India (MNN) — According to the United Christian Forum, nearly 600 attacks took place against Christians in India between January and September this year. That averages more than two incidents a day. Attacks come at a personal level, too.
Duane Friesen with Voice of the Martyrs Canada says all Christians today experience persecution to greater or lesser degrees. “But India has a unique reality upon them that is sad. I’ll give you one story to help give context,” he says.
(Stock photo courtesy of Shiva Verma via Unsplash)
“A 14-year-old girl from the Punjab province had come to trust Christ as her Savior. When her family found out about her newfound faith, the immediate response was outrage and severe oppression.”
The girl’s family forced her to marry a non-Christian man, and years of suffering followed. Yet the Lord brought other believers into her life — people who encouraged her and advocated for her.
“She has communicated for the first time in years that she felt seen and she felt loved,” says Friesen.
That young woman is one of many who are living a reality like this. Pray for comfort and gospel courage for Christians like her.
Friesen says that in all the hostility that Christians in India endure, “they have been able to find hope and be encouraged that ‘God wants to do something. He hasn’t taken us home yet, so there’s still work to be done. So God help us be faithful with what He’s given us.'”
God is doing something beautiful through the Church in India. Would you stand with them in prayer?
“[Pray] that they would be all that God’s called them to be,” says Friesen, “and to be encouraged to know they’re not alone in the midst of all the hurt.”
Header image is a stock photo courtesy of Phinehas Narra via Unsplash.
