India’s Jesus Festivals: Transformed by the Gospel
Time Stamps
2:08 Charis describes a Jesus Festival
8:20 Ron explains the need to be descreet
9:30 The extreme volume of Jesus Festivals
10:30 Leaving the Jesus Festival
12:05 Story about a church planter
19:30 Story about a persecuted pastor and his ministry
22:14 Massive children’s ministry
JOY: Welcome to God’s Church on the Move, the podcast that takes you to where God is actively at work around the world. With me in the studio today are Ron and Charis. Welcome, guys!
RON: Hi, Joy.
JOY: Hi! So I’m pretty excited about this podcast because you guys just traveled, and yes, I said both of you. Charis, you went with your dad on this latest trip.
CHARIS: Yeah, we just came back. Still jet lagged, but it was a fun adventure.
JOY: Which must be harder to recover from the older everybody gets.
CHARIS: It does take a little longer. I’ll speak just for myself, though.
RON: Please do.
JOY: So you guys were in India?
CHARIS: We were. We just got back from India, and it was an exciting adventure. We went to see a Jesus Festival. Now, Dad’s been to see a Jesus Festival before.
JOY: And he really hypes them up!
CHARIS: Absolutely. But now, I get it. We went to an area of India that’s really high in persecution. I’m going to explain to everybody the whole process of how we got there and what we saw. Dad’s going to jump in, obviously.
JOY: Okay, but before you do, when you say “high in persecution,” does that mean for believers? Is that what you’re talking about?
RON: Yeah. Okay, got it. What’s going on is that the church is growing so massively and so quickly, particularly in the northern part of the country, that they’re finding resistance. This resistance is coming from Hindu government sources. When I say that, it’s a mixture of the Hindu religion and the ruling government trying to suppress the move of God in the area, discouraging people from becoming Christians, calling it a foreign religion, etc. The pushback is very, very strong in most of these areas, but we went to one of the strongest, one of the areas with the most pushback.
JOY: Oh, yeah. Okay.
CHARIS: So, we flew and then drove for several hours, and we had to arrive at night. Part of the whole process of taking us to this Jesus Festival was that it was really dangerous— not so much for us, but there was a concern for everybody else. So, they took a lot of precautions to protect everyone who was there. We drove in, got out of the vehicle, and they rushed us right into a room. As we were driving in, we saw a mob of motorcycles and people everywhere. You could see this as you walked into the room, and loud music was playing in the area— not in the room, but everywhere.
JOY: Oh, so the music was loud and coming from the Jesus Festival?
CHARIS: Yeah, exactly. So they walked us into this room, which was outside of the large tent where the Jesus Festival was happening. We waited there, and they came in and had me cover up with a long scarf because I have red hair that kind of stands out. They said we would wait and then be taken into the Jesus Festival.
JOY: So, you’re talking about this very large tent, right? Large enough to fit 5,000 people under, is that the idea?
CHARIS: Yeah, probably large enough to fit 2,000 people, but they fit 5,000. So, it was really large.
JOY: Have you ever seen anyone set up these tents? I wonder how difficult that would be.
RON: Yeah, it’s not a tent like ours. It’s a flat-roofed covering with poles everywhere. They have professionals who can set them up.
CHARIS: It’s kind of like those tents you’d rent for a big wedding outside, but much larger than that. It’s about 50 feet across and 200 feet long.
JOY: And we have pictures of them — they’re very colorful, made of bright material.
CHARIS: Yeah. So, they came in and said, “Okay, we’re going to take you to the Jesus Festival.” They told us to walk fast, and I honestly don’t even know where Dad was at that point — if he was behind me or in front of me. They just told us to walk, so we followed them. We walked down the side of the outside of the tent, and they brought us to the front, which felt kind of backwards because we weren’t supposed to be seen. But the way it worked was that the stage was at the front, and at the side of the stage, there were some chairs sitting sideways. This way, people couldn’t really notice us. But even if they did, they were so busy worshiping the Lord that they weren’t paying attention to us at all. We sat right next to one of the speakers, and it was loud— there was singing, shouting, and dancing. A group of men was dancing on the stage in white, moving around in circles. On the other side, there were women dancing in bright, rainbow-colored clothes. A sea of people, all so happy, so joyful. At the front, there were tons of kids dancing and praising the Lord.
