June 30 - Pray for: India

Maharashtra's name means "state of large territory", and it is huge - in land area, in population and in influence - often playing the lead role in the nation's political, economic and cultural destiny. Despite Maharashtra being one of the most diverse states, ethnically and religiously, Hindutva agendas often control or influence the government. This has meant intercommunal tensions through discrimination against Muslims, Buddhists and Christians. Re-conversion efforts are increasing, especially for tribal and Dalit peoples who become Christian. Pray that the state government may be impartial.

Mumbai is the economic and cultural powerhouse of India, home of the stock exchange and the hugely influential film industry, Bollywood. It is also a city in great need of prayer.

• Mumbai's huge economy pulls in migrants from most of India, resulting in a massive influx of people, most of whom end up in slums. This results in great diversity, but also tension and desperation. It is host to India's largest slum (Dharavi, with over one million people and 16,500 people per square mile population density); in fact, 60% of Mumbai's population live in slums.
• Human need and suffering in Mumbai are great. There are 200,000 victims of the sex trade, over 100,000 street children and nearly 300,000 AIDS cases. The slums especially are rife with crime, pollution, disease, poverty, unemployment and, too often, hopelessness.
• Mumbai has the second-highest Christian population of India's megacities, but the Christian percentage has actually gone down in recent years from 5% to 4%. There are many Catholics and a growing number of Protestant denominations and churches. Pray that Christians may be salt and light in their city. New Life Fellowship has won many non-Christians through a house church/cell model and Scripture distribution. They have now planted 4,200 cell churches and have a vision to plant a church in every village of the state.