The Church of Christ

(Based on the Word of God; dedicated to the promotion of independence, Indianisation, unity, co-operation, and to the removal of corruption and evil in all forms and in all places.)

WISHING YOU ALL A BRIGHT NEW YEAR!

Food for Thought

1. ‘It were better to have no opinion of God at all, than have such an opinion as is unworthy of Him; for one is only unbelief, but the other is contempt of God!’ - Plutarch.
2. ‘Jesus Christ is the best and the highest qualifying adjective to the common noun God!’ - Anonymous.
3. The highest tributes paid to God by “Bhaktas” or devotees all over the world, rightly apply to Jesus Christ!
4. ‘Jesus Christ is the condescension of divinity and the exaltation of humanity!’ - Phillips Brooks.
5. ‘The distinction between Christianity and all other systems of religion consists largely in this, that in these others men are found seeking after God, while Christianity is God seeking after men!’ - T. Arnold.
6. The greatest person (GOD) loved the greatest thing (the WORLD) and gave the greatest gift (His only-begotten Son, JESUS CHRIST) for the greatest sinner (MYSELF) to take advantage of the greatest benefit (i.e., EVERLASTING LIFE!)
7. All are called, but few are chosen - because these few choose to be chosen!
8. Every saint has a past and every sinner a future - if he repents truly and turns over a new leaf with God’s help!
9. Many Christians are still Sinners, a few are Saints and some are Redeemed Sinners on the way to Sainthood. In what category are We?

— C.S. Kirby.

    We greet the New Year with all its possibilities!
    We welcome the new set-up in India with all its complex problems!
    We wish all well in their struggle for justice, freedom,
    prosperity under the Law of God!

How Would Jesus Describe Us?

(FOR MEDITATION)

All three synoptic evangelists describe an incident which follows the Transfiguration. (Matthew 17:14-21; Mark 9:14-29; and Luke 9:37-42). While Jesus had been upon the mount with Peter, James and John, a man brought his boy who appears to have suffered from severe epilepsy. He had asked the remaining disciples to heal him, but could not. That story is our situation today. People are so accustomed to the powerlessness of Christians that no one would think of taking an epileptic today to the nearest ‘follower of Christ’ to have him healed. We who call ourselves Christians would be embarrassed if he did. At best, we might prescribe some medicines which we hope might reduce the symptoms, we know though it would not cure the disease. No one expects miracles from us, and we ourselves would be the most surprised if they actually happened.

This being the case, dare we face the stern condemnation of our condition from the very lips of Christ Himself? “O faithless and perverse generation!” We cannot escape that condemnation by supposing it is enough to hold fervent and emotional prayer meetings, regular healing services, or prescribing the latest and most fashionable medicines. There is no substitute for the powerful, effective, and complete healing by the Spirit of Christ.

‘Faithless’, ‘perverse’, they are not exactly the way we would like to see ourselves described. We would like to think that Jesus was applying those words to the father of the boy, or to the crowds around Him. But it was they who came bringing the boy; they had faith that he would be healed, or they would not have brought him; they had faith in Jesus. But it was the disciples who were not equal to that faith; it was the disciples who were not equal to the boy’s need; it was the disciples who were faithless and perverse; and it is dreadful to contemplate that we are in exactly that position too. “How long must I endure you,” said Jesus. Indeed, how long must He still endure us in our state of spiritual poverty.

To the disciples Jesus said plainly: “Your faith is too weak. I tell you this. If you have faith no bigger even than a mustard-seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there!’, and it will move; nothing will prove impossible for you.” And to the father of the boy Jesus said, “Everything is possible to one who has faith.” To this, our reply must surely be the cry of the father, “Lord I believe! Help me where faith falls short!”

