While Christian ministries are being kicked out of India, local churches are picking up that mantle and carrying it forward and sharing the Gospel, said Todd Nettleton, chief of media relations and message integration, Voice of the Martyrs USA.
About 24,000 foreign funding licenses to charities and NGOs, including Compassion International, in India were cancelled under the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act (FCRA) in just more than half a year.
Early this month, Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) had cancelled the FCRA registrations for K. P. Yohannan's Believers Church and three NGOs associated with it and thus barring them from bringing in foreign funds to the country.
Nettleton said the Indian government has been hard on non-Hindu organizations concerning paper works. The officials shifted demands and sometimes gave sudden deadlines.
"Many of those local partners were rejected from a license to accept funding from outside the country. So what the Indian government basically did is cut off the flow of funds that were helping those Christian organizations do that ministry on the ground in India," said Nettleton, according to Mission Network News.
"Because of that, many of those organizations have had to stop the ministry. Many of the outside groups have had to stop funding ministry in India because that money is not allowed to be transferred into the country," he added.
Amid challenges and chaos, indigenous ministries and local churches in the country have continued to share the Gospel.
"...the local Church is picking up that mantle and carrying it forward and sharing the Gospel. Thankfully, there is a great history of Christianity in India," said Nettleton.
"There are churches and groups that have been operating for decades that are ready to pick that mantle up and carry it forward. But it is a challenge," he added.
