Mondal is presiding bishop of Delhi, Agra and Bangalore Episcopal Areas of the Methodist Church in India with more than 300,000 members in nine of that country’s states.
He was a colleague of the recently canonized Saint Teresa of Calcutta in working with India’s poor and unloved.
As bishop, he oversees 55,000 students and 21 children’s homes.
In addition, 64-year-old Mondal serves as president of the North West India Council of Churches and is chairman of the Bible Society of India, North West India.
Mondal’s accomplishments are the result of the commitment of Chickamauga residents Lee Roy and Charlotte Lewis to aiding foreign missionaries, and the reason the bishop delivered the Sept. 11 sermon at Elizabeth Lee United Methodist Church (ELUMC).
“I was born in a poor family in West Bengal, India,” Mondal emailed ELUMC pastor Jennie Andone. “Rev. Homer L. Morgan, a missionary who was posted to Calcutta, sponsored my studies from childhood days to the seminary training.”
Mondal learned that it was the Lewises, through Morgan, who sponsored him, and underprivileged youth, who today serves as spiritual guide to hundreds of thousands.
“Without seeing or knowing, they extended their support which made a great change and impact on our lives,” Mondal wrote. “This family brought special blessing to my life.”
Commenting on the Lewis’ gift and its impact, District Superintendent Rev. John Pinson said you never know in advance the dividends of what you invest.
“The bishop has made and will add dividends in the future,” he said.
After delivering his sermon, Bishop Mondal reflected on how the faith of a few can have such far reaching impact on so many.
He said that because she (Charlotte) gave, he could attend college, become a pastor and eventually take over for his mentor, Homer Morgan.
“God will use you to transform the world,” Mondal said.
As an example of transformative action in India, the bishop recalled working with then Mother Teresa, now St. Teresa of Calcutta, among that city’s poorest and least loved.
Mother Teresa approached the leader of a temple to Kali, the goddess of power, and asked for use of space on that temple’s grounds to be used as a “house for the dying.”
That request was denied.
But when the priest who denied use of the temple contracted leprosy and was cast out by his own family and from the temple, St. Teresa took the leprous priest in and tended to his affliction. Afterward, one-fourth of the Hindu temple was turned over to her use and became Mother Teresa’s Kalighat Home for the Dying Destitute.
Today, Mondal said his main focus continues to be supporting the children’s’ homes and hostels — serving more than 2,500 children — as well as the schools and churches.
“Our churches are growing,” he said. “In Delhi the churches have 4,000 to 6,000 on the membership rolls.”
Rev. Jennie Andone, pastor at Elizabeth Lee, said Bishop Mondal’s faith and career are examples of how doing small things, with great love, can generate change.
“So many individuals think they can do nothing to impact an entire community,” she said. “When faced with huge problems, we think ‘there is nothing I can do.’
“But this is an example of one lady in Chickamauga, and the impact that one life can have for an entire country.
“When we are motivated by God’s grace to extend Christ’s love to one person, we may never know the ripple effect that expression of love may have.”
(Mike O’Neal is assistant editor for the Walker County Messenger in LaFayette, Ga. He can be reached at the Messenger office at moneal@npco.com. This first appeared in northwestgeorgianews.com on September 20, 2016)