jonnybaker

india talkie 7: sayc take over

the youth decided they had had enough talking on sunday night. the conference so far has been packed with talks and workshops and cell groups, but the balance has been on speaking from the front, often for long periods. everything runs on indian stretchable time (i.e starts and finishes late often by quite a long way). young people from local churches have been volunteers at the conference looking after us all. they brought their band in and led some worship. it was very energetic with everyone cheering and dancing. there was due to be a panel discussion on something but when it was announced everyone started shouting 'no' . in the end the organisers gave up or gave in and to great cheers the local band led singing and dancing for 2 hours. the place steamed up, everyone was dripping with sweat but it was as though the lid had been taken off a pressure cooker. the songs were a mix of english choruses with actions (think seventies) and indian songs.

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india talkie 6: emerging church in india

i brought the video camera with me and have recorded several interviews with people. i'm not sure what i'll be doing with them yet - i'll see how they turn out when i look at them back in england. i interviewed ganesh today who told me two wonderful stories today in a workshop i was doing on emerging church. i haven't got the details of place names until i look at the video again. but i hope to liase with him to make sure i get them right and then will suggest them as stories for www.emergingchurch.info

what i particularly liked about ganesh was that he was from a hindu family. none of the rest of his family are christians so he has not grown up in the culture of the mainline churches. he seemed to have a much greater clarity about how the church wearing western clothes makes it very difficult for a lot of indians to even consider christ. he is a missionary and has worked in tribal areas. he said that there  are about 35000 indian missionaries working in india. he shared a dream of his to open a temple where the symbols and ceremonies were like that of a hindu temple but without the idols. prayer would be done with the ringing of a bell and so on. i thought this was a great idea and hope he does it some day - he seems to have a vision of a new movement of this kind of indigenous expression of indian christianity that will culturally appeal to hindus. the two stories are incredibly sketchy for now...

the first story was of a cell church. the founder of this is opposed to church buildings - he sees them as expensive, alienating, and restrictive. all the cell leaders are tent makers - i.e. they have jobs and lead cell as volunteers. they don't even employ an administrator. ganesh said that he had been going to get involved but was told that they didn't want any missionaries. the cell sit on the floor, use local music and songs - and get involved in witnessing and inviting others. they are easily replicable and multiply. this cell church now has about 10000 cells...

the second is near hyderabad. again this is an initiative by someone who feels that the expression of christianity in many churches is too culturally alien for many indians particularly muslims and hindus. so he has developed an outdoor garden type of venue that is known as christian but hindus and muslims come and pray to the one god. there is prayer for healing and many prayers have been answered. this has quickly grown and is now 20000 people.

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india talkie 5: am i in england?

we experienced worship at the cathedral in bangalore. if i had closed my eyes i could have been in england. the building was built by the english and felt that way - there is even a union jack in one of the stained glass windows. we sang hymns, had a eucharist liturgy (it was a bit different to an anglican liturgy but only marginally), the language was all english, the clergy wore robes, even the collection bags were the same, and the bread for communion was wafers rather than roti or naan. i kind of guessed it would be this way though i have heard people talk in excitement about the liturgies of the church of south india so expected more liturgical innovation - maybe that happens in other contexts. at one level it was great - the cathedral was packed and apparently they run 5 services on sundays as it is so popular. 2000 families are members. at another level i was uncomfortable...

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india talkie 4: kerygma coffee house bangalore

we visited jacob and sheila isaacs ministry coffee house in bangalore. i first met jacob at the IASYM conference in january where he presented a paper. this is how they describe it

the Kerygma coffee house is a hangout for young people who want a break from the usual. the place is open through the week. s saturday evening special at 6pm attracts many youngsters to loads of fun, games, sketches and live music. interactive sessions are aimed at catering for their needs. this hangout boasts of an ambience that makes any newcomer feel at home. comfortable bean bags to sit on, an aquarium to soothe your senses, a dart board to shoot at, carroms, uno and scrabble and more are availables for those who want to simply chill out. you can buy a hot or cold beverage or make do with an occasional snack.

the coffee house was started in 1997 with a passion for sharing Jesus with students. but rather than run a ministry like the usual church programme (prayer songs message prayer) they wanted to make a creative approach to connect with urban young people that were outside the churches. jacob had read about the coffee house concept elsewhere. so they decided to try it and open up their home as a coffee house. the house had a big roof top terrace/veranda. they were inspired by the scripture story of the 5 loaves and 2 fish and felt God say to offer what they had and he would bless it. so they saved some money and inexpensively converted the veranda. several years on and they have done more work but initially it was a very simple space where young people could just come and be and build friendships and drink coffee. in urban areas there are lots of coffee houses so this sits well with the culture. jacob suggested that for young people pubs have replaced churches. the difference with their coffee house is that there is no pressure to move on once you have drunk your coffee. the other issue that motivated them was concern because of the rise in drinking in pub culture partly because of the new wealth the young people are gaining from working in call centres etc. jacob described this as 'facing the challenge of youth culture'.

