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India Today and the Call to Salvationists
INDIA TODAY AND THE CALL TO SALVATIONISTS
Commissioner Paul A. du Plessis
The advent of the year 2000 prompted a reflection in all parts of the world on social, economic, political and religious trends. This was also the time when The Salvation Army in India had to respond to new religious challenges, not only between faiths, but to the responses being made by other ecumenical bodies, including the proposals made by the National Council of Churches in India and Indian Missions Association (1).
Background factors:
It is necessary to understand some of these major trends. Halarnkar (2), writing of the 1990s in India Today described some of them:
We showed new sides to ourselves – both good and bad – and displayed a bewildering, often confusing, array of faces …liberalisation, Rajiv’ ;s assassination, Babri masjid, the scams, Kargil, the Internet, cable television. We waded through critical political and social change, agony and apathy, progress and renewal. The contradictions were greater than before. Liberalisation created unprecedented opportunities. It also began a churning of our society and economy. Teenage love proliferated alongside religious revival. New gizmos and gadgets entered the home and new cars packed the rapidly grid-locking roads. Slums mushroomed and water and power shortages reached crisis proportions. …India’s new saffron dawn was no relief to its beleaguered minorities.
There have also been helpful insights into the phenomenon of religious fundamentalism: Hiebert (3) describes how this is a reaction to the globalisation of the country with reactions of either politicisation or deepening spirituality.
Violence:
Violence has always been part of life, and India has been no exception, whether at family, community or national level. Inter-religious violence with Hindu-Muslim confrontation has also been endemic.
The origins of violence are complex in understanding, but perceived injustice and an attempt to assert one’s rights appear to lie at the heart of violence. These tendencies are normally controlled, but erupt when moral and judicial restraints are weakened. Love and acceptance move to disdain and intolerance and then to hate and destruction.
Regrettably this violence has also extended to the Christian community in recent years. It appears to emerge from the phenomenon of religious fundamentalism, and is therefore related to that. Religion may therefore precipitate violence. But Tampu (4) also refers to the positive influence of religion in controlling violence:
The usefulness of a spiritual tradition is not really in a negative role of inhibiting violent outbursts of human energy. It does much more than taming the wild beast within every human being. That, to be sure, does happen; but happens more as a by-product. The primary goal of the Judaeo-Christian spiritual tradition is to channelise human energy into positive and creative avenues.
It is by calling us to a life of mission through which all our prodigious physical and spiritual energies can be adequately and creatively engaged, that biblical spirituality humanises us.
Proper religion can help moderate violence. Salvationist communities need to find ways in which they can translate these high-sounding phrases into real life experiences and action, which is the essence of mission.
The way forward:
Two articles in recent Salvation Army publications have suggested the way forward in India.
Devavaram (5) mentions a number of challenges to the leadership of the Army and its people: literacy and education; development of the rural and urban poor, including women; people development; a dynamic approach to the needs of youth; new styles of evangelism; relevant social ministries.
He describes the Army in India as remaining ‘in a state of relative dependency… But as the new century begins, the Army in India has entered a new maturity… the Indian Salvation Army is moving into a new level of self-reliance’.
He emphasises the importance of the corps congregation, and the importance of ensuring quality leadership in both urban and rural areas.
Lalkiamlova (6) has added to the discussion by suggesting strategies for today:
The old idea that evangelists should devote themselves wholly to spiritual work, preaching the gospel to non-Christians, and that the Indian church itself should be responsible for supplying its own material needs will find a new shape. Many of the strategies applied previously may still be relevant…
[But] new ways must be found to ensure that officers are fully engaged in mission. Consolidation of spiritual life and unity in Christ for the soldiers in the corps, thus demonstrating the presence of Christ, will greatly help mission outreach, as will the individual exemplary life which produces the fruit of the Holy Spirit…
We need to avoid confrontation and words or deeds which are provocative… Application of Paul’s strategy, as seen in Acts 17, will help the sons of the soil to realise that Christianity is not an imported religion, but one which is already in the culture, custom and community.
He seems to be saying: practise integrated/holistic mission, consider financial strategies, emphasise spiritual life, evangelise with cultural sensitivity.
Cultural sensitivity will need to take account of the present environment. The Christian community in India may also imitate other religious groups with militant politicisation and associated violence. But the option is a deepening spirituality.
The traditions of The Salvation Army, with its rejection of the political and violent approach, to say nothing of the Indian traditions of ‘ ahimsa’, force every Salvationist to consider the second of these in the first instance. There is a need for strategies that will channel the energy of the Salvationist communities from the sense of injustice and frustration into positive and creative avenues. It is necessary to help cultivate the spirituality of Salvationists as the basis for that creative approach. Several people seem to be saying the same thing. Therein lies the way forward.
Cultivating the spiritual life:
The report of the Spiritual Life Commission is available widely (7). Every Salvationist has been called to listen to the calls they have issued. Lieut-Colonel Robert Street has collated some of the views of commission members (8). But the Salvationists of India need to make a specific response to these calls. They may feel they need to emphasise some of these more than others. They may even be so bold as to suggest that given the special context of India today there are other calls that need to be added. Leaders need to help translate the calls into meaningful action.
The South Asia College for Officers 2000 made a firm commitment to ‘ spiritual formation’. There will surely be a growing desire for such spiritual formation as the basis of all that we teach and do.
The Conference of Indian Leaders reflected on the calls. Each was introduced by one of the members. These calls were received in personal reflection and prayer. The conference listened to the Holy Spirit, receiving his direction, personally and with matters regarding the Army’s work.
These calls must now echo across India from the backwaters of Kerala to the gentle hills of Mizoram and the north-east, from the chilly foothills of the Himalayas to the warm waters off Kanyukamari.
These must prove the focus for action as the Army in India awakes to its newly- discovered maturity with fresh commitment to relevant mission.
It is a mission that must be born of the Spirit.
Commissioner Paul du Plessis , the International Secretary for South Asia, has been the Territorial Commander for the India Central Territory, the Territorial Commander for the Southern Africa Territory and in earlier years Medical Adviser at International Headquarters.
References:
1. NCCI and IMA: Ways to Deal with Sensitive Cultural and Religious Issues, March 1999.
2. Halarnkar, S.: The Defining Decade: India Today, Vol XXV, No 1, January 3 2000.
3. Hiebert, P.: Missiological Issues in the Encounter with Emerging Hinduism: Missiology: An International Review, Vol XXVIII, No 1, January 2000.
4. Tampu, V.: Christian Response to Violence: The Word and the World p 106, Traci, 1997.
5. Devavaram, P.: A New Maturity: The Officer, December 1999.
6. Lalkiamlova: Shaping Evangelistic Strategies Today: The Salvation Army Year Book, p 11, 2000.
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