The Church at The Crossroads

The privilege of participation in God's Mission of "Reconciling the world unto Himself" (2 Cor 5:19) has been entrusted to the Church, a community of believers in Jesus Christ. Hence, to participate in God's Mission, the Church in India has to re-discover her relevance in the ever changing religious, cultural and social resurgent context. In order to do this, the Church should be mindful of resources received from Vedic, Dalit and Western Spiritualities. The Church should also not hesitate to analyse critically its strengths, weaknesses and challenges; which would lead to focus on mission in context. Then the primary task of the leaders would be to empower worshipping communities to become "basic ecclesial communities", i.e., worshipping communities in which God is worshipped spiritedly, caring and sharing takes place enthusiastically and they are involved with others willingly, for the transformation of people, communities and structures in the cause of fulfilling God's purpose in this world.

This self-evaluation work on challenges of Christian Mission in India is very informative and scholarly; encapsulating various subjects of Christian studies like Biblical literature, History, Religions, Theology and Mission; thereby proves to be a treat for Christian Preachers, Teachers, Catechists, Presiders and various Christian Institutions & Organizations.

Bishop S. Vasanthakumar hails from Hadya, a village of Mysore District. He did his undergraduate studies in Science in Yuvaraja College, Mysore and thereafter completed his B.D. and M.Th. from United Theological College, Bangalore. He has also spent one year at Candler School of Theology at Emory University, Atlanta, Georgia, USA.

He joined the Karnataka Central Diocese of the CSI in the year 1972 and was ordained as Deacon in the same year and as Presbyter in the following year, for 25 years he remained in this position. He was consecrated as the Bishop of the Diocese in the year 1997 and continued till his retirement in the year 2012. In between, he also served as a Deputy Moderator between 2004 and 2008 and as Moderator of the Church between 2010 and 2012.

Bishop Vasanthakumar has written a number of articles published both in India and abroad. His first article appeared in the 'International Review of Missions' in the year 1976. His Bible Study has become part of 'Word of the Lord', published by WARC in 1999. He has written a book on the life and ministry of Bishop Ananda Rao Samuel entitled, 'Burnt Offerings' (1989). He has edited a book entitled 'Call to Ministry and Mission' in honour of Bishop K. E. Gill in 1997.

The inspiration to write a book on the Life, Ministry and Mission of the Church of South India', (CSI in brief) came to me under strange circumstances. It was a decade ago, when I was the Deputy Moderator of the Church, in one of the CSI Synod meetings we were discussing the different ways of celebrating the 'Diamond Jubilee' of the CSI which was to take place the following year, i.e. 2007, in a befitting manner. Many programmes were chalked out, one such being reflecting on the life, ministry and mission of the Church. A suggestion was made that the work should be entrusted to a well-known theologian of the Church teaching in a theological college. I opposed the idea of entrusting the work to a theological teacher and insisted that it should be done by a Church worker, who has experience at the grass-roots level. I elaborated my position with the following arguments. A theologian reflects from the perspective of 'normative principles' based on the Scripture and the resources available in the library. In this process, a theologian might question the relevance of the Church. A social scientist reflects adopting operational principles as a starting point, based on the data available through surveys, census and other such material. A social scientist in his/her conclusion refrains from passing judgement but only records the findings. On the other hand, a Church worker's only strength is his/her experience in the day-to-day working of the Church. A Church worker, therefore, begins the reflection from the stand point of the Church as it is'. The existential reality of the Church is the starting point for a Church worker, which would lead to an 'action-reflection' process in the minds of the people concerned.

Listening to my arguments, the then General Secretary threw a challenge at me to take up the task personally. The challenge came to me so suddenly that for a few minutes I did not know how to react. It was the Bishops who were present at the meeting who goaded me to accept the challenge. I accepted the challenge on condition that the Bishops would help me as Consultants. Thus, began my journey to reflect on the life, ministry and mission of the Church.

