By Jeremiah S., ChangeMaker in India

Editor’s Note: For the past decade, Jeremiah has been serving in the district of Ahmednagar, located in the southern state of Maharashtra, which has a population of 4.5 million people, most of whom are Hindu. Ninety-four percent of the world’s Hindus live in India, but there are substantial populations of Christians, Sikhs, and Buddhists. India’s massive population includes not only the vast majority of the world’s Hindus, but also the second-largest group of Muslims within a single country behind Indonesia. While there are legal protections for religious groups and minorities, Indians still experience “high” levels of government restrictions on religion.

Our work is growing, and most of our churches are also growing after the lockdown period. God is tremendously blessing our efforts in one mission area in the district of Ahmednagar where we have baptized more than thirty people in the last six months. I am working with a young church planter named Bro. Jayesh in three church plants in this district, and Bro. Jayesh and his wife were some of the first people that I baptized eight years ago.

God is opening people’s hearts, and the people are responding to the gospel. I want to tell you about two stories, each story about new believers and how they came to know Christ:

First, a lady named Savita visited our prayer meeting at one of the church plants with one of our members three months ago. She had a very rough life and found herself deep in sin after suffering abuse and experiencing drug addiction. Savita lived with multiple partners in the last six years but never married any of them. That day when she visited our prayer meeting, God opened her heart and she was filled with guilt. She cried in front of the whole group and accepted that she was a sinner, repented of her sins, and accepted Christ. She was baptized just three weeks ago. We are gracious to God for opening people’s hearts to receive his word, changing their lives forever.

The second story is about a man named Shiva. His wife came to our church regularly, but Shiva never came; he was a very staunch Hindu and an alcoholic. A few months ago, their daughter had pneumonia, so we went to their home to pray for her, and by God’s grace he was home at the time. He did not speak a word and almost seemed angry as we prayed for the little girl. After praying, we spoke to him and told him about Jesus, but he just sat there, listening to what we had to say, never speaking a word. A couple of weeks later he visited our Thursday prayer meeting and listened to the message being preached from the third chapter of John, the story of Nicodemus. The Holy Spirit opened his heart, he was filled with guilt, and that day he accepted Jesus and insisted on getting baptized immediately.

God is great and faithful. He is bringing a revival in this church plant. We praise and thank God for what he is doing in Ahmednagar.