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A UMNS photo courtesy of the Board of Discipleship The Rev. Tongkhojang Lunkim (left) shakes hands with John Brown of the United Methodist Board of Discipleship in a file photo.

By Linda Green*

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (UMNS) ? An international editor of the Upper Room and a prominent Christian leader in India has been held hostage for four weeks by a rebel group.

The Rev. Tongkhojang Lunkim, the editor of the Kuki edition of the Upper Room Daily Devotional Guide in India, was kidnapped four weeks ago by a group of rebels called the Kuki Liberation Army. According to news reports, Lunkim?s captors are demanding a ransom equal to US$430,000.

Lunkim?s Upper Room work and other ministries are based in northwest India, a mostly Hindu, Buddhist and Muslim region, where Christians are a small minority, said the Rev. Stephen Bryant, world editor and publisher of the Upper Room in Nashville. The devotional guide ministry is part of the United Methodist Board of Discipleship.

Lunkim, who has partnered with the Upper Room since the late 1970s, is the publishing coordinator of daily devotional guides in the Kuki, Meitei, Vaiphei and Zomi languages. Providing this spiritual formation resource is a ministry of the Kuki Christian Church, a collective of hundreds of Christian churches of Northeast India, Myanmar and Bhutan.

The Upper Room has a total of 14 indigenous languages in India, including English, Bryant said. The Upper Room provides limited financial subsidies to some of the publishing partnerships.

Bryant told United Methodist News Service that Christians in India have lived under the threat of violence for a long time, especially from terrorist groups that are inspired by radical Hindus who do not like the Christian presence in the area.

The Rev. Stephen Bryant

?Lunkim?s Christian work led to his kidnapping,? Bryant said. ?He has lived with threats and danger ever since Christ called him.? The same terrorist group kidnapped Lunkim?s son in 2003 and later released him.

?Lunkim has persevered in the ministry by the grace of God and with unflagging passion for his people nonetheless,? Bryant said.

?I call upon Christians and churches everywhere, especially United Methodists and those who are part of the worldwide prayer fellowship of Upper Room readers, to please join us in prayer for the release of Dr. T. Lunkim,? Bryant said.

?We would certainly ask anyone to join us in prayer, but those who are connected with the Upper Room will feel the most immediate connection,? he added. ?People in that part of the world read the same meditations and join in the same prayer with people who read the Upper Room in this part of the world.?

Besides his work with Upper Room, Lunkim oversees a large amount of evangelical and benevolence ministries among the Kuki people. He also is the chief of his village, the chairman of the Kuki Movement for Human Rights and the secretary of the Kuki Christian Church, according to news reports. He has been described as being in his 70s or 80s in some reports, but his age couldn?t be verified by UMNS at deadline.

Lunkim is one of the Upper Room?s 45 foreign language editors around the world, ?some of whom work in extremely challenging circumstances, developing and distributing editions of The Upper Room that reach into more than 100 countries,? Bryant said.

Before his kidnapping, Lunkim corresponded with the Upper Room and Board of Discipleship. He noted that the editors of the Kuki, Meitei and Zomi editions had been cut off from personal contact because of the activities of underground militants.

Although insurgent militant problems have been increasing, he wrote that ?through the reading of the Upper Room in Kuki, more than 70 new converts were baptized last year.? He also said he often receives reports from people whose lives have been changed through the Upper Room.

?Dr. Lunkim is a special part of our extended editorial team of The Upper Room Daily Devotional Guide,? said the Rev. Karen Greenwaldt, chief executive of the Board of Discipleship, in a prepared statement. ?The core of the devotional guide is prayer, and it?s that spiritual action that we call upon from all our readers for Dr. Lunkim?s safety and release from his captors. The General Board of Discipleship will be working with its partners to help in any way we can.?

Bryant said the Board of Discipleship and the Upper Room had reason to believe Lunkim would be quickly released, but since four weeks have passed, the staff ?are becoming increasingly concerned.?

*Green is a United Methodist News Service news writer based in Nashville, Tenn.

News media contact: Linda Green, (615) 742-5470 or newsdesk@umcom.org

Audio Interview with the Rev. Stephen Bryant

I call upon Christians everywhere.

We would certainly ask anyone to join us in prayer.

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Resources

The Upper Room

General Board of Discipleship

Kuki Christian Church