it is clear to people that come that this is christian - but it is a gentle approach and christ is shared through the relationships. on Saturday evenings they run an evening which has a theme with lots of interactive groups and discussion and maybe artists performing. other things they do are to run coffee talk which are discussion evenings and interactive bible studies, coffee beanz which is a slick newspapar/zine they have distributed 10 000 of round bangalore. they run youth alpha (gets everywhere!) for people intrerested in finding out more about christianity. they have done a sex education programme for young people. they also run one off bigger events at say christmas with bands playing. and they have also started or helped others start other coffee houses round bangalore. they then run summer camps for the young people - three in total. jacob is self employed and works as a trainer and coach to earn money that helps fund the coffee house.

this is a growing ministry - jacob is a visionary forever expanding and dreaming new ideas and plans while sheila helps keep the focus on what needs to be done. we visited the first coffee house in a different area of the city. it was a blend of games, chat and a band playing. jacob is also developing a youth ministry training course. it was wonderful to actuially have a chance to see the coffee house and see the ministry in action. i was impressed with jacob then but having encountered a fairly anti-pop culture stance in many of the talks at the conference i was all the more impressed that he had managed to develop this creative urban ministry.

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india talkie 3: isn't christianity a foreign religion?

people from the different regions of india look quite different. people from the south are much darker than the north and the north east look much more oriental. looking at a map i realise that the north east part of india is between bhutan and bangladesh so it is a long way - india is a big place!

i was chatting with a man from north east india and he related the following story to me after i had led a workshop on worship and the world. he knew a village in the most north easterly region of india where when the missionaries came they had a great response. the whole village (about 1500 people) were converted to christ. the missionaries were welsh presbyterian. but in 1945 the missionaries had to leave. after a while many of the converts returned to their hindu faith. the church that the man i was talking to was a part of sent some people to try and revive the christian faith in the 90% or so who had returned to their hindu ways. they asked them why they had done this. the answer given was that there was no one who knew how to play the church music and lead the hymns. and wasn't christianity a foreign religion anyway?

we then had a great discussion about indigenous worship in both music and things like sitting on the floor rather than pews, church buildings being shaped like ashrams or mosques rather than western churches and so on. he suggested that there was no problem with the western worship in the early days of the missionaries because it was all exotic and new. but after 30 years or so in a church, the legacy of that approach was that many other people now saw the church as foreign. it's such a shame that part of the legacy of western missionaries in worship has been to teach people round the world western songs and hymns (and buildings and prayer books and robes etc etc).  i'm sure there are lots of exciting movements in indian worship - i hope so. i'd love to find the indian equivalent of alternative worship, the creative underground. it certainly sounds as though there is plenty of this sort of thing in the tribal areas i blogged about a few days ago. but there is also the legacy of poor missionary practice over the decades - the gospel wrapped in western culture leaves its murky trace once again...

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india photos

have added a few photos to india 2005 photo album

india talkie 2

having spent the morning chasing around various police stations in bangalore to register one of our team who is from pakistan (it was actually a great way to see a bit more of the city), we then met with people involved in two ministries.

the first was young life. i am fairly familiar with their work from the US and their model of relational youth ministry has shaped a lot of pete ward's underlying approach which i know very well. what was interesting as we shared stories with them was how similar the issues they face are to those faced by youth workers on our team. i think it's because it's an urban context. youth ministry is small and results are slow - young people aren't that interested in christianity. so their approach is very much to build friendships and work alongside young people.

the second was completely different. in india there are vast rural areas with tribal peoples. the india evangelical mission trains missionaries and sends them to live in these villages to share the love of God with the people. it is very exciting to see this indigenous mission movement. one of the missionaries happened to be passing through the centre so it was wonderful to be able to hear his story first hand. they live with the people in a hut in the village and face the same diseases and so on - a very incarnational approach. it takes about 2 years to learn the language. then they will find ways to share the gospel. they start where people are at - so usually they will tell the story of creation as this resonates. it was amazing to hear that they might take 2 years before the missionary will share about the life of christ - they wait until it seems appropriate. it varies from district to district but there are government regulations surrounding conversion - so when some of the tribes say they want to become christian there is a legal ceremony/blessing and they fill in a legal form to record it. this is not true everywhere and as far as we could tell is particularly for people of lower castes. the govt also regulate to see that the missionaries are not alluring people by false means - i.e. giving away free medicine or whatever to entice people to become christians. i actually thought that there was something really positive about that - if you couldn't try and persuade people to follow christ but could just share your own faith journey and answer questions, it would only work if there was something real and attractive about your faith. there are bible translators working over 25 years to translate the bible into these tribal languages.

one of the stories about the villages was of a particularly hostile tribe. after several years of patiently sharing with and showing love to them one of the key hostile people's child died. he was angry with the spirits and when he went to the witch doctor heard god's voice speak to him saying 'what are you doing here? go to the church' which he did. he became a christian and is now a dynamic evangelist. 750 of that tribe are now christians though they have experienced 5 years persecution. they have also struggled to be accepted by the institutional church as they don't fit the box so have tended to just grow the church in small groups meeting in peoples huts. it was hard to build up a full picture but part of the reason for the govt concerns and the persecution is that people becoming christians is seen as a potential threat to the culture or the landowners - the poor are low down in the caste system and work on landowners estates... (because of the sensitivities of these issues i have not written the names of people, tribes or districts).

so it seems from today's visit that the church is struggling in the urban areas with many of the same challenges we face in the west. but it is emerging amongst the poor forgotten tribal groups in rural india in amazing ways.

