“I thought I was a good guy because my father was a pastor.”

Awung grew up in a Christian home, yet he did not truly grasp the gospel. He believed his good behavior and family background were enough to make him right with God.

As he entered his teenage years, deeper questions began to surface: Is this all there is? What is my purpose? 

In time, the truth of the gospel broke through. Awung surrendered his life to Christ, realizing that salvation is not passed down, but received through Jesus.

From that point forward, he sought imperfectly but faithfully to follow Christ. He attended seminary and became a pastor in Mumbai. During this season, he connected with Acts 29, where leaders invested in him, and a call to church planting began to grow.

That calling led him back home to Manipur, India, with a vision to plant a church. Over the past several years, Awung has been trained by Acts 29 leaders and has completed the Acts 29 assessment process. He leads five small groups meeting across nearby universities and colleges, and soon, those groups will come together to form a new church.

Even before officially launching, the ministry is already bearing fruit. A discipleship course is equipping men like Benjamin, a local pig farmer, to grow in leadership and explore a call to church planting. Students are coming to faith, and others are sensing a call to ministry as well.

Recently, they hosted a youth camp over 3 days for nearly 300, using sports to attract unchurched youth to camp, where they’d hear the gospel every morning and evening. Many gave their lives to Christ for the first time!

In the years ahead, Awung is eager to see these new disciples carry the good news across India, multiplying churches and proclaiming Christ in places where he is unknown. In two or three years, Awung desires for his church plant to multiply, planting a second church and more over time to fill the whole of northeast India with churches filled with young people.