A family of six who are members of a local church near Nagpur in Central India were hacked to death with an axe recently, and their pastor, a GFA-supported missionary, was warned to stay away from the village or he, too, would be killed.
The attack came while the pastor, GFA-supported missionary Kisan Saryam, was attending an out-of-town pastors’ conference.
According to reports, the family was killed by two men wielding an axe who invaded their home at 1:30 in the morning. Police later arrested two suspects. Dead are Mr. Sudan and his wife, their daughter, 17, two sons, ages 13 and 11, and another family member.
When Pastor Saryam returned from the conference, he learned that an anonymous person had warned him not to go back to the village where the church was located or he would also be murdered. Information about a motive for the slayings is not yet available.
Pastor Saryam, a graduate of the GFA Bible College in Nagpur, planted the church attended by the Sudan family as a branch of his larger congregation in the town of Sita Sawangi. The smaller church, with 33 members, is in a village about 12 miles away.
Please pray God’s protection and grace for Pastor Saryam, his wife, and four children, as well as the members of both congregations as they deal with this trauma and the threats that have emerged from it.
GFA has 300 native missionaries and 17 churches in the district where Pastor Saryam serves.