Doing Mission in Context: Christian Mission as Invitation in Contemporary India

by Dr Muthuraj Swamy

Date added: 21/10/2016

No comments in this article yet.     Start the discussion >>     (You need to log in first.)

Doing Mission in Context: Christian Mission as Invitation in Contemporary India 

Muthuraj Swamy

A paper from the Mission Theology in the Anglican Communion Conference in ECC Bangalore, 16th - 21st October 2016. For the other five papers from this conference click here.

 1.      Introduction: The Importance of Contextual Mission

In the past few decades of thinking about and doing Christian mission, the idea of contextualisation has played a significant role. Of course it should be immediately noted that the very practice of contextual mission is not something new. Christian mission from its inception has been contextual – adapting to the different contexts – with all the limitations and constraints. There is much evidence from the Bible for this: one of the often-cited texts is Paul in Athens (Acts 17). The history of Christianity’s movement to other parts of the world also bears witness to this.  However reflecting on context and contextualisation in mission is relatively a new trend in the period of what may be called post-Western. Contextualisation in Christian mission is not without its critics, and an overemphasis of it is sometimes criticised for fear of relativism and syncretism, but today generally the importance of thinking about contextualisation and doing contextual mission is accepted as an important progress in missiology.[1]

Contextualisation in Christian mission is basically defined as the gospel message getting rooted or ‘incarnated’ in the local culture or context in which Christian mission is undertaken. The historical context in which this idea became popular since the 1970s was the context of non-Western cultures reacting to Western Christianity for its limitations in the ways of doing mission. The lack of acceptance of Christianity among non-Christian cultures was generally attributed to the fact that Christian mission had not become contextual or indigenised enough, and rather it had only been enforcing its own cultural norms and practices in doing mission.  Moreover as Eurocentrism in general and the same in Christian mission in particular has increasingly come under criticism, many contemporary missiologists also have talked about a post-Christian West and a post-Western Christianity to show how already Christianity has become part and parcel of the non-Western cultures.[2

However contextualisation in mission does not need to be thought about only as a reaction to the Westernization of missional practices. The wider perspectives on contextualisation for the last few decades have taken it beyond a Western-and-non-Western framework to emphasize the changing contexts within which mission and ways of doing mission have to change and adapt. Hence it is appropriate to think about doing contextual mission continuously, rather than making contextualisation as fixed and a binary between the West and the non-West. This means that Christians need to continue to discover ways of doing contextual mission (or mission in context) in their own context which are changing. Not limiting contextual mission to adapting to a culture and considering it in a wider sense, I discuss in this paper the need for Christians in India to rethink mission in the context of current challenges it faces. The most urgent challenge before us in the Indian context today is the increasing attacks and violence against Christians especially those involved in Christian mission. At a larger level these are part of the ongoing oppositions and reactions to Christian mission from different quarters, and how Christians need to continue to carry out the mission is important in such a context. I propose ‘Christian mission as invitation’ is one possible approach that can help us to respond to the current challenges and to continue to participate in mission, though it is not posed primarily as an answer or solution to the Hindutva oppositions to Christian mission. In my discussion, I consider Christian mission and evangelisation identical, even though there are deliberations among missiologists that they both may be different but connected.[3] Also, while Christian mission can be defined broadly to include various aspects including struggling for justice and mutually learning from other religions, which I think should continue, my main focus here is limited to the ‘communicating the gospel’ aspect of the Christian mission, and I am reflecting on this aspect against the context of oppositions to Christian mission in India.

2.      The Context of Oppositions to Christian Mission in India

Broadly speaking, two aspects of the Indian context have dominated much of the thinking about Christian mission for the last many decades: religious pluralism, and poverty as a result of socio-economic inequality. The church in India should continue to explore insights for doing mission along the lines of these factors, but the most urgent context in which we need to think and rethink about our mission is the context of oppositions to Christianity and Christian missions, as already pointed out, and also, as the very concept note for this conference puts forth: we and our Christian mission in India are experiencing a difficult phase. We know that by this the recent incidences of violence and attacks on religious minorities including Christians are referred to, which has strengthened the climate oppositions and reactions to Christians and Christian missions in India.

Of course, resistance and oppositions to Christian mission are not new in the history of Christianity, and one can see them enough in the New Testament context itself. Further, throughout history, Christian mission had to continuously exist in the context of hostility and oppositions. In the Indian context too, opposition to Christian mission is not a new thing. In the context of modern missions, as early as the 16^th century when the Jesuit missionary Francis Xavier came to India, there were oppositions to his mission work by Hindu Brahmins in South India.[4] Going back even earlier, St. Thomas, apostle to India, is believed to have died as a martyr in the first century as result of oppositions to his mission work.

