India is a homeland of more unreached people groups than any other country on earth, and it is likely to surpass country as the planet’s largest population as well. Indian diaspora communities can be found all over the world. Indians in the United States increased by 70% between 2000 to 2010, and one of the oldest and largest Indian communities in the U.S. is Chicago.
Concentrations of Indians are scattered throughout the suburbs of Chicagoland, and a 15 block commercial center along Devon Avenue has long been Chicago’s Little India. The first Indian store appeared in the neighborhood in 1972. Just a couple of years later, Patel Brothers, one of the largest Asian chains in the U.S., opened its first store in the Chicago neighborhood. Today, take a shopping trip for South Asian groceries in Dallas, Atlanta, or Tampa, or other U.S. city, and a Patel Brothers is a familiar place to land.
Chicago is one of the top 3 largest Indian cities in the U.S. with over 235,000 Indians plus 55,000 Pakistanis calling Chicago home. The city has been a center of South Asian diaspora for generations. If you have a passion for making disciples among South Asians, Chicagoland may be a mission field that is calling.
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