Revitalizing Communities and Spreading Hope in India

With over 1.4 billion people, India’s religious landscape is marked by pluralism. Hinduism, Islam, Sikhism, Buddhism, Jainism, and Christianity, among others, coexist and interact. Among these, Christianity is a significant minority. Christianity in India traces its roots to the apostolic era—tradition holds that the Apostle Thomas arrived on the Malabar coast in Kerala in A.D. 52. Over the centuries, Christianity has grown to become a recognized and visible part of India’s cultural fabric, though Christians form only a small minority of the population.

Despite this historic presence, large swathes of India remain unreached by the gospel. Many rural villages and urban neighborhoods have little or no Christian witness. Thus, church planting takes on a special urgency as a means of carrying forward the Christian faith and addressing pressing spiritual and social needs.

Church planting, at its core, involves creating new worshipping communities where none previously existed or where the existing Christian presence is minimal. The process includes evangelism, discipleship, community engagement, and leadership development. In the Indian context, Church planting takes on unique dimensions due to the country’s rich tapestry of religions, social structures, and regional variations.

Challenges Facing Church Planting in India

Christianity arrived in India as early as the first century CE, attributed to the apostle Thomas, and has since grown steadily. However, Christians constitute only about 7% of the population. This minority status presents both challenges and opportunities for Church planting. The context demands sensitivity, respect for pluralism, and a focus on positive transformation.

While the importance of church planting is clear, the path is not without obstacles.

Legal and Social Restrictions: Certain Indian states have anti-conversion laws and other legal restrictions that can make church planting difficult. Social opposition or suspicion can also arise, particularly in contexts where Christianity is perceived as a foreign influence.
Resource Constraints: Many church plants operate with limited financial and human resources, making sustainability a challenge.
Cultural Barriers: Navigating the complexities of language, tradition, and belief systems requires humility, patience, and adaptability.
Opposition and Persecution: Instances of harassment or violence against new Christian communities are not uncommon in some areas, requiring courage and resilience from church planters and believers.

Church’s Impact on Community

While Church planting is rooted in spiritual motivations, its impact extends deeply into the social fabric of Indian society.

Churches have historically played a vital role in social transformation.

Many church plants in India become hubs for social transformation. These communities often address pressing issues faced by marginalized groups including caste discrimination, poverty, illiteracy, and lack of healthcare. To uplift communities, our churches are directly or indirectly involved in educational initiatives, healthcare, skill training, literacy programs and advocacy for the poor.

Our Church Planting

In the Indian context, church planting is about sharing the message of Jesus Christ and nurturing faith in places where Christianity is unfamiliar or misunderstood. Therefore, as Jesus instructed the disciples in in Matt 10:16, we encourage our church planters to be wise and pure..

Outreach and Evangelism: Church plants serve as centers for sharing the message of hope, love, and reconciliation found in the Christian faith. They reach out to those who may never have heard the gospel or have little access to existing churches, especially in rural or remote areas.
Contextual Worship (Cultural Relevance and Adaptation): One of the hallmarks of effective Church planting in India is cultural adaptability. Unlike mere transplantation of Western forms of worship, our church planters seek to express the Christian faith in ways that are meaningful within the local context—using indigenous music, art, language, and symbols. This contextualization fosters a deeper connection with local people and makes the Christian message more accessible and relevant.
Celebrating Diversity: By valuing local traditions and languages, churches affirm the richness of Indian culture while sharing the gospel message.
Holistic Transformation: The Christian message, when lived out authentically, brings holistic transformation—not only spiritual renewal but also compassion, justice, and a new sense of purpose.
Discipleship and Spiritual Growth: New churches provide intentional discipleship opportunities, nurturing new believers in their faith and equipping them to live out their beliefs authentically despite opposition and persecution. We encourage our churches to be more missional than mere worshipping congregations.
Indigenous Leadership: We have a decentralized approach when it comes to church planting. Therefore, we choose and empower locals to have vision for their communities or language groups. Raising and empowering local leaders ensures that the church resonates with the community’s unique worldview and needs.

Over 200 Pastors are supported

11 States in the north, north-east, central India

Missional and Worshipping Congregations

Support a church planter today with $60 a month!