‘If anything happens to my pastor, I will not fear. I will take charge of his work and serve the Lord!’ This brave declaration was made by Samaru Madkami, aged 14, from Odisha State. He had good reason to expect his pastor to die, as Christians in their area face hostility and violence from extremists in the Hindu majority. Samaru’s father, a church elder, had received death threats. But it was Samaru himself who was abducted and brutally murdered by the extremists, not long after he had made his courageous pledge. He went missing on 4 June and his body was found two days later. The gang who killed him also tried to seize a cousin of Samaru’s but, being older and stronger, he managed to get away. ‘Samaru was a passionate Christian’, said his pastor, recalling how the boy had energetically shared the Gospel with other young people and children in the village.