Strategies To Effectively Evangelize The Modern Urban South Asian Diaspora
- By Pritam Singh Sandhu
- Published 05/21/2009
- Missions
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CHAPTER 5: STRATEGIES FOR THE EFFECTIVE EVANGELIZATION OF THE MODERN URBAN South Asian Diaspora
5.1 Power of New Media
Bill Gates has created ‘windows of opportunity for the gospel.’67 South Asian Christians in the diaspora and in South Asia itself should be at the strategic leading edge of this internet technology that has caused a paradigm shift in how most of us order our lives, work and play. The optimum use of this electronic media for the spread of the Gospel should be encouraged, especially in novel ways like web evangelism, chats through the Internet, YouTube videos, blogs, online dating sites, FaceBook or other social networking sites, online counseling, city-wide South Asian web portals targeting a specific people group, interest group or web portals offering just plain practical help with a link to a Christ-centred focused strategy. The South Asian church at this present age and time must have a mission paradigmatic shift to utilize the power of the new media as an opportunity to effectively evangelize the broad spectrum of South Asians who are connected on the internet.
The internet has become an integral part of the lives of people all over the world and has bridged the gap of access to information between Western societies and those in developing countries. South Asians are at the forefront of nations where urban youth are embracing the internet as a medium of communication, information, entertainment and social interaction often times with greater enthusiasm and speed than their counterparts in Western countries.
The internet has and is opening doors of opportunity to sharing the gospel in majority Muslim, Sikh, Buddhist or even Hindu countries and most powerfully in the South Asian diaspora. There is a need to publish more targeted online articles on spirituality and testimonies of South Asian Christians in a safe way for people to explore Christianity. These testimonies of South Asian Christians who have had a personal experience with the Lord Jesus Christ and who stand as a powerful witness in adverse circumstances could be published in websites. The genius of the internet is a public online platform which can be both secured personal and at the same time anonymous. It is one-on-one and at the same time one-to-many form of interactive communication. Unlike other mainstream media, the Internet allows people of all ages, races and countries to freely share ideas, opinions, stories and experiences and has an incredible power to influence the lives of the emerging generation, especially the educated and urban youth. 68
Internet evangelism is basically the use of the world wide web or the internet for evangelism, including cross-cultural mission in a relevant, real and radical manner. It is not just limited to web pages or blogs, but includes internet chat, email, helpful resources and materials, articles, links to training and recommended books, principles of online evangelism, downloadable power points, video clips that missions, bible colleges and churches can use to create a ready-made seminar about online mission.
Joseph Vijayam, the managing director of Olive Technology, a computer software company with offices in Hyderabad, India and Colorado Springs, Colorado, USA writes about the incredible opportunities of the power of the new media on the online ministry called Mahalife.com. 69 He argues that the significant changes to the social habits of the youth that the internet presents is an effective strategy for evangelism, especially as a hub for online counseling and discipleship. Mahalife.com suits the tastes of South Asian audiences in its expression of content and flavor while at the same time being world-class in terms of presentation. Mahalife.com is a rapidly growing ministry that is attracting young people who are especially seeking online and telephone counseling. Many young South Asian people are reading the gospel, seeking counseling and responding to its message from the safety and convenience of their homes, transcending all barriers to gospel proclamation. The content and presentation style make it user friendly, relevant and attractive to South Asian youth and young adults. By working in collaboration with several youth ministries in South Asia as well as in the South Asian diaspora, Mahalife.com is able to quickly connect seekers in real time with a person in their city or town who can build a one-on-one relationship with them. 70
Mahalife.com reaches isolated seekers with the message of the gospel of Christ in a context that is familiar to them and relevant to their situation. Those who respond to the gospel by surrendering their lives to Christ are connected with believers and are encouraged to become a part of the local church. With eighty thousand hits per month, resulting in over one million hits per year, Mahalife.com has the potential to reach many young people of South Asian origin and beyond with the good news of Jesus Christ. Over one thousand people are expected to seriously seek Christian counseling and connection with believers directly through Mahalife.com over a period of one year. 71
What makes Mahalife.com unique, in comparison with other evangelistic ministries targeting the emerging generation, is the fact that it leverages on a medium which is especially well-suited for personal counseling. The key to the success of Mahalife.com as a new media is the fact that it draws young people to Christ via a focused targeted online evangelistic outreach to the present and next generation of South Asian young people.
Another example of the power of the new media is South Asian Connection, a registered society in Singapore with one of its stated objectives to maintain a godly online presence for South Asian Christians. South Asian Connection, with its website URL http://www.southasianconnection.com was birth in prayer in 2004 and today touches a global annual online audience from about 192 countries, according to the updated statistics from Google Analytics on 10th January 2009. 72
People arrive at the South Asian Connection website because of purposeful behavior either by clicking on a link or through a key word search from computer search engines. Thus, internet visitors to South Asian Connection are there with purpose and already have some interest. They are screened, pre-approved and pre-selected. We are not dealing with apathetic people or highly resistant people but with people who at least have some interest in the Gospel. We are ministering straight to the people we want to be ministering to and already interested in what we have to say, and this is the biggest advantage of internet missions. 73
Religion seekers from all religious affiliations are not just hits or visitors, or statistics, they have names like Kumar, Singh, Bob, Shanti or Mohammed. They are real people, have real names, live in real countries and have real needs. When we lead one of them to Christ, they can lead someone else to Christ because they are real. They are just as real as people in the street and they come to a website seeking answers to their questions. They are very curious about Christianity. Are our websites seeker-sensitive? Are our websites even vaguely aimed at these enormous community of curious people? 74
The harvest field in this new paradigm of the internet age is online. It is right there - people seeking Jesus online. Christian mission agencies need to get the point: there are four hundred million people with spiritual questions who are just a mouse click away from salvation. Our websites need to be harvest fields of the twenty-first century utilizing the power of the new media as one of our most strategic tools for evangelism. Religion surfers can hear the Gospel online, just as they can hear it from a book, a tract or a pulpit, and give their lives to Christ. The right reason for a mission website is to get spiritual results through maybe a decision to follow Christ, a spiritual inquiry, a call to discipleship, helping a person out of a cult, training a leader or whatever reasons the point of contact is. Each website has to be asking, “What spiritual results do I want to get for Jesus Christ out of this website? 75
When we think about the things that have been spiritually transformative in our life, we are usually not naming books and sermons; it is usually people we know, people who have had a personal impact on us. But through the power of the new media, in terms of blogging and also in terms of internet groups, webcam discussion boards, chat rooms and social networking sites like FaceBook, there are other interesting dynamics at play. The anonymity of the internet enables people to be more open than they would normally be with an optional relationality. With a focused exchange of information over the web and with a developing unmediated face-to face trust relationship, the anonymous individual is no longer merely a URL or an e-mail address. Through the ministry of South Asian Connection, we have personally met many anonymous individuals – virtual visitors to our site – who have now become an active part of our ministry.
In a recent study about bloggers and blogging, the writer cites that 70% of blog readers are influential, that is, people who are articulate and networked - the 10% of America who set the agenda for the other 90%. Every blogger blogs because they have something to say and they have a reason why they blog. What started out as a metaphor for online journaling or online diary has now become a tool for individual communication which allows the fostering of transparency. Now blogging has given voice to the individual. A blogger can instantly put his voice out, and if he has something to say and it shows up on people’s radar, he can influence the world. We have seen the impact of blogging in politics, in media and certainly in evangelism. 76
South Asian churches, leaders and mission organizations should think positively, innovatively and creatively to evangelize the South Asian diaspora using the potentials of the new media. They should not be threatened, intimidated or even question its effectiveness as a strategy of evangelism as a new day has dawned on us through the internet revolution, which incidentally is fifteen years old this year!
