“Abducted? Murdered!?!” With incredulity, I read the emails from several of our Vision2020Asia Indian leaders. How could Pastor Manu, his wife, and daughters be abducted and subsequently murdered? Thankfully his wife and children were released and did not see their husband and father beheaded and murdered, but they live with that reality every day.
Pastor Manu was one of our Vision2020Asia rising leaders—a gifted evangelist, a powerful preacher, a confident leader, and a skilled teacher. I had taught him in several doctoral courses and congratulated him when he earned his doctor of ministry a few years back. He was a church planter and pastored three churches at the same time. Many of the church members were led to Jesus Christ as their Savior by Pastor Manu (see photo above leading this couple to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ). I was mentoring him to take my place in India. At my recommendation, Pastor Manu had already taught a doctoral course in an Indian seminary in 2025.
Pastor Manu and his family had experienced persecution before but were still determined to serve the Lord. As he brought the Gospel into a religious village in Imphal, a church sprung up out of the newly converted Christians. When threatened by his religious neighbors, Pastor Manu remained faithful to God’s calling. Then one Sunday during their evening service, a mob burned their home to the ground and said, “We told you to leave or you would be sorry”!
They stayed and built the church one soul at a time. His faithful door-to-door visits turned enemies into brothers and sisters. They opened a Christian school to teach the neighborhood kids how to read the Bible in English. He took care of a number of orphans too. But this was a new level of persecution—murder! The Scriptures remind us: “Yea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution. But evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving, and being deceived” (2 Timothy 3:12-13).
We live in a world that is hostile to the Gospel and to God’s people. I am confident that even in captivity, Pastor Manu was witnessing to his abductors and seeking to win them to His Savior. Though we grieve for his wife, daughters, and church families, Pastor Manu is a blessed man enjoying his reward in Heaven with his Savior!
“Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness’ sake: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake. Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in heaven: for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you” (Matthew 5:10-12)!
GO TO WWW.VISION2020ASIA.ORG TO REGISTER FOR OUR ANNUAL VISION2020ASIA FUNDRAISING LUNCH IN GREENVILLE, SC—THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 10, 2026 FROM 11:30 AM-1 PM. DEADLINE: SEPTEMBER 6, 2026
