Background Information

Lian and Clara returned to Manipur, in northeast India, after graduating from Covenant Theological Seminary in 2001 with a M. Div. In December 2001 Lian was ordained, and served as a pastor at Mualkoi Presbyterian Church, the church where he and Clara grew up. In December 2004, Lian was elected by the General Assembly as Coordinator (Ministries & Missions) and serves the Lord faithfully by visiting churches, meeting and training pastors, elders, and deacons.

Lian and Clara are very much committed to the care and Christian education of the many orphans in their area. An orphanage called Covenant Children's Home was stared in January 2002 with 15 orphans. The ground floor of this orphanage was completed in December 2004. Lian, Clara, their three daughters and 260 orphans are living in the Home at this time. More than 400 orphans have applied to live there. 

In order to give education to these orphans, a Christian school named Covenant School was started in 2004 with 200 students. Now the school has more than 700 students. The student community here comprised of the orphans, children from the surrounding community which included many Hindus and Muslims. Thus, Covenant School serves as a centre for reaching out both the non-Christian students and their parents.

Lian is also heavily involved in translation work. Working with Reformed Bible Institute, he has assisted with the translation of the Westminster Standards, books on Reformed Theology and Presbyterianism. These books are used to train church officers and lay leaders of the Presbyterian Church in India.

 Lian and Clara grew up in the same village. Both of them were brought up in Christian homes, regularly attending Sunday School. They have been close friends since childhood, and have often shared with each other their desires to serve God according to their gifts and capacities.

Clara had also received an M.A. degree in 1995, an M.A. in Economics from the North-East Hill University. The civil war of 1997 opened her heart to be the mother of hundreds of children whose parents were killed in the war.

 

In 1998, Lian and his childhood friend, Clara, got married. God gave them three daughters, Abigail (February 19, 2000), Zoulian (March 2, 2002), and Khumi (July 1, 2006). Lian and Clara came to study at Covenant Theological Seminary in 1999.

 

Lian oversees Covenant School, the Home, Church Planting, and projects. Clara is the Director at the Covenant Children's Home in India. Presently, there are 300 orphans at Covenant Children's Home, and more than 300 orphans in the waiting list. They are orphaned by the above-mentioned civil war and by parents who have died of drug addiction and AIDS. Churachandpur, Manipur, is a district plagued with civil wars, drugs and prostitution -- all of which exact a heavy toll on the population. This district is also on the trade route of drugs from the Golden Triangle in Myanmar to India. The percentage of drug addicts and people infected with AIDS is the highest in India. These two factors multiply orphans day after day.