Pastor Sawan leads a church in western India. During a service, police entered the church building with members of the radical Hindu group Bajrang Dal, removing Pastor Sawan and an elder of the church “for questioning.”
Read MoreA group of believers met for a service of thanksgiving after a significant healing, some of them traveling more than 200 kilometers [124 miles] to attend the service in Madhya Pradesh. Local members of a Hindu radical group noticed the assembly.
Read MoreOn Dec. 26, Pastor Jawahar was sitting in his home in western India, talking with members of his church, when Hindu fanatics-including police officers-burst in, accusing the Christians of trying to convert Hindus by fraud.
Read MorePastor Nahtiya, his son and other church members had worshiped together and were walking home through the jungle when they were ambushed by Hindu radicals throwing stones at them. Some were able to break away only to be attacked again by villagers wielding axes, sticks and other tools.
Read MoreA large family in Lalu village, Madhya Pradesh, India all became Christians about 15 years ago. One Sunday in February, while the whole family was at an early church service, a neighbor ran in to report that their house was burning.
Read MoreIn Gujarat, India, an unfamiliar man stopped a group of Christians walking home from a prayer fellowship meeting at a fellow Christian woman’s house.
Read MorePastor Rajan is an impoverished day laborer with three children, ages 2, 7 and 13. He also pastors four house churches. During a church service at his father’s house, local members of Hindu nationalist groups burst in and beat him severely.
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Three Indian believers faced murder charges after praying for a church member who later died. Pastor Surjan Khariya became a believer in 2004 after being healed from the same illness that had taken his 7-year-old daughter’s life. Like most in his tribal village in Jharkhand state, India, he was an animist, worshiping nature with animal sacrifices and offerings of alcohol. But when he was healed from the disease after Christians prayed for him, Surjan gave his life to Christ and became the leader of a house church. Another member of Surjan’s house church, a man named Kolah Lohra, literally stumbled across the church one day in 2010 after hearing sounds of worship coming from the building. Kolah, who had battled alcoholism and drug abuse for years, drunkenly stumbled into the church meeting, dancing to the drumbeat and singing loudly. Unfazed by his drunken performance, the Christians invited him to come back the next day, which, surprisingly, he did. Kolah felt profoundly changed through Christian worship and prayed for a new beginning. He immediately boxed up all his drugs and tobacco and threw them out. In 2017, Kolah’s 27-year-old nephew, Krishna, along with his wife and three children, decided that they,
Read MoreMamta Devi has faithfully followed Jesus for three years. Since her conversion, she has faced opposition from her family members and neighbors. She lives with her husband and his parents and brothers.
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When Pastor Arjun, a Christian convert from Hinduism, proposed to his wife, Radha, he made sure she knew what to expect. “I am a minister and have been attacked many times,” he told her. “In the future, you may be attacked. I may go to jail. Sometimes we will have food, sometimes we will not. This will be the life.” Radha accepted his proposal without flinching. “Live or die,” she replied, “I will live for Christ.” Since then, they have been forced to move three times. Arjun has been beaten numerous times and accused of forced conversions, while Radha has been personally threatened and watched Hindu radicals invade their church. When Radha’s parents began arranging a marriage for her when she was in the 12th grade, she made it clear that she wanted to marry a pastor. “I will not marry any other,” she told them. “Otherwise, I will not get married.” Radha wanted to be actively involved in ministry, and she knew marrying a pastor would be the best way to do that. “I had that burden,” she said. Because Arjun had been attacked so many times, Radha’s parents were initially hesitant to approve the marriage. But despite their
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