India Calling by Tom PriceTom Price - 6 Mar 2007
"So far as I am able to judge, nothing has been left undone, either by man or nature, to make India the most extraordinary country that the sun visits on his rounds. Nothing seems to have been forgotten, nothing overlooked." --Mark Twain, from Following the Equator
India. The very word immediately drums up a barrage of associations. Whilst some more mundane; curries, cricket, Big Brother scandals etc, many more are exotic images of a distant land shrouded in the mystery and language that travellers once brought back and tourist agencies now promote. Yet in this richly diverse country that is home to the majority of the Himalayan foothills, the mighty river Ganges and the magnificent Taj Mahal there is a lot that escapes the eye of the casual observer. In a country that claims the second largest population in the world, the largest democracy and a surging economy which forms the playground for a consumerist middle-class double the population of Germany, still a staggering 750 million people live below the poverty line according to the World Bank. In other words, one third of the world’s poorest people live in India.
Even a brief dive into the statistics makes for grim reading and exposes the massive disparity between the rich and poor. Whilst multinational companies have moved in en masse and the country has experienced a homecoming of many scientists, intellectuals and technocrats that left in search of opportunity, this growth has not reached the poor quick enough. The picture is then further tainted by a messy mix of corrupt politics, overpopulation and a hierarchical value system that perpetuates the existence of a large body of people who refer to themselves using the Sanskrit word ‘Dalit’, meaning crushed and downtrodden. Obviously generalisations don’t tell us much, least of all in the multiplicity of life found in this part of the world, and it’s easy to glaze over statistics. Yet nonetheless, the scale of the need is breathtaking and hard to ignore.
"The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favour.” (Luke 4:18-19)
These words Jesus echoes from the book of Isaiah seem strikingly relevant to a nation where half the children are malnourished, where 55 million children are imprisoned in forced labour, where 2.3 million people are trapped in de-humanizing prostitution (a quarter of whom are minors, illegally trafficked away from families and homes) and where a quarter of the world’s blind live.
According to tradition it was Jesus’ disciple Thomas who first began missionary activity in India and during the turbulent period of British colonial rule there was a large increase in foreign mission to the country. Today, many organisations are pioneering projects in the most impoverished parts of the country, by carrying the message of Jesus in words and actions. However, according to Operation World, out of 2335 people groups, 2030 are still unreached by the message of the Gospel.
Perhaps one of the biggest challenges to us as a missional community comes from one of the pivotal figures in India’s history, Mahatma Gandhi, who once famously said, “If Christians would really live according to the teachings of Christ, as found in the Bible, all of India would be Christian today.”
Wherever we are, as disciples of Christ these words in Isaiah remind us of God’s heart for the poor and his desire for us to join him in restoring justice to his creation.
"If you do away with the yoke of oppression,
with the pointing finger and malicious talk,
10 and if you spend yourselves in behalf of the hungry
and satisfy the needs of the oppressed,
then your light will rise in the darkness,
and your night will become like the noonday.
11 The LORD will guide you always;
he will satisfy your needs in a sun-scorched land
and will strengthen your frame.
You will be like a well-watered garden,
like a spring whose waters never fail.
12 Your people will rebuild the ancient ruins
and will raise up the age-old foundations;
you will be called Repairer of Broken Walls,
Restorer of Streets with Dwellings"
(Isaiah 58:9b-12)
If you are interested in serving God, pilgrims and the poor in India, please contact us by emailing Brian Heasley. Include the word “India” in the email subject line so that Brian knows which email is yours. We would love to hear from you and dialogue more on this subject.
