Hindus

Waiting for the Light

“Hindu.” The word brings a myriad of images to mind: sages meditating in Himalayan mountain retreats, sacred cows lying in crowded streets, devotees bathing in the Ganges River, women with red dots on their foreheads wearing brightly colored saris. From the urban intellectuals of New Delhi, to the slum dwellers of Kolkata, to the business professionals living in Europe and North America, more than a billion Hindus worldwide need the hope of Christ.

Although Hindus are the second largest least-reached religious group, making up more than 15 percent of the world’s population, it’s estimated that only two percent of cross-cultural workers are devoted to sharing Jesus with them. Hinduism is the primary religion of 2,139 people groups, and 1,982 of those groups are considered least-reached. Fewer than one in 10 Hindus will hear the gospel preached in their own language or culture in the context of a local church.

Christ-honoring Transformation

Christar is driven by a passion to establish churches among the least-reached, those who do not have access to a church in their own language, culture or in proximity to where they live. We trust the Lord to work through us as we send teams to cultivate Christ-honoring transformation in Hindu communities throughout the world where He is not yet known or worshiped.

A Heritage of Ministry Among Hindus

Growing from our roots as the India Mission, which was founded in 1930, teams of Christar workers share the love of God in Hindu communities through a wide variety of skills and occupations. We rejoice in the ways He has used our workers as they seek to establish reproducing churches and cultivate Christ-honoring transformation among Hindus throughout the world:

• Over the first 50 years of ministry in South Asia, Christar workers established over 65 churches with the help of national believers, and more than 100 smaller fellowships also began meeting regularly. During that time, it’s estimated that over 10,000 people came to Christ through evangelistic outreaches, Bible schools, correspondence courses, literature distribution, radio broadcasts and leprosy clinics. Under the leadership of South Asian believers, the number of churches continues to multiply.
• Many of the fellowships that have been planted in South Asia are responding to God’s call to plant churches cross-culturally! Through a new Mobilization Center, Christar is recruiting and equipping believers from these churches and partnering with local fellowships to send followers of Christ to serve in least-reached communities.
• In a 10-year period, a team working among an outcaste group established a church comprised of four house fellowships. Now functioning independently, these Hindu-background believers are involved in discipleship and leadership training and have established numerous additional house fellowships.
• Christar workers partnered with an Indian pastor to help establish a church of Hindu-background believers in the United States.
• One worker wanted to reach Hindu immigrants in the Philippines, and she began holding children’s clubs. Now Hindustanis and Filipinos worship together in a thriving fellowship.
• A church is being planted among British Gujarati Hindus as one Christar team partners with local Hindu-background believers and workers from a like-minded organization.
• A thriving independent fellowship has emerged in an area of South Asia that was once known as a graveyard for missions. The number of baptized believers continues to grow.
• Christar workers in South Asia are helping to train leaders and write discipleship materials at a local fellowship that has a vision to plant churches in its city and beyond.

At Christar, our prayer is that God would bring more Hindus to Himself, and that He would give believers worldwide a desire to reach Hindus for Christ.