5.2 Networking And Partnerships Among South Asian Christians
At the present moment in time, a whole new generation of visionary, Spirit-led South Asian Christian leaders are mapping strategies to complete the evangelization of the diverse South Asian people groups, not only in the South Asian sub-continent –pin code by pin code - but also in the South Asian diaspora. In almost every country of the world where the South Asian diaspora has called these new lands their homes, I, along with key leaders of the South Asian diaspora, personally know of South Asian churches and organizations networking in effective partnerships to win the South Asian people group for Christ using all types of ministries including culturally acceptable evangelistic methods. From the sat-sangs [true fellowships] of the Sindhi churches in Jakarta, Indonesia to the sports ministry among the Malayalee Christians in the US or even the music ministry of urban South Asians in London, UK to the door to door evangelism of South Asians in Durban, South Africa – one thing is certain – evangelization is top priority.
The mission to the South Asian diaspora is witnessing a new day. With missional leaders and mobilization of the laity, millions of brown feet South Asian Christians are incarnationally carrying the liberating gospel of Jesus Christ in its diversity and urgency unheard of maybe a decade ago. South Asian Christian diaspora leaders met in Northampton, UK in 1996 to set up an international network to encourage South Asian Christians in the diaspora to seize the unprecedented opportunities to share the good news of Jesus Christ with the 1.5 billion South Asians around the world. 77
The International Network of South Asian Diaspora Leaders (INSADL) 61 jointly chaired by Dr. TV Thomas and Ram Gidoomal of South Asian Concern sums up networking and partnerships among the South Asian Christian diaspora:
The INSADL consultation identified key challenges and opportunities - building an inclusive South Asian identity that proactively bridges traditional division between communities, preparing the next generation for their distinctive contribution, maintaining unity among Asian followers of Christ, promoting ‘intentionally inter-cultural churches’, defending religious freedom and democracy, caring for persecuted churches, rediscovering authentic South Asian models of discipleship and spirituality, remembering large unreached people groups in the diaspora, engaging the areas of business, politics and the media with excellence, credibility and transparency. 78
Ram Gidoomal further adds that though the ‘diaspora is a place of risk-taking and innovation,’ 79 there are opportunities to be seized. He elaborates that London is in many ways the South Asian diaspora’s hub, with nearly two million South Asians in the UK and within its intersecting economic, political and social links. Ram Gidoomal recounts that in the 1980's, a personal revelation struck him when he replied to his colleagues saying, 'What do I have to do with South Asia now? I was born in Africa, now I'm in Britain. Why are you asking me to get involved in a South Asian mission?' His colleagues reminded him of his unique South Asian heritage and the unique entry point he has as a non-resident Indian and it was only then that he understood a broader Kingdom of God context. This potential of his heritage in terms of ancestry and common identity is not something to put away or be ashamed of, but something that can be used to build the Kingdom of God in a unique way. 80 Ram Gidoomal then helped to pioneer South Asian Concern, a UK registered charity to serve the South Asian community through different avenues - business, development, health and to help develop leadership among South Asian Christians. Over the past fifteen years or so, Ram Gidoomal has written “Sari 'n' Chips” and other books, helped set up South Asian Development Partnership, and in his personal and corporate capacity mobilized other South Asians with the reminder to think in South Asian terms in evangelizing the modern urban South Asian diaspora.
5.3 Urban Missions - Foreign Mission
The urban Church has a unique opportunity to minister to some of the most needy people including the South Asians present among its city and suburban populations. Beneath the veneer of affluence, careers, education and material wealth, many South Asians suffer from psycho-social, emotional issues and issues of injustice or even physical disease that warps and dehumanizes their lives. There is a family fragmentation due to multiple factors and a sense of powerlessness leading to failure and despair. Urban South Asians are people with many non-financial related problems and often regard themselves as failures with guilt and shame and the need to keep time honored family traditions amidst change and tensions.
Thomas Hopler, formerly a foreign missionary and now working in urban United States, voices the frustration of many with respect to urban missions. In his opinion, he says that the need for missions in the city is perhaps as great as the missionary needs overseas:
"Why are so many personnel and millions of dollars invested overseas while little concern is expressed for the cities of our own country? 81
David Hesselgrave further declares that cities are an extensive and needy mission field and he adds that it is strange that the evangelical Church is not ready to reach out to the urban mission field of America, especially when one realizes that it is in fact foreign missions. He says:
Any community of people without an accessible church--whether they reside in North America or South Africa--is a mission field. 82
The greatest challenge before the urban church is to learn to minister to its total community. By so doing, it will become aware of the changing character of the community. If a church does not mirror the people in its community, it will ultimately die. 83
The evangelical Church must reassess its priority of ministries. According to Acts 1:8, the priority should be first, Jerusalem and Judea; second, Samaria; and third, the uttermost parts of the world. It appears that urban Christians have tended to ignore or avoid urban evangelism. And with reverse missions happening in most cities of the world because of people movements, the mission field is not next door but right at the door step.
Emil Brunner states that ‘as fire exists by burning, the church exists by mission.’ 84 The urban church is inseparably linked to mission. Mission is not merely an activity that the church engages in, but is integral to the very nature of the church. Mission lies at the very center of all God’s concern. Missionary evangelism is more than just good and right activity, it is partnership and fellowship with the living God, for He is a missionary God. 85
Mission is the dynamic relationship between God and the world. Those who actively become involved in this vision of His redemption will understand themselves as sent individuals or groups. Mission then is everything that relates to the whole task of the whole church to bring the whole gospel to the whole world. 86
In missio dei theology the primary references is to the purposes and activities in and for the whole universe. In missio dei theology, a radically theocentric view of mission is taken and mission is viewed as God’s own work and the triune God is the subject of mission. In mission, the first actor is God.
The sending of the church to the world is continuation of the Father’s sending of the Son and the Holy Spirit. David J. Bosch in “Transforming Mission: Paradigms Shifts in Theology and Mission” reframes the doctrine of the mission of God as:
The classical doctrine of the missio dei of God as the Father sending the Son, and God the Father and Son sending the Spirit was expanded to include yet another ‘movement’: Father, Son and Holy Spirit sending the church into the world. 87
The urban church has a responsibility to develop effective strategies to reach the South Asians in their midst. Urban church planting must include establishing ethnic churches that may well have congregations speaking in a language other than English, at least for some time to come. Ethnic urban communities should provide excellent service opportunities for all types of ministries and especially to new immigrants. Thriving ethnic churches should be the source of manpower for reaching the great number of émigrés who have come and will continue to come to the cities of the world. Similarly, well-established urban South Asian churches ought to be an important key to evangelizing the South Asian people in their midst with the Great Commandment and Great Commission of our Lord Jesus Christ and so usher in the Kingdom of God to the South Asian people groups.
