Sharing Jesus in India

When I traveled to India in October of 2022, I had the great pleasure of spending time with Krupa Dara. Fondly known as Chinni, she is the daughter of the late One Kingdom South Asia Ambassador, Asee Darla. 

Chinni has spent most of her life following in her father’s footsteps in ministry. Asee was very diligent to disciple her as well as all of his children. But the calling for ministry wasn’t clear at first for her. She had her own plans for her life—as we all do—so she pursued degrees, got married, and became a mother. However, during those years, her heart was longing for something more. She told me that when she was a teenager she searched in many ways to find happiness, but everything she tried left her feeling empty. But when she helped the poor, she found joy and fulfillment.

As the passion for ministry grew in her heart, she didn’t know how to begin. In India, opportunities for women are very limited. She couldn’t just decide to start a church and become a minister. There aren’t any seminary programs that women can attend. Once she realized that there were still ways God could use her in India, a fire was lit inside her. She knew she would have to be creative to make things happen with little to no resources. But she understood that if she was willing, God could use her no matter the circumstances.

Then, in 2020, the Covid global pandemic hit. India suffered heavily under rigid government restrictions that left many lower caste people in desperate situations. Chinni shared with me, “I was fasting continuously. I wanted to do something, but I didn’t have any way to give. Then I got the thought, whenever I’m fasting—twice weekly—why don’t I give that food to the poor? Then I discussed it with my husband. He said ‘Oh, that’s very nice! Let’s do it!’ ”

With the full support of her husband, Suneel, Chinni used the money she saved from fasting and was able to purchase enough food for five people. She continued to do this twice a week. From that simple act, God rapidly grew her ministry. 

Soon she was able to purchase a small building, naming it The House of Prayer. Many of the women she had been ministering to during the Covid pandemic now had a place to come and worship. There she could feed them, pray with them, and minister to them. Working with these women led to her starting Vacation Bible School for children from local villages.

She soon realized her role as a woman in India is very important to the Kingdom. She just had to find a creative way to minister within her own culture. She shared this thought, “I am getting help from God. I have so much faith in Him. I’m looking to Him always because He knows the time. Until it’s the time God gives us, we have to wait for Him.”

There was no way I could have anticipated the connection Chinni and I would have had. She always says that she is inspired by myself and others at One Kingdom, but the truth is I, for one, am much more inspired by her than she could ever know. She has the ability to listen to the Spirit and understand that she might not be able to carry out her ministry the way women in America do, but she can do it the way God wants her to do it in India. Above all, Chinni probably has the biggest heart of any person I have ever met. She loves unconditionally and on a level that I can only describe as holy.

There is much we, as American Christians, can learn from Chinni’s devotion to God and her ministry. She was able to bring glory to God in the midst of a desperate situation. If we would follow in her footsteps, have the patience and selflessness to listen only to the Holy Spirit, and allow God to provide the way, the world would look very different.

Join me in continuing to pray for women like Chinni to share the Gospel with others in their communities.