India’s northern states have been highly unreached since the beginning of time, but we are beginning to see small breakthroughs. Punjab state is almost entirely Sikh and Hindu. Recently there has been a spat of frantic YouTube videos decrying the “conversion” of Sikhs to Christianity. One of them warns that if this trend continues, Punjab might become 10 percent, Christian. There were many Sikhs and Hindus who began to follow Christ in the late 1980s and early 1990s. The percentage of Christians did not change. Today, Sikhs are accusing Christian missionaries of bribing people to join the faith with money, jobs, and food. They are calling upon the state government to do something about this “outrage.”

On the other end of northern India is the state of Bihar, traditionally nicknamed the “graveyard of missions.” In recent months, a woman from the low-status Dalit community was despondent over her son’s serious illness. Doctors could not cure the boy, so his Hindu mother turned to a nearby church for prayer. God healed the boy, setting in motion a cascading movement of Hindu families putting their faith in Jesus Christ. The boy’s family and 135 other families decided to follow the Lord.

Families are the key to movements to Christ. If only one member of a family turns to Christ, other family members almost always try to stop what God is doing. But if an entire family decides together, then there is security at home. With 135 families moving in the same spiritual direction, it will be very difficult to stop this movement.

Sources

• Sikhs in Punjab are Turning into Christians at a Breakneck Pace, May 30, 2021
• Religious Liberty Prayer Bulletin, RLPB 615. India: Joy and Pain in Bihar’s Gaya District. September 14, 2021

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