Missionaries Facing Severe Opposition in Three Villages

(mid July 2010)

Several Christians—including three Gospel for Asia-supported missionaries—are in danger after opposition to the Gospel reared up in their villages.

The first situation occurred when Beena Dhonai, a believer who attends a church led by GFA-supported missionary Abhi Dhat, shared her faith with some other women from her village.

The women became angry and accused her of trying to force people to convert to Christianity. Their anger grew to the point that, a few days later, they organised a group to come to Beena's home and threaten her and her family. They told Beena, her family and her pastor, Abhi, to stop telling people about Jesus or face serious consequences.

Local Men Unite Against Missionary
In another village in the same state, Gospel for Asia-supported missionary Somu Murali's life is in danger. Somu, who is pastor of a small church with an average attendance of 25, is the target of a political group that opposes Christians. Some 40 members of this group recently met and adopted a resolution accusing Somu of converting people to Christianity by giving them gifts in return for their conversions. Their major complaint was the presence of a Bridge of Hope center in the village. They claimed the center was a type of allurement that Somu was using to force people to convert to Christianity.

They demanded that Somu vacate the Bridge of Hope center and leave the village.

On July 4, several members of this group took their complaint one step further and planned to physically attack Somu. They laid in wait for him one Sunday, but Somu felt God leading him to walk a different route that day and, therefore, was miraculously protected.

source: http://www.gfauk.org/skelapp/gfa/news-MissionariesFacingOpposition-july10.asp