Due to the vulnerable nature of his position, this NRB member’s identity has been protected with the pseudonym “Daniel.”
Christian persecution is a reality Daniel lives and breathes each day as he shares the Gospel under the hostile Indian government.
“Their main agenda is to stop Christianity at any cost,” Daniel said. “Even if that Christianity is helping our people.”
As a physician and the CEO of a multifaceted ministry serving the people of India through evangelism, education, and humanitarian relief, Daniel has dedicated his life to healing bodies and souls for the Kingdom of God.
In total, the ministry’s vast efforts are spread across approximately 100 acres of land. Roughly 120 volunteers and a handful of paid teachers run the programs. The projects are funded entirely by donations, about 65% of which come from outside the country, which could place the entire operation at risk under proposed changes to India’s Foreign Contribution Regulation Act.
The Indian Parliament is currently considering amendments to the FCRA that would allow the government to seize the assets of organizations that receive funding from outside the country’s borders.
Daniel knows firsthand the devastation such an amendment would have on vulnerable people.
The ministry began as a free medical clinic and it expanded over the years into a massive lifeline including television programs, archeological apologetics, K–12 schools and adult vocational training, clean water and oxygen supplies, special needs programs, temple prostitution rescue and rehabilitation, resources for persecuted churches, and more.
“We hope that some of these needs will go away,” Daniel said. “Some other needs might come up in the future, and we would like to tap into those so that we can share God’s love with those around us.”
His ministry steps up to care for populations who have no other support.
When COVID-19 swept the world, many Indian hospitals turned dying patients to the streets when they could no longer afford treatment. Daniel’s clinic took them in. After watching 13 patients die when an out-sourced transport of oxygen was delayed, he outpaced manufacturers’ predictions by building his own oxygen plant and compression facilities in only three months.
“We took care of them,” Daniel said. “That’s all we did, and they’re still alive today.”
The facilities continue to provide oxygen to patients suffering from lung collapse and other illnesses today. If the FCRA is passed, the government could shut down these compression facilities, halting the flow of oxygen to the poor.
The ministry is poised for continued growth, with no shortage of plans to invest generous donor support into expanded Gospel outreach and humanitarian work.
One of the ministry’s top priorities today is the development of its bivocational training program which equips students to share the Gospel and earn an income by instructing them in both theology and a practical trade.
“They can go out into different places and plant congregations, plant churches, and still be able to support themselves without worrying about where the finances are going to be coming from,” Daniel said. “It makes a world of difference.”
In addition to other populations, the program opens its doors to women rescued from temple prostitution trafficking, providing them with honorable means of earning money. If the FCRA amendment is passed, the campus could be shut down, turning these women back to the streets and halting the education of Indian missionaries.
Daniel is also developing a special needs training school for teachers and a nursing program that will offer seven programs ranging from associate to graduate degrees. Both programs are currently waiting for permission from the government to advance, and both could be lost when the FCRA amendment advances.
Just last month, the ministry also received preliminary permissions to build a 200-bed hospital — a long-awaited dream for Daniel.
“Our basic idea is not just providing these individuals, people, and families with better medical care,” Daniel said. “We want them to know the Great Physician.”
If the amendments to the FCRA take effect, the government could seize Daniel’s property, including the medical clinic, schools, TV stations, and more. The hundreds of people who come to the ministry for help would leave without hope — the sick without healing, the vulnerable without education, and the unreached peoples without the Gospel.
“The current government is always trying to block money that is coming in to stifle the work that is already going on in India,” Daniel said.
In January of 2022, the Indian government froze more than 6,000 bank accounts that received foreign contributions. Daniel recalls that about 150 orphanages were suddenly unable to continue providing food and shelter to children in need. Some of the accounts belonged to multi-million-dollar organizations staffing hundreds of individuals to serve thousands more.
“Forget about salaries,” Daniel said. “All these patients and whoever they’re serving, nobody’s getting any food or medicine — none of it.”
Due to heavy restrictions through the FCRA, Daniel estimates that only 15% of accounts that receive foreign contributions are currently operational. If the new amendment goes into effect, he expects that number to drop significantly.
Daniel explains that there are three ways that an organization can lose FCRA licensing: An organization can fail to renew its license on time, it can voluntarily withdrawal its license, or the government can reject the license for any number of reasons — including discovering that the organization in question has been sharing the Gospel.
Under the new amendments, Christian ministries in India that have accepted donations from faithful foreign partners may be forced to surrender those funds and everything they have built to the government that persecutes their faith.
“Government will take over the buildings, take over whatever money that is left over in the bank accounts,” Daniel said. “That’s where things are right now. It is a scary situation.”
Despite the uncertainty of the ministry’s future, Daniel continues to expand the mission with a recent initiative to share the Gospel with Hindus in America through Indian broadcast channels.
“We don’t know where that will head, but let’s pray that that avenue would be used for the glory of God,” Daniel said.
The airwaves are another frontier to fill with the hope of Christ, yet they are also one more asset the ministry stands to lose if the amendments to the FCRA take effect.
“Unless there’s going to be some changes to that law, there is going to be a lot of our folks who will suffer because their properties will be taken away,” Daniel said.
The proposed amendments will be voted on during the Monsoon Session of the Indian Parliament, which began this week. Only the lower house needs to pass the amendments for them to become law, and recent developments indicate that the house is likely to pass the amendments.
NRB asks Christians to pray for Daniel’s ministry and all other Christian and humanitarian organizations in India as they face heightened restrictions and risks to operations and to pray for the millions of Indian people who will suffer if foreign-funded organizations shut their doors