Addressing a ‘special’ audience nearly a billion strong

by Jon Jeffery, UBS Planning and Research Officer

BANGALORE, India — The Christian population of India is a mere three per cent or less of the total – but in this huge and diverse nation of more than a billion souls, even three per cent of the population is equivalent to some 30 million people, and nearly 20 million are actual church members.

n Dr P I Varghese, head of the Special Audience Dept. of BSI, with a copy of The Gift ... that you cannot ignore

Moreover, in a country in which Christians are a very small – and sometimes persecuted – minority, the commitment of Christians is far stronger than in most countries where Christians form a comfortable majority.

Spirituality

The Indians are a nation for whom spirituality is important. The majority are Hindu, but there are substantial Muslim, Sikh and Buddhist communities as well. According to tradition, the first Christian church in India, the Syrian Church, was founded by the Apostle Thomas, and it is older than the Church in many European countries.

The Bible Society of India has a vision to reach out with the Word to people of all faiths, but its outreach does not take the form of naked proselytism.

Instead it often presents the Christian Scriptures to people of other faiths as a spiritual message transcending any individual religion. It presents the Bible as a book which speaks to Hindu and Muslim, Sikh and Jain, Buddhist and atheist, as well as Jew and Christian. In fact the first five books of the Old Testament (known collectively in Hebrew as the Torah), Psalms and Proverbs, as well as the four Gospels in the New Testament, are all described in the Holy Book of Islam (the Koran) as being sacred and worthy for instruction.

Precious and holy

Many Hindus, too, including independent India’s great founding father, Mahatma Gandhi, saw the Bible as a precious and holy book.

Working from a modest office in the Special Audiences Department on the ground floor of Bangalore’s Bible House, headquarters of the Bible Society of India, Dr P I Varghese and a small staff team design and distribute materials aimed at introducing Indians of other faiths to the Word.

The booklets present the message of Scripture on issues of vital importance to life and daily living in this great country. Some cover Christian teaching about topics such as eternal life, grace and forgiveness, while others address issues like poverty, hunger, community conflict, disease and personal relationships.

Special audiences

The Special Audiences Department also has programs and materials to reach out to the very large population of blind and vision-impaired people and to other groups such as temple prostitutes, street children and fishermen.

Each booklet includes a test so that readers can assess their understanding after reading it, plus an invitation to write to the Bible Society if they want more information.

“If you could say whatever you want to the people to whom you distribute these booklets... what would you tell them?”

Every day hundreds of replies flood in from all over India from people sharing their concerns, asking for more information and seeking answers. Some, of course, come from Christians, but the majority come from people of other faiths or no faith. The small team in the Special Audiences Department answers every letter.

One innovative booklet was produced after Dr Varghese got to know a man who came regularly to Bible House to collect Christian materials. It turned out that he worked as a security guard and handed out the Bible Society publications to people he met, particularly in the course of his work.

One day Dr Varghese had an idea. “If you could say whatever you want to the people to whom you distribute these booklets,” he asked him, “what would you tell them?” He suggested the man write down the points he would make and the parts of Scripture he would refer to.

At first the man was reluctant, saying he was not clever or educated enough. Eventually, however, he came back with a carefully written manuscript, stating all that he would most like to share with his Indian brothers and sisters.

Dr Varghese took his work and from it produced a booklet entitled The Gift … that you cannot ignore.