Ministry Workers in India Intimidated

On August 11, 2009, a group of 80 ministry field workers in the state of Karnataka, India were gathered together for a four-day training event for Children’s Bible Clubs. Suddenly around midnight a mob of 20 Hindu extremists burst into the rented building, shouting threats and wielding sticks.

The cook and two club leaders were beaten. Mobile phones, Bibles and literature were taken or burned and every participant was interrogated. The extremists manhandled the young women at the training, most of whom were between the ages of 17 and 23, according to the Global Council of Indian Christians. The terrified participants were held against their will for 14 hours. A local pastor who rushed to the scene was also badly beaten.

Incredibly, when police arrived on the scene they arrested eight of the pastors on baseless claims of forcible conversion and for allegedly speaking ill of Hindu gods. They were charged with unlawful assembly, rioting, criminal conspiracy and "acts intended to outrage religious feelings by insulting religion or religious beliefs." The extremists had organized press reporters with cameras to capture the incident and details were published in the local newspapers.

The situation was tense, our field workers were new and it was the first time they’d had to face such an ordeal. The attack took place as the Holy Spirit was visibly at work in this community. The Hindu attackers vowed publicly to fight back against what they saw as a "dangerous" increase in the number of Christians in the area. "Before there were no Christians in our villages. Now there are Christians in every village," the Hindu extremists shouted.

On Aug. 18th, after seven days behind bars on false charges, the ministry workers were released on bail and were able to return to their families. Please continue to pray for the situation as they will continue to fight against the charge of engaging in "deliberate and malicious acts intended to outrage religious feelings of any class by insulting its religious beliefs."

On a note of praise, the person overseeing the jail where the ministry workers were held was reportedly a Christian and the ministry workers were provided with food during their imprisonment. The case will be brought to the High Court by our ministry team in India for dismissal of all charges. Please continue to pray for our ministry workers as they bring God’s Word to India.

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