THE WORK OF THE CHURCH IN INDIA—Preston Kharlukhi
THE WORK OF THE CHURCH IN INDIA---Preston Kharlukhi THE WORK OF THE CHURCH IN INDIA
Prenshon Kharlukhi
There are at present five faithful congregations with a total membership of two hundred fifty persons. Four years ago we had twelve congregations with five or six hundred Christians. The majority of the congregations have now aligned with the digressive group in doctrine, organization and worship.
India, as you probably know, is an ancient country with a population of over three hundred fifty millions. There are different communities and tribes.
The two hundred fifty Christians in India belong to a hill tribe known as the Khasi tribe, with a total population of four hundred thousand. They inhabit an area of six thousand square miles in the eastern part of India.
Historical facts and religious teachings of the tribe were handed down by our ancestors to their successive generations. Socially we follow a matriarchal system. Family name is derived from the mother’s side. Females retain mother’s family name even after married. There is no caste system among the Khasis. Women have equal rights and privileges as men in most respects. In fact women monopolize family property and we men-folks have no claim whatsoever to ancestral property. Perhaps nowhere else in India, women enjoy such privileges socially, economically and even politically as the Khasi women.
The Khasis who have not been converted to Christian denominations still follow their primitive religion called Animism. The primitive religionists believe in one God; theirs is however an unknown God. They also believe in gods and goddesses to be subordinate to the one God. The Khasi religion is replete with numerous superstitious beliefs, and the rites and rituals are so complicated that the majority of them got tired of their ancestral religion. They offer animal and fowl sacrifices in worship. In their own religion, the Khasis, especially those in the villages, are intensely religious. This same spirit prevails in the rural villages of India. In certain sections of Khasi Hills, each family spends about fifty percent of the produce of the land in performing customary rites and rituals. Each family and sometimes groups of families have a family priest who acts as a mediator between man and God.
One striking point to be noted is that the Khasi people have been expecting for generations for one perfect mediator between them and God. When and how that perfect mediator will come they do not know. That is one of the main reasons denominational churches won many followers among the Khasis qiUcker than in other parts of India, because these denominational churches, despite their man-made doctrines, preach that Christ is the long-desired perfect mediator between man and God. Many were convinced that Christ is their mediator, and accepted the new religion unconditionally. They are ardent and steadfast in their present faith. Both the Protestant and Roman Catholic Missions have good following
among the Khasis. There are a good many Khasis men who have qualified themselves in theological schools and colleges to become denominational preachers generally called Pastors. We Christians of the New Testament faith do not identify with any of the two religious groups. We refuse to be called either Protestants or Roman Catholics. The Baptist Mission came to our land over 130 years ago to preach their doctrines. They were superseded by the Welsh Presbyterian Church who brought their doctrines 110 years ago. The Protestant missions by mutual consent have assigned geographical regions in Assam to carry mission work. They co-operate between them in many common matters. In Shillong there is one youth Christian council of denominations. This local council is subordinate to the Assam Christian council. The latter is a limb (of the all India Christian Council which is a part of the world Christian Council. We do not cooperate with such religious organizations. The Presbyterian church in Assam has ecclesiastical bodies called Presbytery, Assembly and Synod, with well-defined powers for each body. We Christians of the church of Christ in India have no such ecclesiastical bodies to exercise authority over the congregations whether small or large.
The Protestant Missions took much pains in translating the Bible into Khasi language. With all its many defects some of which are serious and misleading, we now have the Bible in Khasi. For this they deserve our appreciation.
