Flooded and Harassed: The Church That Resists in India
Eight people died and more than 22,000 ended up in relief camps, according to official figures cited by International Christian Concern.
The worst Indravati flood in nearly 15 years hit the Bastar district in Chhattisgarh, India, between September 24 and 27, International Christian Concern reported. There, tribal Christians were flooded and harassed at the same time.
A cyclone and monsoon rains fueled the flood, and added to that was the release of water from a large dam in neighboring Odisha state. The river overflowed its banks near Jagdalpur, the district headquarters, and covered riverside villages and extensive crop areas.
The official figures collected by International Christian Concern speak of eight dead and about 16,000 people rescued. More than 22,000 ended up in relief camps, and the floods reached 571 villages. Among those affected are a significant portion of tribal Christians, who live on both sides of the river.
«The flood recedes; the pressure does not.»
A 20-person temple as a refuge
Pastor Golu Singh lives in a suburban area near Jagdalpur. His mud house collapsed with the rain and water, but the small temple next to it, with space for about 20 people, held up. There he now sleeps with his wife, their three children and five more families.
The five families sheltering with him lost their homes or saw them severely damaged; several cook and sleep under tarps.
Singh had been through difficult months. In August and September he had received threats against his life from Hindu nationalists, according to International Christian Concern, for accompanying a believer who refused to return to her tribal religion to bury her deceased husband.
The flood recedes; the pressure does not
For the Christian families of Bastar, the water is half the problem. They lost homes, animals, grain and farmland. For more than a year, hostility against them has also grown.
Behind it are hardline tribal sectors and Hindutva factions, which pressure converts to renounce their faith through Ghar Wapsi, a reconversion ritual to Hinduism.
Before the flood, several village councils had already imposed unconstitutional socioeconomic boycotts, according to International Christian Concern: Christian families without access to the village wells, unable to buy in local stores and without the right to bury their dead in ancestral lands.
Many were also prevented from planting rice and other crops during the monsoon; today their plots are sand and stone.
The double expulsion is repeated in the shelters. The state administration sent emergency boats and Indian Air Force helicopters to rescue those trapped, but local activists warn that distrust travels with the people: the same neighbors who harassed them weeks earlier now look at them with suspicion under the same roof.
The water is starting to recede in the Indravati basin, but the outlook for the Christians of Bastar remains fragile. The flood recedes; the pressure does not.
Pray and sustain, without flags
Christian groups such as Esai Ekta Manch (Christian Unity Forum) and local forums organized to pray and bring aid. Their volunteers distributed dry rations, tarps, clean water and emergency kits among families stranded on the banks of the Indravati.
You don't have to be a politician to accompany a distant brother. Pray for those who will rebuild their mud houses and plant again in a hostile environment. If you can give, do so through channels you know and that are accountable. "we are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair" (2 Corinthians 4:8, ESV).
What is harder for you: believing that God sustains his church when the flood and pressure come together, or taking the first step to support it? Share it in the comments and pray today for Pastor Singh and the families sleeping in his temple.
