Arun knew from early childhood that his life belonged to God. As he was growing up in South Asia, his parents lost no opportunity to remind him of the story that shaped his destiny.
As a child, Arun suffered from nighttime epileptic seizures, and his parents tried various treatments and medication to see their son healed. “They even took me to evangelistic crusades,” Arun said, “where people were healed of their diseases. But my seizures did not stop.”
His parents began to beg God to either heal their son or to take his life. “They could not bear to see me suffer in this way,” Arun said.
As second-generation Christians in a predominantly Sikh family, Arun’s parents took seriously the practice of prayer and reading the Bible. Every evening they would devote themselves to this until, one evening, they sensed that God was challenging them in their faith. They said to God, “If you are going to heal our son, then do it now, right now, and we will dedicate him to serve you for all of his life.”
The seizures stopped immediately.
Years later, Arun related, “I grew up with the knowledge of that vow. My parents never let me forget that I was called to be a pastor. I owed my life to God.”
Arun intended to honor that vow, but he also had other plans for his life. In his youth, he dreamed of travel and adventure. Graduating from high school, he took a course to join the airline industry, thinking that he would have an exciting life, earn a lot of money, and then settle down and serve the Lord. To his dismay, he was unable to find a single job, even though his classmates had no problem finding employment in that field.
“So I decided to go to Bible college instead,” he said, “to finish undergraduate studies and then do a master’s degree in theology.”
However, in the back of Arun’s mind was a clear thought: “I do not want to be a pastor! I will get a good job with an office and a good salary in some Christian organization. I will wear a white shirt and a coat and a tie and then I will settle down and serve the Lord.”
After graduating, Arun tried to start his own non-profit, founding a school for underprivileged children. “That idea was a flop,” Arun shook his head, “but I did meet and marry Anjana, who worked with me for a time as a trained teacher.”
After that, he started an animal shelter, but the animals just got sicker when they were brought to his farm! He prayed, “God, why are you not letting me succeed?”
Then he heard God interrupt him and say, “What are you not understanding? You are a chosen vessel for my kingdom! You cannot do anything else’”
At that point, Arun began a ministry of evangelism. “I will win others to Jesus,” he thought to himself, “but I won’t have to pastor them!”
Feeling insecure, he did everything he could to avoid preaching the Gospel in his own hometown. Then, in 2009, God challenged him again. “He told me I must start in my own Jerusalem, like the apostles did,” Arun explained. “I needed to minister in my own hometown. I did not want to hear that! I made every excuse, and I told God that if he wanted me to minister in my hometown, he must first do a miracle to convince me.”
Arun told God that he would go across the street and share the Gospel with that family. If they would accept Jesus, then he would give his time, effort, money, blood and sweat to be a pastor!
Within minutes of hearing the Good News, the family of six across the street accepted Jesus as their Savior. Arun had his answer. He surrendered to God, embraced his calling as a pastor, and began to shepherd the new believers. Within six months, he was discipling others to plant more house churches, and soon after he was overseeing fifteen churches in the area. At last, Arun was fulfilling the vow.
He knew his calling, and he also knew that he could not do it alone. “I gathered a group of other young men to serve together,” Arun said. “I let them know me—from the inside and from the outside. They saw me— how I live, how I am my weakness, how I am with my family, how I am in ministry. When they faced struggles, I was also with them, helping them to resist family pressure and to take a stand for Jesus.”
As Arun discipled these young men, more house churches were launched, flourished and multiplied—in more than one city, and all with strong leaders. It was then that both Arun and his wife Anjana began to sense that a change was coming. God was calling them to a new kind of ministry, not just another town or city but something radically different. They had no idea what this might be.
Soon after, Multiply’s Regional Team Leader for South Asia was visiting Arun’s area and the two met.
“He had a vision to reach South Asian immigrants in Canada,” Arun said. “He and his wife were praying for someone who would understand the language and culture of these people. My wife and I felt a stirring in our hearts. Could God possibly choose us for this ministry?”
Eventually, God answered that question. It took almost four years for Arun, Anjana, and their two sons to complete the move to Canada, but in 2022 they became Multiply church planters among the South Asian diaspora of British Columbia.
“It is an honor,” Arun exclaimed. “Being a servant of the Lord is an honor! I don’t think any other job can compare to being a servant of the Most High. Please pray for us to do everything in humility, and that we would be used as faithful vessels in his kingdom.”
GIVE
To make a donation toward the support of South Asian ministry in Canada, go to: multiply.net/south-asian-ministry-canada
To watch a video about Arun and Anjana’s journey from India to Canada, go to multiply.net/arun-anjana-video