5.4 Contextualization of the Gospel
Christianity is an Asian religion and has its roots in the East. 88 It sprang up as an offshoot of Judaism and Jesus Christ, its Jewish founder was born in Israel – a country in Asia and through the Jews and later the Gentiles, the Great Commission of ‘Go and Make Disciples of All Nations’ was proclaimed to the whole world. This is what makes an Indian church historian, Dr. K.M George write:
It is important to note that although governed from the West for a long period of time, the Church was born in the Syrian and Semitic context of Jerusalem. The thought forms, the imageries and the religious writings were all Semitic; the biblical traditions preserve for the Church the authentic primitive spirituality of apostolic times. The history of the early church is basically the history of the Eastern Churches. 89
The gospel of Jesus Christ must be presented to South Asians, whether Hindu, Muslim, Sikh or Buddhist in a form suitable to their culture – not as a western ideal but where they can see their own culture in Jesus. Sadhu Sundar Singh, a pioneer native Indian missionary evangelist, used to tell a story that illustrates the importance of presenting the Gospel in culturally acceptable terms. Sadhu Sundar Singh would say to his hearers, ‘This is what I have been trying to say to missionaries from abroad. You have been offering the water of life to the people of India in a foreign cup, and we have been slow to receive it. If you will offer it in our own Indian cup - in an indigenous form - then we are much more likely to accept it.” 90
There is a need to communicate the gospel so that the worldview of people is totally transformed by the truth encounter with Jesus Christ. A transformation in the worldview will bring lasting value changes and confront the beliefs behind the behaviors of people. 91 E. Stanley Jones calls the contextualization of the gospel process as ‘naturalization.’92
During the British colonial period in South Asia, very little thought was given to cultural contextualization in mission work. The gospel was delivered but it remained Western in its form and shape. For example, the introduction of Western church architecture, the order of worship, and even the styles of worship, are so contrary to the native culture that Christianity continues to be seen as a foreign religious practice even in some part of South Asia now. We are grateful to God for the sacrifices of Western missionaries, but now South Asian Christians must dare to contextualize. Western theology largely lacks Indian or South Asian reflection and the textbooks produced in the West do not address the issues that confront us in South Asia or in the South Asian diaspora.
Yet some South Asian Christian leaders in the diaspora are doing well with contextualization of the gospel. There are a number of South Asian churches, ministries and organizations that have presented a brown Jesus who does not have a white face or blue eyes. Every effort is made to present Christianity in distinctly South Asian terms and images.
5.4.A Contextualization of the Theology of the Gospel
What do we mean by contextualization of the gospel? It is the contextualization of the theology of the gospel; it is interpreting the theology of the gospel. It means that we must communicate the gospel in such a way that people will understand it. The gospel message has to be presented in such a way that it addresses the different needs and concerns represented by a particular people group. Byang Kato defines contextualization as “. . . making concepts or ideals relevant in a given situation. In reference to Christian practices, it is an effort to express the never changing Word of God in ever-changing modes of relevance.” 93
How are South Asian Christian leaders and decision-makers, in the South Asian context, to interpret, practice and present the gospel message to the wide spectrum of cultural, religious and socio-economic needs found amongst the South Asian people in the diaspora? How can the message be proclaimed, faithful to its content, effectively and meaningfully, to these many South Asian cultural forms and context? 94 Veteran church planter, Dr. S. Ponraj appeals with caution for the necessity of contextualization to fulfill the Great Commission,
To relate the gospel meaningfully requires interpreting the gospel, and that involves the hermeneutical task. Despite their sincerity, South Asian Christian theologians have failed to contextualize the gospel and their contributions have not helped the South Asian Church or South Asian missions fulfill the Great Commission. There is always the danger of both syncretism and universalism creeping in whenever people interpret the gospel in the Indian context. However, we have to take the risk. The local believers can do a more effective and meaningful contextualizing work than outside missionaries.95
The Church has a great responsibility to share the gospel with urban South Asians dispersed in the diaspora and understanding them will provide keys for effective communication of the gospel. Dr. J.N. Manokaran in his book, “Christ and Cities: Transformation of Urban Centers” list down a few suggestions for effective communication of the gospel especially to urban Hindus.96
1. Communicating the gospel to urban Hindus is a great task. It is not going to be easy. The urban people are more intelligent than the rural and tribal people and have access to knowledge sources. Communication has to touch their worldview. It is essential to communicate the non-negotiable essence of the gospel.
2. The gospel is not just the presentation of another God for those who have millions of them in their own pantheon. The challenge is to communicate the uniqueness of Christ. Presenting Christ as the ultimate personality who is the Creator, Redeemer, Savior and Lord is a most difficult challenge of Christians.
3. Another challenge is to communicate the gospel without Western trappings. Hindus do not like the Church but they like Christ. For them, Christ is the great teacher or even avatar. This positive attitude should be a bridge for communicating the gospel.
4. With a lot of philosophical ideas in Hindu religion, it may be difficult to find valid arguments for each question raised by Hindus. But Hindus validate personal religious experience. The experience of several Hindus who have known Christ can become a handy tool for communicating the gospel.
5. Many educated Hindus have read the Sermon on the Mount. For them, it represents the highest level of godly life. They want to see the life of Christian being patterned by the Sermon on the Mount. The urban Hindus wish to see the life of Christians which is above the normal that attracts others.
5.4.B Jesus Our Sat Guru – the Perfect Master/Teacher
Many South Asians, especially urban Hindus desire Christians to present Christ in the ‘right way.’ 84 The emphasis on fixed traditional timings and day of worship is unattractive to the urban Hindus. The uniqueness of Christ should be the basis of communication and even welcomed but without the baggage of Western trappings. 97
In God’s wisdom, His plan of discipleship as given in the New Testament is very much in harmony with the thought patterns of South Asians in both its religious and cultural forms. When we read through the Gospels, we find the disciples of Jesus addressing him as Rabbi. In the English translation we have a bracketed interpretation indicating that Rabbi means Master or Teacher. But in India, the proper translation of Rabbi would be Guru. When we look at the religious and cultural history of our land, we see that the concept of Guru is one of the most beautiful concepts we have in our country. 98
There is also the concept of what is called Sat Guru [True Guru] in South Asia. The Sat Guru is one who himself is perfected and has experienced fully the highest spiritual attainments. Therefore, he is able to help someone who has entered into a diksha or a bond of discipleship with him. The student acknowledges the authority of his guru and is attached to him. The proper term of this student is shishya whom the guru helps to liberate from spiritual bondage. Dr. K.M. George explains the biblical roots of this:
I believe that this concept of the master/disciple or guru/shishya relationship that we have in the New Testament is an indigenous concept for South Asians. To be a Christian means to be a disciple of Jesus Christ. The Lord Jesus Christ is the perfect guru because he is God incarnate. He is the perfect guru because he was sinless by birth and sinless by karma. Jesus came into this world to confront evil and the originator of evil and to defeat the power of death. Because Jesus has confronted and overcome evil, he has been given the title of Lord, Kurios. 99
South Asians do not need to follow European and Eastern Christianity. We can follow our own biblical Christianity as thought by Jesus without even being named ‘Christians’ if that helps us to follow Christ. At the end of the day, conversion is not about changing religions, it is not the changing of names or cultures but experiencing a personal relationship with Jesus Christ and following in biblical allegiance to the teachings of Jesus Christ. There are thousands of South Asian secret believers who have became true worshippers of Jesus Christ without even being called Christians. These secret believers are scattered among the various South Asian communities in the diaspora and in South Asia itself.
5.5 Sports Evangelism
Cricket is the national game of South Asia and of the South Asian diaspora. This sport in particular crosses all South Asian people groups and has a large following especially among the men. This sport ministry falls into the category of friendship evangelism, yet has a high sowing opportunity in the spectators. When a cricket match of national or international importance is played, the whole South Asian sub-continent and the South Asian diaspora, wherever they are located, comes to a standstill.
Robin P. recounts the unique opportunity cricket evangelism presented itself in the 1999 Cricket World Cup held in the UK. The excitement of the sport together with media blitzes from television can generate a targeted audience of more than twenty million people watching a match between Pakistan and India. The key issue was how to harness such a huge following for the Good News and so was birth the Cricket World Cup opportunity. After much prayer, visioning and networking, a vertical partnership was formed between Sports Outreach, who had all the sporting contacts and Christian Broadcasting Network, who had the necessary infrastructure and budget to multiply this opportunity to unimaginable levels.92 Robin P adds comments on the incredible global impact:
The result was unbelievable. CBN had more than 100 Cricket matches on big-screen opportunities, with the additional screening of the video, “The Winning Edge.” This was shown on TV and local cable, with more than 100,000 “Get on the Winning Side” videos and a follow-up copy called “The Different Spin.” The next two years found hundreds of inquiries answered by CBN. The greatest achievement was the short testimonies of the cricketers shown during the interval during the India and Pakistan match with an audience of twenty million. 100
The success of the partnership in the Cricket World Cup brought together many other ongoing gospel partnerships that soon spread to countries around the world. The big opportunity for Sports Outreach became a wave that swept through many cities.
