A Christian worker in Indore, Madhya Pradesh, India was arrested on October 7 for "converting young children from poor Hindu families to Christianity." The worker, Sunny John runs three schools/children homes in Indore. He is accused of converting eleven children to Christianity. John denies the charges, stating that the children had not converted to Christianity nor had they complained of anyone attempting to convert them.
For more details on the persecution facing Indian Christians, click here.
Pray that the case against Sunny John will be dropped. Pray that those bringing the charges against him will see the love of Christ reflected in Sunny. Pray for the continued ministry of these schools in reaching out to many children in the area.
(Source: Hindustan Times, Daily Pioneer, Compass Direct)
A case fighting for the rights of Christians belonging to the lowest caste people in India, the Dalits, is scheduled to be heard by India's Supreme Court on October 18. If successful, Dalit Christians will be recognized to have the same legal rights as Dalits who are Hindus, Sikhs or Buddhists.
In recent months, The Voice of the Martyrs has been following the ordeal facing the New Life Church in Minsk, Belarus. On September 23, the church administrator, Vasily Yurevich, was fined 4,080,000 rubles ($2250 CDN), for not stopping religious services as ordered. This is the second fine in less than a year. This fine is the equivalent of over 13 years' pay at the Belarusian minimum wage. On September 26, the New Life Church also announced that it will be filing a lawsuit against the Minsk City Executive Council over the decision to confiscate the church's land.