Email:

Advent Prayer - India

To

Email address:

Separate multiple addresses with a comma (,). Maximum of 10

From

Your name:

Your email address:

Security test:
Please enter the numbers that appear here in the box below.

Security code:

Details provided here will never be used in any other context

Published: Sunday 04 December 2011

Advent Prayer - India

Project(s): 21-510, 21-723, 21-967

Country: India, South and East Asia

“I will raise up your offspring to succeed you, who will come from your own body, and I will establish his kingdom.” 2 Samuel 7:12

For several years Christian tsunami orphans in have had a festive Christmas celebration with decorations, lights, gifts, new clothes and a cake thanks to funds forwarded by Barnabas

“Persecution against Christians has become a daily occurrence... There is great fear among the people because of the threats they received from the extremists.” A pastor in Orissa State expresses the apprehension that many Indian Christians have been feeling this past year. In the first half of 2011, 64 cases of violent attacks against Christians were recorded in India. The police are often slow to respond; sometimes they even take action against the Christian victims.

Most of the violence comes from followers of Hindutva, a militant form of Hindu nationalism, who strive to make India into a religiously “pure” nation. Its political wing now holds or shares power in ten states and has been instrumental in the adoption in several states of anti-conversion laws that forbid religious conversions that use “force”, “fraud” or “inducement”. The laws are regularly misapplied, and Christians are falsely accused and arrested on charges of “forcible conversions”.

Much of the Hindu extremist activity has been prompted by the remarkable growth of the Church in India in recent generations, especially amongst the Dalits. At present, two-thirds of India’s 27 million Christians are Dalits, who suffer discrimination in employment and live a hand-to-mouth existence because they are the lowest level of the caste system. Barnabas Fund provides a Christian education for hundreds of Christian Dalit children.

Orissa state was the scene of large-scale anti- Christian violence in 2007 and 2008, and many thousands of Christians are still homeless. Barnabas Fund has reached out to alleviate the suffering of Christians in Orissa in many ways. Currently we are funding trauma counselling for Christian children and rebuilding houses for those whose homes were destroyed.

Christmas in is celebrated with much joy and enthusiasm. Each state and ethnic group celebrates it in their own unique way, but most Christians decorate their houses with coloured paper hangings and lights and exchange gifts. In Orissa, Christians in villages regularly gather together at night to sing and dance together during the season. The evenings are filled with the sounds of Christmas songs, and instruments such as tabla, harmonium and sitar. Give thanks that Christians in celebrate Jesus’ birth with so much joy despite the discrimination and persecution that they experience. Pray for their protection and that God will open the eyes of extremist Hindus that they may accept Jesus as Lord and Saviour.