India is our prayer focus for Secret Church 16: A Global Gospel in a World of Religions. As we prepare for Secret Church, we want to learn about India—it’s people, culture, and persecuted church. So, we talked to Christians in India.
Christians in India
To research for Secret Church, we interviewed Christians living in India to understand more about their lives and their work to make Jesus known. Below are a few questions that we asked, followed by answers from persecuted Christians in their own words. Names and certain details have been omitted for security reasons.
What are people looking for that they can only find in Jesus?
“People in my city are like blind sheep. They have a lot of fear here. They feel like if they don’t do worship to the god, their business won’t succeed. [They think] that if there’s a problem with their daughter and they don’t do worship, then there will be more evil spirits that go into her. People are very simple. They are very easily scared. They have many different religions and beliefs [because of their fears].”
How does it make you feel when someone you witness to believes in Jesus?
“Whenever someone believes in Jesus, I feel a surge of happiness because he’s on the right path and he believes that Jesus died for him. I feel happy that he’s saved from all other worldly religions and the things he was following before. Basically it’s your faith [that matters]. The Bible says that if you accept that Jesus is the one who died for your sins, you are surely going to heaven to live with him.”
How do you help new followers of Jesus go through trouble like you have because you follow Jesus?
“There have been a lot of problems, especially in India right now with all the government things and the Hindu party. So they are very [focused on] conversion. So there are a lot of problems—social problems, political problems, and religious problems. It’s not easy. But, whenever something occurs [with a fellow believer], I go to that person, try to talk to them, read the Word, and try to answer their questions according to the Word. In whatever way possible, I consult with [other church leaders] on how to help. If there is a big problem, like if people are literally going to kill that person, I remove him from that place. I use the Bible the most because it’s the best and it has all the answers for all of our troubles.”
As a Christian in India, why do you talk to other people about Jesus?
“Because I feel [before] my life was so dark. I have a big family. I have four brothers and four sisters, and my father has a very small [salary]. He can’t care for us, my family. Then we had to do very dark and bad work like stealing, so I was very sad every time about my life and what I was doing. I also had no education. Then [when] I accepted Jesus, Jesus gave me peace. Then I wanted to share with people because I want every one to have the light. I want everyone to know about Jesus so that they can go from darkness to light.
Radical exists to equip Christians to be on mission.
