As a group of churches from Australia working into India, we believe in working alongside others to establishing local churches into every city, town & village of South India.

The churches we work into in South India are linked together through Apostolic teams which effectively enable the church of Jesus Christ to disciple the nation of India.

Guntur Christian Fellowship is a local church in Andhra Pradesh, that we have been working with for over 14 years. The church is led by Vidya & Buji, Vidya also oversees a large number of churches in the area of Guntur into which we have had the privilege of working alongside.

In their endeavour to fulfill the mandate Jesus gave to them, Vidya & Buji purchased a piece of land outside Guntur in 1994 and have since built a home on the property. They now call this home The Centre of Hope and have adopted sons & daughters (previously orphaned) into their home.

In 2007 whilst visiting and ministering into Guntur with Vidya, the leadership of Friends First Church (Melbourne, Australia) decided to assist Vidya financially in sponsoring the orphans on a month to month basis and help towards establishing; ablution facilities, a school, & a church building for Centre of Hope.

We invite sponsors to visit the children with us as we send in teams twice a year to visit the orphanage in Guntur, Andhra Pradesh, South India. If you are not involved and want to get involved or need to know more please contact us.

If you would like more information please e-mail us at contact@friendsfirstchurch.com.au.

Click to watch latest video on Center Hope Orphanage Guntur

What you have to do:

1. Choose a child you would like to sponsor
2. Email rose@friendsfirstchurch.com.au with your name and the childs name
3. Once Rose has confirmed that you may sponsor that child, you need to setup a monthly debit of $20 into the Guntur orphanage account

Guntur Orphanage
BSB: 013-542
A/C: 4869-79668

We have registered an Australian business name "Guntur Orphanage" and have been able to open a separate bank account through which all transactions for the orphanage are made. This account is administrated by Friends First Church.

We would have liked to make this a tax deductible donation however due to the funds going overseas the Australian government requires us to send the funds through a registered charity who would take a percentage of your donation. As a result a decision was made that a $240 donation per year was not worth all the hassle.

What happens to the money deposited into the Guntur account?
Once a month (mid month) that money is transferred directly to India. No admin fees or anything else is deducted from your $20 per child sponsorship. The bank account (in Australia - ANZ) has also wavered all bank fees.

Can I visit the orphanage in Guntur?
Once or twice a year a team goes to India. You are welcome to travel to India with that team to visit the child you have sponsored. Please note that traveling to India can not be a last minute arrangement as visas and internal travel arrangements take some time to organise. Also whenever a team goes to India the primary purpose is ministry to the local folk, you would therefore be a part of this ministry and expected to contribute where necessary.

We do regularly send mail to Vidya in Guntur, however there are restrictions on what you can send to the children, and so we would prefer if you contacted us first before purchasing anything.

We have teams going twice a year in April and October, and so if you do have any items to mail across please let us know well in advance so that we can plan well.

ADMIN OFFICE:
Postage (C/o Friends First Church)
P.O. Box 280, Berwick VIC 3806
Tel: 03 9796 9103
Email: rose@friendsfirstchurch.com.au (Rose Hood - administrator)