Redeem India: A New Response to Persecution Featuring ScholarLeader Manohar James August 2016 Bonnie Lin

Transcription

1 Enabling prven Majrity Wrld Christian leaders t pursue advanced thelgical educatin thrugh LeaderStudies cntinues t be a cre ministry f SchlarLeaders. But what difference can a PhD make? In this feature n recent graduate Dr. Manhar James, learn mre abut hw intensive research pprtunities, dctral seminars n cntextual missins, and eye-pening exchanges with cultural thers have shaped his distinctive visin and apprach t ministry in India. Jasmine, Jasn (3), & Manhar Als find ut: What is it like t be a missinary in rural India, where persecutin is severe? What are the rt causes f Hindu natinalist persecutin and why d s many think f Christianity as a Western religin? Hw might Indian Christians cmmunicate the Gspel with sensitivity and creativity? There are reprts f thusands cming t Christ in India, but hw might the Church address rising re-cnversins t Hinduism? Redeem India: A New Respnse t Persecutin Featuring SchlarLeader Manhar James August 2016 Bnnie Lin We put n stumbling blck in anyne s path, s that ur ministry will nt be discredited. 2 Crinthians 6:3 Hw des Gd awaken smene t a fresh Kingdm visin? Manhar training pastrs in Andhra Pradesh Fr Manhar James, it invlved getting beaten up in the land f the gds, game-changing findings during his dctral studies, and a twelve-hur train ride with a carful f pininated Hindu wmen. Grwing up as a pastr s sn in Andhra Pradesh in Suth India, where ver half f India s 27.9 millin Christians (2.3% f the ttal ppulatin) live, Manhar bserved the passinate faith f his parents, wh were bth cnverts frm Hinduism. I learned frm them what it means t trust the Lrd, he says. G t Himachal S Manhar attended a Bible cllege in Kerala, planning t serve alngside his father after graduatin. That changed during his final semester in He was studying at the library ne day when he heard a sft vice: G t Himachal Pradesh.

2 Dismissing it as a hallucinatin, Manhar returned t his wrk. Again, the vice spke: G t Himachal! He turned t the next student and asked if he knew anything abut the place. The student replied that he knew f a missinary wh had nce served there. The pr man had been persecuted, beaten up, and finally sent back t his wn state, lamenting Himachal s resistance t the Gspel. Thrughly disturbed, Manhar lcated an atlas and nted Himachal s psitin all the way up in Nrth India. He then discvered that accrding t Operatin Wrld, nly 0.02% f the peple in Himachal were Christians at the time. Cradled in the lap f the great Himalayas, Himachal Pradesh has ver 2,000 temples and remains a prime destinatin fr Hindu pilgrimages. Because f its prminence in Hindu mythlgy, Himachal is knwn as the land f the gds. Yet, because f its ntrius hstility against Christians, it was als knwn in missinary circles as the land f persecutin. Cnvinced that Gd was calling him t this Nak Lake and the Himalayas in Himachal Pradesh unknwn and perilus place, Manhar btained a ne-way train ticket t Himachal. Many friends urged Manhar, wh was quite skinny at the time, t rethink his cmmitment. Himachal is all muntains, they exclaimed. Yur bnes will fall apart! But Manhar was reslute, Even if my bnes fall dwn, I will nt return t pick them up! The jurney lasted three days. On the way, Manhar s suitcase was stlen, leaving him with nly a thin bed sheet upn arrival in Himachal Pradesh, which literally means snw-laden state. Still, Manhar pressed n. He traveled t schls t shw Christian films and speak abut Jesus. He distributed Gspel tracts n the streets. He preached at busy crssrads and n platfrms under idls. And he was beaten up by Hindu fanatics. Twice. Why D They Persecute Us? Manhar stayed in Himachal fr three years befre he was led t Central India, where he began teaching at Missin India Thelgical Seminary in Nagpur. Instead f evangelizing by myself and catching ne sul at a time, I culd infuse my passin int students t plant churches, he smiles. Residential Hall at Missin India Thelgical Seminary He did just that fr nine years. Yet, a nagging questin, brne ut f three difficult years in Himachal, cntinued t haunt him: Why d they persecute us? Currently, anti-cnversin laws exist in six states in India. On the surface, these laws are meant t prevent unethical cnversin tactics via frce, fraud, r allurement. Hwever, any preaching abut hell r merely the threat f divine displeasure culd be cunted as frce. Likewise, praying fr smene in 2

