Jeff Alexander '01 serves India's underprivileged

Rev. Jeff Alexander’s time at Concordia University, Nebraska prepared him to serve others and lead them to Jesus—a mission he lives every day— as a pastor and through a service-based organization serving impoverished people in India.

“I saw it in the lives of people who served at Concordia from the president of the university on down,” Alexander said. “I loved living in that community, there was a sense of ‘look for an opportunity to serve and make a difference and lead others to Jesus.”

Alexander, a 2001 graduate, is the pastor at Mt. Olive Lutheran Church in Greenwood, Indiana and also the vice president of community engagement for the Calvary India Mission, an organization that serves impoverished people in the South Indian state of Tamil Nadu.

Calvary India Mission

Calvary India Mission was founded in 2015 by Pastor Udhayanesan Raji, who was born and raised in a village near Ambur, Tamil Nadu, India. Ambur is a city with a strong Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod missionary presence that was started by Rev. Theodore Naether, the first LCMS missionary to visit overseas, in 1894. Since then, the India Evangelical Lutheran Church (IELC) has had a strong presence in that part of south India, Alexander said.

Raji is an associate pastor at Calvary Lutheran Church in Indianapolis, a position he’s held since 2007, while also serving as a chaplain with Indiana University Health. After establishing himself in the U.S., Raji has organized annual mission trips to his homeland. Alexander had the opportunity to join his friend Raji and a group of 10 people on one of these trips in 2013. Also on the trip was an LCMS pastor and his wife whose church dissolved the following year. As preparations were made for closing the church, funds were distributed to different missions, with a large portion going to help start Calvary India Mission, Alexander said.

Calvary India Mission operates The Tailoring Center in Ambur, providing free vocational training for impoverished Indian women to learn how to be tailors and seamstresses. The city of Ambur is known for producing leather goods such as shoes, belts and wallets that are sold in the U.S., Alexander said.

“If those products have a tag saying ‘Made in India,’ there is a high likelihood it was made in this region,” Alexander said.

In October, The Tailoring Center graduated its third class of 10 students from the 12-month program. Upon graduation, students receive certification, that equips them to find employment in a variety of capacities in their towns, since sewing is an invaluable skill in their culture, Alexander said.

Graduates are gifted a sewing machine that they can use in their home to provide clothing for themselves and family. They are also guaranteed employment at Harmain Garments in Ambur if they choose to enter the workforce, Alexander said. If they choose to accept the employment, their wage will be three times that of an average Indian worker.

“It is a good wage by Indian standards,” Alexander said. “We’ve visited their factory, with their CEO and other leaders, we are positive it’s going to be a good relationship moving forward.”

Employment at Harmain is one opportunity for graduates to find employment, Alexander said, many other graduates have found employment in other avenues, including shoe factories and other garment shops.

In addition to The Tailoring Center in Ambur, Calvary India Mission also operates two Tuition Centers in nearby villages. These centers provide after-school programs led by Christian women to help impoverished children hone their English reading and speaking skills, and to prepare for annual exams that are required by the Indian government, similar to standardized testing in the U.S. With more than 20 languages used throughout India, learning English is an important skill, Alexander said.

“Usually each state has a different language,” he said. “You can drive in any direction and you might find fellow Indians speaking different languages. English remains the common language for them. For people to be able to advance in their jobs and education, having a working knowledge of English is required, it’s indispensable.

Each Tuition Center serves 35 students, who attend five nights a week for three hours in the evening. The sessions end with a full meal for the students, something that can be hard to find. Alexander said the cost for each child in the program is roughly $1 per day. 

“These are all kids who are living in poverty, in what’s considered the Dalit caste,” Alexander said. “That’s a new name for what used to be known as the Untouchables in the Indian Caste System.”

Serving at home and abroad

As the vice president of community engagement for Calvary India Mission, Alexander’s role is to be an evangelist, to bear witness in Christ in the communities the organization serves. Sometimes it’s not as easy as it sounds — roughly 3 to 5 percent of the Indian population are Christian, with 85 percent being Hindu and the rest are Muslim or Sikh, he said. Regardless of one’s religious background, Alexander said the Mission aims to help all people. Supplies are distributed to people with different backgrounds through local ministries.

“We want to encourage our sister congregations in the IELC and people doing ministry every day, and supplement what they’re doing to build bridges to their communities, which are predominately non-Christian,” Alexander said. “We believe if we can show the love of Jesus in our words and especially our actions, we can build bridges with other people in hopes of making connections that will have an eternal impact on their lives.”

The time Alexander spends in India provides him perspective on the differences in cultures, he’s able to use what he learns in India to apply to his home congregation at Mt. Olive.

“When I come back from India, I’m so encouraged about what I see that they’re doing there, by the love of Jesus that is being shown there, by the passion and energy that they have for ministry there,” he said. “I want to come back (to the U.S.) and do more among the people where God has placed me. It has been a win-win when there’s energy and fuel for ministry going both ways.”

Mt. Olive’s congregation has stepped up to help support the mission, Alexander said, with members either donating funds, joining the trips or helping make quilts that are distributed.

“It’s been extremely encouraging to see that people see a need and respond, which by and large Christians want to do,” he said. “If they see a need, see people hurting or impoverished, I think most Christians feel compelled to do something about it.”