Gurala village in Amritsar

Off a thinly inhabited road at Gurala village in Amritsar, Punjab, Karnail Singh holds his parishioners as a conductor holds his devoted audience. "Praise the Lord," he chants. A group of 150 men and women throw up their hands, puppet like, and repeat the praise. On site there is a bragging generator, a parked Maruti Omni and a poster of Jesus Christ on the wall. Singh's church is called Church of Jesus Love, one that both mainstream churches and Hindutva parties love to hate.

Singh is one of the thousands of preachers who have come up across the country, altering the way the gospel is spread and conversions are carried out. These freelancers of God are growing while mainstream churches are facing a decline in their missionary activities. Even as Hindutva groups raise concerns over Rs 10,000 crore in foreign contributions coming into India every year from abroad, mostly for missionary activities, independent churches are turning out to be the biggest beneficiaries of the funds.

Singh, a first generation convert from Sikhism, has been spreading the message of Christianity for the last 10 years. "During the last one year, I started attracting more people to my church. Last year alone I baptised over 34 Sikhs and Hindus," says Singh. The 58-year-old former farm worker mixes music with his preaching. "This is my choir," he says, pointing to his daughters, who have just completed a diploma course on Bible preaching. "I run my own church. I don't want to report to any other mainstream church. I report to God," he says.

A kilometre away from Singh's church is the Believer's Church in Gurala, which came up in December last year. It is one of the newest links in the "church planting" movement, a process that involves setting up a new church under a preacher with a membership of 10 to 20 believers. These churches are almost always unaided by formal missionary structures but remain connected to their network.