Gospel to Hindus

A Divine Detour

Aug 20, 2025 | South Asia, Stories

While riding in a remote mountain village, *Samaarth noticed that his bicycle had a flat tire. With no way to continue, he walked to a nearby home hoping someone might be able to help.

The family welcomed him warmly, offering him water and tea—a customary act of hospitality. As they talked, Samaarth couldn’t help but notice that the woman of the house, *Padma appeared to be in visible discomfort. Concerned, he gently asked what was wrong.

Her family explained that Padma had been suffering from a chronic illness for many years. They had tried everything—medical treatments, traditional remedies, and religious rituals—but nothing had brought healing.

Moved with compassion, Samaarth asked if he could pray for her. Cautiously, the family responded, “What kind of prayer will you pray?”

Samaarth sat with them and began to share a story from the Bible (Luke 8:43–48)—about a woman who had suffered from bleeding for twelve years. He told them how this woman was healed the moment she reached out in faith and touched Jesus’ cloak.

The family listened intently. Then, to Samaarth’s surprise, they agreed to let him pray. As he prayed in the name of Jesus, Padma suddenly felt immediate relief in her body.

Since that day, Samaarth has continued visiting the family, sharing more stories about Jesus. He is praying earnestly that Padma and her entire household will come to know and follow Him. Padma’s husband, though deeply rooted in his own faith, is curious and full of questions.

Please pray for Samaarth as he continues to share the Good News with this family. Pray especially for Padma’s husband—that the Holy Spirit would soften his heart and open his mind to the truth. And pray that, like the household in Joshua 24, this family would turn from all other gods and serve the one true God—Jesus Christ.

*pseudonym

The Unseen Purpose of a Monsoon Season

Jul 11, 2024 | South Asia, Stories

*Lakshmi was the first person ever to wash *John’s feet. She and her family are migrant workers from a very poor brick-making caste in India.

Lakshmi poured some of their precious water over John’s feet and wiped them with her hands. John wept unashamedly. As she washed, Lakshmi thanked Jesus for John and the message he had shared. You see, John hadn’t just preached to the brick-makers. He had spent time with them. He had eaten their food and drunk their water. He had shown them how to follow the God who loves them and knows them by name. Lakshmi and several others soon became beloved co-laborers with John in their community.

A few months later, monsoon season arrived. While the farmers rejoice at the rains, brick-makers cringe. They can’t work until the rains end. Since they couldn’t work, the brick-making families decided to go back home to see family.

But when Lakshmi and the other leaders shared their plans with John, he was sad and confused. Why leave? A year ago, when they arrived, they had been idol worshipers. Now there were 17 house churches among the 40 families of the community. “Why go home?” he asked. “Please stay. We can pray and wait out the monsoons. Don’t go.”

These folks love John as much as he loves them, but they knew they had to leave. That was six weeks ago.

John recently learned that each of the 17 families has started at least one new Bible study in homes among their family and friends back home. Their departure didn’t make sense before, but now John knows that God had a plan to use all of them in their home state. They planted churches in a previously unreached place. Now John looks forward to the families’ return in early October. What a joy it will be to rejoice together over what God did during their months apart!

We all too easily think we know best what other people should do. But in making disciples of all nations, our recurring question must be: Whose disciple am I making – my own or His? To make disciples of Jesus, we all, like John the Baptist, must decrease so that Jesus can increase.

*pseudonyms

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Sharing the Light of the World with Hindus

Nov 7, 2023 | Stories

November 12th will mark the multi-day Hindu celebration of Diwali, the Festival of Light. All over the world Hindus, Sikhs, Jains, and Newar Buddhists will light oil lamps and place them in their homes and businesses to invite the Goddess of Prosperity, Lakshmi, to bring good fortune to them. She doesn’t come willingly, though; she needs to be enticed. Devotees clean their homes and light lamps, hoping the bright lights will attract her. Families gather to feast and give gifts. They gamble, believing that winners will be lucky in the year to come. They offer sweets and prayers to Lakshmi.

Gifts. Blessings. Light ruling over darkness
As followers of Jesus, we also long for such things. What a precious truth it is that, unlike Lakshmi, Jesus did not need to be enticed to come near to us. He came willingly. We don’t merely hope that next year will bring good fortune. Followers of Jesus can leave tomorrow’s cares at His feet, knowing His plans for us are better than we could ever think or imagine. Our Hindu neighbors, surrounded by dozens of burning lamps, are still sitting in darkness. Jesus, the true Light of the World, came to “give light to those who sit in darkness and the shadow of death, and to guide us to the path of peace” (Luke 1:79). How can we share this Good News with our Hindu neighbors?

Presenting the Creation Story
Presenting the creation story is a great place to start. This establishes God as the creator of a perfect world. As Creator, the True God is so big that no idol can contain Him. When sin entered the beautiful, perfect world through Adam, it proliferated until God had to wipe out all he had made with a massive flood. He had to do this because his holiness could not tolerate the sin of the world. That Creator God is wholly holy is an important distinction because Hindu gods have both a good and evil nature. So, God started over again with Noah. But still sin and shame flourished. Eventually, God himself came in human form of Jesus Christ to deal with sin once and for all. By starting with creation we can explain why Jesus is the Only True Light of the world.

