From Harilal Swarnkar to Cornelius Smith : The beginning of a new era…
Harilal, a young dynamic person, goldsmith by caste, was a well-educated and devotee person in his life. During British rule in India, he had enough education to attain a high-class job. After the Independence of India Harilal was growing as a common religious Indian man. Being a strong Hindu devotee, he always hated Christians considering Christianity a foreign religion. A number of times he was approached with the gospel by few missionaries which he strongly opposed and many times beaten them and torn their Bibles.
With the course of time Harilal had a divine encounter with Jesus and he surrendered his life to him. For this cause he was expelled from family and later excommunicated by the society. Harilal had to go through very hard time in his life due to his faith in Christ. He had been beaten many times, gone through severe poverty, hunger, homeless and persecution by his own people. But he decided to abide in the Truth.
There were no Christian around in those days who could help him in his sufferings. Thus, he had to leave his native place and moved to another place where he came in contact with some missionaries. They changed his name from Harilal to Cornelius. Now he was a new man with new identity.
With the course of time Cornelius became very famous missionary to gentiles. He preached gospel almost everywhere in India and later decided to settle in Bihar, his home state. During his time Bihar was called “The Graveyard of Missionaries”. He preached to millions throughout his missionary journeys. He has been followed by thousands of Pastors and Leaders as an example of Faith during his life time.
In 2015 he went to be with God leaving behind a lineage of missions and missionaries. Later the organization was registered by his 7th child Rajesh Daniel, the founder of “Yeshu Parivar” movement.
History of the beginning of Yeshu Parivar
Right after my encounter with Jesus Christ on 11th of September 1999, I was directed by the Holy Spirit to stay back in New Delhi, after my short-term mission training in the city, to preach the good news of our Lord Jesus Christ. I made a commitment to myself that I will serve the Lord all through my life. Along with the daily struggle of livelihood I continued to preach the gospel to the unreached people in the city. I worked for few organizations for 12 years. With the course of time the Lord redirected me to a particular area to minister. I followed the commandment of my Master and thus in April 2011 a small congregation called “Yeshu Parivar” was born in the slums of New Delhi. At present YP and its network are widely spread in entire North, Central and East India region.
By Rajesh Daniel, founder, Yeshu Parivar