But the current context is quite different for Christians in India in that the situation has worsened. Ever since the Sangh Parivar forces of Hindutva (or Hindu extremists) have become active in the political sphere since the 1980s, the oppositions have increased and often have taken a violent turn. Especially since 2014 when the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) formed the government at the centre with a majority, the oppositions and violent attacks have only increased. Ghar wapsi, or reconversion to Hinduism, which began in the 19^th century Gujarat as part of Hindu revivalism, has become an important tool in the hands of Hintutva forces in their reactions to Christianity. Today we do not need to provide much data and statistics to talk about Hindutva’s attacks on Christians and other religious minorities: this has simply become part of the everyday news.

However, I would like to point out two issues in understanding the oppositions to Christianity in India. One is that most of the times our observations of the oppositions to Christian mission are limited to only what the politicised opponents do. Their oppositions to Christian mission in India always have a political agenda: vote bank politics, especially consolidating the Hindu vote bank, and attaining and maintaining the political power to extend the cultural influences. In these circles the most-often cited reason to oppose Christianity is that Christianity is a foreign religion, Christian conversion activities are a threat to the Indian nation and national integrity and so on. For me, this captures only one side of the story. What is often missed in the Christian observations and interpretations of the oppositions to Christian mission is the reactions to Christianity and Christian mission in the everyday living context. In other words how ordinary Hindus, not merely politically influenced Hindutva forces, react to Christian mission should concern us: specifically what aspects of Christianity and Christian mission the ordinary non-Christians react to are important. Otherwise we do not get a clear picture of the context.[5]

This brings us to the second aspect in understanding the oppositions to Christian mission in India: while we observe, analyse and respond to the reactions to Christian mission, we need to reflect on how much do we ourselves remain the cause and instigation for the opposition? My observation and hypothesis is that ordinary people’s oppositions to Christianity do not come from Christianity’s foreign status (reflect how many of our neighbours and friends in everyday life even mention the foreign status of Christianity!) or for power politics. Rather it has much to do with how Christ and Christianity is presented in India and in that process how non-Christian, especially Hindu, ways of living and believing is described: idol worshippers, those doomed to hell, followers of false religions, etc., and as a result many hurt feelings are generated. In my understanding these actually make the oppositions to Christian missions in India worse and we need to take this aspect very seriously.

In such a context, we Christians in India need to rethink our ways of doing Christian mission, and discover new ways that are constructive. Whatever the challenges posed towards Christian mission are, we all believe that mission as sharing the good news is the heart of Christianity, and that is the reason we all remain Christians. Our common understanding of mission is to propagate the gospel, the good news that we have found in and received from Christ. No doubt these are testing times for Christians to see how we are faithful in continuing the mission that Jesus Christ has left for us. But it is also a time we are called to do a self-reflection to see how many times we have understood and practiced mission in very limited ways, or with very narrow mindsets, by making and maintaining borders and boundaries between us and others.

3.      Christian Mission as Invitation

As I already pointed out, religious pluralism and poverty are two major realities that are often focused in doing mission in the Indian context, and mission models such as hospitality, peacemaking, reconciliation, solidarity with poor, justice, etc. have been employed in doing Christian mission.[6] While we need to continue with those, we also need to think about other paradigms for doing mission. In the current context of resistance and oppositions to Christianity and Christian mission in India, I am convinced that to reflect on Christian mission as invitation will be helpful and productive. By no means is this a new approach or method in doing mission but I think it is more relevant for the contemporary context of oppositions and resistance and we need to reflect and appropriate this method.

Etymologically the term mission means ‘to send’ or ‘sending.’ But the most important question is: ‘what are we sent to do’? The common understanding in mission is that we are sent to do several things – proclaiming the good news, making disciples, comforting the people, helping the needy, and so on. However none of these actions is possible without the simple principle and act of invitation, to start with.

