Discipling through Contextualization

I am happy to be with you this morning to share how I am doing the Christian Mission in India to reach out the Hindus. The topic of my presentation is Discipling through Contextualization. Jesus Christ commissioned His disciples to make disciples of all nations. To fulfill this commission of Christ Apostle Thomas came to India in 52 AD. He preached the gospel and established seven churches in the southern part of India. After 20 years of service he was killed in Madras, now called as Chennai, on a mount known as St Thomas Mount. Later on Western Latin Christianity came to India from the 14th century through the Franciscan Missionaries. Later came the Lutheran missionaries Ziegenbalg and Plutschau from Germany in 1706 and then William Carey came in November 1793 to spread the western Christianity in India. The SDA mission began in India at the end of Nineteenth century in Calcutta and the first SDA church was established in South India in 1909. After 2000 years of missionary work by various denominations, the Christian population in India still remains only 2.4%. Majority of those came from marginalized and oppressed low caste communities. Missionaries focused on converting those low caste Hindus to Christian faith and projected the image that Christianity was a foreign religion meant for the low caste people in India. As a result Christian mission to the high caste Hindus has been greatly neglected. However, some thoughtful missionaries anxious to share the gospel with the Upper class Hindus adopted a method of contextualization known as the Christian ashram movement. Many of you may not understand what is an ashram? Let me briefly explain what it is. Ashram is similar to the school of prophets or the Qumran community we find in the Hebrew tradition. Ashram refers to a community of disciples with a teacher engaged in spiritual pursuits in a quiet place in the forest or on the banks of rivers surrounded by beautiful nature. The ashrams are like spiritual power-houses in India for the Hindus who are longing to know God. Ashrams are also centers for disciple making in Hinduism. Hindus, who are longing to know God, go from one ashram to another in search of a suitable Guru who can guide them in the knowledge of God. Modern Hindus like Mahatma Gandhi, Rabindranath Tagore and Aurobindo adopted the ashram model to achieve their religious and social objectives in India. In this context some European missionaries and an American Methodist missionary Stanley Jones started the Christian ashram movement in India to communicate Christ and the gospel to the educated Hindus. Since then more than hundred Christian ashrams have been established all over India by Christians from many Catholic and Protestant denominations. First protestant ashram was established in 1921 in South India byDr. S. Jesudason and Dr. E.F. Paton. Stanley Jones established his ashram at the foot hills of Himalayas in 1930. These ashrams are independent and indigenous communities attempting to develop indigenous style of worship and witness. These Ashrams have attracted many Upper Caste Hindus. Even Mahatma Gandhi was very much attracted by the Christian Ashrams and he visited some of them. This concept of Ashram made a profound impact on me because I am a convert from Hinduism and know the value of this model in reaching the Hindus. After coming to know Christ through Adventist evangelistic meetings, I committed my life to share the gospel to the Hindus. I pursued theological study at Spicer College first, then I came to the U.S and studied at various theological seminaries such as Andrews, Calvin and Fuller. It is in those institutions I learned about the missiological principle of contextualization for communicating the gospel. I came to realize that the Christian Ashram was very relevant to the Indian context. Therefore, I decided to follow the Ashram model in my ministry. I started a Christian ashram in the year 2000 integrating the spirituality of Sabbath and the health message from the Adventist tradition. I named this as Karunaiyanathar ashram which refers to Christ as a person of Compassion and Bliss. This name was coined by a famous Indian Christian poet. This Ashram is located on the banks of the river Cauvery surrounded by coconut palms, Banana and Jackfruit trees. In this Ashram I try to put into practice the idea of contextualization in the area of theology, worship, witness, architecture and the rites of passage like child dedication and marriage. At the entrance of the ashram I have the text John 1:1 written with the symbol of the cross and OM indicating that

the cosmic Christ incarnated into the world as historical Jesus. The entrance to the prayer room has the text I am the light of the world. I have built a thatched roof chapel where verses from the Bible, Koran and Bhagavad Gita are inscribed on the wall outside and the Ten Commandments inside. I have also erected a statue of Mahatma Gandhi reading the Bible. The prayer room is named as the inter-religious spiritual home. In it we have the picture of Christ at the center surrounded by those of Indian religious teachers through whom the light of God was brought to the Indian people. The whole setting of the Ashram makes a great spiritual impact on the non-Christian people who come there. In this setting Jesus is presented to the Non-Christians through inter-religious meetings, social service, indigenous style of worship and distribution of pamphlets written on topics relevant to the Hindus. These pamphlets have shown positive impact on educated Hindus toward Christ and his message. In order to carry out the objectives of the Ashram I first developed good relationship with the local people and other institutions such as Rotary club, Red Cross and with the Hindu and Muslim leaders in the village where the Ashram is located. As a result I was given the opportunity to speak in a Hindu Kali Temple, and at the Ramadhan festival of the Muslims. With the support and co-operation of the local leaders, I conduct eye camps, medical camps, and blood donation camps. Ashram also does a lot of charitable services such as distribution of clothes to the poor, uniforms and notebooks to poor students in the village. The Ashram is also open for the public to use its facilities for community service projects. This has created a very good image in the public about the ashram. Ashram broadcasts Christian songs and devotional talk each morning at 5.00 a.m. through the PA system. The villagers around the Ashram count this as a blessing to hear Gods Word spoken early morning. We also conduct Sabbath worship in Indian style with meaningful local symbols. In addition, Ashram celebrates harvest festival, Indian Independence day, New Year and Xmas festivals. This is how through word and deed we communicate Christ to the People in this Ashram. Besides, I also conduct seminars to Christian evangelists of all denominations on Christian witness to the Hindus. My future plan is to develop a three year missiological training to develop Tent Makers who can be effective witness for Christ among the nonChristians. To know more about the Christian ashrams you can log on to www.ashramchristians.net/related_links For questions about my ashram you can contact me by email poovelingam_solomon@yahoo.com I thank the Loma Linda University Church for giving me this opportunity to share this information about my ministry among the Hindus in India.