ICS 520 Contextualization Gino Ludovice (giovanni.ludovice@igsl.

asia)

1. If India is ever to truly meet Jesus, we must address this assumption that

Christianity is a proxy for Jesus and his teaching, and Christian an essential

identity for his followers. Several aspects of India’s resistance require us to

fundamentally reexamine these associations. I believe we need to honestly ask

and wrestle with what may seem an unsettling question at first: Do you have to

become a Christian to genuinely follow Jesus?

2. A significant number of these believers, though, choose to follow Jesus only,

yet remain within their Hindu cultures and communities as Yesu bhaktas.

They will never take a Christian identity; in fact, they refuse to do so.

Culturally and socially they are Hindus, but spiritually they follow Jesus

alone. This is not the same as Hindus who put images of Jesus on their god

shelf along with their Hindu gods, demonstrating India’s prevalent pluralism.

Comment:

A greater sacrifice for themselves and their families has been offered by many

Indian Christians and their leaders who have led influential lives with Christ.

Hindu Yeshu Bhaktas is just one example of the various folds that make up the

Indian Christian community, which is very different from other Christian

communities. An ongoing issue throughout mission history has indeed been the

conflict between devotion to one's family and community and complete dedication

to the Scriptural faith.

3. These revolutionary Christ-followers still assumed Christianity at fundamental

levels, and this prevented them from truly becoming incarnational disciples of

Jesus within their own Hindu culture and community. While they followed

differing approaches and levels of adaptation, all seemed to answer our earlier

key question: “Yes, but you should become a Hindu-Christian (or Christian-

Hindu) to genuinely follow Jesus.”

4. These revolutionary Christ-followers still assumed Christianity at fundamental

levels, and this prevented them from truly becoming incarnational disciples of

Jesus within their own Hindu culture and community.

While they followed differing approaches and levels of adaptation, all seemed to

answer our earlier key question: “Yes, but you should become a Hindu-Christian

(or Christian-Hindu) to genuinely follow Jesus.”

5. In some situations, no doubt, Hindus truly hear the call to follow Jesus and

respond, like the rich young ruler, by walking away from him (Matt 19:16–22;

Mark 10:17–22). From my exploration of India’s resistance, though, this does

not always seem to be the case. Some Hindus do not primarily reject Jesus and

his Way. They instead reject the identity of Christian and Christianity that has

been inherently associated with him. They also reject the spirit with which

Christians hold to and advocate their faith.