The Puzzle of India: Post-Christian Without Ever Being Christian
by Jamie Dean, TGC:
When Anand Mahadevan was in the third or fourth grade, someone from Gideons International gave the Hindu boy a Holy Bible. Growing up in India, Mahadevan had never encountered Christian teaching. He began reading the Bible, and he loved the story of Christ. “But I never understood why they crucified such a good man,” he remembers.
He wouldn’t find out for another decade.
During his second year of college, a friend invited Mahadevan to pray with him. “I went because I didn’t want to offend him,” he says. “And maybe I was a little curious.”
That evening, years after his only other experience with Christianity, Mahadevan’s two Christian friends prayed a short prayer for him. He was moved. “Just the idea of talking to God—of being able to talk to Jesus—and this powerful prayer helped me see God in a way I had never seen him before,” Mahadevan says. “I cannot rationally explain it, but the minute they finished praying, I just knew I had to follow Christ all of my life.”
That life has included a career in business journalism, with Mahadevan editing a magazine and later running a team of feature writers at a newspaper. It now includes serving as a founding council member of TGC India and as pastor of New City Church in Mumbai—a pastoral calling that grew out of Mahadevan’s experience in journalism.