Contemporary Christianity in India

2 May 2009

Contemporary Christianity in India

The United States is blessed beyond imagination… not only in material goods and services, but in the most important affair known to man, which is freedom. Our forefathers were thoughtful enough, in their thinking, to place in our documents the very essence of life itself, which is the ability to choose and to exercise those choices, whether it be with religion, press, speech, or expression in general. Not every country has those privileges, nor do they even know what they are like to experience them at all. India is one of those countries, and it is this author’s honor to investigate how Christianity is settled there.
In India, the two southernmost states, Kerala and Tamil Nadu, have seen the greatest penetration of the Gospel. This is due to the Mar Thoma Church, the Danish Halle mission, and the tentmakers, who are bi-professionals, which are evangelizing there today. Gospel radio also makes a difference there. However, India is still largely a Hindu or Islamic nation. Christians number only about 23 million, which is a large number, but still is relatively small when knowing that is only 2.6 percent of Indian population. The blame for this is the vast persecutions, which Indians must go through to endure the faith. Both Catholics and Protestants are affected. Priests and nuns are killed and raped, and Evangelicals also experience violence and disruptive prayer meetings. This is carried over to the schools, colleges, hospitals and other institutions, which are Christian. The harassment never seems to end.
However, since we know that Christians in India do number 2.6 million, then we know that growth has had to occur somewhere. According to the Christian World Wide Web, Christianity is India’s third largest religion. Around seventy percent are Catholics, while the remainders are Protestants and Orthodox. So how does this population get to be so great? Hindu Vivek Kendra reports that funds are received from outside of India, and churches are built with no Christians to attend. These are then used as centers for the propagation of the Gospel in hopes that people will convert. So reportedly, this is one way in which Christianity grows, though it is seemingly highly criticized by the non-Christian Indian population.
Another way by which Indians are reached with the Gospel are the tentmakers, which were mentioned above. Tentmakers are “professionals, which work in secular jobs, in order to reach another people by work and witness.” They do such jobs as design earthquake resistant housing for the people there. This way of evangelizing is effective to those who have been duped by televangelists, who are not on the up and up all the time. Another way, by which Christianity grows in India is the organization, Gospel for Asia. Gospel for Asia is effective, because they send native missionaries, who are already familiar with the language and culture. There are other missionary groups, which also have good records of reaching the Indian population, such as Sanma. Sanma reaches people by placing Christian Education Centers throughout villages to educate and reach the specific needs of that village.
Now that we have explored some ways that modern Christianity in India has grown, let us look at the religion in that area itself. From this author’s experience, Christians in India can be described as people who are very humble and love God very much, desiring only to serve Him. They tend to devote themselves to His service simply to serve Him, and not to expect blessings back. There are many women in India, whom have to work the “oldest profession” to support their children. This is because many or most widows in India are left poverty stricken. For this reason, there are many ministries, which are developed by native Indians, who are Christians. These ministries are refuge like quarters, which preach the saving Gospel of Jesus Christ, as well as provide employment for the widows and provide for the children, as well as those sick inside the villages. One example is this author’s personal friend, Praveen Chakravarthy, who to run an orphanage and refuge, which was founded by Kiran Kumar. With the grace of God, they feed many people each day, and have managed to open a tailor shop, which employees the widows or other women in need. Also, those who have HIV and AIDS are cared for, as are the blind and the physically handicapped. The ministry also hosts pastors’ conferences for pastors to come and join from all around the area. God has also blessed them with the ability to evangelize in the community and to pass out Bibles to those who have their heart open to God.
As I mentioned earlier, there are several Christian orphanages in India such as this, and in fact, Liberty University’s own Ronald L. Giese goes over to India to volunteer at a similar one. This author just happened to use Sylom Blind Center because she is a personal friend of the one who runs it. Hoping that the testimony of this organization will concrete what I am about to say, I will move on to the item of why it seems Christianity in India is growing, while the institution in Europe is really post-Christian, while statistics in the United States show that the majority are largely nominal.
This author believes that India, as well as other Asian countries, has a spirit about it for community and caring about and helping others. In the United States, people are blessed with material items and other blessings so much that it seems the population largely forgets about God. In India it is not that way for the Christian. The whole existence of the Indian Christian resolves around God and how they might serve Him. This was discussed earlier. Indian Christians are also very good at witnessing to Hindus, to spite the persecution they threaten and often carry out. Indian Christians are often beaten to the extent of having to go to the hospital, raped, and even often arrested for their beliefs. It is clear that their hearts are really into the core concept of Christianity, much as that of the Apostles and early Christians was.
Indian Christians maintain their focus on the core concept of Christianity, because most have no material blessings to focus on. Most Christians in India are of the lower caste or of no caste at all. I believe that this is one of the major reasons, which liberalism has not hit the Christians in India that hard yet. Liberals tend to be those in rebellion; those who disregard God’s word, and who take everything for granted, which He gives to them. Indian Christians are not so blessed that they can afford to take anything for granted. Every blessing, which they receive from God seems to be taken to heart. They are victims of their staunch beliefs and because they are intolerant of anything but the true Word of God. For this reason, it seems that a fire burns within them, to serve God whole-heartedly, to withstand persecutions and martyrdom and to spread the Gospel among their villages, handing out Bibles, no matter what the cost is for their actions. With such a heart open to God, it is no wonder that the country of India experiences growth in its Christian faction, while the United States and Europe become more and more dependent on material good and the entertainment industry. India’s Christians seem to have a heart much like the Puritans did, who elected to stand against such entertainment as plays and sports. As Verna M. Hall said:
The court of this king (James 1) was a nursery of lust and intemperance… To keep the people in their deplorable security, till vengeance overtook them, they were entertained with masks, stage plays, and all sorts of ruder sports. Then began murder, incest, adultery, drunkenness, swearing, fornication, and all sorts of ribaldry, to be not concealed, but countenanced vices, because they held such conformity with the court example.
Verna Hall quotes John Palfrey’s “History of New England” from 1958 there. The point that I am trying to make, however, is that when Christians give too much importance to plays (now television and Hollywood movies) nominal values to their faith do tend set in. Since most Indian Christians are unable to afford most luxuries, their faith remains pure and purity begets purity, which explains the growth in modern day Indian Christianity as opposed to the decline elsewhere in the Western regions of the world.



Bibliography
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Chakravarthy, Praveen, http://www.freewebs.com/sylom/tailoring.htm.
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© 2010 Kimberly Padilla, A.A Religion