3 the hspital culd be regarded as allurement. Essentially, the anti-cnversin laws culd be manipulated t criminalize any evangelistic activity. Manhar began nticing that Hindu natinalists frequently drew frm a dcument called the Niygi Reprt t strengthen their case against Christians. I wanted t study hw the Niygi Reprt has influenced Hindu natinalist [Hindutva] thinking their attitude, their anti-cnversin perspective. The Niygi Cmmittee Reprt n Christian Missinary Activities Manhar s quest fr understanding led him ver 8,000 miles away t the Blue Grass State, where he recently graduated with a PhD in Intercultural Studies frm Asbury Thelgical Seminary in Kentucky. At Asbury, Manhar delved int the histry f the Niygi Reprt and the deep-rted causes f anti-christian antagnism in India. It turned ut that after India gained independence in 1947, freign missinaries were expected t Henry Clay Mrrisn Administratin Building at Asbury leave, alng with the British clnizers. Hwever, the missinary presence in India actually increased sn after due t the new liberties affrded by the 1949 Cnstitutin. Fr example, in 1952, there were 2,400 American missinaries in India. By 1953, that number had jumped t 4,800. Threatened by the influx f missinaries and rising cnversins, Hindu natinalists redubled effrts in Madhya Pradesh, the heart f India, t cunter Christian influence amng the tribal peples. They attempted t recnvert believers, and even started rival schls and hspitals. Cnflicts inevitably arse. In respnse, the state gvernment cmmissined a six-member cmmittee t investigate, but five f the members belnged t anti-christian grups and the slitary Christian did nt believe in missins at all. Over tw years, the cmmittee cntacted 11,360 villagers in Madhya Pradesh. Published in 1956, the 939-page Niygi Reprt cncluded that Christianity was a Western religin that threatened Indian culture, sciety, and natinal security. It als denigrated Christian missins as a clnial vestige and recmmended prhibitin f invluntary cnversins. Of curse, what culd be cnsidered invluntary was s brad and pen t interpretatin that any frm f evangelism culd be cndemned. Peple hang n t [the Niygi Reprt] as if it were a real, histrical accunt f Christian missins in India, but it is nt! Manhar exclaims. I m nt saying it is ttally wrng, he cncedes. After all, it has brught t light hw Prtuguese imperialists cnducted missins in the 16 th century. They had cerced cnversins, baptized slaves against their will, destryed hundreds f Hindu temples, and slaughtered Brahmins. S all these things [the Hindu natinalists] hld against Christianity, Manhar sighs. They mentin all that as the histry f missins. Thus, prejudice and persecutin against Christians, especially in Nrth India, can be traced t the tangle f bigted impressins and deplrable histrical realities cmpiled in the Niygi Reprt. The reprt may nt have created the anti-christian steretypes, but it has certainly reinfrced, perpetuated, and prmulgated them, especially amng Hindu natinalists. 3

4 Treating the Bil Actually, mst Hindus have n prblem wrshiping Christ alngside the panthen f Hindu deities, Manhar clarifies. The tw main causes f Hindus ppsitin t Christians are really the latter s exclusivist insistence n Christ s uniqueness and the frmer s misunderstandings f Christianity, and specifically Christian missins, in India. Regarding wh Jesus is, there can be n cmprmise. Hwever, misunderstandings can and ught t be addressed Christian prtest in Mangalre Churches are respnding t the persecutin, says Manhar, but churches are nt respnding t the rt f the persecutin. It s like having a bil n ur skin. We apply intment, but the virus still needs t be killed. We need t take medicine internally. Currently, churches merely react t instances f persecutin by petitining the gvernment, filing cases, r prtesting n the streets. Mre needs t be dne. The prblem, Manhar believes, is that mst Indian Evangelicals, including church leaders, d nt even knw abut the Niygi Reprt. Tw-thirds f India s Christians live in rural areas and have n idea why they are being persecuted. They think Hindus hate Christ, he says. The truth is far mre cmplex. The majrity f India s rural Christians belng t independent Evangelical and Pentecstal churches led by church planters wh lack thelgical training. They [have] never develped a thelgical fundatin, they d nt have cmmunicatin skills t articulate the Gspel biblically, they d nt have knwledge f cntextualizatin, they d nt have ecclesial leadership ver them, and they d nt knw hw t withstand the challenges cming frm utside, Manhar laments. Therefre, Christians in rural cmmunities may actually attract persecutin and invite disaster upn themselves. All they knw is t say, Jesus lves yu, cme n, Jesus blesses yu, Jesus gives yu healing, and s n, says Manhar. They have passin, but they d nt have wisdm. They can bring thusands t faith, but cannt disciple the grwing cngregatin t persevere in faith. Their faith is like tw miles wide, but tw inches deep! But the leadership cannt prvide what they d nt have, Manhar explains. S the simple peple are being persecuted. They re nt empwered because their leadership is nt empwered. And their leadership is nt empwered because they d nt have training pprtunities. Redeem India: Training Rural Pastrs Redeem India Training Wrkshp in Andhra Pradesh In 2011, while studying at Asbury, Manhar and his wife Jasmine funded Redeem India t train independent pastrs frm rural cmmunities t share the Gspel and lead their churches mre effectively in the face f persecutin. Drawing frm his PhD research and experiences n the missin field, Manhar develped eight curses n thelgy and cntextual missins t help Christian leaders understand the backgrund f Hindu natinalist persecutin, and t respnd 4

