Believers in India murdered, more Christians threatened

Indian (MNN/GFA) — In a country that’s seeing thousand of people turning to Christ, India’s increasing showing how some in its society hate Christians.

Gospel for Asia reports that a family of six who are members of a Believers Church near Nagpur in Central India were violently killed and their pastor was warned to stay away or he, too, would be killed.

The attack came while the pastor, Gospel for Asia native missionary we’ll call “Kumar,” was attending an out-of-town pastors’ conference.

According to reports, the family was killed by two men wielding an axe who invaded their home at 1:30 in the morning. Police later arrested two suspects. Dead are the man and his wife, their 17-year-old daughter, two sons, ages 13 and 11, and another family member.

When Pastor Kumar returned from the conference, he learned that an anonymous person had warned him not to go back to the village where the church was located or he would also be murdered. Information about a motive for the slayings is not yet available.

Pastor Kumar, a graduate of the GFA Bible College in Nagpur, planted the church attended by the slain family as a branch of his larger congregation in the town of Sita Sawangi. The smaller church, with 33 members, is in a village about 12 miles away.

Please pray God’s protection and grace for Pastor Kumar, his wife, and four children, as well as the members of both congregations as they deal with this trauma and the threats that have emerged from it. Pray also that this ordeal will point many to Christ and these believers won’t be afraid to continue sharing the Gospel.

GFA has 300 native missionaries and 17 churches in the district where Pastor Kumar serves.