Now to be perverse is to be persistent in error. Not only do we fail to see the truth, but in our pride, arrogance and bigotry, we cling to our error and ignorance as a prized possession - our dogmas, our pet institutions, our ‘holier than thou’ attitude, our certainty that everyone is out of step but ourselves. We all have succumbed to the perversity we see so plainly in white South Africa. We condemn them, we condemn the religious hypocrites who put Jesus to death, yet we indulge essentially in the same error ourselves. “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.” We too, must take refuge in this forgiveness, for we too have been crucifying Christ. We need to know the Truth, we need to be free of our perversity, and knowing the Truth, to sacrifice all that we have and are, for it. Surely this is what faith means - staking your all in Christ, and nothing else. Being utterly dependent upon Him, and not on ourselves. “I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life, no man comes unto the Father but by Me.”

It is no easy matter to break through the chains of error into the Truth of Jesus Christ. It is no light thing to sacrifice all our favourite idols, particularly our pride and self-seeking, our desire for personal glorification, that we might become a child fully trusting in God. To achieve this requires a great hunger and thirst, and a willingness to find the time to expose ourselves before the Lord. Jesus spent whole nights in prayer, can we afford to do less? Jesus said, concerning the inability of the disciples to heal the child: “There is no means of casting out this sort but by prayer and fasting.” And this does not mean prayer and fasting just when the need arises, but a steady habit of such intense devotion to God. This we must find the time to do. We must seek this spiritual food, this dependence upon the Lord, above all else, even if some of our present work must be cut out; even if we have to miss some of our regular meals. Physical malnutrition we can put up with; spiritual malnutrition cannot be tolerated. Just previous to the incident of the epileptic boy, the disciples had been in the heights of spiritual experience with Jesus. That mountain-top revelation concluded with the words of God issuing from a cloud. “This is My Beloved Son; listen to Him.” It is time we stopped using Jesus for our own ends. It is time we stopped making polite and ineffectual conversation. It is time to start listening.

— July 1961, Arunodayam,

The First Essential

By Prof. Nirmal Chandra Chakravarty

It is the question of moral regeneration for achieving real progress. Planning for national prosperity is one thing, but its successful implementation is a difficult proposition. Progress does not depend merely upon material resources, but much more on the human agency employed for carrying out the plans. If those, who are entrusted with the execution, are indifferent and corrupt, no plan, however carefully thought out by experts, can produce the desired result in spite of plentiful material resources. It is common knowledge that in the offices red tape rules supreme. Even new recruits to various branches of services give more time and attention to the formulation of fresh demands for the increase of emoluments than to the conscientious and prompt discharge of duties assigned to them. As a consequence, the whole machinery goes out of gear. What is most regrettable is that very few seem to be conscious that they are retarding national reconstruction and undermining national prosperity. It is now admitted by all that demoralisation has set in as a spreading contagion. The Home Minister Pandit Pant laments the negative attitude to work of the Government employees. In a circular to Central Ministries he has observed that they devote more ingenuity and time to find out how a thing is not to be done, rather than in processing it constructively towards its speedy disposal. Mr. Jagjivan Ram, another Central Minister, said candidly at a Congress workers meeting in Bombay that every department of Government had its own share in corruption. In fact, he added there was corruption in every walk of life. And this, after twelve years of the attainment of Independence and the completion of two Five Year Plans!

Unless means are found for injecting into all workers, whether in administrative offices or mills and factories, a sacred sense of duty and responsibility, there is no hope of reaching our objective through the Plans.

One reason for this lack of urge in every individual member of the nation for doing his utmost for the good of the country, is that the national leaders, who fought for and achieved independence for the country, occupied the highest posts carrying the largest emoluments as soon as independence came. This example roused in the minds of the people at large the unhealthy desire of getting as much as they could and within the shortest possible time. There is no gainsaying the fact that we are caught in this vicious circle, and we can hope to come out of it only by a ruthless searching of hearts and process of immediate purge. Only a handful of the leaders remained outside the administration for the work of organisation and reconstruction. Unfortunately, those who occupy the top places, on the plea that the nation will collapse unless these leaders were at the helm of affairs, continue to be at the position of vantage for years together, and do not think of taking up the more urgent task of reorganisation and giving inspiration to the masses by finding suitable substitutes for the posts they occupied. There is no doubt that this has worked as a demoralising and disintegrating force which sapped the vitality of a rising nation.

