Dear Friends,
Thank for praying with us this week for Dr. David Muthukumar in India.
India has a rich and ancient Christian heritage. According to tradition, the Apostle Thomas planted the first Indian church in modern-day Kerala, along the subcontinent’s southwestern coast in 52 AD. Today, India’s Christians number 28 million and live primarily in the country’s northeastern and southern states. According to a 2011 census, India’s 1.38 billion-strong population is 80% Hindu, 14% Muslim, 2% Christian, 2% Sikh, and 1% Buddhist. In recent years, the Hindu nationalist agenda of India’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party has threatened the democracy’s religious freedoms, emboldening violence against Muslims, Christians, and other religious minorities.
David is Associate Professor of Theology at South Asia Institute of Advanced Christian Studies (SAIACS), a client of the Vital SustainAbility Initiative. David graduated last year with his PhD in Systematic Theology from Fuller Theological Seminary. ScholarLeaders sponsored his doctoral research through LeaderStudies and the Brian Prinn Memorial Fund. In his dissertation, David distinguishes Christ from the many deities worshiped across the Indian subcontinent. Through his scholarship and teaching, he seeks to promote interreligious understanding and enable Christians to reach their Hindu, Muslim, and Sikh neighbors more effectively with the Gospel. David and his wife Catherine have two sons, Nehem (20) and Tim (17).
David shares the following message:
By the great mercies of God, I have started my teaching ministry at South Asia Institute of Christian Studies (SAIACS) in Bangalore, India, where I have been appointed as Associate Professor of Theology. I reflect gratefully on the ways God has sustained me throughout my PhD studies at Fuller Theological Seminary. I am also thankful to ScholarLeaders and the Prinn family for their generous support, which made my studies possible.
My wife Catherine and I are staying at the SAIACS campus with our younger son, Timmy, who is entering his senior year of high school. My elder son, Nehem, is in his junior year at Calvin University in Michigan.
Prayer Requests
1) I request your prayers as I fulfill my responsibilities at SAIACS faithfully for the glory of God and the benefit of God’s people.
2) Please pray for my family, especially for the education of my two sons.
3) Pray for our country India, which has just recovered from a devastating second wave of COVID and is facing an imminent third wave.
4) Pray for the millions who have lost their jobs during the pandemic and who still have no means of sustaining livelihood.
5) Pray for the persecuted minority in India, as Christians and Muslims are increasingly under government scrutiny and discriminatory policies.
6) Pray for churches, mission agencies, and theological institutions that will need to reinvent their modes of operation in a post-pandemic world.
With regards and prayers,
David Muthukumar