Our Story

Somewhere in the late 1990s our founders drove past the sleepy town of Rudrapur, on the bustling highway to Nainital from New Delhi. They appreciated the verdant paddy, wheat, and sugarcane fields in vast spaces as far as the eye could see. This would raise a question about the spiritual health of the city and would steer them to stop by there often to inquire if there was anyone reaching out to thousands of people that were moving into the city of Rudrapur and its rapidly altering its landscape. As soon as Uttarakhand was declared a recently established state in the union of India in 2000, Rudrapur city become the hub of industrial growth and the gateway to the magnificent Kumaon region of this Himalayan state. The state government provided a tax-free zone initially to draw newer industries that helped develop the region. This resulted in hundreds of small as well as big companies such Tata, Reliance, and Bajaj establishing large factories in the area. This soon catapulted the dull, insignificant town of Rudrapur into an ever expanding city bustling with various activities, as the city population swelled and boom in the real-estate sector became a reality. Since our founders did not find many people trying to reach out with the gospel message to the previous residents as well as the newcomers moving into the city, they prayed about it, and the Lord very clearly provided us with a vision to move into the city for the sake of his Kingdom. When we obeyed God and began ministering here, completely depending on him, the Lord started pouring his blessings upon Karuna.

He made it a channel of His compassion and blessings to the local people. However, before long, the leaders fell into a dry spell, and thoughts of discouragement overtook us, as we did not receive any fruits in the very hardened soil of this place. The enemy convinced them to leave. They literally wandered around seeking other places to minister, but finally got exhausted. However, according to his promise, God did not forsake them, as He shepherded them back to Rudrapur. He had tremendous plans for Karuna, but we were people of little faith who did not rely on him completely for what He had kept in store for us. As soon as we moved back, relying on Him alone, the Lord produced a breakthrough in the ministry and, as goes the saying, the rest is history. We have never looked back, as by God’s grace we were enabled to plant a growing church in the city, as well as dozens of house churches in the neighboring villages. Discerning the need of training new believers in discipleship, evangelism, and church planting, God has enabled us to start the Karuna Bible Institute to prepare young believers to reach their own people. The needs of impoverished children in our neighborhood prompted us to start the St. John public school which educates children with biblical values through English as a medium. Therefore, God is using us puny mortals for his resplendent glory and the expansion of his Kingdom in this lovely part of his world. Come, be part of our continuing story….

Founding Directors

Dr. Vinod John and Mrs. Eveline John, both hail from the North Indian region. They are highly educated and experienced educators. Dr. John is also a published author. You may order his book listed below. They believe in identifying native men and women who are already well-versed in their language and local culture, and training and deploying them with leadership skills. Vinod and Eveline are motivated individuals with a passion to reach needy people in word and deed. Their vision for this region is to educate children with English education, elevate poverty through income-generation projects, pioneer evangelism, and plant churches in villages and towns where there is none. They are also available to minister either virtually or in person at your congregation, missions committee, mission/evangelism conference, or youth groups. Since Dr. John is a trained missiologist, with over 25 years of cross-cultural experience, he’s also available to consult and train international mission/vision trips of your church/organization.

Latest Book by Dr. Vinod John

This is a thought provoking contribution to missiology. If you would like to order a paperback, please email: karuna.compassion [at] gmail.com. For Ebook/Kindle version, see below:

Buy an E-book from Amazon and start reading now by clicking on the picture below: