THE CHURCH IN SOUTH ASIA

India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Nepal and Bhutan comprise South Asia. It is one of the most densely populated regions of the world and is home to many religions including Hinduism, Islam, Jainism, Sikhism, Buddhism and Zoroastrianism as well as Christianity and animistic religions.

According to tradition, Christianity came early to South Asia. The Apostle Thomas is said to have laboured in Taxila in what is now Pakistan, as well as in South India in places like Kerala and Chennai.

Between the fourth and the ninth centuries, Syrian and Nestorian Christians also settled in South India and in Anuradhapura, the ancient capital of Sri Lanka. Although Christianity disappeared in Pakistan and Sri Lanka, it continued to maintain a hold in Kerala in South India.

Christian missionaries from the West came to South Asia when the era of colonial expansion began in the sixteenth century. The Jesuit missionary St. Francis Xavier was sent to Goa in India, which had come under Portuguese control and became the cradle of Catholic Christianity in Asia. From there, missionaries went out to the regions now known as Pakistan, Sir Lanka, Bangladesh and Nepal. In subsequent centuries, the church flourished in Sri Lanka, but died out again in Pakistan. In Nepal, Catholic missionaries were welcomed for a time, but in 1769 the small group of missionaries and Nepali Christians were forced into exile across the border in India. Nepal remained closed to Christianity for over 180 years.

The first Protestant mission to India was undertaken by Danish Lutherans in 1706. They founded the Lutheran church in Tranquebar, in the state of Tamil Nadu in South India in that year. By 1800 they had moved to Serampore, which was a Danish colony. There they were joined by the influential British Baptist missionary William Carey, who had been denied permission to settle in areas under British control. Missionaries from many other Protestant groups followed.

The nineteenth century witnessed large-scale conversion of Dalits and tribal populations to Christianity. However, the official policy of the colonial government was one of non-interference and religious neutrality, although not all British officials observed this in India and Pakistan. Some encouraged medical and educational missions.

Protestant missionaries arrived in Pakistan in the nineteenth century. Though they made a significant contribution to spreading the gospel in Pakistan, what was even more significant was the birth of an indigenous Christian movement. This came about through the conversion in 1873 of a man named Dit from Sialkot in Pakistan, who set out to spread the word of God among his own people. Though he did not have training or education, his faith, commitment and tenacious ministry resulted in nearly all of the lowly Chuhra caste embracing the Christian faith before 1947. It is estimated that some ninety per cent of the Christians in Pakistan today are of Chuhra origin.

The Dutch took Sri Lanka from the Portuguese in 1656 and introduced the Reformed faith while trying to suppress Roman Catholicism. The Christian presence and activities became more political. Catholic clergy were deported and only Protestants were declared eligible to hold office or employment in the Dutch government. Two seminaries in Colombo and Jaffna were established to train evangelists and school teachers. The Bible was translated into Tamil and Sinhalese.

Bangladesh is a small South Asian nation with Islam as the state

religion. The first Protestant church there was built at Dinajpur in 1796 through the Serampore Mission. Various foreign Protestant missions contributed much through education, medical services, development and self-help projects. Indigenous Christianity in Bangladesh is growing among the Bengalis and the Bawms in the Chittagong Hill Tracts.

Following a political change in 1950, Nepal opened its borders to outside influence including foreign missions like the Mar  homa Mission, the Nepal Evangelistic Band and the United Mission to Nepal in 1954.

Bhutan has had very little contact with Christianity. In 1965 a medical missionary was able to start a leprosy hospital in a remote area, but evangelism was forbidden. However a church was established at Chengmari in 1970 and is growing under indigenous leadership.

By the end of the colonial era, South Asia had churches representing many competing traditions: St. Thomas Christianity, Catholic, Protestant, Indigenous, Charismatic and Pentecostal. Many of these groups had strong ties to colonial powers, and there was little cooperation between them. However, in the eighteenth century the Anglicans had supported a Lutheran church in Tamil Nadu in South India. There were also attempts to create alternatives to the inherited Western denominationalism through the Christo Samaj in Bengal in the nineteenth century and through Churchless Christianity in Tamil Nadu. Although these experiments met with only limited success, they show the long history of indigenous attempts to eschew denominationalism and Western models of Christianity.

It was eventually recognised that competition between Western denominations divided the church and led to the squandering of

scarce resources. So consultations were held to foster unity and avoid duplication of work. These consultations eventually resulted in the bringing together of many churches to form the Church of South India (CSI) in 1947, which included the Diocese of Jaffna in Sri Lanka, and the Church of North India (CNI) in 1970. This represented an ecumenical breakthrough and a miracle in Christian history. Union of churches was also witnessed in Pakistan and Bangladesh.

Despite the long history of missionary work in South Asia, the number of Christians in the region is still negligible, averaging less than three per cent of the population. Nevertheless, Christians continue to serve the people through providing education and medical care, engaging in humanitarian work and rural development projects, and cultivating indigenous leadership. They have played an important role in the promotion of human rights for oppressed groups like Dalits, women and tribal peoples, and have demonstrated a commitment to environmental conservation.

However, the problems that the church in South Asia is facing are enormous. Christianity is still a minority religion in the midst of mighty religious traditions like Hinduism in India and Nepal, Buddhism in Bhutan and Sri Lanka, and Islam in Pakistan and Bangladesh. The rise of religious fundamentalism and fanaticism in these traditions has unleashed threats and intimidation. In India, the dangers have been exacerbated by the fact that during the nineteenth century and the first half of the twentieth century, the gospel was received most widely among the Dalits and OBCs (Other Backward Castes), while the higher castes, by and large, resisted it. As a result, there has been little opposition when Christians, and particularly new converts, have been assassinated, persecuted and displaced. They have witnessed the destruction of their homes and the desecration of

their places of worship. The threat from outside is formidable and hinders growth and stability.

But the Christian church also faces problems that arise from inside the Christian community. Instead of being united by their minority status and the external forces arrayed against them, Christians still succumb to the denominational spirit. During the nineteenth century, as missionaries from each church or denomination in the West were sent into South Asia, they planted churches in the same tradition and following the same pattern of worship and church government as their sending church. The fact that these traditions are still held dear is testimony to the gratitude with which the memories of the original missionaries are treasured. However, this has complicated efforts to develop church unity, co-ordination and sharing of resources to spread the gospel.

Another feature of the contemporary church in South Asia is that the so-called mainline denominations are not growing as they ought to. It is the newer, emerging churches and church groups that are vibrant and engaged in evangelistic endeavour. In the opinion of some, this rise of independent movements and splinter organisations is a cause for concern, for it does not add credibility to the true message of the gospel. However, were it not for these emerging churches, the percentage of Christians in this part of the world would be decreasing. It is the newer churches, disillusioned with traditional forms of worship and a lifestyle that can hardly be distinguished from the lifestyle of other faith communities and enthusiastic about spreading the good news of Jesus Christ, that are growing. Many of these churches, no doubt, have a long way to go before they can be regarded as stable and organised. The important point, however, is that they represent the cutting edge of the community, functioning as salt and light in the community at large.

A final criticism of the church in South Asia is that in many areas, it clings to Western practices and forms of worship that have not attracted the people of South Asia. The result has been that Christianity is widely viewed as a Western religion. However, this too is changing as the church is learning to appreciate the importance of believing in and proclaiming the truth as it is in Jesus, but in forms and ways that are familiar to South Asians. As a well-known Christian leader once commented, the task of the church is to offer the water of life in Jesus in an Indian cup.

O. L. Snaitang