Brother Christopher walks on, blessing other people in a similar fashion, until we reach an open space in the middle of the village. There he stops and leads those who have gathered in a spontaneous service.

“God loves all people,” he tells them, “every single person. We should place our lives into God’s hands, serving him and only him. But no-one says it is easy. It is like choosing the narrow uphill path instead of the wide downhill road – but God will bless us abundantly.”

When the service is over, a large stack of Luke’s Gospels are sold among the crowd while children’s materials and tracts are given away. Everybody is told where their nearest church is.

We are visiting a village for poor, casteless, indigenous people in the state of Tamil Nadu, in south-eastern India. In places like this, Christian organisations like 100 Villages Ministry are working hard to make God’s Word and his love known to poor and marginalised people.

But the conditions in which they do so are becoming increasingly difficult. Every evangelist, priest or Bible distributor has tales to tell about Christians who have been beaten up or attacked in some way. Newspapers frequently carry stories about such incidents: one day an evangelist in Calcutta is found with a bullet in his heart, the next day a church is bombed in Bangalore, and during the night some churches are torched in Kottayam, in Kerala state.

Fresh attempts at establishing a dialogue between Hindu leaders and Christian bishops break up in anger when the latest bomb explodes.

Unfortunate

Why does India find itself in this unfortunate situation? After all, it is a democracy where the rights of religious and ethnic minorities are protected under the Constitution.

“Growing numbers of Indians are turning to Christ,” explains the Rev Parmar, Secretary of the Gujarat Auxiliary of the Bible Society of India. “This makes the Hindu communities nervous. They feel threatened. But we are not trying to convert Hindus, we are trying to reach the people that the Hindus have always kept at arm’s length, namely, the ‘untouchables’, the despised. A casteless person who comes to Christ sees himself in a new way. He straightens his back, gaining self-confidence, self-respect and zest for life. Why shouldn’t he? Jesus loves him!”

In Gujarat, several Christian organisations now provide courses to give casteless people the skills they need to set up and run their own businesses. Some are even designing computer software.

Political aspect

“There is also a political aspect to it,” Mr Parmar adds. “Many Christians learn to read and write through Bible studies. This makes it more difficult for certain politicians to buy their votes. When you consider that in some areas almost 40 per cent of the people are Christians, you can understand how that can bring about serious political power shifts.

“But worst of all from the Hindus’ point of view, the entire caste system and all the Hindu values are put under great pressure when people at the bottom of the hierarchy suddenly flourish, make money and show self-confidence and dignity. With unemployment and other social problems growing at the same time, Christians can easily end up being the scapegoats.”

Explosion

Later, in Bangalore, a priest, Father Thomaiar, shows me the damage a crude bomb caused to the city’s Peter and Paul Church. It happened at around 10.15 on a Sunday evening as churchgoers were leaving the building. No-one was hurt, but the blast left a small crater and shattered all the windows. Weeks afterwards, a sharp smell of burnt wood still pervades the place.

“Half an hour before the explosion, there were a thousand people sitting in the church,” says Father Thomaiar. “And for days after it, no member of the congregation dared to come in,” he says. “But last Sunday 5,000 attended Mass – twice as many as usual. The more pressure they put on us and the more we are persecuted, the more people attend Mass.”

The Bible promoter of the church, Sagan George, was so upset by the bomb incident that he has been sleeping in the church ever since.

“I’ll stay here until the government minister responsible gives his assurance that it won’t happen again,” he says.

No retaliation

According to Father Thomaiar, the most difficult aspect of the incident was persuading the younger members of the congregation not to take to the streets in violent protests.

“Our message to them was, ‘No retaliation! This struggle must be won with the Word of God!’” he says.

On our way back to the Bible Society of India headquarters we pass a demonstration on Mahatma Gandhi Road. Christians are waving large banners proclaiming, “Hindus and Muslims are our brothers. We love them and pray for them.”

A dove of peace is released, but the situation is tense.