Focus Nations: India

Prayer Needs:
Please be praying for the continued growth of the Christian Church, for more nationals to be raised into leadership positions, for more workers to go into the interior and into the cities to meet the need to take the Gospel to all the people of India, for unity within the Indian Church.

Geography:
The Indian Sub Continent juts down from the Himalayas into the Indian Ocean and dominates South Asia.

Ethnicity:
So far over 4600 different people groups have been identified in India, these people groups are identified more by culture and caste than by language grouping, as the caste system is far more important for understanding India. There are four major caste groupings: The Forward Castes (15.4% of the population); The Backward Castes (56.6 %); the Dalit, or Scheduled Castes (18.1%). The Forward Castes include the priestly and ruling castes. The Dalit include the ”untouchables”. Also involved in India’s ethnicity are the actual races and languages of which there are over 1650 living languages and dialects

History:
The major influences of India’s long history have been the invasions of the Indo-Aryan peoples that drove the native Dravidian peoples south, forcing the dark skinned Dravidians into the lower castes, the control of India by the British Empire, Gandhi’s passive resistance movement, being the first nation to have a female Prime Minister (Indira Gandhi), and globalization.

Government:
India is the world’s largest functioning democracy. There are many parties vying for control of the Indian Government.

Religion/Church:
The Indian Government provides for freedom of religion. In a nation where there are over 300,000,000 gods in the Hindu Pantheon, not to mention large Muslim, Sikh, Buddhist, Jain, and Christian populations, the guarantees of religions freedom are essential to maintaining peace. The Christian Church is growing in India, largely through grassroots movements of the Gospel, with Indians reaching Indians. The unfortunates downside is that while there is growth, there is also decline in the church in areas where there are no new converts, and denominational differences are causing disunity.

The Need:
While the Church may be growing, the influence and coverage of India by the Christians is spotty at best. There are HUGE tracts of land where there is no Christian presence. The result is that there are Millions of people who have never heard the Gospel.