5 biblically and with discernment. Fittingly, the visin fr training pastrs came t Manhar n a train ride. In 2011, I went t India with my wife t visit ur families, Manhar recalls, [Afterward,] we were n the train t g t a seminary t teach a ne-week mdular curse there. During the twelve-hur jurney, they verheard a small crwd f wmen cmplaining abut Christians. S I jumped in and said, That s true. Why are peple turning t Christianity? he laughs. I just jined their cnversatin! Excitedly, the wmen began sharing all the reasns why, in their minds, peple embrace Christ: they get rice t eat, get sme prvisins t survive Then, ne f the wmen exclaimed, D yu knw Christianity is a Western religin? Why are these peple ging after the white peple s religin? Yu see, that came ut f them! Manhar s eyes widen. They are nt ignrant, illiterate peple. They re actually wives f engineering and medical prfessinals. All these peple were actually n a Hindu pilgrimage t the Nrth. The whle cach was filled with these educated wmen! Calmly, Manhar fund a scrap f paper and sketched a wrld map. He then asked the wmen where they thught Christianity came frm. The wmen first pinted t the US and then t Eurpe. Well, that is partially true, Manhar cncedes, recgnizing that many missinaries have indeed cme frm the West, but we must figure ut wh first brught the Gspel t India wh is the real culprit! The respnse was nt unexpected: Maybe sme white guy frm America? Manhar nearly laughed ut lud. But America is nly 250 years ld! He then prceeded t explain that Christianity has been in India fr tw thusand years, intrduced t the Suth Asian subcntinent by the Apstle Thmas, a disciple f Jesus Christ, in the very first century. The wmen gasped in amazement. When Thmas was preaching and establishing churches in India, Manhar emphasized, Eurpe did nt even have the smell f Christianity! S we gt the religin first and we re prud f that, he grins. He prceeded t tell abut Thmas and the miracles he perfrmed in India, as well as his eventual martyrdm at the hands f Brahmins. I want t let yu knw that I am nt a Christian in the way that yu understand, Manhar revealed, but I am a fllwer f Jesus Christ. I d like t ask yu t try Jesus. Suddenly, ne wman began shaking her finger furiusly. At least yu have sme knwledge f Scripture, but yur preachers have n idea abut yur wn Bible! Lk at ur pujaris [temple priests], she shuted. They all have furteen years f educatin! They knw the mantras! They knw all the Puranas, Vedangas, and the Bhagavad Gita in detail! We All Culd Have Becme Fllwers f Jesus Christ St. Thmas Syr-Malabar Cathlic Church in Palayr The wman then tld a stry abut hw a preacher used t cme t the pen-air meetings in her village. The air wuld be abuzz with excitement as crwds gathered. But as sn as this pastr cmes, he has n idea what he s preaching, the wman fumed. S he cmes and he attacks Hindu gds that they have n nse t smell [with], n eyes t see, n ears t hear, s yu guys are ging t hell! 5

