Transforming Sri Lankan Communities Through Spirit-led Leadership

When the leaders of Catch The Fire Sri Lanka talk about ministry, they do not begin with platforms, programs, or numbers. They begin with transformation.

Their heart is simple and deeply challenging: transformed leaders lead transformed churches, and transformed churches become a blessing to their communities. In a context where the word “pastor” can carry painful associations because of unhealthy leadership, Catch The Fire Sri Lanka is intentionally building slowly, relationally, and with a deep emphasis on integrity, honesty, and healthy leadership. They currently have four partner churches, but they are not trying to grow quickly for growth’s sake. They want to walk with leaders who share the same values and carry the same heart.

Prayer is central to everything they do. Their posture is not, “What can we build?” but, “What is the Lord saying?” They described themselves as a people who do not want to move until they have listened, prayed, and discerned the direction of the Holy Spirit.

That listening has led them into unexpected places.

One of the clearest examples is their farming initiative. Several years ago, the Lord began speaking to them about a coming food shortage and about becoming like Joseph in their time. Around the same season, financial support came in specifically for farming. At first, it did not seem to fit. They were known as a prayer movement, not an agricultural ministry. But as they prayed and obeyed, the strategy became clear: help farmers across Sri Lanka begin growing again in the middle of economic crisis and severe debt.

The result has been more than food.

In rural Buddhist villages, where churches and pastors can experience opposition, the farming initiative has opened doors for unity, trust, and practical love. Funds are moved through local churches, but the blessing is not limited to Christians. Farmers from the wider village community are included. The church becomes known not as an outside threat, but as a source of help, dignity, and care. In some places, this has even helped reduce attacks against pastors and churches. Alongside the farming work, they have also helped build toilets in poor communities where sanitation is limited.

This is the kind of testimony that encourages the whole movement. It reminds us that apostolic ministry is not always glamorous. Sometimes it looks like helping a farmer plow again. Sometimes it looks like building a toilet. Sometimes it looks like listening long enough to receive a strategy from heaven that does not fit our previous ministry categories.

One of the most powerful themes in the interview was the call to get “out of the salt shaker.” Speaking about the Church in Sri Lanka, one leader described believers as salt that has clumped together inside the container. Jesus called His people the salt of the earth, but salt must leave the shaker to have an effect. That conviction has shaped their work in villages, temples, art schools, business clinics, and community spaces where many people may not be ready to enter a church building, but are still willing to encounter the love of Jesus.

This is especially significant in Buddhist village contexts. One leader shared about working for years in a village connected to a Buddhist temple. The ministry there did not begin with public preaching. It began with showing up, serving, loving, asking permission, honoring the community, and letting the love of God speak through action. Over time, trust was built. Even the Buddhist priest began reaching out for help when needs arose. The leader described this as a miracle, because in Sri Lanka it is highly unusual for Christians to be welcomed into that kind of village setting.

There is also a strong training and equipping dimension to the work. Through Virtual Apostolic Mentoring, leaders and participants from Sri Lanka, India, the UAE, Switzerland, and other places are being shaped by ministers from across the body of Christ, including Catch The Fire leaders. The goal is not simply to provide another online class, but to create a place where people are transformed, matured in sonship, and sent back into their spheres carrying something of the apostolic DNA God is releasing.

For Catch The Fire leaders around the world, the encouragement is clear: God is still moving through people who listen, pray, obey, and build.

He is moving through leaders who value integrity over speed.
He is moving through churches willing to become family before they become famous.
He is moving through practical compassion, not just spiritual language.
He is moving through apostolic obedience that hears the word of the Lord and then builds something in response.

Catch The Fire Sri Lanka is a reminder that revival is not meant to stay inside meetings. The presence of God must touch villages, businesses, farms, families, young people, and places of pain. The fire on the altar must become light in the community.

And perhaps that is one of the invitations for all of us as leaders: to ask again where God is sending us, what He is asking us to build, and how our churches can become visible expressions of His love in the places where people are actually living.