Where are the Indian Christians who can influence the nation?

Where are the Indian Christians who can influence the nation?

Gandhiji’s India is no longer in the villages!

During time of Indian Independence, Gandhiji said that “India lives in its villages”.  However, if he was alive today, I am sure he would have revised this statement.  India’s 300 million plus rising middle class in an urbanized context has changed India.  In another two decades majority of Indians will be living in an urbanized context.  The rural India will have infrastructure that will be comparable to the present cities.  Communication and travel connectivity will be available in every nook and corner. What are the mission challenges in the new emerging scenario?  "India is the oldest civilization, the largest democracy and the youngest population - almost 70 percent is below age 35 and almost 50 percent is 25 and under," said Shekhar Gupta, editor of The Indian Express. This emerging young Indian generation hail from different influential mega people groups who form the majority of the rising middle class in India.  Many Christians are yet to understand the changing context of an emerging economic super power within India.  The new economic policy and the IT revolution have changed India.  The visible changes are now seen in growing urban settings and it is only a matter of time before the rural areas are affected.  This change in India is irreversible.  

The New Christian Middle Class

Majority of the 24 million Indian Christians come from the dalit and tribal people groups in the country.  They were once the ‘untouchables’ who lived in interior villages, hills, mountains and jungles.  Now the redeemed people of God have made great strides in education and have become part of the rising new middle class.  Majority of these people have also migrated to the nearby cities fuelling the massive explosion of ‘city’ churches.  Indian missions and churches have been slow to respond to the challenges and opportunities of this new middle class Christianity.

The City churches from where many of our indigenous missions mobilize resources are getting different every Sunday.  The effects of globalization are felt as the church compounds are filled with cars or where there are no compounds; visitors struggle to find parking space in the nearby lanes.  The youth are invading the liturgical worship with their own version of worship songs in English, imported from the west and the Sunday school final day programs have at least one item of choreographed presentation.  These middle class Christians now enjoy controlling the educational and medical institutions; play politics in the local church administration and at the same time are excelling as philanthropists for the many competing para church agencies and charities.  Many of these Christian middle class have private educational enterprises and small scale trading which are very successful. Praise God the Christian Indian Middle class has emerged.  If I am not exaggerating almost every Indian Christian family living in major cities now would have either their relative or friend employed overseas and the blessings have been overflowing into their laps. 

However sadly, the new rich Christian middle class have not been taught how to share their resources and invest them for the purposes of God.   The best form of mobilization seems to make them feel guilty of the money they have and compel them to satisfy their conscience by dropping money into the offering bags. Mission starts and ends at this point. The Indian Christian community form only 2.3% of the more than a billion Indian population (24 million Indian Christians).  (Even if we take seriously the comments of a few mission leaders that the census figures are not reliable, yet according to their guestimates the proportion will not be more than 10% including our catholic friends.) If the national average of 25% middle class can be extended to the Christian community then imagine the potential of the Indian middle class Christians as it is now.  However, these middle class Christians have not yet exercised their influence on the Indian society with a few exceptions Christian bureaucrat.

Indian Minority Rights and lack of Christian Influence:

The political parties in India constantly talk about appeasing the minority and in their perspective; they talk about the Muslims and not the Christians.  The Muslim vote bank and their 14% proportion somehow influence the voting pattern in many constituencies and also the powerful media opinion.  This minority appeasement issue is very critical whether it is in Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, Kashmir etc. In a few states in North East and in the South, the politicians try to appease the Christian minorities for the sake of votes.  However Christian minorities are still insignificant in terms of the Indian electoral politics. The best illustration is the three decades long demand for extension of reservation privileges for Christian Dalits which is still not considered serious by any political party.

Whether we like it or not, politicians influence the economic, educational and social policies of the country more than anybody else since we have a democratic society with all its flaws.  The moral values of the country are also influenced by the politicians and the stars of the film world.  It is very unfortunate that very few Christians are able to hold themselves in such a highly competitive environment.  Where are the Indian Christians who can influence the nation at large?  The Indian Christian middle class have not yet been able to exercise their influence in getting the attention of the national politics except during times when we are attacked or when our rights are seemingly taken away by legislation.  When will the day come, when the political establishment will begin to listen to the voice of the Indian Christians on all issues concerning the whole nation?  Which political formation will hear us out on any issues of the economy?  Are there no Christian perspectives on the present national governance?

Mega People Groups

In the last two decades of Indian politics, the election trends have been analysed by the media and the social scientists.  One of the key elements which determine the success for the parties is the caste arithmetic.  The political formations that have the best formula tend to beat the others in the electoral gains.  The ‘caste arithmetic’ is nothing but the influence of the various people groups.   In most Indian urban settings, you would find strategically influential ethnic mega peoples who are placed socially in the upper middle class and the elite of the society.  These people come from many different religious backgrounds.   The census of India reported that some of the women issues like female infanticide and dowry deaths are showing higher incidence among the educated and affluent middle class and not necessarily among the people below the poverty line.  Every political party write their manifesto to appease the middle class people who are the ones who give any attention to such statements and influence the media.  It is the politicians who hail from such middle class communities who influence the selection of the electoral candidates.  The businessmen from these communities finance the election expenses in the form of donations to parties.  After the elections, the leaders of these communities continue to influence the government decisions in many ways.  Even though the backward communities and the dalits have in recent times become influential, it is still the affluent among them who have some say in influencing the political scenario. 

