Vijayesh Lal

Open Doors worker Daren visited India between 7-16 November.  He was able to interview Vijayesh Lal, Secretary for the Religious Liberty Commission of the Evangelical Fellowship of India.

Vijayesh's message:

"Thank you for your concern for the minority Christian community in India - the scale of this latest violence took most of us by surprise. 

"The violence has diminished considerably now, but many people still can't go back to their homes for fear of being forced to convert to Hinduism.

"I have met some of the victims and it is heart-rending to hear their stories, but what amazes me is their resolve to follow Christ at any cost. I met a lady who lost her husband. He was asked to renounce Christianity and to revile the name of Christ and accept Hinduism. He said, 'You can kill me but I won't renounce Christ.' He was struck with an axe between the chest and the neck.  He was injured very severely and died two days later. His wife was also beaten by the same axe and suffered a very big wound from her head to her shoulders. What amazes me is her resolve to remain Christian. 

"There was another lady who has been burned 90% all over her body because she is a Christian and is now being treated by plastic surgery. Her parents also said, 'We will not leave Christ.' 
 
"There are many people like that and almost all the stories are similar. I met the relatives of a boy who was shot dead in a village and although they cried, they said 'We will not leave Jesus.  We can leave the village because the situation is getting hostile but we will not leave Jesus.' But why should they leave the village? Our work is to make them grow and root them back in the place where they belong. We must come to their help. There were around 2,000 families in that village but now there are less than 500 left.

"The Lord is working and he can use trouble to bring something good out of it. The best thing to come out of this persecution is that for the first time we are seeing that the Church is united right across the denominations. The sense of concern from the worldwide Church is the second thing of benefit to have come out of this situation. 

"Children are the silent bearers of all of this. In September 2007, all their textbooks were burned, they could not go to school any more – one year was lost. And then the violence happens again in 2008. Children have lost their studies, their future; one year in their career has been destroyed.

"The worldwide Church has been very helpful and the response has been multi-faceted. The first thing that the partners of Open Doors did was to bring church leaders together on one platform.  Open Doors helped form the Orissa United Christian Forum. Secondly, they helped with lobbying and meeting the chief minister to let people know of our demands. Thirdly, they helped with filing written petitions in the High Court and the Supreme Court. Fourthly, there is relief activity. There is a huge plan to reach about 5,000 families with blankets, food and medicines. Fifthly, Open Doors is also helping with trauma counselling to help people get back on track and deal with their emotions. Also, where encouragement is needed then people go to visit; if it is teaching, Open Doors has provided seminars. We are so thankful for this multi-faceted approach.

"As for the future - Jesus says 'I will build my Church and the gates of hell will not prevail against it.' Good is coming our way. The Church is going to be much stronger and Christians will be even more prepared. 

"Please pray that Christians will remain strong, will forgive, will do the Lord's work with more zeal and that broken lives are rebuilt. Pray that missionaries will go out from Orissa to the rest of India and the rest of the world."