The first approach I had, was to prepare small write-ups on various aspects of the Church and present it to the Bishop's Council, which the then Moderator of the CSI, Bishop Sugandhar was kind enough to convene whenever I made the request. The discussions were elaborate, insights thought provoking and concerns expressed genuine. The one aspect that emerged very strongly during these deliberations was the rich variety of beliefs and practices prevailing in the Church, even though we are a united Church. To illustrate the point: the CSI unequivocally affirms its faith in the Trinity. However, some believers emphasize the transcendent nature of God and so approach reverently. Others see the centrality of Jesus Christ in Salvation History and in their own personal struggles and aspirations. Some others would depend on the empowerment of the Holy Spirit in their helpless and hopeless situations. The Church has no hesitation in accepting all these positions of the believers. Another illustration: The CSI has accepted representative form of government based on democratic principles, but never thought of imposing uniformity in governance. Based on the former practice of earlier denominational churches, it has allowed each Diocese to formulate its own constitutions, subject to the same being not at variance with the provisions of the CSI Constitution'. As a result, some Dioceses have a four year term, some three and some two years for their Diocesan Council. Again in some Dioceses, the Treasurer of the Diocesan Council is elected by the Diocesan Council and in some others the Treasurer is appointed by the Executive Committee on the recommendation of the Bishop and in other Dioceses a Presbyter is appointed as the Treasurer while in others only lay people hold the office of the Treasurer. I remain grateful to the Bishops for bringing home to me afresh the rich variety of faith and practice prevailing in the Church. The lesson that I learnt was that 'unity in diversity' is at the heart of the Church's life. This experiment of consultative process had to be stopped when I stepped down from the post of Deputy Moderator.

I am immensely delighted to find that a meticulous reflection on 'the Life, Ministry and Mission of the Church of South India' by Most Rev. S. Vasanthakumar entitled as "The Church at the crossroads' is being published by him. This book is valuable and unique because this book incorporates his immense ministerial experience, enormous knowledge of CSI and substantial expressions as a minister as well as administrator of the church. Bishop Vasanthakumar is a dear friend of mine and God has blessed him with a sharp intellect and he along with his wife Rev. Nirmala Vasanthakumar contributed very much to the Church of South India in its ministerial journey. He is a person vested with a historic mission.

Bishop Vasanthakumar was an able administrator of CSI as deputy moderator and moderator in the Church of South India in its difficult times. His exalted vision for the CSI Church enabled him to create many historical movements in the Church. Bishop Vasanthakumar's life and vision, thoughts and writings are inspirational not only for the CSI Church but also to the wider Christian Communities in India. As he acknowledges in his books in all humility, he was not a learned or trained historian or theologian, but his unending quest and search to find the true ministerial and missiological facts made him to produce all his initiatives during his tenure as a church leader. By explaining the church as a community or communitarian characteristics of the Church, he pushes it further and throw light on the missional nature of the Church.

'Reflection on the Church' is a complex process. Firstly, it has to take into account the faith of the Church. This faith is given - either handed down from the past or formulated from time to time or both. Faith is central to Christianity. It demands individual believer to shift the center from oneself to God and in His salvific actions in and through the Cross and Resurrection of Jesus Christ. It calls on the believer to rely on God's continuing empowerment through the Holy Spirit. It requires a believer to cast oneself entirely on the goodness and mercy of God, without seeking scientific explanation for the same.

Secondly, reflection has to be mindful of 'beliefs and practices' of individual believers. This is largely influenced by the socio-economic- cultural and political conditions prevailing in and around the life of believers. For instance, the beliefs and practices of a believer living in a free society is different from a believer living in a totalitarian regime, where the State regulates every realm of life including religious beliefs and practices. So, the socio-economic-cultural and political factors that influence the life of the Church need to be analysed carefully.

Thirdly, the Church is not just a collection of individual believers. It is a community of faith. The believers gather together to form an organized religion and adopt a suitable structure to govern themselves. Broadly speaking, three types of structures have been adopted in the Church. They are: 'monolithic', 'democratic' and 'autonomous'. These structures are adopted with good intentions that they would enhance the quality of life among its adherents. But sometimes, the structure itself can become a hindrance to further the quality of life and in such cases conflict arises which can destroy the very essence of community life. Hence, the structure that the community of believers adopt for themselves needs to be analyzed thoroughly. Since the focus of this reflection is only the Church of South India, the structure adopted for the governance of this Church will be analyzed in the following pages.

Fourthly, the adage that the Church is the only club that exists for its non-members, which is universally accepted, is also true in the case of the CSI for the mandate comes from the Lord Himself, as found in the New Testament texts such as Matthew 28:19 and 20; Luke 4: 18 and 19 and Luke Chapters 9 and 10. The Constitution of the CSI which did not have a Chapter on 'Mission of the Church', in the earlier editions, filled the vacuum by incorporating the same in its 2003 edition after discussing the same in the CSI Synod in January 1999 and duly ratified by the Dioceses in 2002. The new Constitution proclaims in the beginning of Chapter III that 'the Church exists for mission and by mission' and commits itself to 'carry on the mission of God in the world'. In the body of the Chapter the CSI has accepted the 'wholistic mission' as its cardinal principle for the existence of the Church. The beliefs and practices and the structure of the Church need to be examined sincerely and their course corrected if the Church truly wants to be effective in its mission.

**Contents and Sample Pages**