Members of ‘Shepherding the Nations’ a California based Christian missionary organization have been caught violating Indian visa rules by indulging in proselytization activities in the country.
The missionary organization with the mission statement “To glorify God by training and resourcing indigenous pastors to plant healthy churches in unreached areas” is run by one Ryder Kumar. According to his LinkedIn profile, Ryder Kumar was based out of Los Angeles County, California, United States and is said to have returned to India in December 2014. He has been a pastor throughout his life.
The website of the Christian missionary organization says that Ryder Kumar was one of the founding members who is serving in India as its International Director.
Shepherding the Nations is active in India and Nepal in South Asia and Bolivia, Honduras and South Mexico in Latin America. According to its website, 888 people ‘were trained’ in India & Nepal and 33 ‘Study Centers’ is said to have been in cities and villages of these two countries.
“From 2020-2023, 40 men will receive in-depth training in Expository Preaching through 8 conferences in partnership with Leadership Resources International (LRI)”, the missionary organization has declared.
The President of ‘Shepherding the Nations’ Paul Brown along with other members of the board Tammy Werth and one Randy Leinen have been visiting Indian and indulging in church planting activities for a long time.
Just last year, members of the Christian missionary organisation came to India for a Men’s and Women’s conference which happened only last year.
In November of 2007, a team of six members, the Browns, Leinens, and Kumars came to India for a 17-day missions trip to preach in many churches and host ‘conferences’ to ‘train workers to accurately preach and teach the Word of God’.
A complaint has been filed by Mission Kaali, a Christian missionary watch for violating the terms and conditions of the India visa.
It is to be noted that a tourist visa can only be used for non-business purposes, such as tourism or visiting family and friends. Even if one holds a missionary visa, the person cannot use it for proselytizing activities and can only join a missionary organization approved by the Government of India for which the organization must receive a certificate indicating it is compliant with the Foreign Contributions Regulatory Act.
Here is a portion of our 100th complaint, against SHEPHERDING THE NATIONS. Start the calendar year right by filing yours today! pic.twitter.com/pFEvoNOoen
— Mission Kaali – Say No To Conversion (@missionkaali) January 1, 2021