Without a Vision, the People Perish

The story of the India Gospel League begins with one man’s conversion to the Christian faith through faithful missionaries nearly 150 years ago. Today the ministry stands firmly on the same vision and calling, to bring the Gospel and the love of Jesus Christ to unreached peoples and through effective discipleship extend God’s reign over the nations. Here is the story.

My great grandfather was the first one of my family to become a Christian from the Hindu religion. He heard about Jesus when the Salvation Army missionaries first came to India in the 1860s. He accepted the Lord into his life in a street meeting. Because he came from a high caste Hindu family, his family felt he had brought them disgrace by becoming a Christian. He left home and became an itinerant evangelist, going from village to village preaching and sharing his witness.

His son, my grandfather, founded the ministry that today is known as the India Gospel League. He lived his life to the very end as a preacher and an evangelist, and so did my father after him. I had the privilege of working with my father for 12 years in the ministry. He taught me many things, but I will always remember his last words to me: “No matter what happens, son, don’t lose the vision.

My father had organized the ministry in India on the basis of his deep conviction that as Proverbs 29:18 says, “Where there is no vision, the people perish.” The vision is reaching out to the neglected masses of people in the villages of India who are perishing without Christ. Most of them are dying without an opportunity to even hear the name of Jesus in their entire lifetime. This verse is the motto of the ministry, and we remain committed to that vision and calling. 

—Samuel D. Stephens, President

Rev. Samuel D. Stephens is the third generation leader of the India Gospel League, which was founded in 1948 by Samuel's grandfather, Rev. Devaprasad Stephens. He passed the ministry to Samuel's father Rajah, who in 1971 established the ministry as a Registered Society. Samuel D. Stephens served as a barefoot pastor until his father’s death in 1988, when he assumed leadership of the ministry.

In 1994, the ministry was established in the United States as a 501(c)3 corporation. The India Gospel League, North America’s mission is to raise awareness and encourage involvement and support among the people of North America for the India Gospel League’s evangelism, discipleship, church planting, education, agricultural assistance, economic empowerment, and medical programs. It provides information, raises financial support, establishes prayer coverage, sends training teams, and secures sponsorship for Indian children, Children’s Gospel Clubs, barefoot pastors, Bible students, villages and entire regions where the Gospel has not yet penetrated.