Anti-Christians have attacked many congregations throughout India over the holiday season.

As many as 15 people have died in the continuing violence against the Christian community in India’s Orissa state. Gospel for Asia missionaries report increased harassment during the Christmas holidays in other parts of the country, as well.

In Orissa, GFA correspondents report gangs roaming the streets armed with swords and roads are blocked. Both Christians and Hindus have died in the communal violence, including a Hindu priest who was burned alive.

Secular news reports indicate that the situation has descended into fighting between rival tribal groups. Members of GFA-related churches have been caught in the general anti-Christian sentiment.

On the day after Christmas, a large group of anti-Christian extremists destroyed a church building that had just been completed. The pastor, Anand, lost all his belongings, which were inside. The building was to be dedicated on January 2.

When Salingh stepped off the bus in his friend's hometown on Christmas day, anti-Christian radicals gathered around him.

The radicals have threatened to attack all 27 members of Pastor Anand’s church, spreading fear in their village.

According to Indian news sources, the trouble began when anti-Christian youth tried to keep a Christian youth group from erecting a decorative gate at the entrance of a village. Violence ensued, and a leader of an anti-Christian extremist group was attacked. His group blamed the Christian youth for the attack and used it as an excuse for retaliation against the Christian community at large.

After destroying Pastor Anand’s church building, the same radical group went on a rampage later that night and burned down at least 10 Christian families’ homes. GFA’s correspondent in the area says the number is likely much higher. However, communication with the area is spotty, so it is difficult for him to send further information.

Another GFA missionary, Matish Junni, who was attacked, beaten and humiliated on December 23, learned that while he was recovering from his wounds, his house had been destroyed but his family was safe with an uncle.

He had been on his way to a church service when the extremists beat him badly and humiliated him by shaving his head and parading him around the village.

Yesterday, according to other news reports, several people were killed in the violence and an additional 12 churches were attacked and burned, including at least four belonging to GFA-related churches. Earlier, a local World Vision office was ransacked, and a local Catholic priest was forced to hide in the jungle to avoid being attacked.

With the death toll rising daily, local officials have imposed a curfew on the area.

Attacks in Other States


In Haryana state, violence touched one of GFA’s Bible college students who went to visit a friend for Christmas. When Salingh stepped off the bus in his friend’s hometown on Christmas day, anti-Christian radicals gathered around him. They forcefully took his bag, found his Bible and Gospel tracts, and began accusing him of forcing conversions. They then beat him badly. The local police kept him in their custody until late that night, when he was released without further harm.

Threatened Christians in India are praying and believing for the extremists to be saved.

Earlier in the month, in the state of West Bengal, a group of fanatics threatened two GFA women missionaries. The radicals included several who had destroyed a GFA missionary’s church building in 2004. They told the two women to stop their ministry immediately or face "dire consequences."

The group came again the next day and repeated the threats, then went house to house threatening Christians that they would lose their jobs if they did not convert back to their former religion. Most of the believers labor in tea plantations and would have no source of income if they lost their jobs.

GFA missionary leaders in all of these states ask for prayer for their ministries and for the Christians in their areas. They ask believers around the world to lift them up and believe with them that the Lord will give them boldness and courage, and that those who oppose Christianity will soon come to know Jesus.