Church Construction Halted

This church building was nearly complete when extremists defaced the wall and filed a legal claim against the Christians. Anti-Christian extremists wrote “this is a disputed land” on the front wall surrounding the nearly completed church building.

Believers in a large urban area of South Asia can’t worship in their nearly completed church building. The building was almost finished when a group of staunch anti-Christian extremists successfully halted construction work at the site by raising legal issues about the land.

“You cannot build any church building in this locality. You are only allowed to construct a house to live in, not a church,” the extremists charged.

The extremists defaced the new building by painting a message saying “this is a disputed land” on the front wall of the church.

At present, the GFA-supported pastor of the church and other leaders from throughout the state are appealing to local authorities to have the legal challenge dropped. They shared the following prayer requests:

• Pray that God will change the hearts of those who are opposing His work.
• Pray that God’s work will flourish in this area and that many people will choose to follow Christ.
• Pray that the legal challenge will be dismissed.
• Pray for GFA-supported missionary Satyankar Gedam, who is pastor of the congregation for whom the building was being constructed. He wants to continue encouraging his congregation to see beyond the obstacles.
• Pray for all the congregations in this small state. Anti-Christian extremists have used multiple tactics to halt construction on several church buildings in this area.

• Read about another church building construction project that was stopped by opposition until God changed hearts.
• Like many church buildings in South Asia, this one was under construction when it was attacked by anti-Christian extremists.