Political Power Split Benefits India's Believers

In a fascinating piece from Mission Network News today we have some good news regarding how a split in political power may benefit believers in India.

According to a report from church leaders in the region, they believe the violence against Christians in Orissa by Hindu rightwing activists last year is one of the reasons behind the collapse of the BJD-BJP alliance in the state.

It's a good thing for the church, says JP C with Audio Scripture Ministries. "If they are a joint alliance, whatever they do, there's no one to stand up to them. But when you have them split, they can point fingers at each other to garner votes."

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In this relative calm, the seeds of the Gospel that were planted can take root. "It's a fertile time for the church," says JP Sundararajan. An ASM team just returned from distributing audio Scriptures among the Mundari people, some of the hardest hit during the unrest.   

Sundararajan says even though the persecution was challenging, "We have  noticed at Audio Scripture Ministries that if we did not have this time of persecution, we would not have seen the growth that has taken place. God continues to work powerfully in these areas."