Sports partnerships take time and it must be a win-win situation for the organization and the local body of believers with a minimal agenda attached, except friendship evangelism among a targeted group of sports enthusiasts. The vision, purpose and impact of the evangelistic sports partnership within the context of a local body must be re-visited and evaluated. Every meeting allows the local body to own the piece that they want and finally even allow them to dictate the direction of the sports ministry. Such a sports ministry can only happen if the big picture of the Great Commission is kept in mind with a self-ownership of the ministry to the local body of believers. The unique success of sports evangelism is that it touches the lives of men and their families in a non-threatening manner.
Sports evangelism in its diverse forms is an effective strategy to evangelize the modern urban South Asian diaspora. At Punjabi Masihi Church in Surrey, B.C. Canada, volleyball is the game of choice, while at Indaphatfarm.com community of South Asian bloggers in Chicago, USA, no guessing that basketball is preferred over all other sports while at Smyrna Assembly in Singapore, soccer commands respect and sports affinity among kindred brethrens! While the locations may differ, the strategy of friendship evangelism through sports is the reason why these local body of believers exists.
5.6 Small Group and One-to-One Evangelism
The church of the twenty-first century needs missional thinkers and apostolic leadership who can read the Word of God with fresh eyes, relating the story of redemption to the human condition in its present cultural contexts - contexts that are increasingly pluralistic, multicultural and influenced by global trends.
There is a need for an army of missional leaders of ordinary men and women who would be God’s anointed to transform the world through small group responsive evangelism strategies. These proven responsive effective evangelism strategies include friendship evangelism one-on-one, interest group evangelism or even vocational evangelism.
Many creative South Asian small groups in the diaspora understand themselves corporately as a body of people sent on a mission. As agents of renewal, they picture themselves as disciples of Jesus Christ and people of God mobilized in the world, living authentic lives in the places they work, play and connect. This shift is missiological thinking from being clergy dominated to the recovery of the priesthood of all believers has birth many effective missional thinkers today in the South Asian diaspora. 101
Every Christian is a leader in the context where he/she lives, that means leaders in the family, neighborhood, work place, community, society and nation. The mission is to bring the Kingdom of God as a reality into the lives of people –both individuality and corporately. This begins with helping people to have a personal encounter with Lord Jesus Christ. So, Christian leadership is “missional” in nature, essence and expression. 102 Eddie Gibbs, a church growth expert succinctly concludes:
Every disciple of Jesus Christ will exercise some kind of influence on the people around them, they are de facto leaders. A Christian leader is a person with a God-given capacity and the God-given responsibility to influence a specific group of God’s people toward God’s purpose for the group. 103
Steve Uppal, a passionate UK born South Asian pastor and author of Rousing the Warriors writes about the New Testament type church patterns of the priesthood of believers growing organically and spontaneously among the South Asian diaspora. The mobilization of the powerful laity of ordinary men and woman for evangelism and leadership-development is priority for a missional church. 104 You cannot miss Uppal’s pastoral appeal for one-to-one evangelism:
I encourage you that you are not in Church just to attend services. You are there to be equipped for your everyday life so that you can minister for Jesus in the workplace and the marketplace. Many believers in our culture think that it is good enough to attend Church only once a week. We must change our mentality about church. Attending church should not be religious duty. Church is a place to which we come to be refreshed, taught, and empowered, so that we can take our place in the world, and live our lives as true Christians. 105
The deep penetration of a South Asian diaspora community through small group or even one-on-one evangelism requires a thorough preparation. This demands that the entire process from beginning to end be saturated in prayer for the blessing of God. With research and understanding of the local South Asian diaspora community , the small group or even one-on-one evangelism strategy can be focused on relevant needs and issues. The most effective evangelism occurs when those who have experienced salvation tell their friends, neighbors, and relatives. The laity must be empowered and encouraged to share their faith throughout the mosaic of their South Asian diaspora community. This small group or even one-on-one evangelism strategy has been replicated throughout the South Asian diaspora communities from Singapore, to the Middle East to the US with effective results in making disciples for Jesus Christ.
5.7 South Asian Culture – Film, Food, Dance and Music
However unlike South Asian diaspora communities across the world might be, South Asian culture in terms of film, food, dance, dress and music commands an extraordinary and unique allegiance from South Asians of all religious persuasions. The prime element of commonality is the profound homage to the deep socio-cultural structures of South Asian civilization from Bollywood films, to bhangra music, to the sari to South Asian food – whether mild North Indian food or spicy South Indian cuisines.
Most South Asian diaspora communities maintain some sort of link with the motherland through the Hindi feature film, a phenomenon unique to the South Asian diaspora, even among those where Hindi is not spoken. What Hollywood is to the US, the Bombay Hollywood – Bollywood - is to the South Asian diaspora communities of the world. The modesty and wholesome traditional family values of Bollywood films is said to explain its appeal to the South Asian diaspora communities, even opening doors of ministry to the Islamic world!.
In the matter of food, one beholds with amazement how ‘tandoori chicken, dosas, naan, idlis, chicken tikka etc. . .have become the cuisine of choice the world over – food that are entirely synonymous with South Asia and in the preservation of South Asian culture.
The Punjabi people group enjoys dance and music and one popular form of dance that is common in Punjabi churches is the bhangra. It is a boisterous dance that originated as a harvest festival dance and as with other Indian folk dance like kollatam, it has no obvious religious connotation in today’s context. Historically, a dance theme in bhangra or other South Asian dance is a very effective tool for evangelism since South Asian diaspora Sikhs, Hindus and Muslims feel at home at church activities which reflect their culture and tradition.
There have been many successful experiments to evangelize the modern urban South Asian diaspora through explicitly South Asian cultural forms of film, food, dance, dress and music. These include the formation of South Asian Christian dance and drama groups, biblical themes in Bollywood films from actors, actresses and producers that have embraced Christianity and South Asian cultural fashion shows with embedded evangelistic messages. The strategies to evangelize the modern urban South Asian diaspora through these cultural forms is beginning to take a creative, organic life of its own to the glory of God.
Chris George, founder of 7 Mile Road Church – an intentional South Asian missional church plant in Philadelphia, USA - puts it best in his blog entry of a meeting he had in his church. "What happens if we get off mission? What happens if we have the gospel, and we have our church, but we're not missionally engaging our culture?" "We'll die." That was one of the first answers that was shouted out. We chuckled for a bit at how harsh it sounded, and then began to unpack its truth. Someone else added, "We'll become irrelevant." After some conversation, everybody nodded their heads in agreement that irrelevance and death was the eventual fate of any church that was not perpetually committed to missionally engaging its culture.” 106
The mission of 7 Mile Road Church moves outward and is concerned about giving the gospel away. As a missional congregation, they challenge the assumptions made in the current church culture which are usually much more about how to make the church better instead of how to help advance the cause of Christ in the world. Mission is much more than just proclamation. It is a witness to the Kingdom and the inauguration of the reign of God. This would require a relevant form of witness and service in each situation. In doing so, they bring to the community a foretaste of the joy and glory of the kingdom of God. 107
Chris George and his missional congregation openness to change and honesty in sharing their joys, struggles, pain and victories sets the standard for an evaluation of contemporary ministries while always remaining open to how the Holy Spirit may take 7 Mile Road Church in new and unexpected directions. This is truly missional church thinking - hearing the voice of the ‘Sender’ to a body of believers ‘being sent’ into the world to proclaim the Great Commandment and the Great Commission of our Lord Jesus Christ. 108
5.1 Power of New Media
Bill Gates has created ‘windows of opportunity for the gospel.’67 South Asian Christians in the diaspora and in South Asia itself should be at the strategic leading edge of this internet technology that has caused a paradigm shift in how most of us order our lives, work and play. The optimum use of this electronic media for the spread of the Gospel should be encouraged, especially in novel ways like web evangelism, chats through the Internet, YouTube videos, blogs, online dating sites, FaceBook or other social networking sites, online counseling, city-wide South Asian web portals targeting a specific people group, interest group or web portals offering just plain practical help with a link to a Christ-centred focused strategy. The South Asian church at this present age and time must have a mission paradigmatic shift to utilize the power of the new media as an opportunity to effectively evangelize the broad spectrum of South Asians who are connected on the internet.
