The Forgotten City - Firozabad, India
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Firozabad is a significant city of approximately a half million people located 45 minutes east of Agra by car (the city where the Taj Mahal is located). Firozabad is still being researched for ministry purposes. No local congregation of Christians exists there at the present time. It appears that about half the population is Muslim. The remaining population is comprised of Hindus and Jains (believers in Jainism). A very large Jain temple is located on the outskirts of the city.
Breathing Glass in Firozabad
The glass industry is very well established at Firozabad. It has been called the glass capital of India. Local artisans and factories produce glass bangles (bracelets), drinking glasses and a wide variety of other glassware. Some people have observed that the people of Firozabad do not breath air but glass. Dozens of shops in the markets sell nothing but glass bangles. Thousands of children work in the glass industry around the 300 glass factories polishing and painting the glass bangles in very poor conditions. The city also suffers low literacy and there is significant pollution linked to the glass industry.
The tallest building in the city is the main mosque in the heart of downtown. During Friday prayers this mosque is full with several hundred Muslims present. Large numbers of young boys are attending the Qur’anic school linked to the mosque. It is still not certain if most of the Muslims in this city are truly religiously Muslim or simply culturally Muslim. The women wear traditional Muslim dress.
No Known Churches… Yet
There is no known believer in this city. Some Christians who recently visited Firozabad saw God open doors for the Gospel with four young Muslim men. They gave a copy of the Bible to one of the young Muslims who is also sharing it with the others. Through phone calls and e-mails it seems that they continue to read the Bible. Some of the visiting Christians were even invited to a wedding in the same family as the young man who has a copy of the Bible. The young Muslim men know that the Christians are followers of Jesus and that we pray for them daily. Hopefully Christians visiting the city will continue to find men and women of peace and good will.
Firozabad in some ways is what you would call a forgotten city. It is the closest large city to Agra, the tourist capital of India, and yet there are no tourists who visit this city. When a tourist does come to Firozabad, traffic literally stops on the streets.
Prayer Points for Firozabad:
* Pray for God to raise up workers to go to this city and share the Gospel message (both short term and long term workers are needed).
* Pray for discernment of those who go to work in this city as they do research and minister.
* Pray for God to speak to the city’s youth through His Word (including those mentioned above).
* May people become dissatisfied with Hinduism and Islam and long for more than they presently have.
* Pray for the many children used as cheap labour in the glass factories and for real solutions to the pollution problems.
Background information, map and statistics about India can be found on site here …>>
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Filed under: India by TDI
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October 10th, 2007 at 9:47
My name is Akbar. A verse from the book of the prophet Isaiah means much to me (Chapter 65:1) Lord says “I was found by those who did not seek Me, I became manifest to those who did not ask for Me.” This word of God has been true in my life and in the lives of my whole family.
My older brother Mustapha was walking on the road and suddenly he heard a voice calling him by his name “Mustafa, Mustafa I am the Lord your God.” Again the voice came a second time he recognized that it is coming from the sky. In the following hours Mustafa found himself in a Christian meeting and came to believe in Jesus the Messiah. I and my other family members all rejected my brother’s conversion but eventually a person close to our family had a miraculous healing in our home. Mustapha prayed for her and cast out a demon in Jesus’ name. This really got my attention and I began reading the Bible myself. Later I saw the passage in Mark 16:16-18 where Jesus said, “those who believe will cast out devils and heal the sick in my name.”
Eventually I understood that God’s forgiveness is a free gift to all people through Jesus Christ and that man cannot achieve it by his good works. I believed in the Lord myself and slowly one after the other my family members also believed the Gospel as the Lord opened their hearts as He also opened the heart of Lydia (Acts 16:14). (Testimony used with permission) islamreview.com
The chief editor of “30 Days” was in India during the month of January 2007. He had the priviledge of meeting both Akbar and Rachid.
October 12th, 2007 at 5:17
Praying for the establishment of a sound church in the city that will expand under the power of the Holy Spirit. In the Master’s service,
October 17th, 2007 at 11:16
Of all the requests I received, this is one of the most tragic to me. This is a city that apparently there are no known believers in Firozabad. This is so sad and it has been an intense prayer for myself. Among other things I ask the Lord to send forth laborers into this vineyard…