Harvard Business School,  HEC Management School (France) and Indian Institutes of Management will soon be having a Case Study on Indian Railways for aspiring biz graduates. The Indian Railways is the largest employer and has most extensive rail network in the world.

Since last year when the railway minister, Lalu Prasad Yadav (often presented as a comical character in the Indian media, with no formal education and many corruption cases pending in his home state Bihar), presented some Rs 11 thousand crores as profit , it caught the attention of politicians and business leaders everywhere.

A legacy of British rule to knit widespread communities of India together and trasport grains to farflung villages, has become a key infrastructure for its economic growth. If the somewhat archiac system like that of Indian rails can adapt, be in touch with global trends and turnaround to show mammoth profits, I believe Indian Church can be even more relevant for these changing times and needs of people.

Sometime we see the ancient nature of Indian church with long history of missions and remanant of western church orders, are too rooted in traditions and its own culture. We tend to think that it can never be changed to address comteporary challenges of our times. But then comes Lalus who challenge our bias and presumptions. This is nothing new in the history of the church… remember Luther, Calvin and other reformers.

I hope and pray that God will raise Lalus in the many denominations of the Indian church! Maybe Indian Church can showcase to the world, what God is doing in our times for the glory of his name and extension of his kingdom around the world.

Sam George