Raised in Queensland, Australia, Graham Staines took his medical skills to a leprosy hospital in Orissa State, India. His wife was a nurse and they had a daughter and two sons. Along with his medical work, Graham participated in evangelistic crusades, notably The JESUS Film campaign in the predominantly Hindu area where they lived.
In 1999, Graham was conducting a five-day open-air evangelistic ‘jungle camp’ in Orissa. His sons, Timothy (9) and Phillip (7), were with him. A few days later, after Graham and the boys had retired for the night in their station wagon, a group of militant Hindus attacked them with clubs and set fire to the vehicle.
Nearly four years later, the leader of the militants, widely known for his radical hatred of Christians, was convicted in an Indian court along with twelve others. In May 2005, the leader’s death sentence was changed to a life sentence and the others were acquitted.
Graham Staines had been working for thirty-four years in India. KR Narayanan, president of India, denounced the “barbarous killing” of Graham and his songs. Lepers at the hospital operated by his Evangelistic Missionary Society buried the three victims two days after the killings.
His widow Gladys and daughter Esther consoled the mourners with their complete trust in God. All together they sang:
There’s not a friend like the lowly Jesus
No not one, no not one.
None else could heal all our soul’s diseases,
No not one, no not one.
There is not an hour that He is not near us –
No night so dark, but his love can cheer us.
No not one, no not one.
Later Gladys told friends and reporters that ten days before the killings she had been urged in prayer to give to Jesus all she had. She meditated and then tearfully prayed, “Lord Jesus, yes, I am willing. Take all that I have. I surrender them all to you.”
Gladys remained in India to assist at the leper’s hospital before returning to Australia in 2004 for her daughter Esther’s studies. She and Esther speak to each other in Oriya, the local language in Orissa. Most of her friends, she reports are Hindus.
The Evangelical Missionary Society continues to operate the leprosarium established in 1897. She was given a civilian award from the Government of India in 2005, which aroused protests from right-wing organizations in the country.
“Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us.” Hebrews 12:1
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