Some of the outstanding leaders of the Restoration Movement in India have died. The leaders of the churches of Christ in Khasi Hills, particularly those of the Mawlai congregation, were Presbyterians. The Restoration Movement got started at Mawla’ Village. A little over twenty years ago, a few leaders of the Presbyterian church at Mawlai, 'imbued with religious fervor, preached the gospel from house to house to the village folks of Mawlai village. They took the Bible only with them and exposed with all vigor the unscripturalness of man-made doctrines. The Presbyterian ecclesiastical body saw in this movement a formidable challenge to their denominational plea. They sought to suppress this infant movement. It should be remembered that at that time these pioneers did not intend to break away from the Presbyterian church. Their aims were to expose the evil of man made doctrines and their divisive nature to their fellow church members. Thereby they had hopes that other sincere-minded Presbyterian leaders would, in course of time, cast away any semblance of unscriptural teachings in the church. They had such sincerity as to think that the Presbyterian ecclesiastical body will also share their views. But as it happened the consequences were on the contrary. All leaders of the movement were debarred from leadership in church affairs. All hindrances of the Presbyterians’ highest ecclesiastical body could not in the least dis-hearten the movement to press the work with more vigor than ever. Village folks of the low strata of society were influenced by this movement and some decided to join the Presbyterian church. For some plea or other these new converts were not accepted into church fellowship. Some of the actions of the orthodox Presbyterian leaders, in so far as the movement was concerned, were against the provisions of their church creed of which they were supposed to be the custodians. With a view to put an end to this rebellious movement the Presbyterian Assembly constituted a Committee consisting of the leading men of the “Assembly.” They were endowed with full powers to call the leaders of the movement to explain for their conduct which was against the church discipline. Being the custodians of the church creed, these committee members considered and gave their verdicts adversely against the movement. To an impartial spectator they could not stand the forceful arguments of the pioneers of the movement who referred to the scriptures. The leaders of the reformation movement were, however, condemned and warned for their un-Presbyterian teachings, namely:—
1. because they tried to convert people into Presby-terians without paying proper attention to their
knowledge and pledge of full acceptance of the church creed.
2. because they did not care to differentiate between literate and illiterate, good and bad people
before they recommended them as fit persons to be accepted into church fellowship.
3. because they refused to abide by the principle of majority decision in church affairs including
acceptance or non-acceptance of converts in the church.
4. because they had over-stepped their limited pow-ers in preaching.
5. because they taught that penitent converts must be accepted into fellowship without specifying
usual time limit and without having regards to special days fixed by the ecclesiastical body for
acceptance of new converts.
6. because they challenged the decisions of the ecclesiastical body as unscriptural.
7. because they had no respect for the church creed called the Constitution.
8. because if their plea to follow only Bible teach-ings were accepted, the church constitution would
be non-existent—its non-existence would mean the deathknell of Presbyterianism.
9. because without the constitution the link with the mother church would be broken.
Having been convinced that they will never get op-portunities to plead for restoration to the New Testament form of religion within the Presbyterian fold, those seekers of God’s will finally broke connection with the Presbyterian church. They resolved themselves into a scriptural church called CHURCH OF CHRIST. (Matthew 16:18; Romans 16:16), accepting Christ as its only head (Colossians 1:18). They adopted these principles which were not necessarily another set of man-made creeds:—
(1) to accept the Bible in its entirety as the infallible word of God, and the court of appeal in all matters
concerned with religion (James 1:25, Psalms 19:7, 2 Timothy 3:16-17).
(2) to formulate no other human creed whatsoever (Revelation 22:18, Galatians 1:6-9, Dent. 4:2, Matthew 15:9).
(3) to accept the New Testament as the complete rule of faith and final court of appeal in matters concerning
the church and individual Christians (2 Timothy 3:16-17, 1 Corinthians 13:10).
(4) to study the word of God appreciatively in order to enable one to rightly divide the truth (2 Timothy 2:15).
(5) to draw no conclusions from any teaching that concerns doctrine, organization and worship whenever
the New Testament is silent on it.
(6) to constitute no ecclesiastical body. The movement gained momentum as time went by.
Mistakes were committed. However, because it was based on the sure foundation, we profited by mistakes. For some years, with all those bright and hopeful developments, they remained a denomination. Never-theless, there was a fine spirit of mutual love and singleness of mind among the entire body. They strived with zeal to spread the truth in the neighbouring villages. Other orthodox Presbyterians joined the movement. The word of God was studied with prayers on Lord’s day and in the evenings of the week. Up to that time the leaders of this movement believed they were Christians according to the New Testament. When afterwards, people of primitive Khasi religion expressed their desire to have fellowship with them, a question arose as to how to make them members of the church.
It took two or three years to arrive at a decision on this question. It should not be wondered why it took such a long time to give scriptural answer to
this question, if you consider it from this standpoint. First, because the leaders of the movement had been for years influenced by denominational teaching and interpretation of the meaning and importance of baptism; second, in the Khasi Bible the word baptism is used without giving Khasi equivalent meaning of the word. Third, none of the leaders had any idea of the original Greek meaning of the word baptism, and fourth, they did not desire to take hasty steps without being satisfied that a departure from the old practice of baptism by sprinkling has full and clear scriptural evidences. They studied this question in the light of the New Testament. They gave answer to this question on the strength of the scriptures, viz:—Baptism according to the Bible should be immersion (John 3:1-5; Romans 6:4-5; Colossians 2:12).
