NORTH INDIA

For centuries, North India has been considered impenetrable to the Gospel, especially the areas through which the Ganges River flows. Including Nepal, Pakistan and Bangladesh, this region contains 1/5 of the world population! One state in particular, called Uttar Pradesh or the Northern State, is not about the same size as an average state in the USA. However its population is 170 million! This is equivalent to 2/3 the USA all living in one state.

Of these millions, about 78% are Hindu, 20% Muslim, and less than 1% are Christians. It has the highest Population Density and lowest percentage of Christians of anywhere else in the world! In fact, this region is so densely populated with so many Unreached People Groups that it is considered to be “the touchstone of our success or failure in completing the Great Commission” (Missiologist Patrick Johnstone)

The eastern area of this Ganges River area has also been known as “The Graveyard of Christianity” due to the repeated failures of missionaries to establish any work there.

For those interested in rescuing hopeless people out of poverty and misery, North India is also a place of incredible potential:

The Gangetic Plain of North India has the highest infant mortality rate in India - of every 1,000 live births, about 84 children die.

40% of its population lives below the poverty level. These impoverished families cannot feed their children much less send them to school.

Literacy rate is only 40% among men and 25% among women.

47% of all children under age 3 are malnourished.

Of the approx. 200 million people in the core of the Gangs River Plain alone, 70 million are children and of these 35 million children are destitute, without proper food and with no hope of a good education. Without our intervention, they are doomed to continue the vicious circle of poverty and misery into which they were born.