There are nearly 150 mega people groups with a population of more than one million.  Several of these mega people groups are strategic in their regions and politically influential.  Many of them are spread around the country. Some of the politically powerful people groups are: Jats, Vokkalingas, Lingayats, Ezhavas, Nairs, Kamma, Reddys, Patnaiks, Patels, Marathas, Yadavs, Kurmi, Rajputs, Thakurs, Thevars, Vanniars and Gujjars.  None of these mega people groups have any significant movement of Christ followers except recently among the Lingayats in Karnataka.  There are no major churches or mission agencies that have a focused ministry to serve among these mega people groups.  They are often over looked as not being responsive simply for the reason of very little effort in contextually communicating the good news or providing an environment of appropriate integration among the established Christ followers.  Serving the mega people groups is a different ball game than that of serving the dalits and tribals in rural India.  A middle class Indian apparently without any physical or economic need is more difficult to reach than a person with physical and economic needs both in the rural and urban areas.  In the present context – the major challenge for Indian missions and churches is a middle class Indian family belonging to a mega people group

For many middle class Indian Christians, the unreached people groups are living thousands of kilometres away, whereas they fail to open their eyes to their neighbour just next door.  It is very easy for such a person to get involved in ‘ministry’ through their local church by funding mission projects or even going with the outreach teams to the nearby slums or fifty kilometre away to a nearby village to preach the gospel.  Ringing the door bell of the apartment neighbour and willing to make friends with them so that one day we will have an opportunity to communicate the gospel through our life is the biggest challenge.  This ministry cannot be done by the traditional career Christian worker who is called ‘missionary’ or ‘pastor’.  This needs the active involvement of the lay people or the ordinary Christian believer who has a vocational identity in the society and is able to talk in the ‘middle class’ language.  We need to promote the concept of ‘tent maker’ ministry to serve the mega peoples of India.   We need to put in place appropriate training programs that are flexible and not dependent on ‘campuses’.  We need to have a strong local church support and pastoral care for people who are willing to accept the challenge to serve among these people groups.

Mega Peoples among the Diaspora Indians

Many of the IT professionals, medical professionals and teachers come out of the mega people groups.  There are not many India based ministries who focus on reaching out to Diaspora Indians in different countries.   For most overseas Christians who are not able to live in India, Indians are flocking at their door step.  Globalization is a reality and it has made geographical distances history.  The world has become a village and we can influence and impact people at our door steps, if we determine to open our eyes to the reality.  If Indian missions can mobilise partnering agencies and churches who can reach out to the Diaspora Indians, the impact will be seen in India.  The modern India as it exists today is a result of many initiatives of the Diaspora Indians.  They have been playing a strategic role in stimulating the economic growth of India.  The IT revolution is an example of the role the Indian Diaspora has played with success.  This can be repeated in missions. The Indian Diaspora can stimulate many Indians in India to follow Christ by using their influence on their family and friends. There is an opportunity for overseas Christians who can mentor Diaspora Indian Christians in their homes and encourage them to serve Indians from other religious backgrounds. 

Let us Expand Our Vision!

I am not suggesting that we stop our efforts in serving the dalits and tribal people groups and turn our focus to the mega peoples.  The ministry among the dalits and the tribals have been part of our proven track record and proud achievements.  We are now called on to expand our vision to include the mega peoples in our mission fields.  However we have to find new ways of serving them rather than hold on to the traditional methods which may not be effective.  We need more research into the profile of these peoples.  We need new models of successful ministries that are serving among different mega people groups.  It has been relatively much easier to challenge Indian churches and missions to serve in tribal and rural settings as majority of the Indian Christians come from such a background.  The ‘uncivilised’ tribal and rural settings are also a romanticised mission challenge for overseas partners from where resources are often mobilised.  There has to be a paradigm shift in the thinking of all Christians.

The mega peoples groups in India hold the key to influencing the whole nation with the values of Jesus Christ.  As more and more persons from mega people group back ground decide to follow Christ, they will begin to influence the affairs of the nation.  These Christians will be able to support missions and churches in a much greater way than what is now seen in terms of mobilization of resources in India.  This will depend on how much we are able to disciple and integrate them in to the existing body of Christ.  The national politics, governance, mass media, education, business and every other sphere of influence needs to have a Christian dimension that will reflect the Lordship of Christ in a nation that yearns for true spirituality.  Where are the Indian Christians who can influence the whole nation?  The answer is within us to bring about a change in the Indian mission scenario. John Amalraj

Published in Indian Missions, Quarterly Journal of India Missions Association, Hyderabad, 2006