The internet has become an integral part of the lives of people all over the world and has bridged the gap of access to information between Western societies and those in developing countries. South Asians are at the forefront of nations where urban youth are embracing the internet as a medium of communication, information, entertainment and social interaction often times with greater enthusiasm and speed than their counterparts in Western countries.
The internet has and is opening doors of opportunity to sharing the gospel in majority Muslim, Sikh, Buddhist or even Hindu countries and most powerfully in the South Asian diaspora. There is a need to publish more targeted online articles on spirituality and testimonies of South Asian Christians in a safe way for people to explore Christianity. These testimonies of South Asian Christians who have had a personal experience with the Lord Jesus Christ and who stand as a powerful witness in adverse circumstances could be published in websites. The genius of the internet is a public online platform which can be both secured personal and at the same time anonymous. It is one-on-one and at the same time one-to-many form of interactive communication. Unlike other mainstream media, the Internet allows people of all ages, races and countries to freely share ideas, opinions, stories and experiences and has an incredible power to influence the lives of the emerging generation, especially the educated and urban youth. 68
Internet evangelism is basically the use of the world wide web or the internet for evangelism, including cross-cultural mission in a relevant, real and radical manner. It is not just limited to web pages or blogs, but includes internet chat, email, helpful resources and materials, articles, links to training and recommended books, principles of online evangelism, downloadable power points, video clips that missions, bible colleges and churches can use to create a ready-made seminar about online mission.
Joseph Vijayam, the managing director of Olive Technology, a computer software company with offices in Hyderabad, India and Colorado Springs, Colorado, USA writes about the incredible opportunities of the power of the new media on the online ministry called Mahalife.com. 69 He argues that the significant changes to the social habits of the youth that the internet presents is an effective strategy for evangelism, especially as a hub for online counseling and discipleship. Mahalife.com suits the tastes of South Asian audiences in its expression of content and flavor while at the same time being world-class in terms of presentation. Mahalife.com is a rapidly growing ministry that is attracting young people who are especially seeking online and telephone counseling. Many young South Asian people are reading the gospel, seeking counseling and responding to its message from the safety and convenience of their homes, transcending all barriers to gospel proclamation. The content and presentation style make it user friendly, relevant and attractive to South Asian youth and young adults. By working in collaboration with several youth ministries in South Asia as well as in the South Asian diaspora, Mahalife.com is able to quickly connect seekers in real time with a person in their city or town who can build a one-on-one relationship with them. 70
Mahalife.com reaches isolated seekers with the message of the gospel of Christ in a context that is familiar to them and relevant to their situation. Those who respond to the gospel by surrendering their lives to Christ are connected with believers and are encouraged to become a part of the local church. With eighty thousand hits per month, resulting in over one million hits per year, Mahalife.com has the potential to reach many young people of South Asian origin and beyond with the good news of Jesus Christ. Over one thousand people are expected to seriously seek Christian counseling and connection with believers directly through Mahalife.com over a period of one year. 71
What makes Mahalife.com unique, in comparison with other evangelistic ministries targeting the emerging generation, is the fact that it leverages on a medium which is especially well-suited for personal counseling. The key to the success of Mahalife.com as a new media is the fact that it draws young people to Christ via a focused targeted online evangelistic outreach to the present and next generation of South Asian young people.
Another example of the power of the new media is South Asian Connection, a registered society in Singapore with one of its stated objectives to maintain a godly online presence for South Asian Christians. South Asian Connection, with its website URL http://www.southasianconnection.com was birth in prayer in 2004 and today touches a global annual online audience from about 192 countries, according to the updated statistics from Google Analytics on 10th January 2009. 72
People arrive at the South Asian Connection website because of purposeful behavior either by clicking on a link or through a key word search from computer search engines. Thus, internet visitors to South Asian Connection are there with purpose and already have some interest. They are screened, pre-approved and pre-selected. We are not dealing with apathetic people or highly resistant people but with people who at least have some interest in the Gospel. We are ministering straight to the people we want to be ministering to and already interested in what we have to say, and this is the biggest advantage of internet missions. 73
Religion seekers from all religious affiliations are not just hits or visitors, or statistics, they have names like Kumar, Singh, Bob, Shanti or Mohammed. They are real people, have real names, live in real countries and have real needs. When we lead one of them to Christ, they can lead someone else to Christ because they are real. They are just as real as people in the street and they come to a website seeking answers to their questions. They are very curious about Christianity. Are our websites seeker-sensitive? Are our websites even vaguely aimed at these enormous community of curious people? 74
The harvest field in this new paradigm of the internet age is online. It is right there - people seeking Jesus online. Christian mission agencies need to get the point: there are four hundred million people with spiritual questions who are just a mouse click away from salvation. Our websites need to be harvest fields of the twenty-first century utilizing the power of the new media as one of our most strategic tools for evangelism. Religion surfers can hear the Gospel online, just as they can hear it from a book, a tract or a pulpit, and give their lives to Christ. The right reason for a mission website is to get spiritual results through maybe a decision to follow Christ, a spiritual inquiry, a call to discipleship, helping a person out of a cult, training a leader or whatever reasons the point of contact is. Each website has to be asking, “What spiritual results do I want to get for Jesus Christ out of this website? 75
When we think about the things that have been spiritually transformative in our life, we are usually not naming books and sermons; it is usually people we know, people who have had a personal impact on us. But through the power of the new media, in terms of blogging and also in terms of internet groups, webcam discussion boards, chat rooms and social networking sites like FaceBook, there are other interesting dynamics at play. The anonymity of the internet enables people to be more open than they would normally be with an optional relationality. With a focused exchange of information over the web and with a developing unmediated face-to face trust relationship, the anonymous individual is no longer merely a URL or an e-mail address. Through the ministry of South Asian Connection, we have personally met many anonymous individuals – virtual visitors to our site – who have now become an active part of our ministry.
In a recent study about bloggers and blogging, the writer cites that 70% of blog readers are influential, that is, people who are articulate and networked - the 10% of America who set the agenda for the other 90%. Every blogger blogs because they have something to say and they have a reason why they blog. What started out as a metaphor for online journaling or online diary has now become a tool for individual communication which allows the fostering of transparency. Now blogging has given voice to the individual. A blogger can instantly put his voice out, and if he has something to say and it shows up on people’s radar, he can influence the world. We have seen the impact of blogging in politics, in media and certainly in evangelism. 76
South Asian churches, leaders and mission organizations should think positively, innovatively and creatively to evangelize the South Asian diaspora using the potentials of the new media. They should not be threatened, intimidated or even question its effectiveness as a strategy of evangelism as a new day has dawned on us through the internet revolution, which incidentally is fifteen years old this year!