Invitation is a fundamental theme in the Bible. Throughout the Bible we can see God extending invitations to people in myriad ways.  God’s call to repentance, salvation, and eternal life always comes in the form of invitations which are followed up by promises, commands and warnings. Jesus Christ’s entire life and ministry involves the act of extending invitations to others, and as recorded in the Bible he starts his ministry with an invitation to others to come towards the Kingdom of God and to become his disciples (Matthew 4:17-19, Mark 1: 15-17, John 1: 39). Even though there often were confrontations between Jesus and the Jewish leaders recorded in the Bible, there was always the invitation kept alive for the Israelites. Thus invitation is one of the major themes in the Bible, and in the New Testament it is very much linked with Christian mission. Further, in the contemporary missiological thinking the aspect of invitation as fundamental to Christian mission and evangelisation has been also developed by some missiologists.[7]

Mission as invitation is founded on important biblical and theological principles. First of all, Christian mission is invitation, because of the very nature of the Christian message. The gospel is a positive message of joy and hope.[8] The very birth of Jesus Christ is announced to the shepherds as ‘the good news of great joy for all the people’ (Luke 2: 10). Then communicating such good news can be done only in ways which are faithful to the message. A missiologist comments that “to evangelize is to communicate joy. It conveys a positive message; it is hope we are holding out to the world.”[9] In the words of David Bosch, Christian mission “should never deteriorate into coaxing, much less into threat.”[10] He warns that mission is “not the same as offering a psychological panacea for people's frustrations and disappointments or inculcating guilt feelings so that people may turn to Christ, or scaring people into repentance and conversion with stories about the horrors of hell. [Rather] people should turn to God because they are drawn by God's love, not because they are pushed to God for fear of hell.” [11] This means that good news must be communicated or presented in a good and pleasant manner which can be through invitation. And to communicate it in unpleasant ways is to deny the message itself.

Further, Christian mission is fundamentally connected with building the Kingdom of God whose visible image in the word is the Christian community, and in this way Christian mission is basically a call to community. The call to form community can never happen under force, compulsion or fear but only through love and invitation. Hence Christian mission as invitation can help to present and communicate the gospel in a very positive and friendly way.

Mission as invitation works not only in terms of the ways in which we communicate the gospel through our spoken words, but an effective invitation is extended by our life and witness as well. Here, though one can be critical of many of Gandhi’s positions on Christianity and Christian mission, we can learn from what he said on conversion to Christianity: “a rose does not need speech to spread fragrance but spreads it because it must.”[12] To put in other words a rose does not invite someone to come and smell its fragrance. Rather simply because of its fragrance people are attracted towards it.

Mission as invitation also can be a useful approach for Christians to be self-critical. In an attitude of superiority when Christians want only to say something to others in mission, and not listen to them, it leads to problems. Commenting on such attitudes, one contemporary misisologist says that “any mission practice that starts from assumptions of superiority of doers and inferiority of receivers is not really mission, but imperialistic aid.”[13] The categories ‘civilised’ and ‘uncivilised’ which have influenced Christian mission during the last centuries, according to which the change is required in the ‘uncivilized,’ have increasingly come under criticism. Doing mission as invitation can help us to understand that Christian mission is less about others and more about us in terms of changing: how we need to grow in inviting others as part of our mission.[14] M. M. Thomas has repeatedly pointed out the need for Christianity to be open to change, and he calls this process ‘risking Christ for Christ’s sake.’[15]

Thinking about and practicing Christian mission as invitation can be very helpful in our present context. This is not to change colours, i.e., to say that because there is too much violence and opposition, we should try a different strategy. Rather I am convinced that this is an essential aspect of Christian mission, but we often ignore it. However the current circumstances in India can offer us an opportunity to think and reflect on it, and exercise it as we continue to engage in mission. This can also help to challenge political reactionary forces with our good news rather than falling into their hands and tactics through our negative ways of presenting the good news. While the politically influenced Hindutva oppositions to Christians need to be challenged in the light of our fundamental rights and the freedom to religion enshrined in our Constitution, we, Christians in India need to be mindful about our immediate neighbours in our everyday and ordinary lives for whom we need to present the good news in a pleasant way and it can be done through mission as invitation which requires the virtue of humility.

Of course this approach is not without its limitations. For instance a question may be asked about what happens to the call for repentance and conveying the message of rebuke which is a crucial aspect of Christian message. The idea here is if we go ahead with mission as invitation in a pleasant way, then how we can be critical of false ways of worshipping and believing that is found among non-Christians. After all, did Jesus’ own mission not involve the call to repentance? While this indeed is an important question, nevertheless the nature of the gospel message is such that God’s grace is propounded as the ultimate factor which keeps alive the invitation even when the message of rebuke is conveyed. Moreover repentance is not a one-time event that is required for non-Christians to become Christians; rather it is an ongoing posture which is applicable to Christians as well. But the real problem here is that we primarily understand Christian mission through a wrong (non-Christian) to right (Christian) approach. Mission as invitation can help us to genuinely appreciate non-Christian faith and commitment to their religion, yet extend the invitation to them as part of our mission.