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india talkie 1

we made it to india... after a long journey via sri lanka and playing cards for 6 hours in the middle of the night before heading on to bangalore.

the first moments in a different culture are so exciting and etch themselves into the memory. i remember my visit to palestine almost in technicolour. sights, sounds, smells assault your senses. after quite a challenge getting to our luggage (couldn't have been organised in a more chaotic fashion) we got a taxi ride through the city. yellow motorised rickshaws, hundreds of motorcycles (all without helmets) weave in and out of the traffic hooting like crazy. it seems chaotic to me and i'm expecting a crash any minute but it's clear that this is just normal here and everyone somehow stops at the right moment to let someone else squeeze through. we see a few beggars by the roadside, one with no legs walks like a spider on his hands, cows stroll along the roads and we pass through the centre of bangalore which is buzzing. of course it has become an IT capital of late so lots of IT buildings everywhere...

we stay the first night at csi (church of south india) guest house and meet some of the people planning the conference on globalisation.  after a few conversations it's pretty clear that many similar issues face the church here as elsewhere in the world... rapid changes in culture, older generations not wanting to change the way they do things, and not risking giving permission for new things. one conversation i had was about the call centres and how many people are working on sundays - does the church adapt to that or frown upon it. will be interesting to see how the conversations pan out at the conference. we headed back into the city in the evening - every city has to be seen at night and in the day. having chatted to an american he told me where i could find a wireless internet cafe which was a stroke of good fortune or divine intervention (depending on your theology :-) )

remembering to drink bottled water, putting up a mosquito net, wondering how my stomach will adapt to spicey food morning noon and night, feeling like a tourist whenever i get the video or digital camera out (but it just has to be done!)... all part of the adventure.

tonight we are off to the conference which starts tomorrow. it's a bit further out of town so not sure how often i'll get to post but thanks to ecto i'll write posts to upload whenever i get access....

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off to india...

off to india first thing tomorrow morning on an encounter trip with CMS... we'll be visiting bangalore, mysore and kerala. will blog about it as i go no doubt depending on internet connections and all that. can't wait.

had a fab time at free-range this afternoon but no time to blog about it as i have bags to pack. will add some pics and a post another time

prep for india

been on an encounter training weekend getting ready for my visit to bangalore and kerala in june. really looking forward to it. there will be a team of seven of us going.

notes from IASYM 04: youth ministry in india

it's the last morning of the conference... as ever it has been wonderful meeting people. i had good intentions of blogging as i went but have only managed to do so on two sessions so far! one of the sessions i went to that has provoked me in similar ways to the intergenerational challenge was one on the multicultural challenge. simon bell argued that culturally specific mission is fine to reach different groups but that church has to be integrated and diverse. mission shaped church/emerging church is in danger of producing lots of homogeneous groups. he thinks it is in danger of shooting itself in the foot for this reason. this has given me lots to chew over...

this morning jakob isaac from bangalore spoke - this was particularly exciting for me as he is from bangalore where i am headed in june. he spoke about the changing urban indian context   (a country with 540 million young people!) and the problem that church ministries are wedded to styles and practices of ministry that relate to a bygone era:

Most ministries still cling onto traditional forms of outreach and ministry that have very little to do in terms of impacting a nation that is fast becoming a center of knowledge and business. There is an urgent need for churches to address these issues and lead the way. There is a need to revisit the Word of God and to make the gospel relevant to the youth masses which comprises of 54% of the Indian populace.

he outlined a context in bangalore with the influx of software and call centres that is rapidly leaping into postmodern culture shaped by a new consumerism among the young. he suggested several strategies for reshaping ministry under the heading of a holistic evangelism model. he is involved in a new creative youth ministry project that he has pioneered has pioneered called  kerygma coffee house that is a drop in coffee shop in bangalore with a roof terrace and counselling and recreational facilities for youth. they produce a magazine coffee beanz across the city and run a series of small groups called coffee talk. he suggests that:

There is a need to be creative and effective. A fresh breed of leaders who are innovative and creative in their approach and interests have to be trained and equipped for the work of the Lord in India. The harvest is plenteous and the laborers are few, pray that the Lord of the harvest will send forth laborers to reap the harvest through various creative strategies like the Kerygma ministry has used and developed.

hopefully I can visit the coffee house and see it in action in June...

every paper that is presented has a response. this one had a response that really got everyone wound up - an american sounding pretty colonial albeit they no doubt didn't intend to. it just highlighted the complexities of mission and global relationships in the post-colonial world we are now living in.

come to india

i am very excited about the chance to travel to india this summer and take a team of youthworkers/ministers from the uk. there will be a maximum of 10 of us. we will be going to the south asia conference on globalisation and mission and visiting the diocese of madras. if you are interested or know someone who might be then Download india_encounter_pack.pdf (2.3mb)