Signs and Wonders as Churches Emerge in India
The Lord told a native missionary to erect a church building in southern India, which he did. By the next day, villagers had destroyed it.
The missionary had come to a village where no one knew Christ. There was not yet a congregation among the village Hindus and tribal animists, but God had told him that He desired a church building there. The philosophy was, “If you build it, people will come to Christ.”
Later God again told him to put up a building – like the first one, a primitive structure that could be constructed in a few days. After it was finished, again the next day it was destroyed.
“People didn’t want Christianity there,” the missionary said. “But God told me to build again.”
“People didn’t want Christianity there,” the native missionary said. “But God told me to build again.”
As the native missionary began building friendships in the community, he began to pray with villagers, often for healing. The Lord began healing people through him, including a woman who came to him with a skin disease.
“I prayed for her, and after three months, there was no sign of the disease on her skin,” he said. “She put her faith in Christ, and before I baptized her, she testified to how God had worked in her life – and that she was the one who had destroyed the church buildings.”
In time, 250 of the 270 people in the village put their faith in Christ. Through healing prayer, caring for orphans, digging wells and providing education for children, the native missionary’s ministry has opened the way for gospel proclamation that has led to the planting of 43 churches in once unreached areas.
In northern India, another indigenous ministry has planted 130 churches, also in remote areas where Christ’s name was unknown. In one village, opposition to Christianity stopped construction of a church building for two years, and worship came to a halt as the congregation’s pastor suffered a chronic illness.
“Our hearts were grieved because the church building was in a shambles, and nearby there were some men gambling under a tree,” the ministry director said. “We prayed for God’s provision and that the gamblers would be saved – and now, they call on the name of Jesus. Some money was received so the church could be rebuilt, and the services have restarted.”
God healed the church pastor as well, and he has since begun seven other churches, the director said. In this and many other ways, the gospel is bringing eternal life in Christ to people living in great darkness throughout India. Please consider a gift today to help resource-starved native ministries advance God’s kingdom.