THE HISTORY OF THE CHURCH

Beginning: The Church of the Nazarene Hadapsar was established more than forty-five years ago. At that time, the Western Maharashtra district of the Nazarene church did not exist, but the mission had just begun in this area. Some families migrated to the Hadapsar, Pune area for their livelihood. These families belonged to the Nazarene church in Vidarbha.

Service of Rev Sane: They did not merge with other churches but started their fellowship to keep their faith intact. At the same time, Rev Sane was engaged in church planting ministry under the leadership of Rev B.A. Greer and Paula Greer. When they learned about Rev Sane, they joined him, and the tiny church was established.

Rev. Sane served the church long before transferring to another mission field. At this time, the Western Maharashtra district was well-established. Rev. Diwakar Wankhed functioned as a district superintendent after Rev. Ingale’s successful leadership. He gave Rev Paulas Pawar the responsibility for this church.

Service of Pastor Yadav Dondagerdive: After Rev Sane for a short period, Pastor Yadav Dongardive served this church.

Service of Rev Paulas Pawar: Rev Paulas Pawar served this church for almost twenty years, during which time he studied theology at UBS Pune. In those four years, pastor Vijay Kakade served this church. After completing his theological studies, Rev Paulas Pawar took over the responsibility of this church again. But in 2015, District Superintendent Rev Sanjay Gaikawad transferred him to the Church of the Nazarene of the Wanawari Church. He has given this church’s responsibility to Rev Kailas (Alisha) Sathe.

Service of Rev Kailas (Alisha) Sathe: When Rev Kailas (Alisha) Sathe (I) took over this church, it had only three families. This church has experienced many ups and downs, but these families faithfully became its backbone. Because of these families’ faithfulness, this church survived as a house church group for almost thirty-five years.

Purchasing the Land: I was at UBS, completing the final year of my theological degree (BD) when I took over. But I was trying hard to be like a full-time pastor because I wanted to see this church grow. God heard my prayers, and this church has grown. I did many missional experiments to see this church’s spiritual and numerical growth.
In 2019, the India field coordinator, Rev Dr Sunil Dandge Sir, and the district management committee coordinator, Rev Peter George, took a stand for this church. Because of the grace of God, I got their support, and I successfully purchased land for this church.

A church hall with sheet metal: The next day, after purchasing the land, I started building a church hall with sheet metal, and it was ready in fifteen days. The church’s families were thrilled. They reacted, “We were waiting for thirty-five years to see this, and because of the grace of God, our dream has been fulfilled”.
It was Easter Sunday, 21/4/2019. We inaugurated this church with Mr Bhaskar Salvi, the eighty-five-year elder of this church. We enjoyed the blessing of God a lot.

Mr Bhaskar Salvi Uncle cried while expressing his thoughts on the inauguration program. In his address, he told me, “Pastor, you have fulfilled our dream, but before I die, I want to see the two-story building of our church.”
It was a massive challenge for me. I wondered how it would be possible, but I prayed for a new two-story church building. The words of Mr Bhaskar Salvi’s uncle inspired me a lot. In the very fellowship of the church, we used to pray for new buildings.

Groundbreaking ceremony of new Church Building: I applied for a church building fund. I have prayerfully submitted all documents to Rev Peter George and Rev Dr Sunil Dandge Sir to get funds from the Alabaster building fund. The church was earnestly praying for a new church building. All procedures were completed, and Rev Dr Sunil Dandge Sir, District Superintendent Rev Manohar Pawar, and the district advisory board visited the church. We planned everything, and after that, we got the building fund from the Alabaster building fund. On 1 February 2021, we did a groundbreaking ceremony by Rev Dr Sunil Dandge Sir. Rev Manohar Pawar (D.S) and all DAB members attended this event.

New Church Building and pandemic period: It was the pandemic period when our church-building work started. During the lockdown, I used to come every day to church-building sites to supervise it. People were dying daily like anything due to the pandemic; my wife and I were on a mission to help people in various ways. Days were terrible, but God took care of everything; our church-building work was going on without hindrances. God took care of my family and the entire church. Because of his grace, we all were saved from the pandemic.

Revival in the church: God again heard our prayers, and within a year, he gave us a new two-story building. Our district superintendent, Rev Manohar Pawar, greatly supported me during this period. He and a DAB member, Rev Paulas Pawar, used to visit the church building site. They used to encourage me. At the end of the church building, we had a shortage of money—almost more than five lakh rupees. I tried to raise funds from various resources then, but we did not get a single rupee. But God inspired the church to take over the remaining work. All the families of the church contributed generously. Some members of the Salvation Army church always stand with me. Mr Ratnakar Kharat’s family has always supported me. Salvi family and Mistry family contributed generously. Salvi’s family took the burden of church painting and completed it. Wanwadi church gave us 25000 rupees, functioning under the leadership of Rev. Paulas Pawar. I must say that God had given his grace upon grace to complete the work of our church in a short time. Zechariah 4:6: “This is the word of the LORD to Zerubbabel: ‘Not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit,’ Says the LORD of hosts”.

Rev Kailas (Alisha) Sathe.