Kumhar is the name of a people group in India with a population of 19 million throughout India. According to ancient Indian mythology, the Kumhar are offspring of the god Braham (who they believe created the universe). They claim to be the first inventors of the wheel. Their name means “makers of earthen pottery.” They speak the languages of the areas where they live. The Kumhar’s livelihood is agriculture, animal husbandry and making earthen pots. They are highly spiritual, honest, and hard working. For the most part, Kumhar farmers work on land owned by higher castes. They are given a portion of the crops at harvest time. The Kumhar are Hindu and pray to god Shiva, (the Hindu destroyer god) and other gods and goddesses.
In one particular state there are more than 2 million Kumhar people. Many missionaries have tried to reach them with the Gospel, but they have always met with great opposition and rejection. Some of our believers in that state have been praying for years for an open door to reach this people group.
Praise to our Lord that over the last four years we have seen Him moving through a young man from the Kumhar community and reaching thousands of people.
Aravind was born in a Kumhar community where the high caste people forced them to work in their field. He is the only child of his parents. His father drove a tractor for a living and his mother, too, worked on the farm. Aravind’s parents sent him to the village school so they could both work, and the school also provided him with a free lunch. He enjoyed playing with the village children, but he was treated badly by them because his family was poor. Unexpectedly, Aravind’s father became very sick. He was admitted into the hospital, but none of the treatments worked. Finally, the doctors diagnosed him with lung cancer, and within two months he died. Aravind was 16 at the time. He had a dream to become a schoolteacher, but the situation forced him join his mother, working for their landlord on his farm.
The life on the farm was horrible. They had to work almost 10 hours a day, but the wages were very low. They were unable to pay their house mortgage and the bank took their house, so they became homeless. At 17, Aravind took his mother to Delhi hoping for a better life. But in the city, he and his mother suffered greatly, and they ended up living in a slum in a plastic tent. Aravind’s mother become very sick because they did not have warm clothes to wear in winter. Some church people came to serve food in the slum and saw the physical condition of Aravind’s mother. They took her to the nearby hospital where she received care. After a few days in the hospital, she regained her strength. They went to the church to thank the people on the following Sunday. That day both mother and son heard the name of Jesus for the first time in their lives. The following week, on Christmas Day, Aravind and his mother went to another church service. There they heard the Gospel for only the second time in their lives, and they gave their lives to Christ.
With the help and encouragement of the church people, Aravind and his mother agreed to help an old missionary family who had been working among the Kumhar people in another state. For 23 years they had not accomplished much in their mission work. They were disappointed in their lack of success, beginning to feel their age, and had no children or any other family to take care of them. Aravind and his mother went to live with them and take care of them. Aravind grew in his faith and relationship with Lord under the guidance of the missionary couple. The missionary couple realized that our Lord had sent Aravind to their home as an expression of His divine care, provision and faithfulness towards them for their service to God in their old age. They also realized that God had a plan for them to invest in this young man’s life. Aravind and his mother took care of the old missionary couple for 7 years. They both went to be with the Lord during the covid season. After their death, our Lord gave Aravind a burden for his own people. He and his mother returned to their village and started to live in the community.
Aravind and his mother went to visit a young relative who lost her eyesight a few years ago. In her words “the doctors sent me home in darkness.” Her mother had to help her with everything. She became quite desperate and tried to commit suicide by hanging herself from a ceiling fan. While visiting her, Aravind’s mother asked if they could pray for her. With her parents’ permission, Aravind and his mother laid their hands on her and prayed for her to receive her sight. After the prayer she opened her eyes, and she was able to see! God in His mercy healed her from her blindness.
That was the beginning of a great revival among the Kumhar community, and over the past three years God has opened the spiritual eyes of thousands of people in the Kumhar community to see the light of the Gospel through Aravind and his mother. Today God is accomplishing and fulfilling the dreams of the missionary couple through their disciples among the Kumhar people. Sixteen house churches have been established in different villages in the Kumhar community.
Last June we started a training center among them, and 32 men and women are attending our house church leaders training from the Kumhar community. Among 19 million people, 16 house churches and 486 baptized believers is a very small number. But it’s a new beginning, and our Lord promises that “He will build His church.”