It is a hopeful sign that on the last Independence Day the speeches delivered by the President, the Prime minister and other prominent leaders in the states, stressed this moral aspect of planning. But mere words and pious wishes will cut no ice. Examples are always better than precepts, and we shall look forward to some glorious examples of sacrifice for the rejuvenation of the officers and workers.

In the international spheres also, we find the same corrupting influence at work. The heads of the powerful states are meeting at conferences at the summit or at lower levels with the best of professed intentions, i.e., the attainment of peace and goodwill. But they cannot forget to mention from time to time the number of atomic weapons for greater and greater destruction at their disposal. This is nothing but coercion to cow down opponents for getting better advantage in deliberations. Here also, searching of hearts is the first essential. The leaders must meet without mental reservations to promote peace and brotherhood. The world, in this atomic age, has no dearth of material resources. These are more than plentiful. But the human agency being selfish and corrupt, all attempts at peaceful solution of international problems are proving failures. Without a moral regeneration, civilisation will glide down the slope and never advance to the summit we are all talking about. This moral regeneration, is in our opinion, not possible without religion, which is at present a discarded commodity. If the government of the world is a moral government, controlled by inexorable law, mankind will have to take up the first essentials first.

— The Indian Messenger, August 21, 1959.

Spiritual Pilgrimage ¹

(The Rev. R.C. Das, M.A., of the Khristpanthi Ashram, 129, Dasashwamedh, Varanasi, written in 1911 at the suggestion of the Rev. Peter Noble, English B.M.S. who baptised me in 1908.)

I was born of humble parents in the year 1887 in a tiny village near Sabhar, a commercial centre 16 miles away from the city Dacca, second capital of the Bengal Presidency (now chief city East Pakistan). All the influences of society and environment were practically against my getting any education worth the name. But my father had a noble heart and a good intention. Against all traditions and to the surprise of all his fellow villagers, he made arrangements for my education which would at least enable me to live a respectable life among an agricultural people. So, early in my boyhood I passed through about half a dozen small pathahalas and village gurumahasayas (original and primitive schools and teachers) and at last entered the Government aided Middle English School at Sabhar where, after the usual period of study, I passed my Middle Vernacular Examination and secured a Government scholarship. My father was at once glad and sorry because in order to enjoy the scholarship, I was to continue my studies in English in some H.E. School away from home. He did not like the idea very much. However, being persuaded by my teachers who loved me sincerely and wished my welfare and progress, he became reconciled to the idea of sending me to Dacca for secondary education. I was perhaps 13 years old when I was admitted to the B.I. Jubilee H. School, Dacca, and took up lodgings in a students mess.

In my boyhood days I was a little too gentle and shy, and had a religious turn of mind, all of which combined to give my parents and friends the false impression that I was going to be a fool in the world. However, they did not disturb my studies and did not cross my wishes because my pundits and the educated people of the neighbourhood spoke well of me, and assured my father of my future prospects. Early in these days being disgusted with unsatisfactory surroundings, I discovered within my breast a craving for a higher ideal in life. It was rather inarticulate. I always used to seek good company, loved religious meetings and conferences, and had a great passion for “Jatras” and “raminangals” - semi-theatrical performances representing the lives and deeds of great Kings and religious heroes of ancient India such as Ram and Krishna. My father as a Vaishnava (follower of Vishnu God of grace and love) had some reputation of being a devout man and used to have fellowship with other Vaishnavas of the locality. According to the wishes of my father, I read the Ramayana and the Mahabharata from beginning to end. Sri Krishna, Sri Ram and Sri Chaitanya, the central personalities of Vaishnavas faith in N. India were the objects of my devotion and worship. As I had a somewhat strong imagination, the other gods of Hinduism except for Saraswati (goddess of learning) had a second place in my heart because of their unsatisfactory character. Though I had a passionate love for and a deep faith in Krishna, doubts often arose in my mind whether the Hindus were justified in worshipping the physical image of Krishna. Krishna to me was rather an ideal, and with that I was for the time being satisfied. I remember having heard from time to time Christian preachers, but no definite impression was made upon me. I remember having bought a few books from them most probably the Psalms and the story of Joseph and his brothers. These books appealed to my impressionable heart. But I am not sure whether I heard or read anything about Jesus at that time when I was in the village.

