Church Ransacked, Pastor Beaten Mercilessly In Dehradun, India
- By Evangelical Fellowship Of India
- Published 09/4/2008
Evangelical Fellowship Of India
The Evangelical Fellowship Of India exists to empower and mobilize the local Churches, Church related institutions and individual Christians for effective witness for Christ. The Evangelical Fellowship of India crosses cultural and geographical boundaries and links Indian Christians with a world wide Christian community. EFI has continued to grow in recent years. Some of our newer areas of work now include advocacy (Christian Legal Association-CLA) and the Evangelical Financial Accountability Council (EFAC). It was founded in 1951 as a national alliance of evangelical Christians and is a central network of evangelicals in India. The vision of EFI is to strengthen Churches to live out the Gospel in the complex context of India.
Pastor Jonathan A. Singh of Grace Fellowship was attacked by a group of around 15 Hindu extremists belonging to the BJP on Sunday, June 22, 2008 during the prayer meeting in Kishen Nagar, Dehradun, Uttarakhand.
The incident took place at 10:30 a.m. during the Sunday worship service. The miscreants barged into the rented prayer hall, ransacked the church and mercilessly started beating the pastor. Pastor Singh was seriously injured by the attackers. When the congregation members tried to intervene they too were attacked mercilessly. Some ladies attending the meeting prevented the attackers from harming the members further and from desecrating the Bible. But the attackers were relentless in their assault.
The pastor was dragged for about half a kilometer and was taken to his house where his landlord was forced to make the pastor vacate the house.
The police refused to lodge FIR against the culprits. Pastors of the city sent a memorandum to the Director General of Police and Inspector General of Police.
Rev. Dr. Richard Howell,
General Secretary,
Evangelical Fellowship of India,
New Delhi, India.
Evangelical Fellowship of India (established 1951) is a charter member of World Evangelical Alliance an accredited NGO with the Economic and Social Council of the United Nations.