The church had been deliberately burned down. Everything was destroyed. Even in that moment, Rohan had faith in his God. He refused to stop holding services. Since they no longer had a building, the congregation erected a tent and used that for worship.
ohan was born in a Christian family, and his father was a priest. He grew up aware of the antagonism that Christians could face in India. But, when he was 18, God spoke to him through the words of Isaiah 43:1 – “Do not fear, for I have redeemed you; I have summoned you by name; you are mine.”
“God invoked a thirst in me, through His word. On that day, I dedicated my life to ministry. I decided to go wherever leads me to do His work,” Rohan shares.
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Some years later, Rohan started a church. It began with a children’s ministry and personal evangelism until, in 2008, there were enough believers in the area to form a congregation.
“It was the first church to be established among the non-believers,” says Rohan. “It slowly started to grow. Initially, there was no problem, but we faced opposition in 2012. People wanted it to stop.”
“We knew there would be opposition—an anti-Christian group was only three kilometers away. Hindu extremists used to stop meetings, and say that Christ is a foreign God who doesn’t belong in India.”
“It Was All Ashes”
But Rohan wasn’t prepared for what happened in 2018.
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“We’d held a prayer meeting on the evening in question. At midnight, my neighbors called to tell me that the church was on fire. As I heard the news, a kind of chill ran through my body.”
“The church was only ten minutes away‑but by the time we got there, everything was burnt to ashes.”
The church had been deliberately burned down. Everything was destroyed. Even in that moment, Rohan had faith in his God. He refused to stop holding services. Since they no longer had a building, the congregation erected a tent and used that for worship.
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“I never thought about giving up. I trusted that God would act. I wanted to see Him take me a step further in ministry.
“My fellow pastors encouraged me. They reminded me that God is faithful to the persecuted church.”
India is ranked 10th on Christian support organization Open Doors’ 2019 World Watch List of the countries where it is most difficult to be a Christian. The country was 31st in 2013, but its position has been worse each year since Narendra Modi of the Bharatiya Janata Party came to power in 2014.
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