In the students mess where I was living in Dacca, there was a young man who had acquaintance with the local Baptist Missionaries, and also with the ministers of the Brahmo Samaj (worshippers of Brahma - the supreme personal God). He frequented both the Christian and Brahmo places of worship, attended their lectures and had conversations on religious topics. I liked his company, and he began to take me with him wherever he went. By and by I became acquainted with the Rev. J.D. Morris and Rev. W.S. Page of the Baptist Mission, and with the Rev. Gurudas Chakravarty, Amrita Lal Gupta and Bhai Banga Chandra Bay - three Brahmo ministers. Mr. Morris came to love me, and began to take special interest in me. His pious life and noble character led me to revere him, and I became a regular visitor to his place. He arranged a Bible class for both of us. My friend and I used to read the simple story of Jesus life and death in wonderful words of life. I found them so real, consoling and life-giving that these simple words began to take root in my heart. Simultaneously I joined a Bible class in the Mission House conducted in a scholarly way by the Rev. J.N. Rawson, Rev. C.B. Young and together with Dr. Meghnad Saha (famous Scientist), my class friend, carried off the first and second prizes of the All Bengal Bible Examination,

However, I used to visit regularly the Brahmo Samaj also, attend their Sunday services, their lectures and had religious conversation with their ministers. Above all Bhai Banga Chandra Ray, minister of the New Dispensation Church, an old saintly man, produced a deep impression upon me; I liked his sermons and prayers very much and devoured them eagerly. I was surprised to see that though a Brahmo he used to speak of Jesus more than Buddha or Mohammed and drew his texts from the New Testament more than from any other scripture. But what is most notable in my connection with the Brahmo Samaj is the fact that as a regular active member of the East Bengal Student Association (of Brahmo Samaj) I had the opportunity of studying a good deal of valuable literature on biography, religion, criticism, history, morals, poetry and so forth. I was a passionate lover of books, especially books on morals and religion, and read as many as I could from the Brahmo Samaj library. I remember on one of the first occasions when I attended the Brahmo Samaj Sunday Service, I actually shed tears on hearing a most touching hymn. Their form of worship, hymns and sermons appealed to me most strongly. Study of Brahmo literature, constant attendance at their services and meetings, and private personal inquiry as to what Brahmoism was resulted in a gradual and total collapse of my faith in Hinduism. Idolatry was now abominable to me. Sri Krishna became an inglorious personality enveloped in mythical mist. Nevertheless, Brahmoism had not given me anything tangible on which I could lay a firm hold. It gave me a vague ideal of a Spiritual Being loving, beautiful and sublime. To Him, I was taught, every human being was individually responsible for right living, and from Him alone one was to draw all inspiration and guidance in life. Buddha, Chaitanya, Christ, Mohammed and others were great prophets having a greater knowledge of divine things than ordinary mortals. They were our ideals and guides in so far as their teachings and actions tallied with reason and intuition. I tried to realise the presence of this God, and tried to pray and worship in spirit and in truth. But to remove the uneasiness which destructive Brahmoism had created in me, I resorted to other means. I had heard about the Ram Krishna Mission, and the Arya Samajists, since my friend had already acquaintance with some people of these missions. To pacify my restless spirit I began to inquiry of their faith by reading and by personal interviews. Thus, I read a good deal of most fascinating, but unsound literature, on Neo-Hinduism. The Satyarth Prakash of Swami Dayanand Saraswati (like Brahmoism) successfully shook my faith in popular Hinduism altogether. But later experience showed it was not an unmixed evil. But their new ways of interpretation of Hinduism did not seem to me very conclusive and justifiable, especially when I judged them in the light of Brahmoism. However, these contacts left some permanent impressions which were later useful in my understanding of some of the deeper aspects of Christianity.