5.2 Networking And Partnerships Among South Asian Christians
At the present moment in time, a whole new generation of visionary, Spirit-led South Asian Christian leaders are mapping strategies to complete the evangelization of the diverse South Asian people groups, not only in the South Asian sub-continent –pin code by pin code - but also in the South Asian diaspora. In almost every country of the world where the South Asian diaspora has called these new lands their homes, I, along with key leaders of the South Asian diaspora, personally know of South Asian churches and organizations networking in effective partnerships to win the South Asian people group for Christ using all types of ministries including culturally acceptable evangelistic methods. From the sat-sangs [true fellowships] of the Sindhi churches in Jakarta, Indonesia to the sports ministry among the Malayalee Christians in the US or even the music ministry of urban South Asians in London, UK to the door to door evangelism of South Asians in Durban, South Africa – one thing is certain – evangelization is top priority.
The mission to the South Asian diaspora is witnessing a new day. With missional leaders and mobilization of the laity, millions of brown feet South Asian Christians are incarnationally carrying the liberating gospel of Jesus Christ in its diversity and urgency unheard of maybe a decade ago. South Asian Christian diaspora leaders met in Northampton, UK in 1996 to set up an international network to encourage South Asian Christians in the diaspora to seize the unprecedented opportunities to share the good news of Jesus Christ with the 1.5 billion South Asians around the world. 77
The International Network of South Asian Diaspora Leaders (INSADL) 61 jointly chaired by Dr. TV Thomas and Ram Gidoomal of South Asian Concern sums up networking and partnerships among the South Asian Christian diaspora:
The INSADL consultation identified key challenges and opportunities - building an inclusive South Asian identity that proactively bridges traditional division between communities, preparing the next generation for their distinctive contribution, maintaining unity among Asian followers of Christ, promoting ‘intentionally inter-cultural churches’, defending religious freedom and democracy, caring for persecuted churches, rediscovering authentic South Asian models of discipleship and spirituality, remembering large unreached people groups in the diaspora, engaging the areas of business, politics and the media with excellence, credibility and transparency. 78
Ram Gidoomal further adds that though the ‘diaspora is a place of risk-taking and innovation,’ 79 there are opportunities to be seized. He elaborates that London is in many ways the South Asian diaspora’s hub, with nearly two million South Asians in the UK and within its intersecting economic, political and social links. Ram Gidoomal recounts that in the 1980's, a personal revelation struck him when he replied to his colleagues saying, 'What do I have to do with South Asia now? I was born in Africa, now I'm in Britain. Why are you asking me to get involved in a South Asian mission?' His colleagues reminded him of his unique South Asian heritage and the unique entry point he has as a non-resident Indian and it was only then that he understood a broader Kingdom of God context. This potential of his heritage in terms of ancestry and common identity is not something to put away or be ashamed of, but something that can be used to build the Kingdom of God in a unique way. 80 Ram Gidoomal then helped to pioneer South Asian Concern, a UK registered charity to serve the South Asian community through different avenues - business, development, health and to help develop leadership among South Asian Christians. Over the past fifteen years or so, Ram Gidoomal has written “Sari 'n' Chips” and other books, helped set up South Asian Development Partnership, and in his personal and corporate capacity mobilized other South Asians with the reminder to think in South Asian terms in evangelizing the modern urban South Asian diaspora.
5.3 Urban Missions - Foreign Mission
The urban Church has a unique opportunity to minister to some of the most needy people including the South Asians present among its city and suburban populations. Beneath the veneer of affluence, careers, education and material wealth, many South Asians suffer from psycho-social, emotional issues and issues of injustice or even physical disease that warps and dehumanizes their lives. There is a family fragmentation due to multiple factors and a sense of powerlessness leading to failure and despair. Urban South Asians are people with many non-financial related problems and often regard themselves as failures with guilt and shame and the need to keep time honored family traditions amidst change and tensions.
Thomas Hopler, formerly a foreign missionary and now working in urban United States, voices the frustration of many with respect to urban missions. In his opinion, he says that the need for missions in the city is perhaps as great as the missionary needs overseas:
"Why are so many personnel and millions of dollars invested overseas while little concern is expressed for the cities of our own country? 81
David Hesselgrave further declares that cities are an extensive and needy mission field and he adds that it is strange that the evangelical Church is not ready to reach out to the urban mission field of America, especially when one realizes that it is in fact foreign missions. He says:
Any community of people without an accessible church--whether they reside in North America or South Africa--is a mission field. 82
The greatest challenge before the urban church is to learn to minister to its total community. By so doing, it will become aware of the changing character of the community. If a church does not mirror the people in its community, it will ultimately die. 83
The evangelical Church must reassess its priority of ministries. According to Acts 1:8, the priority should be first, Jerusalem and Judea; second, Samaria; and third, the uttermost parts of the world. It appears that urban Christians have tended to ignore or avoid urban evangelism. And with reverse missions happening in most cities of the world because of people movements, the mission field is not next door but right at the door step.
Emil Brunner states that ‘as fire exists by burning, the church exists by mission.’ 84 The urban church is inseparably linked to mission. Mission is not merely an activity that the church engages in, but is integral to the very nature of the church. Mission lies at the very center of all God’s concern. Missionary evangelism is more than just good and right activity, it is partnership and fellowship with the living God, for He is a missionary God. 85
Mission is the dynamic relationship between God and the world. Those who actively become involved in this vision of His redemption will understand themselves as sent individuals or groups. Mission then is everything that relates to the whole task of the whole church to bring the whole gospel to the whole world. 86
In missio dei theology the primary references is to the purposes and activities in and for the whole universe. In missio dei theology, a radically theocentric view of mission is taken and mission is viewed as God’s own work and the triune God is the subject of mission. In mission, the first actor is God.
The sending of the church to the world is continuation of the Father’s sending of the Son and the Holy Spirit. David J. Bosch in “Transforming Mission: Paradigms Shifts in Theology and Mission” reframes the doctrine of the mission of God as:
The classical doctrine of the missio dei of God as the Father sending the Son, and God the Father and Son sending the Spirit was expanded to include yet another ‘movement’: Father, Son and Holy Spirit sending the church into the world. 87
The urban church has a responsibility to develop effective strategies to reach the South Asians in their midst. Urban church planting must include establishing ethnic churches that may well have congregations speaking in a language other than English, at least for some time to come. Ethnic urban communities should provide excellent service opportunities for all types of ministries and especially to new immigrants. Thriving ethnic churches should be the source of manpower for reaching the great number of émigrés who have come and will continue to come to the cities of the world. Similarly, well-established urban South Asian churches ought to be an important key to evangelizing the South Asian people in their midst with the Great Commandment and Great Commission of our Lord Jesus Christ and so usher in the Kingdom of God to the South Asian people groups.
5.4 Contextualization of the Gospel
Christianity is an Asian religion and has its roots in the East. 88 It sprang up as an offshoot of Judaism and Jesus Christ, its Jewish founder was born in Israel – a country in Asia and through the Jews and later the Gentiles, the Great Commission of ‘Go and Make Disciples of All Nations’ was proclaimed to the whole world. This is what makes an Indian church historian, Dr. K.M George write:
It is important to note that although governed from the West for a long period of time, the Church was born in the Syrian and Semitic context of Jerusalem. The thought forms, the imageries and the religious writings were all Semitic; the biblical traditions preserve for the Church the authentic primitive spirituality of apostolic times. The history of the early church is basically the history of the Eastern Churches. 89
The gospel of Jesus Christ must be presented to South Asians, whether Hindu, Muslim, Sikh or Buddhist in a form suitable to their culture – not as a western ideal but where they can see their own culture in Jesus. Sadhu Sundar Singh, a pioneer native Indian missionary evangelist, used to tell a story that illustrates the importance of presenting the Gospel in culturally acceptable terms. Sadhu Sundar Singh would say to his hearers, ‘This is what I have been trying to say to missionaries from abroad. You have been offering the water of life to the people of India in a foreign cup, and we have been slow to receive it. If you will offer it in our own Indian cup - in an indigenous form - then we are much more likely to accept it.” 90
There is a need to communicate the gospel so that the worldview of people is totally transformed by the truth encounter with Jesus Christ. A transformation in the worldview will bring lasting value changes and confront the beliefs behind the behaviors of people. 91 E. Stanley Jones calls the contextualization of the gospel process as ‘naturalization.’92
During the British colonial period in South Asia, very little thought was given to cultural contextualization in mission work. The gospel was delivered but it remained Western in its form and shape. For example, the introduction of Western church architecture, the order of worship, and even the styles of worship, are so contrary to the native culture that Christianity continues to be seen as a foreign religious practice even in some part of South Asia now. We are grateful to God for the sacrifices of Western missionaries, but now South Asian Christians must dare to contextualize. Western theology largely lacks Indian or South Asian reflection and the textbooks produced in the West do not address the issues that confront us in South Asia or in the South Asian diaspora.
