India is a vast country of nearly 1.4 billion people—just under one in five of the world’s population. Only around two per cent would deem themselves to be Christian.
In the 2000 years since the Apostle Thomas first brought the gospel to India in AD 52 the Church has made little headway and India remains one of the world’s great mission fields.
That’s where we feel we can help. Our mission calling at The Good Book Company is to make and distribute resources that equip the church to bring the gospel to the world, and there are few places where they are more needed than India.
Today, the church in India is small—roughly 30 million—but it is vibrant. In the face of sometimes intense opposition from Hindu radicals, local believers are boldly proclaiming the gospel; even if it costs them their lives.
One of the first graduates of Delhi Bible Institute was martyred within six weeks of his graduation in the 1950s. Nowadays, students of the college are said to keep a bag ready packed in case they need to flee from attack.
Scarcely a week goes by without reports of churches being burnt down or believers attacked for their faith. In 2017 the government placed restrictions on foreign based Christian charities that has seen large, well-established works close down as the government seeks to restrict the right of people to convert out of Hinduism.
Here at The Good Book Company we see a part of the body of Christ that needs our support. As India rapidly modernises and transforms from a traditional, largely rural nation to a modern, urban country, an opportunity has arrived that may indicate that the Lord’s time is at last coming.
Old ways of thinking are being challenged, social networks and caste affiliations are being broken and there is an openness to new ideas among the largely young population. At the forefront of this is the desire and drive to learn English, the lingua franca of the modern world and the language of education and aspiration.
Perhaps surprisingly, there are already 125 million English speakers in the country where it is an official state language along with Hindi. Within a decade it is estimated that the number of English speakers will quadruple, making India the world’s largest English-speaking country.
Modern digital-printing technologies have made it possible for us to make our study guides, expository guides and other Bible-based resources accessible to the whole Indian nation, not just those fortunate enough to live close to a Christian bookshop. It is the first step in a project that we pray will grow and mature in the future. You can view the selection of resources on our Indian website at www.thegoodbook.co.in
Could you do two things for us?
Could you pray for this venture? It is a step taken by conviction, and with faith by us. We would love to see it flourish over time.
Could you would share this link with any Christian contacts in India that you have? We’d love your help in making this venture better known.
This is just a small, first step for TGBC into this big and complex nation, but one that we hope, with your prayers and support, will grow into something significant and powerful for the Kingdom of God.