6 Yu knw, we lve the Gspel, the way yu presented it. It tuched us abut Saint Thmas, she admitted. But why are yur pastrs like that? We all culd have becme fllwers f Jesus Christ. Thse wrds pierced Manhar t the cre. I did nt feel like she was talking abut pastrs smewhere else. I thught she was talking abut my dad. My dad has been a pastr fr 55 years nw. He never went t Bible schl. He des the same mistakes, he speaks sftly, S I thught she s talking abut my dad. She s talking abut me, my friends, my pastrs cmmunity. At that time, the Lrd gave me the visin t train the pastrs. With his eyes pened t the need, especially in rural areas where the Church is grwing, fr Christian leaders t btain training in biblical thelgy, leadership, cmmunicatin, and cultural savvy, Manhar gathered 111 Indian pastrs t discuss his visin. He was shcked t discver that ut f the 111 present, nly ne had gne t Bible schl, while tw thers had taken crrespndence curses. When I shared the visin the Lrd has given me t train pastrs, everybdy nearly wept, Manhar remembers, They said, We have been waiting fr this. Thrugh Redeem India, Manhar is strengthening the witness and ministry f the Church in India by helping rural pastrs understand the rts f hstility against Christians and why ugly steretypes persist. Pastrs are taught basic cultural sensitivity and equipped t cmmunicate the Gspel in cntextually apprpriate ways s that they d Christian Leaders at Redeem India Training in Andhra Pradesh nt inadvertently lay stumbling blcks alng anyne s path t Christ. They are als infrmed f their Cnstitutinal rights and freedms, s that they d nt merely run away frm persecutin withut cnsidering the sciplitical causes and legal recurses. Manhar and the missinaries at Redeem India trained 300 pastrs in 2012, 520 in 2014, and 820 in April Their gal is t train 25,000 pastrs ver the next 25 years. An Open Mind and Open Heart The pprtunity t pursue PhD studies, cnduct his wn research, and interact with cultural thers has prfundly shaped Manhar s develpment as a Christian leader. The experience has nt nly bradened his understandings and enabled him t see India frm an aerial view, but als given him a glbal perspective f Gd s wrk in the wrld. My interactins with many cultural thers at Asbury and hearing what is ging n in the missin field and hw Gd is mving in different parts f the wrld that has pened my mind! Manhar exclaims. I saw that there are several ways t d missin, nt just the ne way that I learned frm my dad r that I learned frm an Indian institutin. The curses n missin and n cntextualizatin [have] really shaped my thinking, says Manhar. Here [at Asbury], we dn t try t win arguments ver the ther, but we learn frm thers t make ur argument better. 6

7 Manhar believes Gd used these eye-pening experiences at Asbury, alng with his hard years in Himachal and the frtuitus train ride with the Hindu wmen, t shw him a fresh apprach t missins: If I had remained in India, I wuld keep n ding small things what I had been ding. But after cming here, after hearing the needs f different cuntries then Gd gave me the visin. Passin and Knwledge It has been reprted in the West that Gd is mving in India s pwerfully and that thusands are cming t the Lrd. That is ne side f the stry, says Manhar. They shuld als knw that the Church in India is struggling and needs help and prayer. Manhar is nt just referring t ppsitin and persecutin. He is als referring t Hindu natinalist effrts t take back the peple we re bringing t Christ. Manhar rdaining pastrs in Visakhapatnam Why are these effrts succeeding? Lack f discipleship, lack f leadership skills n the part f the leadership, explains Manhar. The Church in the West needs t pray fr these challenges and fr the independent church leadership in India, that they will have means t get training. Due t pverty, nging ministries, and family respnsibilities, mst rural pastrs cannt g t traditinal schls, making the type f training ffered by Redeem India all the mre essential. Furthermre, the Church in India is struggling t find cntextual ways t share the Gspel mre effectively in cultures that vary widely frm state t state acrss India. The Church in the West needs t knw they have a lt f freedm t use their biblical knwledge fr advancing the Kingdm f Gd. Yet, they ften fail t d that, Manhar says unaplgetically, but nt unkindly. We d nt have the same freedm, but we still g n. S yu see, the West can als learn frm the Indian Church. In the West, the Church is lsing passin, warns Manhar. T ften, Christians sit back, using as an excuse smene else s freedm t Redeem India Training in Mummidivaram chse their wn religin. But yu have freedm t speak, s speak nw! Manhar insists. Yu knw, sme peple have knwledge, but they dn t have passin. Sme peple have passin, but dn t have knwledge. We need bth. T learn mre abut Manhar's research r ministry, feel free t cntact him at the US website fr Redeem India. 7