Bibles for India
Second only to China in number, India is home to nearly a quarter of the world’s population. Covering 3.3 million square miles, India is roughly one-third the size of the United States. Religion in India is very diverse and practiced freely in public. Hinduism is the predominant religion in India, practiced by 80 percent of the populace. Muslims comprise about 10 percent, Christians about 3 percent, with Sikhs and others the remainder. At least 90 percent of the Christian population emerges from the lower castes, very few are from the hard to reach upper castes. India has now surpassed China as the nation with the fastest growing Christian population.
Since 1951, Lutheran Hour Ministries has taken on the challenge of spreading the Good News to thousands of Indian people who have never had the opportunity to learn about Jesus Christ. “Christian Media Centre”, as they are known locally, broadcasts a weekly radio program found primarily in the southern portion of the nation that is produced in two major languages: Tamil and the national language, Hindi. Recognizing the influences of music, song, and drama, LHM-India brings the Gospel to listeners through devotional songs, short dramas, and Youth groups of LHM-India perform public music programs, stage plays, dance, and dramas under the guidance of LHM-India director, the Rev. C. David. These local groups also conduct Gospel rallies for large audiences in big cities and remote villages. Those who respond to outreach efforts are invited to enroll in free Bible Correspondence Courses to learn more about the Lord and grow in faith. For more information about Lutheran Hour Ministries - India, visit their web site or click here for a ministry facts sheet. For a short video greeting from Rev. David, the director of LHM-India (from their web site), click here.
In early 2007, Rev. Daniel Rowe, Senior Pastor of Trinity Lutheran Church and School in Paso Robles, California, spent a week and a half at Christian Media Centre meeting with the staff and learning more about their amazing ministry there. He heard Pastors and Lay people, who used to be Hindu or Muslim, share how much Jesus Christ is transforming their lives and their nation. The spiritual hunger in India continues to grow, but because of limited resources, LHM-India did not even have Bibles to send to those requesting them. India is an extremely poor nation and while people would love to be able to purchase the Word, they cannot. In a letter, Pastor Rowe tells more about his visit to India, and his experience there. For more photos and information, click here.
Our district has adopted LHM-India with which to partner in this important ministry of reaching out with the Gospel, and our first project was to provide for the purchase of about 5,000 Bibles in Indian languages (largely Hindi) to be distributed. These Bibles cost approximately $11,500 to purchase, and our goal was to raise the funds to cover this purchase. Thanks to the donations received for this project, we not only met our initial goal, but exceeded it by several thousand dollars. Because the goal was exceeded, the LHM office in India will be able to have special versions of the Bible printed for children which will include pictures. This project has now been completed. If you wish to contribute to our continuing India ministry efforts, please consider donating to our current projects.
Distribution of the Bibles funded with this project has begun. To see photos from the first distribution, click here. Reverend David, the director of Lutheran Hour Ministries in India reports
We started distributing the Bibles to the needy people, especially those who completed our Free Bible Correspondence Courses, on 14th of February. We selected a Lutheran Residential Boarding Home for girls in a place called Tirukoilur. One of our volunteers, Mr. A. Thangaraj, promotes the Bible Correspondence Course among the students and he requested the Free Bibles for a hundred students, those who are in the 10th, 11th and 12th grades. In that school 700 girls are staying in the hostel, among them 75% are Hindus (Non-Christians). The Head Mistress, the wardens and the Children appreciated our Ministries and thanked the Lutheran Hour Ministries for this wonderful help and the gifts in the form of Holy Bibles.
We, the Lutheran Hour India Director and staff convey our heartfelt thanks to the leaders and believers from the CNH district for this generous help and also our leaders in the LHM Head Quarters for their Guidance and continued support to see this project materialized.