An imprisoned Indian pastor regained the strength to stay faithful after God allowed one other pastor to be arrested and sent to the identical prison to encourage him, showcasing the importance of fellowship with other believers facing among the worst persecution the world has to supply.
As Christians around the globe observe Sunday’s International Day of Prayer for the Persecuted Church, Voice of the Martyrs’ Vice President and radio host Todd Nettleton reflected on the stories of Christians who’re oppressed for his or her faith and the miraculous signs of God they encounter during their trials.
Nettleton encouraged believers to place themselves within the shoes of those suffering for his or her faith.
“The vital thing is to place ourselves of their place,” the ministry leader told The Christian Post, citing Hebrews 13:3, which states, “Continue to recollect those in prison as in case you were along with them in prison, and those that are mistreated as in case you yourselves were suffering.”
“If I were in prison, I’d need to know people were praying for me and searching out for my family,” Nettleton said. “And I might need to know that they were banging the drum to say, ‘Hey, this guy’s not a criminal. Let him go free.'”
The VOM radio host recounted his recent trip to South Asia, where he met with Christians in India, Nepal, Bhutan and Sri Lanka. Despite threats from their communities or from the federal government to burn down their houses or beat them up, Nettleton said that he witnessed persecuted Christians remaining steadfast of their faith.
One story that Nettleton said deeply moved him concerned an Indian pastor who was placed in prison for 4 months. The radio host met the pastor a couple of weeks ago during his travels with VOM’s international ministry team, which walks alongside persecuted Christians and listens to their stories.
“At first, [the pastor] was doing well, and he saw God at work,” Nettleton recounted.
“God actually put him next to a Muslim guy who defended him to the opposite prisoners and said, ‘Hey, leave this guy alone.’ And so, that was a solution to prayer. That was type of miraculous, and he was enthusiastic about what God’s doing.”
As the months dragged on, nonetheless, with the pastor enduring the separation from his family and rough conditions on the prison, he began to feel discouraged. The Indian pastor prayed that God would allow one other pastor to be arrested, and the Lord answered that prayer.
“Another pastor was arrested and assigned to the bed right across from him,” Nettleton said. “The two were the one Christians within the prison. The recent arrival told him, ‘You’ve got to hold on. God’s going to work this out.’ It gave him the strength to proceed faithfully suffering in prison.”
Both pastors have since been released from prison, in line with Nettleton, who believes that the story shows the importance of fellowship.
“When we undergo hard times, whether or not it’s persecution, arrest, or perhaps it’s illness, unemployment, or another difficulty, it just shows how vital it’s for us to be walking in fellowship with other believers,” he said.
“One of the really powerful things we heard were stories from India of God showing up in miraculous ways,” he said. “Someone is healed, or a member of the family is healed, and once they see the ability of God, you can’t talk them out of following Jesus.”
After seeing that Jesus had answered their prayers, those in India who could have initially been skeptical about Christ saw that He had the ability to do things that the Gods they’d been worshipping couldn’t do, in line with Nettleton.
“Once they see that type of dramatic show of God’s power, they’ll not be talked out of it, and they’re going to not be persecuted out of it,” the VOM radio host said.
“They’ll say, ‘You can burn my house down or beat me up, but I saw that Jesus was powerful, and He answered prayer,'” Nettleton added. “They can’t be dissuaded after that type of encounter with God.”
India ranks because the Eleventh-worst country on the earth for Christian persecution on the 2025 Open Doors World Watch List. Most of the violence against Christians is usually driven by Hindutva, the idea that every one Indians should be Hindu.
At least twelve states in India have passed anti-conversion laws, and converts from Hinduism to Christianity may face pressure from their family, the community, or extremists to reconvert to Hinduism. Christians also repeatedly face the specter of death or physical assault, and extremists are known to focus on believers who attend house churches.
Across the globe, greater than 380 million people — one in seven worldwide — face high levels of persecution and discrimination for his or her faith in Christ, in line with Open Doors.
For this yr’s International Day of Prayer for the Persecuted Church, Nettleton said that VOM is offering free resource kits to assist churches, families and Bible study groups pray for his or her brothers and sisters in Christ who reside in hostile regions.
Nettleton hopes believers within the West can gain a deeper understanding of the ability of prayer on Nov. 2 as they reflect on the sufferings and desires of persecuted Christians. For many Christians living in nations where their ability to worship is hindered by restrictive laws or violence, prayer is usually all they’ve, Nettleton said.
“Thousands of churches and hundreds of Christians are going to be praying for our persecuted brothers and sisters on this Sunday. And that is such a tremendous thing,” the Christian radio said.
“As we take into consideration unity within the body of Christ, we recognize that when one a part of the body suffers, others are alleged to feel that pain. That’s a extremely encouraging thing to take into consideration,” he added.
 An imprisoned Indian pastor regained the strength to stay faithful after God allowed one other pastor...){kind=link}