Protesters took to the streets around a church under construction and threatened to destroy it unless the government shuts it down.
The church in question is near a well-known temple, which the local residents frequent for worship and to perform the rituals of their faith. These interactions at the temple are a central part of life for the people of this culture, which is why they are angry that a handful of people have chosen to receive the love of Jesus in their life. Villagers simply cannot fathom why they would choose to walk away from their traditional faith and embrace Christ. So they are accusing the local Gospel for Asia-supported missionary of forcing people to convert to Christianity.
The people in this area organized a protest after 10 families left their old faith to follow Jesus. Dozens of protestors were led by a popular local religious leader affiliated with the temple.
They swarmed the area near the temple and the church building site; then proceeded to march to the local government office. They made a complaint to the government officials accusing the church of forced conversion and asked the government to intervene and close down the church. They also distributed a pamphlet with those same accusations.
To make matters worse, they threatened to destroy the church on Thursday if the government does not respond to their complaint.
Gospel for Asia-supported missionary Deevaka Pal is pastor of the small congregation that is under attack. He shared several specific prayer requests related to the protest.
He asks for prayer for the 10 families, that they will stay strong in their new faith and not cave in to fear and turn back to their ancestral religion.
They want courage to confront the situation and show the Lord’s grace.
Pray the protesters will not make good on their threats to destroy the church building. Deevaka says such an action could escalate into widespread violence throughout the area.
Pastor Deevaka and his congregation are also asking for protection for all the Christians in their state and that the people involved in the rally will come to know Jesus as their Savior.
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