RON: It was a blur.
CHARIS: Yeah, it was. There were kids everywhere at the front.
RON: Let me explain something before we go on. What you have there is something very cultural. This wasn’t a rock concert brought in from foreign lands. This is how they have their weddings and parties. They are dancers, and they love music. It’s loud, yes, but they had to get to the back of 5,000 people, which is a long way. This was an indigenous expression of joy, love, and freedom. These people had been set free from suffering — demonically and religiously — and they were just… for lack of a better word, cut loose. This was what we were witnessing in front of our eyes. I’ve seen it before, but never this intense. The greater the intensity of the persecution, the greater the intensity of the release. That’s why this was at a whole new level. Remember, this was probably 90% new Christians.
JOY: Hmm, okay.
RON: So, these are new believers, all coming to the Lord in safety in numbers.
JOY: Really quickly, though, you said something I don’t quite understand. Why did you guys have to be discreet? Is it to keep the people watching you from seeing you? And if so, why?
RON: Several reasons. One, if they’re attracting Westerners, we could be blamed for bringing a foreign religion. Second, we didn’t want to be identified there and cause problems for them afterward. They could say we were coercing people or something like that.
JOY: Okay, I get it.
RON: So there were several factors that made us keep a low profile, come in quietly, and just watch.
CHARIS: Right. We were just there for the music, to experience it. We didn’t want to be a distraction for people. They were there to experience the Jesus Festival, not to see a couple of Westerners. We obviously stood out, both in our dress and the color of our skin.
RON: And as for the volume, the music was loud, but the singing was louder. The people were singing at the top of their lungs. The joy in their voices was overwhelming.
CHARIS: Yeah, it was amazing.
RON: In our churches today, we don’t have that anymore. In the old days, we used to sing hymns at the top of our lungs. Today, worship services are quieter or medium volume, but this was something else. I can’t even imagine what it’s going to be like in heaven when millions of people are all singing like this. It’s going to be incredible.
CHARIS: So, we were there for a few minutes, experiencing it, and then they told us we had to leave. We went out the same way we came in, walking very fast. One of the pastor’s wives grabbed my arm and walked me back into the room. Neither of us could speak each other’s language, but we knew what we had to do. We went back into the room and that’s where we interviewed the pastors while the rest of the service was going on. We found out afterward that while we were interviewing the pastors, the police came to check out the Jesus Festival. They normally do, but they didn’t want us to be seen there.
JOY: Wow.
CHARIS: So there was a plan in place to make sure we didn’t cause any problems.
RON: Yes. It could have led to trouble for us, too. But they had a plan, and everything went fine. The police came, checked things out, did what they normally do, and then left. We kept interviewing people, and then we had dinner together.
RON: Now, I’m going to tell you a couple of stories. While we were in the side room, several pastors and their wives came in and shared their stories with us. I was really impressed by what they had to say. You’ve got all these people coming, 90% of them new Christians. A few hundred people were coming to accept the Lord at the Jesus Festival, which was going on for three days. We found out that they would sleep on the ground, just dropping where they were, off to the sides or at the back. They’d find a spot to sleep for six hours before getting up and starting again. They also had a field with washrooms— one side for women, one side for men, and probably someone guarding the area. They had communal food, etc. This was a party. But why were all these people coming?
We asked the pastors, “Why are all these people coming?” One pastor told us about his life. He came from a tribal background. When he was growing up, his family worshipped many gods. They would offer 40 – 50 goats as sacrifices. His family was always sick, and they witnessed to his father. But his father didn’t respond. One day, his mother came to know the Lord, and then his six brothers followed. They stood firm in their faith despite pressure from the village and family. The pastor went for training and often got in trouble for witnessing in the area. They started a church by sitting outside the hospital, praying for people, giving them food and water. Eventually, they went to schools and made friends with students, sharing the gospel. After a while, the pastor felt called to go to another village, but there was no church in that area. His wife gave him food every day, and he would sleep at the train station. Later, he got a bicycle and would ride 50 kilometers each day to reach new people.
JOY: Wow.