4.      Mission as Invitation: Some Biblical Reflections

I want to briefly highlight two Biblical texts that can help us to understand the importance of invitation which we can apply in doing Christian mission in contemporary India. One is Matthew 22: 1-10 (the invitation to banquet), its Lucan version found in Luke 14.12-24, and the other is Luke 15 (the parable of lost sheep, lost coin and lost son). While in the first parable, people (friends and neighbours and later those found in streets) are invited to the great feast arranged by a king, in the other parable, a shepherd, a woman and a father invite neighbours and friends when they are filled with joy over finding something that had been lost. I am aware that both parables were told for different reasons, than for what I consider them here. One is to show that the chosen people rejected the invitation so others have been invited, and the other is basically to answer the Pharisees and Scribes who were grudging because Jesus was often found with sinners and tax collectors. Yet both parables can offer us insights to reflect on Christian mission as invitation.

First, a key motif that is found in these parables is the very act of invitation. The Matthean parable is about the Kingdom of God, and invitation plays an essential part in the building it. Here Kingdom of God is compared to a king who, above anything, first of all, carries out the act of invitation. The king invites people for the banquet and when it is ready he sends his servants to invite them. When the invited do not turn up, he again sends his servants to bring them. Finally when they refused to come he invites people on the streets and roadside. Thus invitation is a recurring theme in the whole of this parable. One may tend to pass quickly these verses referring to invitation to emphasise ‘those who have been called have become unworthy,’ but the invitation implies a significant point for our understanding of church and mission. One cannot proclaim the Kingdom of God or participate in it or cannot involve in mission without the act of invitation. Similarly in Luke 15 too invitation is a dominant theme: the shepherd, the woman and the father – all are shown to be extending invitation to people around them. The father invites not only all people around him to celebrate along with him the return of his second son, but also goes out to invite his first son to join the party, when he was not happy.  

A key component of invitation is honour or honouring. This means, when someone is invited, actually it is an act of honour extended to him or her. In other words the person invited is taken seriously, that is the reason there is an invitation, to begin with. Of course it is up to the person to respond to the honour extended to him or her. More importantly, the invitation is extended to others not because of an assumption that they are in a less honourable position than we are – this will amount to arrogance, rather they are honoured by being invited as they are. The point here is that there cannot be a place for any superiority attitude in genuine invitations. As these parables show, the building of the Kingdom of God just begins with simple invitation that honours the other. Today Christians can ask themselves: to what extent this invitation and the honour for the other which is associated with it are consciously used in our mission practices?

Broadly speaking, in our mission activities today, the act of invitation is played down or neglected, and what is generally seen is a kind of urgency only to pass on the message. But mere telling or propagating the Gospel without the element of invitation and honour for the other is a disaster. While proclamation may basically mean passing on the news, when it is accompanied by the true spirit of invitation, it works much more effectively. In this sense, mission as invitation is not simply proclamation but has to do with relationship between the inviter and the invitee. As pointed out earlier, this act of invitation was present in the entire life and ministry of Jesus. In fact Jesus starts proclaiming the Kingdom of God by inviting, and not merely informing, and he always invites people and calls disciples to be with him. There is a relationship or fellowship that is fundamentally associated with the invitation he extends. Proclaiming in Christian mission is not just telling or informing, but it always is and has to be accompanied by genuine invitation that demonstrates honour for others which can lead to better relationships. In this sense Christian mission is primarily an invitation to fellowship and relationship rather than anything else.

Second, a crucial aspect connected to invitation that comes out from these parables is to share or to be hospitable. The king in the parable is ready to share with others from what he has. He is portrayed as a very generous person who passionately pursues the people to invite them to come and participate in what he has to share. He prepares the feast with his oxen and fat calves. He invites others simply to participate in what he has to share. Nothing is demanded from the invitees except to come and participate, but he has a lot of things to share with them. It is the same with the shepherd, woman and the father in the Lucan text. Nothing is expected from their invitees other than to come and participate. It is the inviters who offer their place or residence to gather, and their time, energy and many of their resources to others without which the banquet or the celebration would not be possible.

