What is the Ministry of Friends Network?
Friends Network was established to develop a relevant contextual witness among Hindu people groups that are largely neglected or unable to understand traditional ministry approaches.
What Does Contextualisation Mean?
Contextualisation is a word used to describe the process of entering into a new situation or communicating in a new setting. In our use of the word we mean the process of incarnating within the Hindu community to share the good news of Jesus Christ.
We follow the ultimate example of contextualization, Jesus Christ, who ‘emptied himself, taking a form of a bond servant, and being made in the likeness of man.’ (Phil 2:7). Just as Jesus Christ, who was God incarnate, fully entered into the Jewish culture and community, we also seek to fully enter the Hindu culture and community, incarnating Him within that lovely community.
We also follow the rich contextual tradition found throughout the Biblical text, and specifically that of Paul the apostle, who gave us a beautiful example in the New Testament as a Jew who left his culture and community to enter into the Roman world. “...I have made myself a slave to all… to the Jews I have become a Jew… to those who are without the law, as without law… I have become all things to all men that I might by all means save some.” (1 Cor. 9:19-23).
But I Thought Hindus like Western Songs & Churches?
Yes, many Hindus do enjoy Western songs, much the same way a Westerner enjoys the mystic sounds of the sitar. It is something new and different to be enjoyed as a novelty. Others enjoy the worship service much in the same way that a person finds a visit to the mosque or synogogue enlightening, but not really their cup of tea.
That being said, one of the main reasons that Hindus have rejected Jesus Christ is the foreign and Westernised approach through which traditional missions and the Christian community have utilised, both intentionally and unintentionally, in their presentation of Jesus Christ. Some individual Hindus have responded to a Westernised approach but unfortunately it has alienated them from their friends and family to such an extent that they have been violently ejected from their community. Friends Network focuses on touching the ‘heart strings’ of our Hindu friends through using bhajans, a traditional devotional song style, within the context of satsangs, an organic group dialogue to discern truth (sat) within community (sang), letting Hindus experiance heart transformation in Jesus Christ. The core concept of Friends Network is to present the good news in a culturally relevant way so that Hindu people can understand and experiance His life changing presence.
Aren’t ‘Dalit’ Issues the Most Important in India?
Traditional Mission and now Indian Christian work in India has focused on the traditionally and economically backward Hindu or Tribal peoples called dalits, meaning ‘the oppressed’. The emerging grass-roots church planting movements initiated by the Indian Christian community and Westernised missionaries have strengthened this focus further. Very little effort has been made to effectively reach out in a culturally sensitive manner to the many other Hindu people groups of India except by unplanned individual evangelism. We love and recognise the needs of each people group and we currently do have culturally sensitive work among dalit Hindu communities, however, Friends Networks’ primary focus is to explore new means and ways of bringing the ‘Living Water’ of Jesus Christ in culturally appropriate ‘Indian Bowls’ to traditionally unreached Hindu people groups in India and beyond.
Isn’t focusing on People Groups a Thing of the Past?
In Matthew 28 Jesus Christ gives us a command to ‘Go into all the world and make disciples of all nations’. The word ‘nation’ is a Greek word meaning ‘ethnic group’. In Hindi, one of the official languages of India, it is transelated as jati which can be understood as ‘community or caste’. Since most people groups, or ethnic communities fall along broad caste lines it can become a very confusing subject. We whole-heartily encourage the dissolution of the unequal value system associated with caste prejudice. However, forceful break down of caste has carried ethnicity along with it and has resulted in social and familial alienation for the Hindu seeker of Jesus, confusion, anger and innoculation of the Hindu family members to Christ & Christians.
So actually ‘people groups’, or jatis are very much a biblical thing of the present and future! For further understanding on the complex issues of caste, ethnicity & people groups contact us!
Is Friends Network a YWAM Ministry?
Friends Network has been developed and is accountable within the Frontier Mission (FM) trans-national structure of YWAM and runs registered University of the Nations (U of N) training schools. However, Friends Network often minimises it’s association with traditional mission and Christian community due to the need to focus on Hindu communities who have been unable to understand Jesus Christ via traditional approaches.
Do you have a Hindu friend that is interested in Jesus Christ and you aren’t sure what to do? Would you like resources to better equip you to disciple in a Hindu context? Contact us to start ministering more effectively!