Mission to the blind came into being on June 1st 1992 as an expression of God’s love and concern for the blind people in India. It is registered as a Trust with the Government, with the Income Tax Commissioner (Exemptions) under Act 12(A) a, and with the Ministry of Home Affairs, Delhi. The accounts of the Trust are audited by a Chartered Accountant annually and submitted to the Income Tax Department and to the Ministry of Home Affairs in New Delhi. Mission To The Blind is also a member of the India Missions Association.
A Board of Trustees comprising of Christian leaders from various parts of the country serve on the national board. Mrs Jeya Thanaseelan is the National Executive Director. We are currently 108 missionaries from 10 language groups, including 38 blind persons, working in 17 states of India and Nepal.
Mission to the Blind concentrates on the holistic development of the blind people. Our twofold aim is:
- Evangelism, Discipling and Leadership Development
- Care giving activities
Blindness in India
According to a recent statistics there are 43 million blind people in India – 15 million totally blind and 28 million visually impaired. This accounts for 25% of the global blind population. The number keeps increasing due to various factors like accidents, negligence or wrong medication, diseases, malnutrition etc.
The needs of the blind people are enormous. Poverty, lack of opportunities, rejection from families and the absence of God in their life paint a gloomy hopeless future.
Blind people are out of the purview of the church and other missions serving around the country, as they still remain an alienated community. Missions working among blind people on a national level are only two.
The major departments functioning currently in MTB are:
1. Field ministry
i) Evangelism
– Personal visits
– Periodical gatherings
– Gospel camps
– Braille Bible portionsii) Discipleship
– Bible study Circles
– Prayer Circles
– Retreats
– Discipleship camps
– Bible Correspondence Course
– Christian lifestyle bookletsiii) Leadership Development
– Bible training
– Braille Literature
– Training Camps
– Opportunity to use their talents
– Train as Evangelists
iv) Care Giving
– Self employment schemes
– Mobility and educational aids
– Facilities from the government
– Meeting felt needs – medical, children’s studies, uniforms etc.
– Referrals to other vocational trainings
– Seek other sources for their employment
2. Braille Literature
– Bible portions – through the Bible Society of India
– Individual letters of counsel
– Booklets, Bible study notes – in 10 Indian languages
– Periodicals, Audio cassettes & CD’s, Talking Bibles etc. to those who do not know Braille.
3. Training for Blind Men & Women
– Johnnine Bible School for blind young men
– Joanna Home for blind young women
– Training units for married blind ladies
4. Music Ministry Department
5. Women’s Ministries Department – Special ministry to blind women of all age groups
6. Mission Mobilization
– Seek for opportunities in churches for preaching & sharing about our ministry; mobilization of prayer, finance and volunteers.
– Create awareness in Educational institutions
– Pad Yatra (Awareness walk) with attractive and informative banners
– Awareness Literature
– Meeting families of blind people
– Motivating blind and sighted believers to form prayer cells to pray for blind people and the mission.
– Providing them with the needed information and prayer points and giving them a feedback of answered prayers.
7. Administration
– Coordination of countrywide activities
– Correspondence
– Raising of funds for staff support and other expenses and control of finance
– Human Resource and Public Relations.
8. Training – Staff and volunteers
– Basic Training Institute for newly recruited staff
– Refreshers training – periodical for upgrading the staff
9. Communication – Publications, audio and video
10. Research & Documentation
11. Prayer & Counseling Department
