Photo courtesy of GFA.

South Asia (MNN) — A pastor in South Asia is being threatened with his life by a fanatical group.

Pastor Nakul had a temporary church building in his village, but an opposition group set it ablaze last month. The structure was completely demolished.

Now the group is encouraging villagers to kill Pastor Nakul, recently reported by Gospel for Asia (GFA). The group members say the pastor is forcing people to convert to Christianity.

The fanatical group has also gone to the police and filed complaints against the church. They demand worship and prayer services end immediately. Pastor Nakul and the church held a service again on July 14.

On July 9, Pastor Nakul held a peace meeting for 2,000 villagers. GFA says local law enforcement is siding with the pastor.

South Asia is planted in the middle of the 10/40 Window, a rectangular segment of nations where some of the largest unreached people groups live. Buddhism and Hinduism are the primary religions in South Asia.

There is a deep need for the Gospel in South Asia, and Pastor Nakul is working to see God’s name proclaimed in his region despite the threats.

GFA asks for prayer for a church building that will give safety to believers. Please also pray for protection and for the Holy Spirit to soften the hearts of opposing group members.

Click here to get more prayer updates from GFA. You can also support their work equipping missionaries in Asia to carry out the Great Commission.

Pastor Nakul had a temporary church building in his village, but an opposition group set it ablaze last month. The structure was completely demolished.

Gospel for Asia (GFA) recently reported that villagers are being encouraged to kill Pastor Nakul. The fanatical group members say the pastor is forcing people to convert to Christianity.

This group has also gone to the police and filed complaints against the church. They demand worship and prayer services end immediately. Pastor Nakul and the church held a service again on July 14.

On July 9, Pastor Nakul held a peace meeting for 2,000 villagers. GFA says local law enforcement is siding with the pastor.

South Asia is planted in the middle of the 10/40 Window, a rectangular segment of nations where some of the largest unreached people groups live. Buddhism and Hinduism are the primary religions in South Asia.

There is a deep need for the Gospel in this region, and Pastor Nakul is working to see God’s name proclaimed, despite the threats.

GFA asks for prayer for a church building that will give safety to believers. Please also pray for protection and for the Holy Spirit to soften the hearts of opposing group members.

Click here to get more prayer updates from GFA. You can also support their work of equipping missionaries in Asia to carry out the Great Commission.

The missionary's life was threatened by Hindu extremists if he didn't leave the community within 24 hours after he baptized 60 people. When the missionary's plans to build a church reached the extremists, they also tried to stop the selling of the land where the church would be built. The land was sold to the missionary anyway. 

"That is when the whole problem broke loose. And then they said, ‘We are going to, by force, convert all these Christians back to Hinduism.' And they were making huge noises, newspaper articles," said KP Yohannan of Gospel for Asia.

The uproar surrounding the situation caused the local community to wonder. "The people said, ‘We don't know what is going on in our community. What did these people do that is so bad that they should have this much problems?' So they came to the church," said Yohannan.

"After the service was over, hearing the worship and teaching the Bible and everything, the village folks said, ‘These people are only praying to God. We like it. We don't want them to go away from this place. We want them to be here.' And this whole thing turned around," said Yohannan. 

The extremists were not from the village but had simply heard about the Christian work. The community is a location where most of the Dalits live. "The upper class are always opposing these people from leaving the caste system and becoming Christians," said Yohannan. 

As more people hear about this, more may become Christians, which would lead to more persecution. But Yohannan still has dreams for the future of this community since extremists groups are not a majority. "Someday we can talk about it and say, 'You know what? That whole village came to Christ, and we now have two or three churches there.'"

With the close proximity of Indian villages, news will travel easily. "More and more people are going to ask the question, ‘Why did you become a Christian?' And they are going to testify: 'I was a drug addict. I was an alcoholic. I was demon possessed. I was sick, and Jesus healed me. Jesus saved me.' And I think just like in the Gospels, this news is going to spread," said Yohannan.

The missionary has already committed to continue to pastor this church no matter what happens.

Known as a “Lawyer for the Poor”, Garcia was shot four times and killed December 4th, while on his way from Association for a More Just Society (AJS) to the Honduran Supreme Court.

Worldwide Christian Schools’ Steve Geurink says one of their representatives, also linked with the AJS, is now in hiding. “The president of AJS, his name is Carlos Hernandes, also received a death threat immediately after the killing that occurred in Honduras. Obviously, this disrupts his normal work. Carlos has been extremely important to our work and ministry. He has a guard with him 24/7, and they are taking these threats very seriously.”

WCS works closely with Carlos through teacher training, and SCM/Genesis is affiliated with El Verbo Christian School, a WCS partner school in the capital city of Tegucigalpa.

Geurink believes Carlos faces a death threat due to his effectiveness in amplifying their schools’ evangelistic work. “Carlos was meeting with the church leaders, community leaders, families, teachers and school boards and he was presenting to them effective ministry options for Christian schools that’s basically a school-improvement process. He was bringing all these different parties together and was having amazing results.”

According to information on WCS’ website, keeping pressure on the government is one way to address the corruption that led to Garcia’s death. Go to the AJS website, click on the “take action” link. From there you can contact top officials in both the Honduran and U.S. governments.

WCS also launched a security fund for Carlos Hernandez. They’re raising the funds needed to the cover the cost of personal protection for Carlos Hernandez and his family.