Yet some South Asian Christian leaders in the diaspora are doing well with contextualization of the gospel. There are a number of South Asian churches, ministries and organizations that have presented a brown Jesus who does not have a white face or blue eyes. Every effort is made to present Christianity in distinctly South Asian terms and images.
5.4.A Contextualization of the Theology of the Gospel
What do we mean by contextualization of the gospel? It is the contextualization of the theology of the gospel; it is interpreting the theology of the gospel. It means that we must communicate the gospel in such a way that people will understand it. The gospel message has to be presented in such a way that it addresses the different needs and concerns represented by a particular people group. Byang Kato defines contextualization as “. . . making concepts or ideals relevant in a given situation. In reference to Christian practices, it is an effort to express the never changing Word of God in ever-changing modes of relevance.” 93
How are South Asian Christian leaders and decision-makers, in the South Asian context, to interpret, practice and present the gospel message to the wide spectrum of cultural, religious and socio-economic needs found amongst the South Asian people in the diaspora? How can the message be proclaimed, faithful to its content, effectively and meaningfully, to these many South Asian cultural forms and context? 94 Veteran church planter, Dr. S. Ponraj appeals with caution for the necessity of contextualization to fulfill the Great Commission,
To relate the gospel meaningfully requires interpreting the gospel, and that involves the hermeneutical task. Despite their sincerity, South Asian Christian theologians have failed to contextualize the gospel and their contributions have not helped the South Asian Church or South Asian missions fulfill the Great Commission. There is always the danger of both syncretism and universalism creeping in whenever people interpret the gospel in the Indian context. However, we have to take the risk. The local believers can do a more effective and meaningful contextualizing work than outside missionaries.95
The Church has a great responsibility to share the gospel with urban South Asians dispersed in the diaspora and understanding them will provide keys for effective communication of the gospel. Dr. J.N. Manokaran in his book, “Christ and Cities: Transformation of Urban Centers” list down a few suggestions for effective communication of the gospel especially to urban Hindus.96
1. Communicating the gospel to urban Hindus is a great task. It is not going to be easy. The urban people are more intelligent than the rural and tribal people and have access to knowledge sources. Communication has to touch their worldview. It is essential to communicate the non-negotiable essence of the gospel.
2. The gospel is not just the presentation of another God for those who have millions of them in their own pantheon. The challenge is to communicate the uniqueness of Christ. Presenting Christ as the ultimate personality who is the Creator, Redeemer, Savior and Lord is a most difficult challenge of Christians.
3. Another challenge is to communicate the gospel without Western trappings. Hindus do not like the Church but they like Christ. For them, Christ is the great teacher or even avatar. This positive attitude should be a bridge for communicating the gospel.
4. With a lot of philosophical ideas in Hindu religion, it may be difficult to find valid arguments for each question raised by Hindus. But Hindus validate personal religious experience. The experience of several Hindus who have known Christ can become a handy tool for communicating the gospel.
5. Many educated Hindus have read the Sermon on the Mount. For them, it represents the highest level of godly life. They want to see the life of Christian being patterned by the Sermon on the Mount. The urban Hindus wish to see the life of Christians which is above the normal that attracts others.
5.4.B Jesus Our Sat Guru – the Perfect Master/Teacher
Many South Asians, especially urban Hindus desire Christians to present Christ in the ‘right way.’ 84 The emphasis on fixed traditional timings and day of worship is unattractive to the urban Hindus. The uniqueness of Christ should be the basis of communication and even welcomed but without the baggage of Western trappings. 97
In God’s wisdom, His plan of discipleship as given in the New Testament is very much in harmony with the thought patterns of South Asians in both its religious and cultural forms. When we read through the Gospels, we find the disciples of Jesus addressing him as Rabbi. In the English translation we have a bracketed interpretation indicating that Rabbi means Master or Teacher. But in India, the proper translation of Rabbi would be Guru. When we look at the religious and cultural history of our land, we see that the concept of Guru is one of the most beautiful concepts we have in our country. 98
There is also the concept of what is called Sat Guru [True Guru] in South Asia. The Sat Guru is one who himself is perfected and has experienced fully the highest spiritual attainments. Therefore, he is able to help someone who has entered into a diksha or a bond of discipleship with him. The student acknowledges the authority of his guru and is attached to him. The proper term of this student is shishya whom the guru helps to liberate from spiritual bondage. Dr. K.M. George explains the biblical roots of this:
I believe that this concept of the master/disciple or guru/shishya relationship that we have in the New Testament is an indigenous concept for South Asians. To be a Christian means to be a disciple of Jesus Christ. The Lord Jesus Christ is the perfect guru because he is God incarnate. He is the perfect guru because he was sinless by birth and sinless by karma. Jesus came into this world to confront evil and the originator of evil and to defeat the power of death. Because Jesus has confronted and overcome evil, he has been given the title of Lord, Kurios. 99
South Asians do not need to follow European and Eastern Christianity. We can follow our own biblical Christianity as thought by Jesus without even being named ‘Christians’ if that helps us to follow Christ. At the end of the day, conversion is not about changing religions, it is not the changing of names or cultures but experiencing a personal relationship with Jesus Christ and following in biblical allegiance to the teachings of Jesus Christ. There are thousands of South Asian secret believers who have became true worshippers of Jesus Christ without even being called Christians. These secret believers are scattered among the various South Asian communities in the diaspora and in South Asia itself.
5.5 Sports Evangelism
Cricket is the national game of South Asia and of the South Asian diaspora. This sport in particular crosses all South Asian people groups and has a large following especially among the men. This sport ministry falls into the category of friendship evangelism, yet has a high sowing opportunity in the spectators. When a cricket match of national or international importance is played, the whole South Asian sub-continent and the South Asian diaspora, wherever they are located, comes to a standstill.
Robin P. recounts the unique opportunity cricket evangelism presented itself in the 1999 Cricket World Cup held in the UK. The excitement of the sport together with media blitzes from television can generate a targeted audience of more than twenty million people watching a match between Pakistan and India. The key issue was how to harness such a huge following for the Good News and so was birth the Cricket World Cup opportunity. After much prayer, visioning and networking, a vertical partnership was formed between Sports Outreach, who had all the sporting contacts and Christian Broadcasting Network, who had the necessary infrastructure and budget to multiply this opportunity to unimaginable levels.92 Robin P adds comments on the incredible global impact:
The result was unbelievable. CBN had more than 100 Cricket matches on big-screen opportunities, with the additional screening of the video, “The Winning Edge.” This was shown on TV and local cable, with more than 100,000 “Get on the Winning Side” videos and a follow-up copy called “The Different Spin.” The next two years found hundreds of inquiries answered by CBN. The greatest achievement was the short testimonies of the cricketers shown during the interval during the India and Pakistan match with an audience of twenty million. 100
The success of the partnership in the Cricket World Cup brought together many other ongoing gospel partnerships that soon spread to countries around the world. The big opportunity for Sports Outreach became a wave that swept through many cities.
