ as personal Savior.

Our ministry of caring for widows, orphans, the aged, handicapped, and homeless in the name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ is based on the Lord’s commands in Exodus 22:22–24 and Matthew 25:34–40.

Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, to visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world (James 1:27).

And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, all power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world. Amen (Matthew 28:18–20).

When they had finished eating, Jesus said to Simon Peter, "Simon son of John, do you love me more than these?" "Yes, Lord," he said, "you know that I love you." Jesus said, "Feed my lambs." (John 21:15).

Bro. Ravi and Grace Lanka do gospel and social work in the East Godavari District, A. P. of South India with orphans, widows, the aged, and the homeless. They are converted Christians belonging to the outcast tribe known as the Dalite community. They were cast out of their home and village when they accepted Jesus as their Savior, instead of worshiping their forefathers’ religion (the Hindu gods and creation). The Lanka's email address is mercyhomeministries@gmail.com.