Gradually I discovered that my friend who was almost always my companion was somewhat shallow and of a trifling nature. He sought information regarding religion just to satisfy his intellectual curiosity. He tried to know only for the sake of knowing, not for applying his knowledge in life. Simple knowledge and not sincere action was his principle in the inquiry into religious truth. So gradually I came to dislike him, and tried to avoid him whenever I could. I felt that as a man I must act according to the light that I was receiving. My friend also became somewhat suspicious of me, and henceforth our mutual intimacy became loosened, and we remained friends only in appearance. This man gradually took the role of a social reformer, and finally became a member of the Legislative Assembly of East Bengal.

My student friends noticed my movements and tested my attitude towards religion. It became known to all very soon that I had no longer any real faith in Hinduism though I conformed to some of its rules and regulations such as bowing before idols, observance of the rules of caste, etc. But I did all these only to avoid social disturbance. I broke caste secretly long before, and could no longer believe in it. My relatives and friends devised means to prevent me from breaking away from Hinduism. But secretly and carefully I got on well though I often met with opposition and various troubles. Both my Christian and Brahmo friends encouraged me, and gave me timely advice. My father tried to get me married several times, but was not successful due to my flat refusals. All through this restlessness of spirit and heart I was getting on well with my studies and became almost independent of all financial help from my father by securing Government Scholarships, stipends at school, and help from other sources, such as subscriptions from classmates who were attached to me for my brains and good conduct. This independence of means enabled me to get on without any serious disturbance.

(to be continued.)

Church and Mission

All seekers of the truth must rejoice that so much rethinking is being done throughout the world in regard to the Church, its mission and the place of the Church in society. We are especially grateful for the summary of J.C. Hoekendijk’s book.

“Evangelism is incarnation in a world of real need - primarily, the need of food, including the”Bread of Life.”

Mission is identification - becoming one, with the needy, “unto the last.”

Such identification in a great movement towards “peace with justice and charity” will give us the language by which we may share the Good News vitally,

We, the followers of the Carpenter of Nazareth, are primarily group of pilgrims on trek. Therefore, our places of worship will be tents, under trees, sometimes in jails.

There are a great number of seekers of Truth. They are to be found in all religions and sometimes without. We must get into living touch with such, share with them and go forward together.”

Wholeheartedly, we support the statement that “The World tomorrow seen as a whole, can only be a poor world. The middle-class church must empty itself to become the church-of-the-poor.” We have just been down to the nearby “Holiday Home.” Our Christian friends there are spending four times and more per day than we here in an Ashram Fellowship. Our Bishops and leaders travel around the world in jets while their brothers and sisters are hungry. We must close these serious gaps. We must build a real community. What are we really doing about this? We often think of the Gandhijii who went from the town, place of privilege, to the village Sevagram, to the place of exploitation - of Charlie Andrews who left the mission compound to live as a brother with Tagore and Gandhijii - or of Vinobaji on trek that the land of the privileged may go to the tiller - or Sri. Jagannathan now struggling to form a Land Army of 100 youth in Tirunelveli that 100 wells might be dug while most of us live “luxurious” lives.

