Bakht Singh Chabra (1903-2000)

Bakht Singh Chabra , also known as Brother Bahkt Singh, was India’s foremost Christian evangelistic preacher and indigenous church planter. He founded and established the Hebron Ministries in India. This world wide indigenous church planting movement grew to more than 10, 000 local churches.

According to Indian traditions he is known as ‘Elijah of the 21st century’ in Christendom.

He was born into a religious Sikh family in the village of Joiya.
He studied at a Christian missionary school in India but Bakht at some stage ripped a Bible to pieces.
His parents were against him coming to England in 1926 to study Agricultural Engineering because they feared he would influenced by Christians. He promised he would not convert.

In 1929 he went to the University of Manitoba in Canada. He was befriend by 2 devout Christians -John and Edith Hayward. 4th February 1932 baptized in Vancouver, British Columbia

In 1933 returned to India having told his parents by letter of his conversion. Asked to keep it a secret he refused - they left him - he was homeless.

He started to preach in the streets of Bombay. He became a fiery itinerant preacher and revivalist gaining a large following throughout colonial India.
He was initially Anglican but became independent.

In 1937 the revival that swept through the Martinbur United Presbyterian church was one of the most notable movements in the history of the church of India. ( Jonathan Bonk in 1998 declared).

He started local assemblies based on New Testament principles after spending a night in prayer on a mountain top at Pallavaram, Chennai in 1941.

He held his first ‘Holy Convocation’ in Madras in 1941. These were held annually in Madras, Hyderabad, Ahmedabad and Kalimpong. Participants,in their 1000s, would eat and sleep in huge tents and meet under a large thatched pandal for hours long prayer, praise and teaching meetings that began at dawn and ended late at night. The care and feeding of guests was handled by volunteers. Expenses were given by voluntary offerings, no appeal was issued.

Read the 6 testimonies.

250,000 attended his funeral in Narayanguda’s Christian cemetery.