In India, a new breed of missionary stirs passions
By Scott Baldauf, The Christian Science Monitor
JHABUA, INDIA Biju Verghese believes the end of the world is coming. This
faith makes his work urgent: Convert as many Indians to Christianity as
possible. Or, as he puts it, "reach the unreached at any cost."
Students pray at the Catholic Mission School in Jhabua.
Churches like this one often focus their efforts on schools and hospitals.
By Scott Baldauf, CSM
Verghese is a new breed of missionary, tied not to the mainline Protestant or
Catholic churches that came with European colonizers but to expansionist
evangelical movements in the U.S., Britain, and Australia. These newer
Christians are now the most active here, swiftly winning over Indians like
Verghese who in turn devote themselves to expanding the church's reach, village
by village.
Aside from an attraction to the Christian message, some converts welcome the
chance to free themselves from a low-caste status within Hinduism. Some may
adopt Christianity by simply adding it to their existing beliefs. To others,
conversions are a positive statement that you can choose your religious
identity rather than have it fixed at birth.
But the success of recent Christian missionaries and their methods of quick
conversions have brought tensions with other religions, including some
Christians who fear that certain evangelicals are contributing to a volatile
and at times violent religious atmosphere. The new missionaries put an
emphasis on speed, compelled sometimes by church quotas and a belief in the
approach of the world's end.
"Aggressive and unprincipled missionary work that exploits the distress and
ignorance of marginalized groups ... can constitute a catalyst to localized
violence, particularly when they are brought into confrontation with other"
creeds, says Ajai Sahni, executive director of the Institute of Conflict
Management in New Delhi.
Nationwide, India has a growing reputation for intolerance toward its
religious minorities. The U.S. Committee on International Religious Freedom
listed India with 10 other nations of "particular concern" a legacy of the
months-long riots in Gujarat state, when nearly 1,000 Muslims were murdered by
their Hindu neighbors.
Colonial legacy
Religions on the Indian subcontinent have jostled with each other for
millenniums. Invaders spread Hinduism and Islam through conquest, followed by
British Christians who hoped to create "brown Englishmen." The Christian zeal
for conversions ebbed in India after a nearly successful Indian rebellion in
1857 and a theological trend toward good works, such as improving education and
healthcare.
Some evangelical Christian groups in India are continuing in that tradition.
The Evangelical Hospital Association, for instance, has taken over the
management of many of the hospitals of Northern India that were built by
mainstream Christian churches during the British colonial period. Graham
Staines, an evangelical missionary, was famous for his work with lepers in the
state of Orissa, before he was murdered in 1999 by Hindu mobs. His wife, Gladys
Staines, this week accepted India's highest award for public service, for
continuing this work.
Yet many of today's missionaries are returning to practices of proselytizing
that were long ago abandoned by the mainline missionaries because they were
seen as offensive.
"The church [during British rule] sought actively to communicate the values
of the Renaissance with its Christian message," says Sahni. "And while
conversion was a significant fact of the British period, the schools and other
institutions set up by the missionaries were not primarily driven by the
objective of conversion."
In recent years, however, conversion activity has grown more intense, driven
by the evangelical Christians funded from abroad, and Hindu nationalists. Both
are targeting the same groups: impoverished Dalits, formerly known as
"untouchables," and adivasis, or tribal citizens, who have long practiced a
religion predating Hinduism.
Nationwide, adivasis number nearly 67 million, or 8% of the nation's
population. But here in the district of Jhabua, they are more than 80% of the
population. Adivasis are also among India's poorest citizens, earning perhaps
$4 per capita per month.
Amid Jhabua's rolling hills and low huts of mud stand Christian churches
built 100 years ago.
But the conversion work that some call "aggressive" takes place outside the
traditional places of worship. Evangelical and Pentacostal missionaries go
village to village, holding prayer meetings in homes or preaching outdoors to
all the villagers together.
Speaking in tongues, miracles
These events often mix emotional messages of personal salvation, speaking in
tongues, shaking in trances, and miraculous healings. Some people come for the
spectacle; others take advantage of free food. After these performances, whole
families, neighborhoods, and even villages are sometimes converted. The
missionary leaders move on to the next village, leaving behind money but
sometimes little other support for new church constructions and pastor
salaries.
Verghese is pastor of the Beersheba Church of God in Jhabua. He shows a
recent video CD, produced by Indian Evangelical Team (IET) leader P.G. Varghis,
which makes it clear that conversion, not development, is the priority.
For Verghese and others who believe the Apocalypse could come at any moment,
there is little time to carry out the kind of slow, development-oriented
missionary work that mainstream churches focus on.
In the video, Varghis proudly mentions that the IET's 1,775 missionaries
"planted" 2,000 churches in India in just five years, and planned to reach a
goal of 7,777 churches by the year 2010.
In recent years, North India has been a key region of focus by informal
networks of Christian evangelical groups in the West, with some churches
drawing up quotas for new churches built, gospel literature handed out, and new
missionaries trained.
"Christians are being killed," Varghis admitted in the video, "But we are
dedicated to build North India for Christ."
A call for dollars
The video, which is narrated in English and is apparently aimed at a Western
audience, makes an emotional appeal for funds, noting that it costs $3,000 to
$6,000 to build a church, a cost that is far beyond the means of the mainly
tribal population that IET hopes to convert.
The differing approaches also came to light during recent tsunami relief
efforts. A host of small Christian groups headed to India, Indonesia, and Sri
Lanka to distribute humanitarian aid along with Christian literature. Many
faith-based aid groups, from the International Committee of the Red Cross to
the American Jewish Foundation, avoid handing out such religious materials
because of the potential to offend those who are of different faiths.
After the tsunami, the U.S. National Council of Churches issued a statement
warning against the practice by "New Missionaries" of mixing evangelism and
aid. "Often lacking sophistication about the lure of gifts and money, and
wanting to be generous with their resources, they easily fall prey to the
charge of using unethical means to evangelize. This creates a backlash," the
February statement read.
"You get this guy out of Texas who has no idea of the local culture, he is
out to win souls, and he comes with a lot of money," says Bob Alter, former
Presbyterian pastor born and raised in the Indian mountain town of Mussoorie,
and former superintendent of a missionary institution, the Woodstock School.
The problem with these newer churches, Alter says, is the tone of their
message. "You have Baptists using the Diwali festival [the Hindu festival of
lights], but they come to 'spread the light to those in darkness.' That is
mighty offensive stuff, when you're out to tear down another religion."
http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2005-03-31-csm-missionaries_x.htm
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