Like Priyal and Utsa, these women are working with their pastor to share Jesus’ love with those who don’t know Him.
Women missionaries like Priyal and Utsa generally face a far lesser risk of beatings than male missionaries do. However, this woman and her teammates suffered a harsh beating for sharing the Good News. |
Things looked bright for Gospel for Asia-supported missionaries Priyal Dasgupta and Utsa Bose. For two months, they had been working with Pastor Anand Tek in a village and God had been blessing their ministry.
But some did not like what was happening with the ministry. On September 12, members of an anti-Christian group barged into the worship service. They told the women that if they did not stop the service, they would beat them to death.
Two days later, a group of the extremists returned to the village in search of Anand. Infuriated that people in the village were choosing to follow Christ, they went house-to-house looking for him and threatened to beat him if they found him.
In actuality, it was the power of Christ displayed in the village that angered them. Their faction advocates their traditional religion over any other faith. They claimed that the entire village had become Christian. They ranted that the Christian God is a foreign god and that they would not allow Christians in their country.
As a result of the extremists’ hateful statements, Priyal, Utsa and Pastor Anand temporarily retreated to safer places. Priyal and Utsa are staying at a believer’s house, and Pastor Anand found shelter with a believer in another village.
They are praying that the Lord will allow them to resume ministry activities. In addition, they need your prayers for the following:
- That God will prick the conscience of the anti-Christian activists and they will acknowledge Christ’s love.
- That the believers in the village will hold to their faith in the midst of opposition.
- That they will stand firm in the Lord.