By Matters India Reporter

New Delhi: Churches cannot remain mute spectators when injustice prevails at various levels in society, asserted a group of Christians who met recently in an eastern Indian city.

“The Gospel of Christ has to directly confront social injustices, such as caste discrimination and other social divides,” said the participants of the Indian Missional Conversation held at Ranchi, capital of Jharkhand state.

The meet was attended by around 100 delegates representing various groups of Catholic, Evangelical, Orthodox and Protestant Churches.

They stressed the need for missiology to stop sticking to mere dogmas and give prophetic witness to the faith based on justice. Mission has to proclaim and practice justice with love and respond to current social problems, they added. Missiology is the science of the cross-cultural communication of the Christian faith.

The National Council of Churches in India (NCCI) organized the August 23-24 conversation to provide a common platform for Christian mission organizations in the country to study the theme of the Asia Mission Conference to be held mid-October in Myanmar.

The Chotanagpur diocese of the Church of North India, the National Missionary Society of India and the India Missions Association also collaborated to conduct the conversation.

The Asia Mission Conference is organized by the Christian Conference of Asia (CCA) to mark its beginning 60 years ago at Yangon, Myanmar.

Around 400 delegates from Asia and other continents are expected to attend the October 11-16 meet on the theme, “Journeying Together: Prophetic Witness to the Truth and Light, in Asia.”

Several participants said the mission congress will help the Indian Churches to respond to emerging challenges.

Reverend Christopher Rajkumar, executive secretary for NCCI’s Mission and Evangelism, noted the Ranchi meet was the first common platform for a missional conversation for several mission organizations and special ministries of various Church groups.

Sister Teresa Joseph, executive secretary of Mission and Dialogue of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of India, described the meet as a modern-day Pentecost that brought together several mission movements from various traditions under one roof. “Dialogue could become a means to initiate a faith journey together toward bearing common public witness and to serve societies at large, ignoring our ‘small’ differences,” asserted the Salesian nun.

Mamman Varkey, a member of the forthcoming congress’ planning group introduced the draft mission statement at the Ranchi meet and recalled that the first gathering of the Asian Churches took place at Prapat in Indonesia 60 years ago. After studying the theme, “Our Common Evangelistic Tasks,” the participants of that meet called for fostering life together.

“Now, after 60 years, when we meet again, we affirm and commit ourselves, in a more active, dynamic way, to journey together,” said Varkey who described the Prapat meet as “a significant milestone in ecumenical history.” He also expressed the hope that Yangon will become “an unforgettable place in the global ecumenical history in the future.”

NCCI president Bishop P C Singh noted that Christian mission has contributed enormously to the socio-religious life of India and become an integral part of various societies in the country. “Indian history cannot be written without the contributions of the Christian missions and missionaries who upheld the values of dignity and love, and worked for the welfare of the marginalized and downtrodden,” he asserted.

NCCI general secretary Reverend Roger Gaikwad wants the current mission movements to become “prophetic poles” that stress justice with love and passion as they participate in God’s mission in India.

Reverend D B Kulothungan of the India Missions Association affirmed that a new journey has begun with faith and hope, and reassured everyone to commit and uphold the God-intended unity and fellowship. He said the mission has to be Christ-people-centric and not otherwise.

Reverend Richard Howell, general secretary of the Asian Evangelical Alliance cautioned the participants that have to understand their companion in journey. “With whom we are intending to journey together is a matter of concern, since our commitment to the Gospel cannot be compromised for the sake of being together.”

Reverend Theodore Srinivasagam of the India Missions Association and a renowned Indian missiologist urged that the journey that we begin from now must be Christ-centered and Word-centered. While we journey together, we must bear a united witness publically to Christ and His Words, which itself is a mission.

Reverend Ngurliana, program consultant for Mission in Unity and Contextual Theology of CCA, stated that the participants in God’s mission must proclaim God’s message by listening as they accompany each other in their journey together. A paradigm shift is needed in our mission approach so that we bear witness not as masters but as servants, he asserted.

Reverend Maxcin John, director of Mission and Evangelism of the Church of South India, said since Christian missions are called to announce and realize the Reign of God Christians’ “ultimate aim is to build societies of resistance based on the values of Justice, Peace, Love and Hope.”

Jesuit Father Aloysius Ekka, who directs Ranchi’s St. Xavier’s Institute of Social Service, urged the participants to embody the spirituality of the Cross through self-emptying. This spirituality, he added, is nothing but joining marginalized communities in their struggle to retain lands, water, forests and natural resources from oppressive mechanisms. “The Spirituality of the Cross is uniting and accompanying people to fight for their rights,” the Jesuit sociologist asserted.

Father Christu Das, director of Social Initiatives for Growth and Networking, who explained “journeying together” from an inter-faith perspective said, “Accepting and recognizing each other as we are is a new spirituality in our faith journey. On many occasions, we look at each other as opposites with suspicion and envy. However, this new spirituality invites us to consider all as children of God.”

Reverennd S Christopher Vijayan, general secretary of the National Missionary Society of India, said missions in modern world have to address migration as a serious issue. They should treat migrants as God’s people and help them lead better lives by creating Christ-centered, non-sacramental communities to reflect the image of Christ.

William Stanley, a social and human rights activist, bemoaned that the mission movements consider the Dalits as ‘objects’ of their missional activities and adopt a mission to the Dalits. He wants Christian missionaries to view God’s preferential option for the poor from the lives and status of the Dalits’ not through the eyes of their oppressors.

Dhayamani Barla, renowned Adivasi activist, asked the mission movements about their missional responses toward women and children who are trafficked for sexual abuse and domestic labor from their missional areas.

She questioned the type of prophetic witnessing the mission movements undertake when thousands of tribal youth migrate to cities as construction workers and industrialists with government support take over tribal lands under the pretext of development leading to displacement and mass migration.

(Source: CCA Press Release)