MISSIONS UPDATE: INDIA

India is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, has the second largest population with over 1.2 billion people, and the largest democracy in the world.

The United Kingdom ran India from the mid-19th century, and India became an independent nation in 1947 after a struggle for independence, which was marked by non- violent resistance and was led by Mahatma Gandhi.

The Indian economy is the world’s tenth-largest economy and one of the fastest growing. India is a newly industrialized country but it continues to face the issues of poverty, illiteracy, corruption and inadequate public health. India is a nuclear weapons state and a regional power; it has the third-largest standing army in the world.

India is a federal constitutional republic governed under a parliamentary system consisting of 28 states and 7 union territories.

The religion in India with the largest number of followers is Hinduism, with over 800 million (80.5%) of the population recording it as their religion. Other religious groups include Muslims (13.4%), Christians (2.3%), Sikhs (1.9%), Buddhists (0.8%), Jains (0.4%), Jews, Zoroastrians and Bahá’ís. India has the world’s third-largest Muslim population.

India has no one, overall, national language. Hindi, with the largest number of speakers, is the official language. English is used extensively in business and education.

When considering India, please pray for:

Our missionaries there (names not listed for security reasons), their ministries and their safety.

God’s restraint on the persecution of Christians there and yet that the persecution acts to show Christians loving their neighbors and glorifying God.

Missions Committee