India (MNN) — It’s hard to follow the Lord when family or friends may ridicule your faith. But the stakes are even higher for Christians in India. Taniska is a young girl in India who was attending Mission India’s Year-Long Children’s Bible Club. However, her parents have now banned her from Bible Club.

Taniska was enjoying the Year-Long Children’s Bible Club, making new friends, and learning about Jesus. She was even given a picture book of Bible stories.

Erik* with Mission India says, “It’s a place and a program for kids to go to after school and during the day. It’s a place where they can improve their education and get some tutoring, play with other kids, and have that sense of community maybe as their parents work. These Bible Clubs also tell them about the love of Jesus through the different leaders.”

(Photo courtesy of Mission India)

But everything changed when Taniska’s parents found out she had accepted Jesus Christ as her Savior. 

Erik says, “They were furious. They actually saw the book that she was reading and they, at the time, thought it was just like some comic book. But when they found out ultimately what that book was about and the different things she was engaging with, they took it away along with her Bible. They said, ‘We don’t want you to be anywhere near this Bible Club and this God that you’ve now professed faith in.’

“But Taniska was not going to be stopped. She already had God’s Word hidden in her heart from the different times she’s heard the Scriptures…. To this day, her parents still forbid her from going to the Bible Club. But this young girl is taking what she has learned written on her heart [and] reflecting on those verses of love and grace and peace.”

Pray for Taniska and other kids in Mission India’s Year-Long Children’s Bible Club to grow in their relationship with Jesus Christ! Ask the Holy Spirit to sustain them with biblical truth and Christian community.

Also, Erik says, “We pray for Taniska’s parents, that they would have a change of heart, and ultimately that they would commit to follow Him as well.”

(Photo courtesy of Mission India)

You can support a child attending a Year-Long Children’s Bible Club with Mission India for just $24. Click here to donate!

“When you create more community,…there are more Taniskas that can come forward and come to know Jesus, but also then have that community they can be tied back into when they face opposition from their friends and their family. So $24 can go support that child to have that community, to come to know Jesus, and to fall back on that community when those around them may disagree with them wholeheartedly.”

 

 

*Last name omitted for security purposes.

Header photo courtesy of Mission India.