INDIA – Financial support has always accompanied our long history of mission work in India, dating back for more than 100 years. The Indian government first began to regulate financial contributions from outside the country in 1976 with the establishment of the Foreign Contribution Regulatory Act (FCRA). The primary objective of the FCRA was to prevent undue foreign influence in politics and to prevent diversion of foreign contributions “towards activities detrimental to the national interest.” If an organization (even a religious one) was not violating the above conditions and was using foreign contributions in a manner consistent with its purpose, there was no problem. Such was the case for our mission in India, until four years ago. 

In 2020, the Indian government revised the FCRA law, implementing very strict regulatory measures. Under the new law, all non-government organizations had to start from scratch and apply for FCRA permission to receive foreign financial contributions. Another regulatory measure required all bank accounts receiving foreign funds be established through the government-owned State Bank of India. With tens of thousands of foreign funded NGOs in India, the government could not keep up with all the required new applications and began issuing temporary extensions until each application could be reviewed. Our former Mission Manager, Immanuel, began the application process before his death in 2021. After becoming the new Mission Manager, Ezhil Christadoss saw the application through to completion. The government did not get to our application until earlier this year. The result was very disappointing. On March 31, Easter Sunday, we were notified that our application had been “refused.” No specific reason was given for the refusal. We were only referred to sections of the regulatory law of which we are ostensibly in violation.

Our mission is not alone. The government has denied FCRA permission to thousands of organizations, including prominent ministries such as Compassion International and World Vision. What is behind this? The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, is the controlling political party. The BJP promotes a Hindu nationalist ideology and has overt connections to Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), a paramilitary organization that has been responsible for many acts of persecution against non-Hindu religious organizations, including many Christian churches. For a helpful review of the overall current situation, see the recent Christianity Today article here.

What does all this mean for our mission work in India? Currently we are looking into every reasonable option for appeal. At the same time, we are exploring possible funding alternatives. Our mission staff in Chennai, our pastors in the Fellowship of Blessed Hope Churches, and our Ministry Partners throughout India rely on our financial support. Our priority is to find solutions to support them. Thanks to the foresight of missionaries in previous decades, we have substantial savings in the form of investment funds. These savings have been used for church building construction, repairs and various other ministry projects. Now they may have to be used to keep the ministry operating.

In God’s providence, the 2024 Penny Crusade material features the ministry of one of our India Ministry Partners, the Adda Road Advent Christian Outreach. If you have viewed this material, you’ll know how impactful the Adda Road ministry is for God’s kingdom. And this is just one of many of our ministries in India, all of which will be affected by the FCRA denial. Please pray for the Lord to make a way for our ministries to continue in India. 

Does this news mean you should not give to Penny Crusade this year? NO. We are working on alternative methods of sending our financial support, details of which cannot be shared in this article. Some of these are already in motion. Besides that, Penny Crusade provides funding for many ministries other than India. For details on the ministries that Penny Crusade funds, get the Penny Crusade rack card here, or contact the international missions department at 704-545-6161 or imissions@acgc.us.