Statescan Some see conversion opportunities in disaster relief

By Bharat J. Gajjar

Christians are loving people but there are some, I believe, who are misguided. When I was a young boy I used to hear ‘people of 56’ (chhapanyo—meaning he is a Christian) converted by Christian missionaries when there was a great famine in India in 1856. Today also some Christian missionaries want to extract the maximum advantage from the tsunami-affected areas. Please read the following message from Hindu Press International:

VIRGINIA, USA, December 28, 2004: The Christian website, Crosswalk.com, published a long story about Christian relief efforts following the tsunami. While the Christian charity exhibited by the rapid response of Christian organisations is admirable, the ulterior motives of conversion expressed by some are disturbing. Some excerpts: “Dr Ajith Fernando, who is considered by some to be the ‘Billy Graham of Sri Lanka’, heads the Youth for Christ (YFC) office there. A long-time friend and partner of NDI, he wrote to Williams from Sri Lanka: ‘What a sad day this has been! We keep hearing of more and more friends and loved ones of friends who have died or lost much of their belongings. The death toll for Sri Lanka alone is over 10,000 and keeps on rising. We have prayed and wept for our nation for many years. The most urgent of my prayers has always been that my people would turn to Jesus. I pray that this terrible, terrible tragedy might be used by God to break through into the lives of many of our people.’

“In the wake of this disaster, Gospel for Asia’s 1.5 million member believers of the Church in India are rallying support and deploying its leadership and members to minister to those suffering, both physically and spiritually. ‘In times like these, we know that God opens the hearts of those who suffer, and we pray that as our workers demonstrate God’s love to them, many of them will come to know for the first time that real security comes only through Him,’ said Gospel for Asia president, K.P. Yohannon. He added, ‘We ask that our brothers and sisters in the West take time today to pray for these millions of victims, that they will feel God’s presence and grace in a special way’.”