inFocus
INDIA, NEPAL AND BANGLADESH
A Great Harvest of Souls
IN ORISSA
O
BELOW: A new
Orissa Follow-Up
congregation in
Manmathpur,
India.
by ALAN DOERKSEN
rissa Follow-Up, an indigenous ministry
partnered with intercede based in Orissa
(Odisha) state, is seeing a great harvest of souls.
In one recent year (2013), the ministry saw 2,000
people baptized and 236 house churches formed
under its leadership.
Orissa Follow-Up is a pioneer evangelistic
and church-planting ministry reaching some of
the poorest tribal groups in Odisha (formerly
known as Orissa), one of India’s poorest states.
Thousands of people have been won to Christ
through the work of OFU missionaries.
Rev. D. B. Hrudaya, a native Orissan of the
Kui tribe, started OFU. After graduation from
high school he joined the Communist party, then
became a Hindu yogi. Dissatisfied, he completed
studies in forestry and got a job in that field.
In 1974 he was intoxicated and waiting for a
bus when two evangelists presented him with the
message of salvation. God convicted him and he
repented and yielded his life to the Lord.
Upon his conversion he lost his job and spent
the next seven years working with Operation
Mobilization India. The years of discipline and
experience in missionary work effectively prepared
Hrudaya to begin a ministry God placed on his
heart, focusing not only on evangelism but also on
follow-up, church planting and discipleship. He
started OFU in 1986.
Reaching Many Tribal Groups
Orissa Follow-Up has at least 85 missionaries
who have planted hundreds of house churches
among 25 people groups: the Ho, Santal,
Mankidia, Bathudi, Bhumij, Kondh, Keuta,
Dam, and Pana tribes, as well as Muslims, Dalits
(untouchables within the Hindu caste system) and
Brahmins (the highest Hindu caste). Only some of
the OFU churches have buildings to meet in.
Recently, OFU missionaries have started
reaching the Kaibarta people group. Currently,
OFU runs 16 pre-school centres in the Baliapal
region with 900 Dalit children—mostly Kaibartas.
OFU plans to provide each student with a Bible,
at a cost of $2.50 each.
The vision of Orissa Follow-Up is “Reach
the Unreached People is Urgent” and “People
Underprivileged are Urgent.”
Over time and several regions, the Lord is
graciously enabling OFU to proclaim the Gospel
to100,000 children, 10,000 youth, 3,000 women
and 500,000 adults, wrote Hrudaya recently. “We
are seriously endeavouring to reach our goal.
“In order to measure our goal, Soul-Harvesting
Festivals are used as the yardsticks during the
spring and summer time. We thank God for
raising up ordinary young men and women who
are becoming instruments in the hands of God
to spread the revival fire in the fields of
their respective regions. In the festivals,
we focus on prayer evangelism,
discipleship and Next Generation
Ministries—to encourage and
strengthen their faith.”
Solid Training
Grounds
Since its inception in 1993,
Orissa School of Education
has become an instrument in
the Lord to serve the churches,
mission leaders and people of
Orissa by committing itself to
20 INTERCEDE Fall 2015
prepare Christian young men and women for
establishing the Kingdom of God through effective
evangelism and community transformation
programs in Odisha.
OFU’s missionary training school has already
graduated 315 students; 70 percent of these are
involved in missionary work. OFU offers threemonth discipleship training programs to seekers
that examine the topic of salvation and gives
seekers the opportunity to accept Jesus Christ as
their personal Saviour.
OFU conducts a Bible correspondence school,
sending courses in both the Oriya and English
languages to those who request them. From
its inception it has sent courses to more than
150,000 seekers.
The ministry offers Seekers’ Camps four times
a year for these correspondence students. Each
camp hosts about 100 students, most from poor
tribal areas. Generally 10 house churches are
planted as a result of each camp, as students are
won to Christ and taught the rudiments of faith.
The cost per person is about $10 for food and
study materials. With more funds, the ministry
could hold more of these camps each year,
producing an even greater harvest.
The mission also offers a training program for
house church leaders, and a one-year training
program that teaches 16 methods of how to plant
a church.
Training and discipleship are vital to OFU
leader Hrudaya. “Once I was studying the book
of Hebrews, and there I learnt about the great
witnesses and heroes of faith,” he explains. “That
is very much an inspiration for me to continue
to work with God on a daily basis. The Lord has
inspired me to multiply the witnesses. All the
believers have to be released to witness, wherever
they go. It is also important for our pastor/
evangelists not to just pastor the congregations,
but to disciple others. We are converting
pastors into trainers, disciple-makers. All the
congregations we have we are converting into
training centres.”
The Challenge of Persecution
Orissa has an anti-conversion bill, which has
been in place since 1967. “There is a right to
proclamation – to practice the religion–but there
is no such freedom to convert people,” says
Hrudaya. “People who want to be converted have
to apply to the district for permission—then they
can be baptized or converted. That has been a
difficulty or us. But by God’s grace we have been
evangelizing, baptizing people.”
Persecution of Christians has sometimes been a
very serious problem in Orissa. The death toll of
Christians killed in communal anti-Christian riots
in 2009 was more than 80 Christians and more
than 5,000 homes of Christians were torched.
Among those killed was OFU’s Pastor Akbar
Digal, who was martyred for refusing to renounce
his faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.
Rev. Hrudaya took part in peace meetings and
took initiatives to reopen of churches and to share
Gospel in the Kandhamal district of Orissa.
“I am thankful to the Intercede International
Family for your continuous prayer and financial
support,” reported Rev. Hrudaya at that time. “We
are also extremely thankful to you for providing
the resources to take care of the food and clothing
of 1,500 riot-affected families.”
Other evangelistic strategies include Jesus film
showings. Many village dwellers have never seen
a film before, so the impact of seeing Christ’s life
and hearing the message of salvation in their own
language is powerful.
Hrudaya felt led to start a children’s home for
children orphaned by the super-cyclone that
devastated Odisha state in 1999. More than
100,000 people died in that cyclone. Many
women became widows, and many children
were orphaned. So far the home has taken in
at least 120 orphaned children from poor and
underprivileged families. OFU is educating them
and helping them grow spiritually.
“I thank God for your continued prayer and
financial support for the work of the Gospel in
this part of our country,” declares Hrudaya. “Your
partnership has helped us to see significant results.”
Continue to intercede for the missionaries of
Orissa Follow-Up as they work amid poverty and
persecution.
ABOVE: Five OFU
missionaries who
have received
bicycles from
generous prayer
partners.
For more
information and
a quarterly Field
Report from
this ministry,
contact
Intercede
mentioning this
project code:
640OFU-01-29.
Fall 2015 INTERCEDE 21