Our Story

The Burden

Great Commission Ministries came into existence in 1994, when the Lord burdened our hearts to reach out to the Dalit communities and gypsy tribes in and around our village, Bollepally. Rev. M.N. Ashirvadam and his wife Miriam had recently completed their theological studies in Bangalore, and they returned home not to a building or a budget, but to a conviction.

We went into these villages and shared the Gospel, and several people gave their hearts to Jesus. We started worship groups, and those worship groups later became churches.

Two Beginnings

In 2001, two things began that would define the next twenty-five years of our work.

The first was the orphanage. We began taking in street children in Bhongir, Nalgonda District — children with no parents, no protection, and no prospects. Hundreds of children have since passed through our care.

The second was the Dorcas Sewing Centre. The Lord enabled us to start a sewing centre to reach the Dalit women in our neighbourhood — housewives, widows, and school dropouts who had left education for reasons beyond their control — so that they could earn their living with dignity.

The Land

In 2006, Rev. Ashirvadam's father gave seven acres of his own land for the ministry.

The Home

By August 2008, we had built an orphanage on it and moved the children there. That land in Malyala village remains the heart of everything GCM does today.

Compliance and Growth

Officials from the Child Welfare Department inspected our home and directed that boys and girls could not be accommodated in the same building. We complied immediately with partitioning, and then set about raising the funds for a separate girls' facility — a significant undertaking for an organisation operating at a deficit, but a nonnegotiable one. Had we failed, the girls would have been removed, and the likely outcome for them was child labour.

Staff Quarters and the JJ Act

Under the Juvenile Justice Act 2016, the girls' accommodation must house girls and no one else. Between January and July 2024 we constructed separate staff quarters, moved the caretaker's family out of the girls' building, and laid the roof to the end of the structure — which also gave the children considerably more usable space.

Where We Stand Today

GCM cares for 71 children at Ashir Children's Home. We support around 30 pastors and evangelists across three districts. We run medical and eye camps in villages with no healthcare access. We continue to train and equip women through the sewing centres. And we are building an English medium school on our own campus, for our children and for the Dalit families around us.

Over the years, hundreds of children who joined our orphanage as infants grew up, finished their schooling, joined colleges and specialised courses, and are now standing on their own feet. Many gave their lives to Jesus and are witnessing in their villages. Some are happily married and settled in life.