Maranatha has maintained a concerted effort in India for more than 25 years– providing church buildings, clean water, and educational facilities–and the trend continues in 2025. Three churches are currently under construction in the states of Tamil Nadu and Meghalaya. The water well team is maintaining existing wells across the country and drilling in Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Tripura, and Mizoram. They’ve drilled 14 wells so far this year. Crews are also making progress on this year’s largest project in India: the expansion of Pine Hill Adventist Academy.
“While the Adventist Church has seen significant growth over the past 25 years, the need remains greater than ever,” said Maranatha’s country director for India, Vinish Wilson. “There is much work to be done in establishing churches and schools across the country for the ever-growing membership. The Lord’s work has its own challenges, but He leads us in the right direction.”
In addition to work by Maranatha’s local construction crews, a team of volunteers laid brick walls for the Umbir Seventh-day Adventist Church building in February. This was an open team project, full of people from all over the United States. They completed walls for the sanctuary and a bathroom. Since then, Maranatha crew members have added stucco, doors, and windows. Additionally, volunteers on Multiple Group Project (Maranatha’s trip for small groups) are currently building the Rongsathal Adventist Church.
Most water well projects in India involve drilling by a rig or even by hand. But in February Maranatha employed a different method to bring water to the Upper Rajasimla community. The village relied on a rain-fed stream that was located up a steep hill. Getting to and from their water source was challenging. So the water crew helped them install a pipeline that uses gravity to carry water from the stream down to a tank in the village.
Progress is also being made on the Elementary Education Center (EEC) Maranatha is building for Pine Hill Adventist Academy. Crews have completed the structure’s foundation and frame, and begun laying its brick walls. Pine Hill serves 350 students, grades kindergarten through ten. Thirty-five of these children are refugees from the civil war in neighboring Myanmar. The EEC will include ten classrooms surrounding a large auditorium. Additional learning space will allow the school to enroll hundreds more students, giving more kids a quality, Christian education.
Maranatha’s first project in India was in 1988. But the big push for mission trips to India began in 1998, when we opened offices in the country. Since then, Maranatha has steadily worked with the Seventh-day Adventist Church in India to complete more than 3,000 projects.