Women's Fellowship Director Interrogated

Saphala Nanda and Rajata Jayaselvan were leading a women's fellowship much like this one, when police interrogated them.

Gospel for Asia missionaries Saphala Nanda and Rajata Jayaselvan were leading a group of five women in prayer when the police showed up. The officers stopped the prayer meeting and began firing questions at the two women missionaries.

The police wanted to know where they lived, and interrogated them about their families and their educational backgrounds. They also wanted to know what their intentions were in coming to this district in Tamil Nadu, India.

"Have you come to preach the Gospel and convert people?" The police pointedly asked them.

"Yes, we have come to preach the Good News of God," said Saphala, who is GFA's Women's Fellowship director for this area. "But the choice is left to the people to accept or reject the Gospel. We are not forcing anyone."

The questioning lasted for nearly an hour. People from the village who knew Saphala and Rajata tried to intervene, but the police would not allow them to speak on the women's behalf. The police finally ran out of questions and left.

After the interrogation, the missionaries found out that some residents of the area had complained to the police about them, accusing them of forcing people to convert to Christianity. These complaints led to the interrogation.

Tamil Nadu enacted an anti-conversion law in 2002. The law specifically prohibited religious conversions "by force, allurement or fraudulent means" but never defined those terms. Many Indians agree with the anti-conversion laws, because they believe that introducing Christianity into their Hindu-based society creates massive social disturbances and makes it difficult to maintain order.

The anti-conversion law was repealed in 2004, but when the repeal was announced, the Indian media quoted several Tamil Nadu officials saying that they would work to bring it back.

Tamil Nadu is home to more than 65 million people, of which an estimated five percent are Christian.

In spite of the harassment they are facing, Saphala and Rajata have no plans to abandon their work in Tamil Nadu. They told their district leader that they are not afraid of the opposition, and their only goal is to tell people about Jesus.

They ask that Christians around the world join them in fasting and praying for the people of Tamil Nadu to come to know Christ, and for God to protect them from harm as they minister.

Read about India's patchwork of anti-conversion laws.

Find out why Tamil Nadu is known as the "Land of the Temples."