He started his ministry by renting a house and inviting people to come to prayer and worship meetings. Soon, he had 15 people coming to the meetings there every Sunday.
However, this fledgling church faced its first trial—from Ranak’s landlord.
The landlord, Dabeet Chopra, holds strongly to the area’s predominant religion. He became angry when Pastor Ranak tried to share the Good News with him and disapproved of Ranak having prayer meetings in the house. One day he told Ranak to either stop conducting the prayer gatherings or vacate the house.
Pastor Ranak prayed earnestly for God to intervene in this situation, and He sovereignly changed Dabeet’s heart. When Dabeet learned of Ranak’s integrity, hard work and passion to minister to people despite hardships, Dabeet relented. He allowed Ranak to stay there and continue leading prayer meetings.
God’s mighty intervention has allowed Ranak to continue discipling people—people like Ankur Rao and Ihit Chauhan.
?One day Pastor Ranak met these two young men, both of whom had many doubts about life. He gave them some Gospel literature, but they started asking questions even before reading the tracts. In the midst of their confusion, they found Ranak’s answers truthful.
Ankur had recently experienced the loss of his father, who died of a heart attack. Ankur’s father had wanted to give his son the opportunity to travel but lacked the finances. In the midst of these sorrows, Pastor Ranak prayed for him. Seeing the love of Christ manifested through Pastor Ranak, Ankur decided to follow Jesus and began regularly worshiping with Ranak’s congregation! Moreover, God answered their prayers, allowing Ankur to travel to the Middle East twice.
Ihit, who was working as a tailor, asked Pastor Ranak how to find peace. Ranak pointed him to the Bible, where Ihit found all the answers to his questions. Like his friend Ankur, he chose to believe in Christ, and they both shared their testimonies at a nearby church.
These young men are only two of several new believers in Pastor Ranak’s congregation whose eyes have been opened to the light of the Gospel. Please pray for them to grow spiritually and for God’s grace to continually be upon Pastor Ranak’s ministry.