All of us must be “worldly”. We must be the leaven, the salt in the lump. That alone, as we can understand it, is the way of the cross. If we took some of these thoughts and challenges even half seriously we would be turning the world upside down. All of this has tremendous implication for the Church, the Theological seminary and even more for our Mission Boards and our missionaries. We pray that we may walk more intimately with over half of the population of the world who do not have even the necessities of, life, much fewer radios, good clothing, a little capital, etc.

— Ralph Richard Keithahn, (Kodaikanal Ashram Fellowship).

New Dimensions of the History of the Church in India

(A report of the Conference on Church History in North India sponsored by the Church History Association of India (Northern Branch) and the Christian Retreat and Study Centre).

The paper on the “Life and work of Brahmabandhava Upadhyay”, read by Dr. K. Baago, presented the biography of a man who sought to understand and preach the Christian faith using the thought forms of Indian philosophy, particularly Vedanta. Besides providing an excellent example of a biography, it also pointed the way to the kind of material to look for in an indigenous approach to Church History. The history of the Church is not merely a chronological record of the organised Church, but also an attempt to see Christ at work in the so-called heterodox interpretations of Christian faith. Here was an attempt by a “Christian Hindu” (who was formerly baptised by an Anglican and later a Roman Catholic priest in turn!) to revive the early apologetic method that Logos was at work before the incarnation and had continued to work in and apart from the Church ever since. According to him the original Hinduism Was a pure form of religion, but it was distorted later as it was to be found in its contemporary form. “Christianity, therefore, was in no way a contrast to Hinduism, rather it was to be considered a return to and at the same time a fulfilment of Hinduism.” Only history will decide whether such indigenous interpretations of Christian faith will provide the future patterns in which the Christian faith will express itself in India. However, investigation of such attempts and expressions should form an integral part of the history of the Indian Church. This is a dimension where a great deal of pioneering work needs to be done.

— The Guardian.

(This has been my own personal experience and position vis-a-Vis Christianity and Hinduism. Pure Hinduism (partly reflected by Brahmoism) is an integral element of pure Christianity. The verdict of history is by no means the final or valid one. The organised church has been perpetually blind and hostile to aspects of truth, flashes of light, or some experiences and realisations of many of the saints and scholars. Beyond and over the verdict of history is the bar of God. Personal experience must be regarded as a valid spiritual phenomenon constantly tested by the Word of God (as distinct from the church tradition). Meanwhile, we must have patience and tolerance with fresh expressions of Christian life. - R.C. Das.)

Letters

Rowanlea, Torphins, Aberdeenshire, (Scotland).

6th November 1960.

Dear Rajendra,

I apologise for my long delay in acknowledging your postcards of 17-2-66 and 5-9-66; the gift of your booklet Convictions of an Indian Disciple which I had read with much interest and admiration, both for its clear and forcible expression and more especially the faith it reveals and declares, in our Lord Jesus Christ. I believe, with you, that as the years pass over us with their season of great testing, frustrations and grief. He gives us an ever deeper insight into our own need of the Spirit, the Comforter, and eternal Renewer whom He promised to all who seek to follow Him.

You are face to face with doubters of the truth you strive to teach many of whom are genuine seekers after truth, and also with scoffers who ask mockingly “What is truth” but these give you less sorrow than others who have been taught about the Christian faith since their childhood but would now seem farther from it than a religious non-Christian. It is people such as these who cause me, among my own people, sorrow of heart, and it is the power to influence those in my own daily experience for which I pray. I feel my husband’s spirit very near me at such times helping and inspiring.

May your Master greatly bless your work and your own life.

I enclose a small gift to be used as you think fit.

Your affectionate Guruma,

Margaret Urquhart

(Her husband was the late Rev. Dr. W.S. Urquhart, M.A., D.D., Principal of the Scottish Churches College, Calcutta and Hon. Vice Chancellor of Calcutta University and my revered teacher of Psychology and the Bible. - R.C. Das.)

Anugrihita Sen Rest House

Ranchi, Bihar, India.