‘Sharing’ is an important aspect that is connected with Christian mission. If sharing or hospitality is absent, perhaps the whole of Christianity and Christian mission ceases to exist. We talk a lot about sharing of our resources as part of mission. This sharing cannot be done without the act of invitation. However, while we still emphasise sharing in Christian mission, on the contrary, at times Christian mission in India also tends to do something that may go against the virtue of sharing. We can contrast this aspect of sharing with what mostly happens through Christian mission: a greater emphasis on adding numbers (or members). The real Christian mission gets stuck when it tries to take something from others rather than sharing. In the history of mission in India, this attitude remains one of the major problems for many of our Hindu friends who are afraid of Christians and Muslims, who, they claim, forcefully remove people from their community. The Hindu extremists’ complaining about forced conversion by Christianity, or conversion by alluring, and similar accusations also appear in these contexts. Of course, as obvious, there are a lot of political and other factors involved in this portrayal by the Hindu right wing, but the Christians need the humility to admit that we, perhaps many of us, may be obsessed with just adding numbers to Christianity, in one way or another, when it comes to mission. If we look at Christian mission primarily or only in terms of numbers then it may tend to be more of grabbing from others rather than sharing what we have.

There is a mission song in Tamil, a line of which reads somewhat like this: ‘God be praised for Indians will fill heaven.’ This looks like there is no concern for people of other nationalities or that people from other nations will have fewer places. In other words, it is as if we Indian Christians want to grab much of the space of heaven, leaving very little for people of other nationalities. I feel this is where we play into the hands of the extremist forces who try to capitalise their opposition to Christian mission. Christian mission is not about grabbing people or any of their resources but primarily about sharing what we have through a gentle act of invitation.

Third, specifically, all those who extend invitation to others in these texts, do it, above all, to share their joy and happiness.  It is not a coincidence that one of the dominant imageries in Jesus’ life and ministry, as well as in his teaching, is about gathering around or participating in feasts, festivity, and celebrations, especially wedding celebrations that mark joy and happiness. The kingdom of God is often portrayed as being associated with this joy and happiness. As we see in the Gospel of John, Jesus begins his ministry by attending a wedding in Cana of Galilee and doing a miracle there. He quite often relates the Kingdom of God to these moments of festivity. We can see the same in these parables under reflection. This aspect, when applied to our doing of mission, can help us to reflect on the nature of the good news that we share with others. As mentioned earlier the good news we have to share is always a message of joy and happiness.

What binds all these is – honouring the other by invitation, being hospitable, and inviting to share happiness – the virtue of humility which is also closely connected with the act of invitation.  The Kingdom of God is not a kingdom that attempts to hurl curses on others, so is the Christian mission. It is found in our humility to invite others to share and participate in our happiness. Also the good news of this happiness is to be shared, and not to be tested or compared with the limits of theirs. In other words, our mission is not to prove anything – any act of proving, God takes care of – but simply to share our happiness in Christ, and invite our fellow human beings to participate in it.

One of the important implications of mission as invitation to share our joy and happiness in Christ is, first of all, a call for a change within us before it comes to others. Mission is primarily not about what those to whom we extend the invitation should do, rather it is about what we should do for keeping Christian relationships alive and the community vibrant. When we put greater emphasis on what others should do, we lose the focus of the Christian mission, and eventually the very meaning of Christian community itself. What Christian mission as invitation basically enables us to do is to go beyond a wrong-to-right approach to share-the-joy approach.

Our task in Christian mission is not to run into arguments, but to share the good news as we experience it. Our task is only to extend the invitation. It is up to the receivers to accept it or decline. But we have to make sure that this invitation is extended by honouring them in an atmosphere of hospitality and humility to come and participate in our joy of experiencing the good news, and not by exalting ourselves and demeaning others. We cannot compel, force, and threaten or coerce anyone into happiness – this is an utter contradiction. In Christian mission we can only invite someone into happiness that we are ready to share.

5.      Conclusion

Invitation in the context of mission in the New Testament is a ubiquitous theme, yet it is highly ignored in terms of doing mission in our contemporary context. Christian mission initiated by Christ and handed over to us comes as a simple and gentle invitation. But we Christians have made it harder than it really is. Rethinking Christian mission as basically an invitation can help us to affirm that the good news of Christ is built around happiness. We can only invite others to participate in that and share our joy and hope in Christ with others in an atmosphere of hospitality, which means honouring them. Without humility one cannot honour the other, become hospitable and invite someone to participate in his or her happiness. We are not here to do mission based on a wrong-to-right or judgemental approach, but as an invitation to participate with us in our joy of living in Christ.

For long, Christians in general and in India in particular have been preoccupied with understanding Christian mission as only change in others. This mission as change-in-others approach has led to reactions including from extremists. More importantly it blinds us to see how we also have to change and grow in witnessing Christ to others through our words and life, before we expect a change in others. Mission as invitation can remind the change needed in us at these times of difficulties we face in doing Christian mission in India.  

Dr Muthuraj Swamy

Comments