During a conversation at the ASI Spring Fellowship, Merlin Fjarli from Medford, Ore., said that when they first went to India in October 2001, they could finance a church, built with the help of Maranatha volunteers, for between $3,500 and $10,000, depending on its size. Today, because of the strength of the rupee and increases in building material costs, a church seating 150 people would cost $5,000, a church seating 250 people would cost $7,500 and a church seating 400 people would cost $11,000.
While this is still a bargain by American standards, it is costing more to provide churches for our newly baptized brothers and sisters in India.
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ASI members JoAnn, son Bruce and Merlin Fjarli can't stop going back to India.
Featured in: June 2005
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