Cross Rhythms India

At a strategically significant time in the history of India, Cross Rhythms is now poised to help local churches in a major Indian city to establish an FM community radio station, undergirded by Christian values - the first of it's kind in the whole nation!

At a time when the battle for young Indian hearts and minds is moving into a new phase, Cross Rhythms is now being raised up to provide a media alternative.

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Children and Young People of Warangal

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Jonathan Bellamy Preaching at Rev Hanama Naik's Church on Sunday Morning

Warangal is a city of 600,000 people, in the state of Andhra Pradesh, in South East India. More than 60% of the population is under the poverty line and the average life expectancy for a man is only about 55. Incredibly 85% of the population in the Warangal region still lives in rural villages. 90% of people are Hindu and Christians make up about 4% of the population.

Culturally India is poised in a significant transition, as the traditional Hindu culture is being challenged by a growing economy and the resulting western influence and values that is pouring in. Materialism is taking a stronger hold and the nation is rapidly being shaped through new technology, particularly mobiles and internet. Western entertainment, Hollywood, high profile sports (India has just held it's first F1 Grand Prix), and the flood of western contemporary music artists is increasingly shaping the minds and hearts in the nation. In particular it is arresting the emerging youth generation. For the first time Christian church youth leaders are experience young people walking away from their churches.

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The Cross Rhythms Warangal Board and Visionary

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Hindu Worship

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Street Life and the People of Warangal

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People's Small Businesses In Warangal

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Jon Speaking With Christian Youth

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Meeting Leaders In Warangal

Similar to our UK model of community radio, Cross Rhythms Warangal will provide programmes and content that will serve and help the people of the region. The main areas of need will require programming on health issues, farming and agriculture, and education. Many girls still do not get much education because they are required to help at home; in the last 16 years more than 250,000 farmers have committed suicide in India; and diseases such as leprosy, malaria, dengue fever, elaphantiatis, typhoid, cholera and others take the lives of many.

Cross Rhythms Warangal will help meet the needs of local people through quality programming, produced and delivered by the local Christian community. In addition local leaders and young people will offer spiritual content to express the heart of Christ for the people, as the motivation behind this station.

A significant focus for the station will be to deliver a mix of the contemporary Christian music from the Cross Rhythms playlist along with a mix of contemporary Indian Christian artists. This will help the station sound relevant for the emerging younger generation. Discussions to partner with local youth leaders to deliver city wide youth events, by bringing in top music artists, are already underway.

Cross Rhythms CEO Jonathan Bellamy visited Warangal in November 2011 and had a very successful series of meetings. Jonathan shares: "incredibly the churches in Warangal have been praying for Christian community radio for three years, and see Cross Rhythms as the answer to their prayers. The calibre of local church leaders who are supportive of this vision is very encouraging. One church has 2000 members and 120 associated churches; another has 60 associated churches and the leader heads up the group Churches Together In Warangal, regularly bringing together more than 70 leaders to pray for the city and to walk in unity. Other leaders have seen their part of the city grow to 70% Christian, and the vision for youth in the area is humbling. One group of 15 leaders have been praying for the local youth for 30 years and have personally baptised more than 13,500 young people themselves as they have gone out to find them in the Warangal villages.

"It does seem that God is now leading Cross Rhythms to deliver our unique wineskin of community radio to connect in and serve the work of God in this city. Community radio is also at a very early stage in India and the potential for more such stations in the nation is strong. Perhaps this first station will be the prototype for others. The potential is certainly there. We even talked with a veteran community radio consultant who believed that our model of partnership would indeed be empowered into India.

"But, as ever, it takes more than vision to bring a work through. It takes workers and it takes resources. Financially it is not right that Cross Rhythms would have to find the finance alone for the station. This would disempower the responsibility for the station to the Waranagal church; indeed the church leaders do not see that either.

"No, the local Warangal church will take on the responsibility to fund the ongoing costs of keeping a station going ie rents, utilities, transmission costs and wages; together Cross Rhythms and the churches of Warangal will work to find the resource required for capital costs to set up the station, such as studio equipment and transmission equipment; and here in the UK Cross Rhythms will need to find the resource required to expand the work of Cross Rhythms and our cashflow to facilitate this incredible opportunity".

This is a season where God is calling Cross Rhythms to expand, to stretch out and to GROW. To do this we need more partners, donors and supporters to share the vision with us and contribute towards making the vision a reality. Would you be one of those people?

Please do view the photo galleries and video on this page to inspire you further and then please do consider strongly sowing into the future increased fruitfulness at Cross Rhythms today.

Thank you, and God bless you.