Taking Courage from 2024 for 2025

Praise God that He is the Sovereign God, faithful to hear and answer the prayers of His children who put their trust in Him, especially in trying times.

Jesus never promised that life with Him would always be a rose garden. Before He went to the cross, He promised His disciples, “In the world you have tribulation, but take courage; I have overcome the world” (John 16:33).

When He went to the cross and rose from the dead, He seized back all legal authority from Satan to ruin our lives, declaring, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth” (Matthew 28:18). He gave to His disciples (and to us) the keys to the kingdom of heaven; and whatever we bind on earth shall have been bound in heaven, and whatever we loose on earth shall have been loosed in heaven (Matthew 16:19).

This means we no longer have to remain as victims of Satan’s lies and murderous schemes, but we have received delegated authority from Jesus Himself to crush Satan under our feet (Romans 16:20).

When Valson Abraham founded India Gospel Outreach in 1984, he understood these biblical principles.

He learned from his grandfather, Pastor K.E. Abraham, who began a Great Commission ministry in India in 1923, and from his father, Pastor Stephen Abraham.

Since those early days of ministry, these principles, taught by Jesus Himself, have become the cornerstone of every IGO Bible training institute and through the churches and fellowships planted throughout India by evangelists trained in them.

For instance, at India Bible College and Seminary and other IGO training centers, 24/7 intercession for India and the ministry has gone on continuously for years. Powerful intercessory ministries take place in IGO-planted churches throughout India. Through His Holy Spirit, God hears and answers the prayers of those who faithfully depend upon Him for strength in times of distress.

The year 2024 began with the centennial anniversary of what Pastor K.E. Abraham began a century earlier. This took place at the 100th annual convention in Kumbanad, Kerala, January 14-21.

The theme of the convention was “Eyes On Jesus,” based upon Hebrews 12:2: “fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith…” It was a word of encouragement from an early church that was suffering persecution to today’s believers in India who have suffered intense persecution throughout India. It was especially a fitting word for Indian believers who faced intense persecution most notably in the state of Manipur.

Thousands participated in the convention from every state of India to thank God for the past 100 years of ministry and look forward to what He will do in coming months and years in spite of Satan’s opposition. The first night, more than one million people watched live on television and on social media.

Unseasonably heavy rains struck the area before the convention, but the weather was clear in the small area where the convention took place. This was a clear indication of how the Lord was standing with His people.

For 15 years, India’s government refused to provide conference visas to any foreign Christian guest to speak at the convention, but this year, visas were provided for the convention’s guest speakers from the US—friends and supporters of IGO’s ministry: Amos Dodge, Larry Titus and Kris Jackson.

This convention was marked by the largest-ever number of people attending from north India. Since most of these speak Hindi rather than English or Malayalam, they had a separate service translated into Hindi.

For most of 2024, following the centennial convention, IGO President Valson Abraham has experienced an extended time of illness that has prevented his travel and ministry away from home. Illness has confined him, but this has not confined God because the foundation stones of reliance upon God were laid many years earlier.

Through IGO, God has seen to it that in 2024, the gospel was faithfully proclaimed and took root in new places. This happened through men and women called for ministry and trained through IGO-related training institutions.

Though we can’t give details for security reasons, the past year has seen significant numbers of people from differing backgrounds coming to Christ in Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Punjab, Gujarat, Odisha, Darjeeling, Chhattisgarh and Nepal.

Gujarat, with highly restrictive anti-conversion laws, has experienced some of the most severe persecution in India. At the same time, especially the last couple of years, a growing number of men and women, formerly of Hindu background, have experienced calls to evangelistic and church planting ministry. This has increased the need for Bible training, making it necessary to expand facilities at Gujarat Bible Training Center to accept additional students.

The number of women students at IGO training centers continues to increase. In 2024, after long delays from the COVID pandemic, construction of an expanded women’s dormitory got underway at India Bible College and Seminary. Expanded quarters will increase space for women from 44 to 200. In India’s culture, women evangelists reach huge segments of India’s population outside the reach of men evangelists.

In June 2024, the new Cummings School of Music at IBC (dedicated in 2022) held its first week-long seminar, drawing many musicians and worship leaders from among IBC alumni. Workshops were organized for the IBC student body. Directing the seminar were Fletch and Kathy Wiley, well-known musicians and composers from the U.S. along with Benny Prasad from Bangalore.

This seminar was well-received by students, increasing awareness and understanding of high biblical and musical standards of excellence. This will help talented musicians and composers develop distinctive Indian musical idioms to communicate gospel truth more effectively among India’s peoples.

At the end of May 2024, Pastor M.V. Varghese, the most senior faculty member at India Bible College and Seminary, passed away. He was 100 years old and mentally alert up to his last day. In addition to his pastoral duties, he taught faithfully at India Bible College and Seminary for 68 years. He was a wise and godly man whose timely wisdom and keen sense of humor will be greatly missed by many.

Like the US and many other nations, 2024 marked a critical year for the future of India with its national election. India found itself at the crossroads: would Indian people increase power for the majority BJP and continue down the path of Hindu nationalism and rising persecution of Christians, or would it go in a different direction?

The results of the national election in India were truly an answer to your prayers and the prayers of millions of believers in India. The returns shocked the BJP ruling party which boasted it would get a much larger majority, enabling it to make dangerous amendments to the Constitution of India allowing them to do whatever they wanted.

Millions of people were suffering from unwise government policies that struck hard against average families. A tone-deaf government ignored too many fundamental bread-and-butter issues for the sake of their ideology, and the majority of voters were in no mood to reward them.

Prime Minister Modi and company continue to rule as the largest party, but other parties made sizable gains to destroy their majority. Now, they must operate in a coalition government—a situation which they have never faced—forcing them to compromise their agenda just to survive. Other members of the coalition are tough-minded and experienced people who have very different ideas about government and aren’t cowed or charmed by the BJP agenda.

2024 was a difficult year for the economy which had an effect upon India Gospel Outreach. Miraculously, God provided for IGO through you who have prayed and supported the ministry during these times. IGO literally experienced God’s supernatural provision in a time of weakness.

Pray for a mighty move of the Spirit in India and throughout the world in 2025 that leads to the knowledge of God in every area of society and culture (Habakkuk 2:14).