Missions Message

I'm so excited! Every week we will have a new "Missions Message" by a member of Living Hope's Missions Committee, Simone Martin. For the month of September, we'll be focusing on India. There are so many different things to learn about and pray for. I hope you'll take this time each week to educate yourself and let God speak to your heart about the way He is moving around the world.

Overview: India is a country that dominates South Asia with a population of over one billion people. It is a country that is going through tremendous economic change and is probably second to China in economic growth. Despite significant economic progress, a quarter of the nation's population earns less than the government-specified poverty threshold of $0.40 per day. In 2004–2005, 27.5% of the population was living below the poverty line. The official language of India is Hindi and the government uses English but India recognizes 22 more languages and each state may have its own official language. In addition to this, there are over 1000 dialects. The main religion is Hindu with 79% of the population claiming this as their religion. 12% are Muslim 2.4% Christian and the rest other religions including Sikh, Buddhist. India is a very complex and diverse country. For the next few weeks I will turn our attentions to India and ask you to pray some specific things for its people.

Prayer point: India has more and larger people groups with no Christians, churches or workers than any other part of the world. Pray that the Church world-wide might rise to complete this task.

Prayer point: For the leaders of the nation and its states that they may uphold the constitution by maintaining religious freedom and that they may be more committed to tackle the serious ills of society such as poverty, the use of child labor, female infanticide, AIDS and serious environmental degradation.

Next week: Children of India

* Sources - Operation World & Wikepeia