India (MNN) – Name. Address. Government ID. In parts of Maharashtra, India, going to church now comes with paperwork.

Some churches are asking worshippers to sign consent forms stating they came voluntarily and were not pressured to convert. The precaution comes after Maharashtra state’s new anti-conversion law took effect August 28.

(Photo courtesy of Harmandeep Singh/Unsplash)

John Pudaite with Bibles For The World (BFTW) says churches had months to prepare.

“One of the strategies that many of the churches had come together and planned was that as people enter a church service, they would sign some kind of a register or a release-type form or sign-up sheet that said, ‘I am here on my own will. I have not been induced or allured here.’”

Some forms also document that attendees are already Christians.

“There are a couple of different forms like this, and things that people are signing to protect that church,” says Pudaite.

As many as 4,000 churches in the Mumbai metropolitan region are collecting the forms. For church leaders, the documentation is intended as a safeguard against accusations of unlawful conversion.

Pudaite explains, “If a vigilante group came in, they (the church leaders) would say, ‘Hey, we have signatures from everybody here in this congregation, in this room, that they’re here of their own free will.’ So they’re trying to head that off.”

(Photo courtesy of Bibles For The World via Facebook)

Whether that strategy will hold up when challenged remains to be seen.

“It’s just a precaution that the churches are taking, and we’ll see how effective it is,” Pudaite says. “Hopefully, it will be effective in thwarting any sorts of attacks on churches in the midst of a prayer meeting or worship, or something like that.”

For believers navigating this new reality, Pudaite points to Jesus’ words in Matthew 10:16. “India has been a context where, more than ever, the body of Christ needs to be wise as serpents and harmless as doves.”

Ask God to give Maharashtra’s churches that wisdom as they navigate the new law without retreating from worship or Gospel witness.

Learn how BFTW supports the Indian Church, and ways you can get involved at biblesfortheworld.org.

 

Header photo: Mount Mary, Bandra West, Mumbai, Maharashtra, India. (Photo courtesy of Vanburn Gonsalves/Unsplash)