India: ‘If you renounce your faith then we will help you’…

Aman, an Open Doors local partner in India has been helping to provide our persecuted brothers and sisters with Covid-19 aid. Below he tells us what it has been like working with persecuted believers. All names have been changed for security reasons.

“Usha lives in a slum and works as a daily labourer. Around 20 years ago, she gave birth to a son with physically disabled feet. At the time, she was experiencing financial difficulty and was unsure how she’d cope. After meeting a pastor, she went to church where her son was miraculously healed. Usha became a Christian and began inviting other villagers to church. Many gave their lives to Jesus, and Usha’s whole family are now Christians.

“Even before the pandemic, Usha faced persecution. As a daily labourer, people would agree to pay her a certain amount of money, but on discovering her Christian faith they would underpay and threaten her for ‘abandoning’ her traditional faith.

“And as often happened to believers in India, Usha was refused government aid during pandemic because of her faith. There was no such directive from the government, but it’s been practised by the local authorities. Usha was taunted, ‘Your God is not helping you, but if you renounce your faith then we will help you.’

“After Usha called me for help, I visited her home and was deeply saddened that I have brothers and sisters who are living in such a state. The condition of her home and neighbourhood was not good, but Usha is very firm in her faith.

“Seeing the situation of Usha and other Christian families, our team and volunteers collected 200kg of rice and distributed it among nine families. We’ve been back a further six times to distribute food to these families.

“Usha expressed her heartfelt gratitude towards us, saying, ‘Thank you, Jesus, for sending Your people to our aid.’ We are planning to help Usha start a new business, if possible.”