A blessed Christmas. A heartfelt prayer that God may bless your Christmas Day with happiness; and may His love be ever near to guard and guide you through the next year.

O come let us adore Him, Christ the Lord.

Memory sleeps, action sleeps, thought sleeps, but love is awake. In the evening of my life at the age of 91, I am seeking counsel of how to repair past neglect, to deepen my penitence, and be prepared for my last and complete act of surrender to God - True repentance is an act of love to the Beloved - Grant me grace to die daily to self and all that separates me from my Beloved. The Beloved is mine and I am His?

Affectionately yours,

(Rev.) P.A.N. Sen.

In the Fellowship of Faith and Work

1. Both in the Bolpur Khristiya Mandali, and Jamshedpur Khristiya Sangha they had good services of worship and meetings of fellowship during Christmas and New Year. At Bolpur a new family have come and at Jamshedpur they had their annual picnic which promotes social contacts living as they do at great distances from one another.
2. In Jamboo (Orissa) Brother Ishananda spent Christmas and New Year in his Immanuel Ashram and among the local Christians. Since then, he has been on evangelistic tours in other parts of Orissa with his address at Cuttack.
3. Brother Haripani Jennah has now left Keonjbar (Orissa) - the Gospel House and the Christ Church there - and gone to his original homeland in Parlakimedi. One cannot be too thankful for the zealous and dynamic testimony he has given to Hindus all over the State with his centre at Keonjhar for so many years.
4. One is really inspired by the brave life of faith of our elderly Brother in Christ - Enoch Shaker - originally of Calcutta Church of God. For a number of years we have met him at Puri, and he always imparts a cheer to one’s heart. Even in his weak state of health he goes about among Christians and non-Christians, prays, and witnesses in families of educated Hindus and Muslims. We see few examples of such personal evangelism.
5. Acharya Das has passed through a shadow in recent weeks. He has twice suffered from influenza which has weakened him. In January on way to Calcutta his suitcase and that of a small girl were stolen from the train at night. This involved a loss of clothes, a watch, diaries, important addresses, a document and Bible, Hymn and Prayer Books, etc. While in Calcutta he received the news of the passing away of Mrs. Das who had been living in E. Pakistan for some time and was unable to cross over for personal and political reasons. She is survived by 2 sons and 3 daughters - all settled in life and her husband. Please pray for us.
6. Miss Nancy Hamilton (U.S.A.), Shri Thomas (S.C.M. Secretary, U.P.), Mrs. K.L. Paul (Calcutta), Dr. K. Baago (Denmark) - Research Department, United Theological College, Bangalore - were welcome to the Ashram.
7. Acharya Das is planning to visit Allahabad, Delhi, and the Punjab to be with his 4 children and their families for a while in the second half of March.
8. Pastor Devabrata Dutt has been in the U.S.A. for nearly a year now. He has been in great demand for evangelistic meetings and divine healing both in the States and in Canada. In one centre it is reported that through prayer a thief owned up and repented. On one occasion the young servant of God was miraculously saved from an accident that would have proved fatal. He had a return ticket on a plane to Ohio to preach. After the meeting a group of young people persuaded him to return with them on their bus, and he accepted the offer. The following morning the news splashed that the plane in question had crashed fatally. He has had a strenuous ministry and should return home to India for rest and quiet. We thank God for what has been done through his service.

— R.C. Das, Executive Secretary - B.K.S.

