Welcome Home

"over 600 million people in India live in deep poverty"

"41 million people live in India’s city slums"

"25% of the poulation are below the poverty line"

	India
	"spiritual home of Hinduism"

	More than a billion people live in this huge country which dominates south Asia. Recently they have suffered unusual weather patterns, the 2004 tsunami and the 2005 quake. Many people still have no homes to rebuild their lives in.
	India is the spiritual home of Hinduism. Of the 820 million people in the world who follow Hinduism – 96% of them live in India. The whole of Indian society is based on Hinduism, which divides everyone into different ‘castes’ (classes). Hindu ways of thinking even effect parts of the church and faith of some Christians.
	India’s economy has grown quickly in the last ten years and India is now a nuclear power, but it is home to many of the world’s poorest people. Over 600 million people in India live in deep poverty and another 300 million don’t have enough to live on each day. Yet in the past 10 years poverty has been reduced by 10%.

Youth Facts

There are 4 million orphans in India alone.

Half the children and young people of India live in poverty and many more are malnourished. Millions of children work sweatshops or are sold into slavery to pay off their parents debts. There is also a growing trade in child prostitution, buying children from neighboring Nepal and Bangladesh.

Answers to Prayer

It is believed that ever since the arrival of Apostle Thomas, there have been Christians in India for two thousand years!

There is still freedom for Indian Christians to tell people about Jesus, despite widespread persecution and intimidation. in some states.

Through the persecution that Christians have suffered, the church has become more united . We need to pray for Christians in India who face continued persecution – that they have the strength to love and forgive the people who are persecute them.

Thank God for the new found openness in the Tsunami affected areas, where Christians helped after the devastation. In villages previously resistant to the gospel new churches are starting - pray for wisdom and integrity for the pastors of these churches.

An amazing 100,000 Indians find out about Jesus everyday through the Jesus film. Pray that God would protect the teams of evangelists who are taking this film around the country

Challenges for Prayer

India has more people groups with no Christians or churches than any other part of the world. This is a challenge that the worldwide church has to respond to.

Hinduism is the world’s third largest religious system. Pray that people searching for fulfillment and truth through Hinduism will find Jesus and get to know God, their creator.

The church in India is growing. Pray that the church will develop models of discipleship and ways of worship that reflect their own culture.

Pray for the Indian missionaries working in India who face persecution and opposition. Some have been martyred in recent years because they have shared their faith, shown films about Jesus or tried to distribute Bibles.

There are 41 million Indians without a home, many living in the slums of India’s largest cities. Pray for those whose lives and health is at risk everyday.

There are at least 400 languages spoken in India. At the current rate of progress it could take 100 years to translate the Bible in all of India’s languages. Pray that the translators would be equipped for this challenge and more people would step up to carry out the task. 10 million people in India are blind – a quarter of the world’s blind population. Pray for ‘Torch Trust for the Blind’ who are producing the whole bible in Braille in 12 major Indian languages.

Home Page