These are days of heavy persecution of the evangelical church in the nation of India. Brutal violence is often inflicted on born-again believers by a variety of radical Hindu extremist groups. This vicious opposition of the Gospel, (which has been continually active under previous Indian governments), has been dramatically increasing under the present regime of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. For example, during one of their Sunday worship gatherings, some radical Hindu’s had recently attacked the very church where the “Christ-centered Evangelism” pastors’ conference was held. Thankfully, some local police stopped this particular incident. However, in 99% of the cases of the persecution of believers, the radical Hindu’s know that they will neither be stopped, nor punished for their actions. For the present ruling authorities of India, (which are part of a Hindu nationalist organization), will always take the side of the persecutors of the followers of Christ. As a matter of fact, it is the stated goal of these Hindu extremists, that India should be “free of Christians by 2021”. Furthermore, they will go to any extremes of violence to reach their announced ambition. In point of fact, the very day following the conclusion of our conference, I heard the news that one of the evangelical pastors, from the neighboring state to Kerala, had been martyred by radical Hindu’s.

And yet, even though these Indian pastors are facing great persecution from these religious radicals which envelope their tiny remnant, these spiritual leaders are still in need of Biblical training. For in recent decades, both their ‘evangelistic message and methods’ have drifted astray from the divine standard of the Word of God. The prevalent evangelistic message, which is proclaimed by most Indian pastors and evangelists, has wandered away from a “Christ-centered” message; and has become “heaven-centered” in its main focus. Furthermore, these spiritual leaders have become guilty of gradually adopting many ‘American methods’, that are nothing but the concoctions of the arm of the flesh. Oh, but I am so thankful that, (through previous Christ-centered Evangelism conferences), the Lord has raised up a core group of Indian pastors, who have a passion and purpose to take this ‘Christ-centered Evangelism’ study to each one of the 14 major languages of India. My most recent conference in Trivandrum was being translated into the Malayalam language, which is the language of the state of Kerala. This is the 5th Indian language that the ‘Christ-centered Evangelism’ workbook has been translated into!