Office of the President
Incredible India
With more than 1.3 billion people and at least 53 cities populated with more than
1 million people each, India enjoys growing global influence and breathtaking diversity. Operation World states that India is “the most ethnically diverse nation on
the earth, with over 2,500 distinct people groups.” It is also a nation of contrasts:
donkey cart and Mercedes Benz, non-literate and educationally sophisticated,
high caste and outcast.
India needs to hear the Good News of Jesus Christ. Many Indian Christians
look back to Thomas, one of Jesus’ 12 disciples, as a first-century missionary
who originally brought the Gospel to them. Yet, with about 95 percent of the
world’s Hindu population living in India, along with a growing Muslim population,
India’s Christ followers make up less than 2 percent of the population in many
Indian states. Increasingly, those who bear the name of Christ in India are suffering persecution.
God has given One Mission Society a big, bold vision: to give to at least 1 billion people over a 10-year period the opportunity to hear, understand, and believe
the Good News of Jesus Christ. The fulfillment of this vision would be unlikely
without the people of India being included. That’s why I was overjoyed when
nearly 5,000 people in India were equipped this past June to use Train & Multiply,
an effective church multiplication method being used widely by OMS.
A few weeks later at OMS’ Every Community for Christ training event, I learned
that believers from India exercised tremendous faith and committed, with God’s
help, to give at least 150 million people this opportunity to hear, understand, and
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