RON: So, he would go 2,025 kilometers in one direction, preach, then ride back home, be home for a day, then go another 25 kilometers in a different direction. That was his routine. And I remember the wife, Car, sitting there. She was a frail little thing — not sick, just small in stature. They had two children, and one time someone came knocking at their door. I didn’t catch if it was one person or more, but they didn’t know the husband was gone. So, she says, “I was scared and crying, and I pretended there were more people in the house. I went around, talking, moving furniture, and making noises.” She says, “That’s how I got through it. I prayed for my husband all the time and took care of the family. That was my ministry.”
When he went out traveling, one day the mob came and took them both to jail. They were in jail for six days, and the believers took care of the children. The next day, their pictures were published in the newspaper, and children in the area saw it. They came and showed the pastor’s children: “Here are your mom and dad, they’re in prison.” After that, someone gave them a large house, and they began holding church there — 4 to 500 people in the house, with other pastors serving alongside them. Now, at 42 years of age, this pastor has baptized around 400 to 500 people. This example of sacrifice and dedication is what the Jesus festival is all about.
JOY: What did you think when the pastor’s wife was talking about her experience? She seemed so timid, but her role in the ministry was incredible.
RON: Yeah, she seemed like this shy little girl, but she was a powerhouse in her own right. Praying for her husband while he was out riding his bike 50 kilometers a day, preaching and sharing the Gospel — it’s such a sacrifice for both of them.
JOY: And you don’t think of it that way at first. But the sacrifice was both big and small, the little details of her life.
RON: Exactly. Another quick story: I interviewed a pastor who had serious stomach issues when he was 20. A pastor from this group prayed for him, and he was healed. He grew stronger in the Lord, went to Bible school, and eventually started ministry. But then the anti-Christian forces came and told him he couldn’t conduct services in the village where he was planted. The head of the village came to attack him, but after a few months, the man became a Christian and even gave them land for the church. His wife helped grow the ministry by going door to door, and the ministry flourished. One lady was healed of stomach issues, and the whole family came to Christ. It was the start of a new work in the village.
JOY: Amazing.
RON: Yeah. The women in that area are the strongest. They’ve experienced healing and deliverance, and they stand strong in their faith. One time, the media asked these women, “What money did these Christians give you? Were you bribed to become Christians?” And the women responded, “Absolutely not. We received peace in our hearts. My husband doesn’t drink anymore, and I’m no longer beaten. We have incredible joy.”
When the interviewer said, “Well, we can’t print that,” they just told him to go away. These women weren’t interested in any bribes, just a changed life. And now, they have a ministry with 70,000 children a week. They meet the children after school, and they hold games and teach Bible stories. It’s not advertised as Christian, but they pray for the children when they ask for it. They are reaching out to kids from 5 to 16 years old.
JOY: 70,000 children a week? That’s incredible.
RON: Yes, and the children come to them with prayer requests for their families. They’re starting to sense the power of God and will bring their families to the ministers for healing. It’s such a powerful ministry. They reach kids at a park, holding two events a day with 150 to 200 children at each.
They don’t advertise it as a Christian event, but when kids see the difference in each other, they begin to ask questions. It’s like a vacation Bible school with legs. These kids are being taught good values, and the parents start noticing changes in their children. They want to know why these children are different, and the Christians are happy to tell them it’s because of their faith.
JOY: What a great model. It’s not only about teaching but also about the transformed lives.
RON: Exactly. Now, regarding the Jesus festival, they don’t do it regularly. They move around because the people in rural areas don’t travel much. The festivals are mostly for believers, but they invite their friends. The transformed Christians drag their friends along to show them the change that has happened in their lives.
JOY: Do they travel to other villages for these festivals?
RON: Not usually. They stay within a local area. These are very poor villages, and people might never travel more than 20 miles from home. But when the festival comes, 5,000 people gather to worship. You can’t hide it. It’s noticed.
JOY: Wow, and all for just $350 for the whole event.
RON: Yes, and it lasts for a few days. Around 200 to 300 people may accept the Lord. It’s a huge investment in the Kingdom of God.
JOY: Incredible. Thank you for sharing that. If listeners want more information, they can find it on our website at RonPearce.org.
