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There is a growing spirit of antagonism to the gospel inspired by extremist groups. More restrictions and control on mission work are expected to be imposed soon by the government.”

This is not a comment on a Muslim nation; it is an observation made about India, a country that is 80 percent Hindu. Nor are they the words of a foreign missionary, but of B.E. Vijayam, who leads Joshua Vision India, an indigenous mission agency.

When India received independence from Britain, militant Hindus felt that Indian Christians should be forced to leave. But India’s first Prime Minister, Jawaharyal Nehru, said, “The church in India is a sleeping giant, let’s not wake it up.”

Some observers believe that today the church in India is being awakened through persecution. “In the past 10 years more Christians have been martyred, raped and beaten than in the combined history of Christianity in India, which dates back to the first century,” according to Tom Chandler, South Asia director for Partners International.

The goal of a militant Hinduism, called Hindutva, is to make all of India Hindu. Chandler believes that the Hindutva movement has especially targeted the Dalits (untouchables), and understandably so: Eighty percent of Indian Christians are Dalits, and Dalits number almost 300 million. Untouchables

The news of tens of thousands of Dalits converging on New Delhi in November 2001, to change their religion brought worldwide coverage. The gathering, led by a Hindu Dalit, Ram Raj, heard presentations by Buddhists and also by two non-Dalit Christian leaders. Many in the crowd, including Ram Raj, became Buddhists almost certainly because converting to Christianity would mean the automatic loss of their government benefits.

The All India Christian Council (AICC) reported that Ram Raj has announced another series of public conversion events in three locations in the state of Uttar Pradesh for May 26, 2002. Over half a million people are expected to participate in these three events. “Publicly people are walking into Buddhism. Privately Dalits are walking into the Christian faith in many parts of India, according to reports reaching us,” said Joseph D’Souza, president of the AICC.

In contrast to these highly publicized mass gatherings, there is an indigenous mission that has been working quietly among the Dalits for decades.

“Hinduism discriminates and dehumanizes people,” said Moses Swamidas, leader of Bible Faith Mission (BFM). Though untouchability was abolished by the Protection of Civil Rights Act in 1955, the system remains strong. Swamidas has met with the President of India and the Prime Minister on more than one occasion to ask that his people be given their full rights. “Complete religious freedom is guaranteed by the Indian Constitution,” said Swamidas, “but not for Dalit Christians.”

Swamidas believes that the international community must confront this oppression in a similar way it did the evils of apartheid in South Africa. In January, Swamidas called together 125 Christian leaders from various denominations for what he says was the first-ever Dalit Christian Leaders National Conference. The conference delegates drafted a resolution on behalf of all Christian Dalits, declaring:

The government of India should stop all discriminations against the Dalit Christians based on their religious choice in our country where freedom of religion is guaranteed by our Constitution and equal rights are given to Dalit Hindus, Dalit Sikhs and Dalit Buddhists [but not to Christian Dalits]…. That the churches also should stop all caste-based discriminations considering the biblical fact that we the Dalit Christians are also their fellow believers in the body of Christ.

The Resolution went to the Prime Minister and President of India, and to church leaders and bishops. But BFM’s first mandate is not political. When Swamidas assumed the BFM presidency in 1976, the ministry had five dying churches. “My heart broke for my people,” he said. “I knew of the low self-esteem they had because of centuries of discrimination. Dalits were not welcome in the higher caste churches, and this is still true today. That is why we have our own Dalit churches.”

Today BFM has more than 150 churches in three states, a women’s and youth ministry, income-generating projects, and a sponsor-a-child program. Last year, church planters baptized 700 people and established 18 churches. Swamidas expressed his hope that one day the government will follow the country’s Constitution, the church will follow the Bible and both will give the Dalits equality, respect and a voice.

North India
Another indigenous church planting ministry that faces increasing opposition is led by someone from the opposite end of the caste system-a former Brahmin priest turned communist who eventually found Christ. Anand Chaudhari began the Rajasthan Bible Institute (RBI) in 1970 with only six students. RBI uses a range of methods to plant the church among highly resistant people: radio, correspondence courses, door-to-door literature distribution, evangelistic meetings, literacy programs and health clinics.

“Radio is still a crucial means to reach the masses in India,” said Chaudhari. “We estimate that 10-12 million people listen to the broadcasts each day, and we receive an average of 100 letters per day.” Today, RBI has 242 evangelists in 11 states in North India. “We opened a new field of ministry in Rajasthan last October with a medical clinic in order to minister to people in more than 500 villages in this unreached and politically sensitive area,” said Chaudhari. Last year ministry began in 300 new villages and resulted in 60 new worship centers, with 4,800 people making professions of faith.

Holistic Witness
The church planting approach of both BFM and RBI is that of holistic witness-alleviating human suffering and opening the door to the proclamation of the gospel.

This is true of a younger, groundbreak-ing indigenous ministry founded six years ago by a former geologist, B.E. Vijayam. Joshua Vision India (JVI) equips master trainers to reach out to unreached people groups.

“An important part of the training course is the ‘holistic gospel’ component,” says Vijayam. “Its objective is to equip evangelists to generate income for self-support. We also want to relieve poverty by teaching micro-enterprise skills to the poor. The approach my wife and I developed in secular social work is acknowledged internationally as a sound model and has been incorporated into the evangelism training course.”

Once trainers are in their targeted group, they build a nucleus of believers while also teaching the community better farming methods, horticulture, candle making, and other small businesses. In time, local Christians (harvesters) take over the work and the trainer moves on to a new unreached people group. So far, 59 master trainers have gone through the yearlong program. In 2001, 300 new believers were baptized.

Because of JVI’s innovative work in the micro-enterprise field, it became the venue in November 2001, for an international seminar on micro-enterprise (sponsored by Partners International). Twenty-two indigenous mission leaders representing 12 non-Western ministries from Indonesia, Laos, Cambodia, Senegal and India were shown the power of holistic witness as a church planting strategy.

If Vijayam’s expectation that Hindutva or the Indian government, or both, may seek to restrict Christianity, then strengthening indigenous mission organizations and the churches they serve becomes an increasingly urgent task. If there is true revival among Dalits and many more leave Hinduism for Christianity, pressure for more restrictions will only increase. “All along the persecution and the hate campaign against Christians has been because the church has increasingly been a safe and liberating haven for the downtrodden,” said D’Souza.

Steven Downey is vice president of Communications and Marketing at Partners International, Spokane, Wash.