Imagine going to a church service with a death sentence on your head. Each time you leave for church, you receive a threat on the phone. You complain to the police but they do nothing. What do you do? You cannot hide in a hut when hundreds whom you have raised up gather for worship. So you pray for safety, bid your family good bye and tell them you will meet them in the service. Your drive takes you through lanes that pass through dangerous sections of the town where all the people know you and all of them don’t like you. You have an appointment to keep and nothing can stop you, even death threats. Welcome to a regular worship day in the life of Mukesh, a village pastor and evangelist working with our ministry partners in India.
Mukesh heard about Jesus from his older sister. She had seen the power of God in Christian meetings and wanted Mukesh to see it too. When he went with her there was no magician or blood flowing from sacrificed animals like in the Hindu rituals. The Lord won his heart. Mukesh longed to know more about Jesus so he enrolled in our partner organization’s Bible Training program for one year, shown right. Since then there has been no turning back. When Mukesh returned to his region to share about Jesus, he encountered opposition.
People would not trust him but he kept plowing the ground. One miracle led to another and those coming brought others to the meetings. Mukesh began to conduct services on Tuesday, the open market day. It was perfect. After marketing, people came to the meetings.
People would not trust him but he kept plowing the ground. One miracle led to another and those coming brought others to the meetings. Mukesh began to conduct services on Tuesday, the open market day. It was perfect. After marketing, people came to the meetings.
The first meeting space was rented, then a second, then a third, as numbers grew. But with growth came persecution. Complaints against Mukesh were lodged and visits to the police station ensued. The threats have grown consistently. Still Mukesh leads the meetings and brings new people to them. He is not happy about all the threats, but in his words, ‘The one thing that you can do is pray for me and the people.” Hundreds of young men like Mukesh are facing heavy persecution. Join us in praying for their safety and for the growth of the churches in those areas. To date, our partner organization has raised up 1500 local churches serving more than 300,000 baptized believers, thousands of whom are shown left at an annual gathering. Our ministry partner also has schools and children’s homes in different villages providing education and loving care for hundreds of children like those shown here. Your support for them will help raise up more workers like Mukesh to share God’s love with unreached Indians.