Follow Jesus’ Strategy
Another way to reach out to Hindus is to follow Jesus’ strategy for outreach found in Luke 10. We pray for Him to do a miracle. A Hindu background believer shared the story of how her family came to believe in Jesus. At 16 years of age her sister, Judy, was diagnosed with lupus. At the time, not much was known about the disease so her family sought healing through Hindu rituals, visits to temples, witch doctors and shamans. When a Christ-following classmate asked if she could pray for Judy’s healing in Jesus’ name, the family, willing to try anything, agreed. The classmate and her brothers shared Bible stories of how Jesus healed the sick, and then they prayed, not just for Judy but for the whole family. In a few days, Judy started to feel better. The family rejoiced. A miracle! Soon after, her whole family, including extended family members, became followers of Christ. Similarly, there are thousands of former Hindus in India today who have given their full allegiance to Christ, because God provided a miracle when one of His children prayed. A worker on the field tells us that often when they pray for a miracle they wonder if God will actually do the thing they are asking Him to do. They doubt. But they pray anyway. And God displays His power, proving He is the ONLY WAY!

Please pray for more opportunities to share the true Light of the World with Hindus.

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Redeeming Diwali

Nov 4, 2018 | Festivals and Holidays, South Asia, Stories

The largest Hindu holiday of the year, Diwali, the Festival of Lights, is nearly upon us. Every year millions of Hindus clean and decorate their homes hoping that the goddess of good fortune will visit them bestowing her gifts. They buy presents for one another and, on the darkest night of the month, they clean themselves, put on their best clothes, light candles and offer pooja (prayers) to Lakshmi.

Ripe for Redemption
The symbolism of Diwali is ripe for redemption. Christ is the Light of the World. He brings good gifts to his children because he loves to do so. He cleanses us from our sin and bestows on us his robe of righteousness.

One week before Diwali, Evan and Nina, who work among Hindus, wanted to introduce their neighbors to Christ through a time of satsung. Satsung is the Hindi word for worship. In Nina’s words: “We pushed all the furniture back to the walls of our living room, and then covered the floor with area rugs. Everyone took their shoes off at the door, and sat cross-legged on the floor. There was a candle burning in half of a coconut shell. Candles and coconuts are considered holy items to the typical Indian, and so by incorporating these items we signaled to our neighbors that this was a holy place and time. It’s a bit like when we walk into the sanctuary and see the communion trays at the front of the church. They signal that the Lord’s Supper is coming. The candle and coconut were on a table, off to the side, and they were noticed. Giving these elements a “Jesus” twist is what the evening was all about. Jesus is the True Light of the World, and His Broken Body is the Ultimate Sacrifice, and so the typical “Hindu” elements point to Christ, but are familiar to the people, and so make them feel comfortable at our satsung.

“Anik led the service. He sat in a corner of the room. His Bible was laid on a little wooden pedestal to keep it off the ground. He had a saffron colored scarf around his neck. Saffron is considered a “holy” color here, and signified that he was the leader of this satsung (kind of like the priest’s robes at church).

We had Communion
“Sitting next to Anik on the floor were the musicians playing Indian instruments. We opened with worship songs sung in Hindi. Anik alternated between sharing from the Word and leading out in song. After about 30 minutes, we had communion with coconut, the coconut meat for the bread, coconut milk for the wine.

“After communion, Anik shared a bit more from the Word. He shared about the things that were on his heart: caste is bad, Jesus is the Answer for India, let us treat others as we’d want them to treat us. Albeit with an Indian twist, it was the same kind of message you’d hear at church: Jesus is the Answer, and you’re called to love your neighbor.

What did our neighbors think?
“The were blown away. They couldn’t get over how kind Anik was. He spoke with such passion. He obviously loves his country and his God. But, mostly, they talked about the peace they felt during the service. They couldn’t stop talking about how good they felt, how encouraged they were. And they knew it was Jesus they felt. Several days later, one of our neighbors was still talking about it, how she’d never felt a peace like that. “Jesus’ peace,” she said again. After the satsung was over, we couldn’t get them to leave! They stayed and stayed, chatting and eating. It was an absolutely wonderful evening. God was lifted up in our house by our neighbors. Never did we imagine when we moved here that one day we’d see our Sikh neighbors with their arms raised, singing praise to Jesus in our living room! Oh, Lord, may there be many more chances! “

Radical Thinking part of our Culture at Beyond
By incorporating local culture in a relational way Evan and Nina were able to make a real connection with their unbelieving neighbors. This kind of radical thinking, is highly valued to us as an organization and is what is opening doors so that people living in darkness will see a great light, and on those living in the shadow of death a light will dawn. (Matthew 4:16)

Please pray for more opportunities to share the true Light of the World with Hindus.