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Depressed and discouraged. This is the life of Tanish* in South Asia. She’s a university student living like the walking dead. No purpose. No hope. No life. That is until she met Amos*.
Amos met her on campus, shared the gospel, and over time Tanish believed. Joy, purpose and life returned, so much so, she invited her brother to hear the gospel as well.
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Nathu and Maya left their mountain village 5 years ago with their three little kids. Unable to support their family in the village, they ended up in the capital city working at a carpet factory.
Nathu used alcohol to run away from his problems which ultimately created family trouble. Quarreling with Maya became the norm and their children’s demeanor grew worse over time. It’s clear they were no longer a happy family. During the pandemic, SRC delivered relief packages to the carpet factory workers. Nathu and Maya were one of the recipients and became overwhelmed with emotions when given the food, as did their kids. But, they were not interested in learning about Christ. Now let’s move forward to 2022. The explosion at the Kabul airport last summer, while a sea of Afghans were trying to escape, separated Abdul* from his family. Not knowing if the other survived, he and his wife kept searching until they found each other. Not long after that, a miracle transpired. They escaped Afghanistan. Why am I sharing this?
Attacks are on the rise against Christians in South Asia. Yet despite this reality, Amos* takes every opportunity to share the Gospel because the need to deliver the Gospel to those without access far outweighs his own safety.
Back in July, Amos met Sharma. Sharma comes from a strong and dedicated Hindu family. His family has strong ties to the local temples. Knowing the reality taking place in his country, Amos met Sharma and shared the Gospel while Sharma was doing work at Amos’ home. Rather than pushing back, Sharma’s interest peaked. They began spending time together and eventually Amos led Sharma to Christ. And, this was no small decision. This past week, Ezra (SRC leader in South Asia) traveled to a rural community in South Asia. He hosted Christmas parties and shared the Gospel with Muslims, Hindus and Buddhists. Five people were baptized on the spot while many others made an initial profession of faith.
Their marriage was torn apart. They drifted away from the Lord. Yet, this did not happen overnight. It was a gradual journey as their hearts became consumed with the stress of finances and lack of work.
Ved and his family were confessed followers of Jesus. But, confession was not enough to keep them centered on Christ. They lacked discipleship. When a few years had gone by, Isaac and Rebekah connected with this family, although Ved was out of picture at this point. They learned that Ved left his wife and family and lived far away, like a wanderer searching for hope while ignoring the One who gives it. “I have a similar story of abuse”, said a man from a Sikh background who recently watched Asim’s testimony online. He discovered Asim’s testimony on YouTube and was immediately captivated. Immediately, he reached out to Asim and invited him to his home (hours away). Asim accepted.
Upon meeting, Asim met some of his other family members, they shared a meal, conversed about their history and the Gospel, and ultimately, four of them gave their lives to Christ. It was 130am when Amos* hopped into his Uber to head home. As is typical, Amos struck up a conversation with the driver, who just so happened to be Muslim. Amos learned about his financial struggles due to the pandemic, how it’s affecting his business and family, and how frustrated he felt.
Amos shared about his similar experience but also how Christ redeemed him from his sin. Amos prayed for the driver then eventually led him to Christ! The driver responded afterwards, “I feel free and peaceful now!”. Aasim left Hinduism years ago when he turned to Christ. He’s been involved in a number of local ministries and churches. For the past several years, he’s been serving with Silk Road Catalyst.
A few years ago, he recorded his testimony which included his story about leaving Hinduism, what he dealt with as a result of leaving it, and then he shares the Gospel message. Today, this video has been viewed over a million times with 700,000 of those views happening over the past three months. That’s potentially 700k people across South Asia hearing the Gospel message, many for the very first time. I live in a county with 300,000 people and 600 protestant churches, mostly evangelical. That’s 1 church for every 500 residents. New churches are planted every year, and of course, some are closing their doors. Regardless of how one spins it, my county is not short on churches.
Let’s compare my county with Abbaad’s community. I’m not talking about Abbaad’s county or city, but merely a community within a mega city. He serves in a community with about the same number of people as my county but without one known church. In fact, I’m not even aware of one other believer serving his community full-time. |
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