In the midst of difficult and seemingly insurmountable circumstances, a small church in India perseveres for the goodness of God.

Open Doors USA shares the story of Pastor Rohan Munasinghe, a man who was called to action by God at a young age and never forgot his purpose.

Munasinghe grew up very aware of the forces against him as a Christian in India. Born into a Christian family with a priest for a father, he certainly was familiar with the way of the Lord.

But at the age of 18, Munasinghe was taken aback when he heard God speak to him through scripture. Reading Isaiah 43:1, "Do not fear, for I have redeemed you; I have summoned you by name; you are mine," brought a thirst to the pastor-to-be.

"On that day, I dedicated my life to ministry. I decided to go wherever leads me to do His work,” says Munasinghe. A few years later, he began a church.

Small at first, his ministry focused on children and personal evangelism until 2008, he says, when finally his church's numbers were large enough to assemble what could be called a congregation.

The church was a substantial step forward for his community. “It was the first church to be established among the non-believers,” the pastor shared.

They continued to grow and faced no problems until four years later.

"People wanted it to stop," says Munasinghe.

“We knew there would be opposition; an anti-Christian group was only three kilometres away. Hindu extremists used to stop meetings, and say that Christ is a foreign God who doesn’t belong in India.”

What happened in 2018, however, was a different story. After a prayer meeting, one of Munasinghe's neighbours went to inform him that the church building was on fire.

"As I heard the news, a kind of chill ran through my body," Munasinghe remembers. "The church was only ten minutes away but by the time we got there, everything was burnt to ashes.”

Despite the incident of Arson, faith stood strong in the church. The pastor would not stop holding church services, so the group met in a tent to worship following the fire. The leader says he felt encouragement from other pastors around him and from the Holy Spirit.

“I never thought about giving up. I trusted that God would act. I wanted to see Him take me a step further in ministry."

A partnership with Open Doors USA brought new hope to the Indian congregation. "The Open Doors partners visited, prayed with us and encouraged our congregation," shared the pastor. "They told us that God would do great things. And the financial help they gave us later meant that we could start rebuilding.

Now the church has grown to 60 families, double its original size. Munasinghe has forgiven those who caused his church community pain and continues to pray for them: "We are praying for their salvation. We are continually praying for saving grace. It is my vision and desire that everybody should know Christ.

“I am deeply grateful for the help I received, and for Open Doors and its supporters. I am continually praying for you all.”