Tag: Persecution

A Cry Through The Window

On By Terry IvyIn Church Planting, Leadership, Letters, Salvation, Suffering4 Comments

India woman windowRecently, two of our Church Planters preached in an unreached village. They proclaimed that Jesus as the Only Begotten Son and the Savior of all. They shared how that man must come to Him through faith and repentance by believing the gospel. After preaching, some rogue elements of this village attacked and beat them up. As they ran them out of the village they said, “If you come back, we will kill you.”

These types of reports from the front lines of work through our Project India team are some of the hardest for me to hear. However, I am aware that suffering and persecution is the norm for proclaiming the gospel to a lost and dying world. In America, we are shielded from this by our laws, but even this seems to be changing as radical homosexuals and militant atheists are attempting to squash the proclamation of truth.

Our top three team leaders traveled to this rural village, asked for and was granted a meetingt with the village elders. They requested permission to continue to preach the gospel and to be protected from those who would attack them. We were not expecting to have a favorable meeting, but after a couple of days of seeking the Lord’s will we were holding out hope. Three of the village Elders said, “No.” However, the other five Continue reading “A Cry Through The Window” →

Jesus Still Protects His Church

On By Terry IvyIn Church Planting, Letters, Suffering3 Comments

What if Jesus revealed Himself today as He did in the book of Acts? What would it look like? Would we recognize it? Last week I received another testimony from the front lines of church planting through our Project India ministry. In it, two Hindu ladies write telling of how the Lord appeared to them in a miraculous way. They described in detail what was going through their mind and their intent to destroy the local church because of the preaching of the gospel.

Jesus intervened in a very special way and they share what happened to them. I pray it encourages everyone, especially church planters, to look to our resurrected Lord to provide what is needed in our most desperate times.

**Some of the English is rough as it had to go through translation and names have been changed for security reasons.**

“Hello, my name is Sura and my friend’s name is Daga, we live in the village where Pastor Yohn has planted a PROJECT INDIA church.

We both are very bad people, we always enjoying sin and speaking very bad language. At the same time we are worshipers of 30,000 goddess and 67,000 gods. We are very strong worshipers of god ANGENAYA (MONKEY GOD) we also strong believers of  lord GANESHA. We never love any other religion, only Hindu gods. We hear about Jesus six months back and were so anger towards  project–India church believers. We used to think that jesus is not a god of India, but only god to the white people. Even we have seen many images of Jesus he never look like Indian. Our question is, “when we have 330 million gods and goddess, why do we want worship other nations other people god?”

When Pastor Yohn  is sharing  the gospel we asked him stop sharing about Jesus. We told him, “If you do more about Jesus we will kill you!” Continue reading “Jesus Still Protects His Church” →

Persecution and the Power of Forgiveness

On By Terry IvyIn Church, Church Planting, Suffering6 Comments

Christians have always been persecuted…it is part of our call. (Acts 14:22) The call to plant churches and reach the unreached, will cost us. It will cost our time, our resources, and possibly even our life. We easily forget that all but one (St. John and excluding Judas) of the original Apostles were brutally martyred for the sharing of the Gospel. Their blood and lives were offered on the altar of God’s grace toward mankind. They did not die in vain.

In our day of “at ease in Zion” religianity (my word), we know little of sacrifice, death or persecution. However, this is not the case in other countries and it will eventually find its way into the U.S. in the not too distant future. Church Planters in foreign lands and with limited resources are laying their life on the altar of sacrifice for the gospel’s sake.

In the midst of persecution the Lord is offering us the opportunity to demonstrate the power of grace and forgiveness. Instead of retaliation, it is an open window to be an example of truth and grace. Yes, let us stand for the equal rights of all men. However, if we proclaim the name of Christ let us never fail to offer forgiveness and mercy.

The early church saw persecution as a norm for proclaiming the gospel…they expected it. (1Thes. 3:3-4) Paul viewed it as a ministry opportunity to proclaim Jesus and advance the message among another class of people. (Phil. 1:12-13 – Kings, Governors, soldiers, etc.) After all, Paul knew from his initial calling into ministry that his life was destined for persecution. (Acts 9:15-16) When we adopt their attitude by surrendering to God’s highest purposes we will realize that rejection and persecution is a biblical norm. Then we will also discover the power of communication it offers to us. Continue reading “Persecution and the Power of Forgiveness” →

Persecution and the Power of the Gospel

On By Terry IvyIn Church Planting, Letters, Salvation, Suffering1 Comment

Sometimes, it is in the midst of persecution when Jesus reveals Himself as the Great Shepherd…protecting his sheep with His faithful hands. That is certainly true in this story. Through PROJECT INDIA we have planted 19 churches in the three months of December ’11 through February ’12, with well over 500 new souls brought to Christ and added to these fellowships. We knew it was only a matter of time before the enemy would show his colors and begin to bring persecution. Several events have taken place, but I want to share a special story which is still unfolding. (Names are changed for security reasons!)

In one of the villages Bro. Anand, our PROJECT INDIA church planter, led Mary to Christ. Her salvation, like many others in the villages we are reaching, is from a life of idolatry in the religious practice of Hinduism. However, Mary’s story goes beyond that…as her father is the Brahma Priest who leads worship in one of the local Hindu Temples. Therefore, her family is from the highest caste in Indian culture and has little to do with the lower castes. Continue reading “Persecution and the Power of the Gospel” →