Notes

Motives of the Foreign Christian Missions in India

1. In the pioneering days, both in the case of societies and individuals, the passionate motive was the salvation of souls. Though rather dogmatic and smacking of some spiritual egotism; it was pure and noble. The missionary, whether on his own or as a member of a society, was full of love and compassion. The congregations and individual converts were more or less free to mould their spiritual and social life according to the genius of the country’s culture. But it was not allowed to grow naturally.
2. When the societies grew mature (say in the beginning this century), the spiritual motive slowly became hazy and pity took its place. Condescension and a desire for religious colonialism grew instead. It was expressed in terms of social and humanitarian service. Emphasis on number in conversion and a strong desire to rule and dominate the young churches that were founded. This domination continues today through the maintenance of the foreign system of church politics and worship sustained by persistent teaching of western theology in the seminaries and colleges. So, the church and individual Christians have lost their initiative and are today weak and inefficient both in spiritual and national life.
3. Of late, a new theory of missionary motive has been promulgated in certain circles. “In saving others we save ourselves.” The reaction of missionary activities in Asia and Africa and their results in the shape of newly formed churches has awakened a sense of Christian responsibility in the sending and giving churches at the home base in Europe and America. There is a modicum of truth in this. In some cases, and to some extent, foreign missions have produced a spiritual awareness in the home churches. So far so good. But this new motive has in its wake and even simultaneously has caused the emergence of not only religious imperialism but even helped in the spread of, and in buttressing up, political colonialism, financial and cultural dominance and the continuance of the Mission Raj over younger churches. This has meant the thwarting of the growth of spiritual, economic, political and indigenous life of the underdeveloped countries particularly among Christians.

Then, after all, this new fangled theory, rather catchy and persuasive projects the motive of self-love. Saving others becomes a means of saving oneself. Self-interest, however enlightened and spiritual, is after all the naked self. To destroy, boldly subdue or restrain self would be a purer motive. Christian missionaries have condemned Hinduism for teaching self realisation through self effort, seeking personal salvation through self culture - selfishness. Saving others must be the supreme motive even at the cost of ourselves. Even the taunters in front of the Cross spoke the truth when they said “He saved others Himself He cannot save.” Our Lord Himself said “He that would save his life shall lose it, he that would lose his life for my sake shall save it.”. Our salvation in saving others must not be the motive, it might be the result following from it. As Christians, we should never hanker after this result or reward. Our actions must be Niskama. One harmful and even dangerous consequence of such a doctrine, if followed deliberately, will be reckless imposition of religion and benevolence upon unwilling people and the perpetuation of dependence upon alien help and the benumbing of native talent and a state of indefinite slavery. This is exactly what has happened to the churches planted by foreign mission, It is time that national Christians took the matter seriously and devised measures to make church life independent and indigenous and stood up against this new doctrine - a menace to the development of strong and witnessing church.

2

We hail the new situation in the country after the general elections and the new set-up of governments both in the States and in the Centre on various grounds:

1. The lull and the spell created by the 20 years of uninterrupted rule by one monolithic party is broken, and a new vista has opened up before us. During this period so many evils have entered into our body politic, our economic and social life. Congressmen intoxicated with power, self and position became growingly insensitive to the needs of the people as a whole. As a result, corruption, misery, and discontent have grown by leaps and bounds. It is good that even to a limited extent public conscience has been roused up through sufferings and conflicts.
2. The formation of the different types of government - some complete and others in the process still, at this writing, indicates that we are slowly arriving at the proper stage of a real federal government in the country. It will be difficult to adjust the mutual relationships, but it is worth trying the experiment.
3. So far, under Congress government, socialism and democracy were more in the nature of slogans than realities for interested parties. Now we have to meet, for the first time practically, powerful challenges from popular groups for equality of opportunity, equitable distribution of wealth, for a check on intolerable rise in prices and for practical schemes of development and upliftment of the submerged and poor sections of people.
4. For the first time again a real battle will be fought for unity, harmony, understanding, co-operation, law and order, justice and clean government in the different departments of our national life - language, race, religion and culture, commerce, trade, administration, caste and class. High hopes have been raised which it would be difficult to suppress.

Edited and Published by:

Rev. R.C. Das, M.A.,
Khristpanthi Ashram,
129, Dashashwamedh, Varanasi, India

Printed at:

Evangelical Press,
“CHRIST NAGAR MISSION”,
Badagayedapadavu Post, Mangalore Taluk, S. India