There are around 1.3 billion people in India and by 2022 India is estimated to be the world’s largest population. Its array of cultures, languages (>1000), dialects and landscapes give it a diversity normally only contained by an entire continent. Of the 2, 533 people groups in India, 88% of them are considered unreached! There are over 72 million Christians in India of which 27 million are evangelical.
There is great hunger for the truth and unprecedented openness to the Gospel in India today! We rejoice as more people, often struggling to make ends meet, go from darkness to light. It brings hope for this vast nation as we see Indian believers taking the Gospel to the unreached people. They are motivated by love for their own people and a desire to introduce them to the Living God.
Since 2009, MediaServe has supplied grassroot level evangelists and pastors, mainly in rural areas, with tools for evangelism and church planting. When asking the grassroot level evangelists if they have other literature like this? Or if we wouldn’t provide literature, would you have other literature you could use? A vast majority say: “No, we have nothing else!” The effectiveness of literature in evangelism is emphasized as pastors frequently share how a high percentage of believers in India have come to faith in Jesus through literature – by reading a tract, booklet or New Testament. The Word of God is living and powerful!
Jewish Focus in India
MediaServe has focused on two Jewish groups in India – the Bnei Menashe and the Israelis on holiday in India.
Bnei Menashe
In two of the north eastern states in India, Manipur and Mizoram, as well as in Myanmar reside the Bnei Menashe (“Sons of Menasseh” in Hebrew), who claim decent from one of the lost tribes of Israel. MediaServe has provided The Prophets Speak in the Mizo lanuage so that they can read the promises from the Scriptures concerning the land of Israel, the Jewish people and most importantly the Messianic prophecies and their fulfillment in Yeshua. Our contact in the far eastern corner of India recently wrote the following to us:
“Here in Mizoram many people claim that they are Jews from the line of Manasseh, son of Joseph in the Old Testament. The government of Israel has also accepted their claim. Every year over 100 Mizo families migrate to Israel and settle there. This has gone on for a number of years. But in the right time you have given us The Prophets Speak in our language. As soon as these copies reached our city, our team moved out with the books with a spirit of challenge and enthusiasm. Within a period of two weeks we had distributed almost all the copies. Now we have only 100 copies with us to meet the urgent demand. I received many wonderful testimonies from the readers, that they now realize that JESUS IS THE MESSIAH. Praise God! Once again we thank you for the books. We are spreading the gospel in India and focus especially on the unreached areas. But we had never thought of reaching the Bnei Menashe, the people with Jewish decent. But because of The Prophets Speak a new door of ministry has opened for us. “
Israelis in India
Goa – the popular holiday resort in India. Two years ago we were excited to meet young Indians whom God had called to leave their native homes, move to Goa and specifically witness to the 50,000 Israeli tourists who visit the beaches annually. Many of the Israelis are backpackers who, having recently completed military service, want to see and experience the world and are often enticed into eastern religions and activities such as yoga. The last thing they expect is young Indians approaching them on the beach with the message of Yeshua Ha-Mashiach and an offer of The Prophets Speak in Hebrew.
One of the ministry leaders is ‘David’. He told us that Israelis are surprisingly open to discuss spiritual matters and after meeting them, he invites them to his home on Fridays for an authentic Sabbath meal. Many have commented that it feels like being ‘at home’. MediaServe published a ‘slimline’ (pocket sized) edition of The Prophets Speak for David and others to use when witnessing to Israelis.
Premdas, another Indian brother, saw a young Israeli man reading The Prophets Speak in Hebrew and asked what he was reading. The man explained the entire content of the book to him in English!
Sometimes there is also opposition yet people’s hearts are touched to learn more about Yeshua. Anand told us “A Israeli man ran up to me and blurted out, ‘The Rabbi told me not to meet you, and because of this I have searched for you everywhere and want to know more!’”
We believe that this is a special time for the Jewish people to come to know their Messiah. Therefore, God is placing his servants in strategic places to get their attention. We at MediaServe are committed to assist these ‘elite troops’ with the Word of the Living God.
“My family and I were idol worshipers, but we never found any peace or hope in our lives. My heart was always troubled, and I got discouraged all the time. I never knew what to do with my life. I had so many unanswered questions: ‘What’s the purpose of my life?’ ‘Why do I feel so lost?’ “I have a father, mother and 3 small sisters. We were all without peace, but one day I was sitting outside the temple, and a man of God was distributing some books and gave one to me. I read a few pages and felt so happy. I am young, but I was so happy! The pastor told me to take the book home with me and to read it again. I did just that and felt so happy, and the peace of God came into my heart and I found the way of life.” I met Amol. He’s now a part of the church and often goes out on the streets, distributing “The Secret of True Life” to others.
“We didn’t know about Jesus before. We didn’t have any idea about God and who has created us but we through this book, “The Secret of True Life”, came to know about our Creator. We studied the New Testament and got lots of knowledge. We are very happy to have received Jesus as our Lord. I am really blessed by Jesus Christ. Whenever we go out to do any work we pray and go out. Every day we are experiencing how God is blessing our lives.”
“The books we received have been a blessing for the people in our region. I met a man who had been depressed for a long time because of his personal problems. There was no joy in his life and he was always in a depressed state. I gave him the book “The Secret of True life” in his own language. He began to read the book, which started to change his thinking. He is now no longer in a depressed state, instead wants to know more about the One who had brought peace in his life. I am now preparing him for baptism.
Many people have expressed their desire to know about the Lord and attend church. Many women feel that now that they know the Lord there is great peace in their lives and in their families.”
“We have been immensely blessed by your books. Last year we received three titles (the New Testament, The Gate to Life and The Secret of True Life) and all of them have been useful for the pastors in their work. They use these books with great joy! People are very happy to take these books as they are very attractive. Many people are ready to accept the Lord after reading this book as they have started to think about the true life that is mentioned in the book. Some new people have also started to come to the church. These books are touching the lives of people and they are being convicted of their sins and repenting from them. They are now getting to know that they can get forgiveness from their sins through Jesus Christ. Our pastors are happy that now they have the materials through which they can more effectively reach out to people in their community.”
If the Lord Jesus Christ will be able to heal my boy….
”Sunita received the booklet The Secret of True Life and called the local pastor. She boldly said: “Where can we meet you?” She travelled to the church and brought her son, who had stomach problems. He had received various treatments but nothing had helped. Sunita said: “If the Lord Jesus Christ will heal my boy’s stomach, then we will put our faith in him. We read in this booklet that because of sin all these problems have come, so we want to get rid of this sin so that we can get rid of these problems also.”
The pastor shared the Gospel and God gave them faith. They prayed for the boy and 15 days later when Sunita took her son to the doctors, they found he was totally cured. One year had passed when I visited and Pastor Jagir said they are strong believers and they are sharing the Gospel with all their neighbors and family members.