Recently, I spoke with a pastor who was forced to flee West Bengal. He is now living in hiding in another state, working to provide for his wife and their two-year-old child. This is what he told me.
The Lord called him to pastor a small church near the ISKCON headquarters in West Bengal. (ISKCON stands for the International Society for Krishna Consciousness, commonly known as the Hare Krishna movement. Its headquarters makes this area a major center of Hindu religious influence.)
When he started the church in 2018, there were only five people. Over the years, it grew to around 50 believers. Before the attack, 35 people had been baptized.
This is what we are seeing again and again in India. Mostly, it is the small churches that are being targeted. These pastors do not have money, influence, or powerful people standing behind them. When a mob comes, they are left to face it alone.
In June, this church was worshiping on the third floor of a building when a radical Hindu mob came in and started beating the believers. The pastor told me that in the middle of the attack, one of the believers grabbed him, pulled him into a room, and hid him. That believer may have saved his life. But the 20-year-old worship leader was caught. The mob dragged him into the street, tied him to a post, and beat him.
The screenshot below is from a video taken and posted by members of the extremist mob themselves. They were not trying to hide what they had done. By sharing it publicly, they appeared to treat the attack as something to be proud of rather than something for which they would face consequences.
And what happened after the beating is just as disturbing. The pastor told me that a local elected official contacted the believers and forced them to go through a ceremony to “convert” back to Hinduism. They were made to repeat Hindu chants, wear garlands, and eat food from a Hindu temple.
Their addresses were written down. Now, every 15 to 20 days, a group goes to their homes to check on them. They look for pictures of Hindu gods and check whether the families have planted a Tulsi plant. They are entering the believers’ homes to make sure they are no longer following Jesus.
The believers are deeply traumatized. Many are afraid even to speak openly. But about ten of them still pray secretly over the phone. The pastor’s wife leads that prayer group.
The pastor told me that before the attack, the church was thriving. The believers faithfully gave their tithes and offerings, and the church was even able to help other churches. Now the congregation is scattered. The believers are being watched inside their own homes. Their pastor was forced to flee and is working in another state to feed his wife and two-year-old child.
But the church has not completely disappeared. When I spoke with the pastor, he did not have a long request. He simply said: “Please pray for us.”
Please pray for this pastor, his family, the young worship leader who was tied to a post and beaten, and the believers who are still quietly holding on to Jesus.