Sports partnerships take time and it must be a win-win situation for the organization and the local body of believers with a minimal agenda attached, except friendship evangelism among a targeted group of sports enthusiasts. The vision, purpose and impact of the evangelistic sports partnership within the context of a local body must be re-visited and evaluated. Every meeting allows the local body to own the piece that they want and finally even allow them to dictate the direction of the sports ministry. Such a sports ministry can only happen if the big picture of the Great Commission is kept in mind with a self-ownership of the ministry to the local body of believers. The unique success of sports evangelism is that it touches the lives of men and their families in a non-threatening manner.
Sports evangelism in its diverse forms is an effective strategy to evangelize the modern urban South Asian diaspora. At Punjabi Masihi Church in Surrey, B.C. Canada, volleyball is the game of choice, while at Indaphatfarm.com community of South Asian bloggers in Chicago, USA, no guessing that basketball is preferred over all other sports while at Smyrna Assembly in Singapore, soccer commands respect and sports affinity among kindred brethrens! While the locations may differ, the strategy of friendship evangelism through sports is the reason why these local body of believers exists.
5.6 Small Group and One-to-One Evangelism
The church of the twenty-first century needs missional thinkers and apostolic leadership who can read the Word of God with fresh eyes, relating the story of redemption to the human condition in its present cultural contexts - contexts that are increasingly pluralistic, multicultural and influenced by global trends.
There is a need for an army of missional leaders of ordinary men and women who would be God’s anointed to transform the world through small group responsive evangelism strategies. These proven responsive effective evangelism strategies include friendship evangelism one-on-one, interest group evangelism or even vocational evangelism.
Many creative South Asian small groups in the diaspora understand themselves corporately as a body of people sent on a mission. As agents of renewal, they picture themselves as disciples of Jesus Christ and people of God mobilized in the world, living authentic lives in the places they work, play and connect. This shift is missiological thinking from being clergy dominated to the recovery of the priesthood of all believers has birth many effective missional thinkers today in the South Asian diaspora. 101
Every Christian is a leader in the context where he/she lives, that means leaders in the family, neighborhood, work place, community, society and nation. The mission is to bring the Kingdom of God as a reality into the lives of people –both individuality and corporately. This begins with helping people to have a personal encounter with Lord Jesus Christ. So, Christian leadership is “missional” in nature, essence and expression. 102 Eddie Gibbs, a church growth expert succinctly concludes:
Every disciple of Jesus Christ will exercise some kind of influence on the people around them, they are de facto leaders. A Christian leader is a person with a God-given capacity and the God-given responsibility to influence a specific group of God’s people toward God’s purpose for the group. 103
Steve Uppal, a passionate UK born South Asian pastor and author of Rousing the Warriors writes about the New Testament type church patterns of the priesthood of believers growing organically and spontaneously among the South Asian diaspora. The mobilization of the powerful laity of ordinary men and woman for evangelism and leadership-development is priority for a missional church. 104 You cannot miss Uppal’s pastoral appeal for one-to-one evangelism:
I encourage you that you are not in Church just to attend services. You are there to be equipped for your everyday life so that you can minister for Jesus in the workplace and the marketplace. Many believers in our culture think that it is good enough to attend Church only once a week. We must change our mentality about church. Attending church should not be religious duty. Church is a place to which we come to be refreshed, taught, and empowered, so that we can take our place in the world, and live our lives as true Christians. 105
The deep penetration of a South Asian diaspora community through small group or even one-on-one evangelism requires a thorough preparation. This demands that the entire process from beginning to end be saturated in prayer for the blessing of God. With research and understanding of the local South Asian diaspora community , the small group or even one-on-one evangelism strategy can be focused on relevant needs and issues. The most effective evangelism occurs when those who have experienced salvation tell their friends, neighbors, and relatives. The laity must be empowered and encouraged to share their faith throughout the mosaic of their South Asian diaspora community. This small group or even one-on-one evangelism strategy has been replicated throughout the South Asian diaspora communities from Singapore, to the Middle East to the US with effective results in making disciples for Jesus Christ.
5.7 South Asian Culture – Film, Food, Dance and Music
However unlike South Asian diaspora communities across the world might be, South Asian culture in terms of film, food, dance, dress and music commands an extraordinary and unique allegiance from South Asians of all religious persuasions. The prime element of commonality is the profound homage to the deep socio-cultural structures of South Asian civilization from Bollywood films, to bhangra music, to the sari to South Asian food – whether mild North Indian food or spicy South Indian cuisines.
Most South Asian diaspora communities maintain some sort of link with the motherland through the Hindi feature film, a phenomenon unique to the South Asian diaspora, even among those where Hindi is not spoken. What Hollywood is to the US, the Bombay Hollywood – Bollywood - is to the South Asian diaspora communities of the world. The modesty and wholesome traditional family values of Bollywood films is said to explain its appeal to the South Asian diaspora communities, even opening doors of ministry to the Islamic world!.
In the matter of food, one beholds with amazement how ‘tandoori chicken, dosas, naan, idlis, chicken tikka etc. . .have become the cuisine of choice the world over – food that are entirely synonymous with South Asia and in the preservation of South Asian culture.
The Punjabi people group enjoys dance and music and one popular form of dance that is common in Punjabi churches is the bhangra. It is a boisterous dance that originated as a harvest festival dance and as with other Indian folk dance like kollatam, it has no obvious religious connotation in today’s context. Historically, a dance theme in bhangra or other South Asian dance is a very effective tool for evangelism since South Asian diaspora Sikhs, Hindus and Muslims feel at home at church activities which reflect their culture and tradition.
There have been many successful experiments to evangelize the modern urban South Asian diaspora through explicitly South Asian cultural forms of film, food, dance, dress and music. These include the formation of South Asian Christian dance and drama groups, biblical themes in Bollywood films from actors, actresses and producers that have embraced Christianity and South Asian cultural fashion shows with embedded evangelistic messages. The strategies to evangelize the modern urban South Asian diaspora through these cultural forms is beginning to take a creative, organic life of its own to the glory of God.
Chris George, founder of 7 Mile Road Church – an intentional South Asian missional church plant in Philadelphia, USA - puts it best in his blog entry of a meeting he had in his church. "What happens if we get off mission? What happens if we have the gospel, and we have our church, but we're not missionally engaging our culture?" "We'll die." That was one of the first answers that was shouted out. We chuckled for a bit at how harsh it sounded, and then began to unpack its truth. Someone else added, "We'll become irrelevant." After some conversation, everybody nodded their heads in agreement that irrelevance and death was the eventual fate of any church that was not perpetually committed to missionally engaging its culture.” 106
The mission of 7 Mile Road Church moves outward and is concerned about giving the gospel away. As a missional congregation, they challenge the assumptions made in the current church culture which are usually much more about how to make the church better instead of how to help advance the cause of Christ in the world. Mission is much more than just proclamation. It is a witness to the Kingdom and the inauguration of the reign of God. This would require a relevant form of witness and service in each situation. In doing so, they bring to the community a foretaste of the joy and glory of the kingdom of God. 107
Chris George and his missional congregation openness to change and honesty in sharing their joys, struggles, pain and victories sets the standard for an evaluation of contemporary ministries while always remaining open to how the Holy Spirit may take 7 Mile Road Church in new and unexpected directions. This is truly missional church thinking - hearing the voice of the ‘Sender’ to a body of believers ‘being sent’ into the world to proclaim the Great Commandment and the Great Commission of our Lord Jesus Christ. 108