Penitent converts are the proper subjects for scriptural baptism (Matthew 28:19-20; Mark 16:16; Acts 2:38; Acts 8:36-39; Acts 22:16).
Infants are not proper subjects for baptism in the first place because they are guiltless, (Mark 10:14; Luke 18:15-17; Matthew 19:13-15) and in the second place because they have not the capacity to: hear and understand the preaching in order to enable them to: believe, repent, and confess their faith in Christ which are the prerequisities of penitent converts being immersed. The leaders of the restoration movement were baptized and so were new penitent converts. One section of the movement which pleaded sprinkling, including infant baptism seceded from this movement. In the course of time congregations were organized at other villages. By the time Brother E. W. McMillan came to India we had twelve congregations.
Before the division which occurred in 1950, five con-gregations had elders. The Mawla'i congregation had four elders and the others had two or three elders. The New Testament teaches plurality of elders (Acts 20:17; Acts 20:28; Titus 1:5-9; 1 Timothy 3:2-7). The qualifications of elders and their functions are recorded in the scriptures. The elders do not wear honorofic titles of “Rev.” etc. They do not exercise authority over the congregation of which they are not eilders. They are not heads of the church for Christ is its head (Colossians 1:18; Ephesians 1:22-23). They are Christians appointed to do the work for which they are qualified. Those elders were appointed by the collective choice of the members of the congregation, not necessarily by majority votes. Some congregations had qualified men to be ap-pointed as elders but none had appointed elders up to 1950. The rest had not yet developed enough to find men suitable for eldership.
These congregations are independent of one another. There was no central organization or ecclesiastical body to act as co-ordinating link between the congregations. There is no mother church. They are bound together by the same faith (Ephesians 4:5; Judges 1:3). They have the same head which is Christ. The members of the church at each place meet on the first day of the week in a common meeting house for worship. We meet three times on that day. In the fore-noon we have Bible discussions. Before starting the classes some Christian man reads some passages from the word of God and offers prayers. The meeting begins and closes with singing. In the afternoon meeting we have singing, prayers, reading the word of God, preaching the gospel, collections and close with prayer and song. Up to the year 194,9 we did not partake of the Lord’s Supper every week.
We, the members of the Lord’s body in India do not claim that we are perfect in all we teach and practice. As individuals we have many failings and pitfalls. As a church we have many things to learn from the word of God. Our objectives are to identify with the early church of Christ—The church that was founded by Christ at the scriptural place, Jerusalem.
We knew that the Bible had been translated into many languages and circulated in millions to the various corners of the world. We thought and pondered over this wonderful success. We concluded unknowingly that there must be a body of people somewhere on earth who have at least the same objectives as we have. We tried to find some clue where they might be found. Seven years ago, one Khasi gentleman, a denominational preacher, who had been to the States told someone about the churches of Christ in America. Those who are now in the digressive group, doubted whether the church of Christ in America follows scriptural teachings. Some discouraged an idea to write to America. Yet we decided to do so. After Jong and arduous search we got an address of the church of Christ, Abilene, in an old forwarding letter addressed to the Public Library in Shillong. Consequently we wrote a letter to which a reply was received from Brother Glenn L. Wallace. In this letter Wallace gave information of the churches of Christ in this great country. The news thrilled the hearts of Christians in the Hills of Assam. In that same letter Brother Wallace told us that the churches of Christ in America partake of the Lord’s Supper regularly every Lord’s day. We studied the scripture references and discussed the subject in detail. We were convinced that it is scripturally right to partake the Lord’s Supper every first day of the week (Acts 20:7). The first day of the week was a day of regular assembly of the early church (1 Corinthians 16:1-2). We accordingly decided to observe it every Lord’s day. Oth-ers stood in the way. They warned that they would 'create division if we failed to obey them. We were accused as men-pleasers. Surely we did not seek to please men. Of course it was a new thing to us, but we considered it imperative that we practice it if we are to strive after the pattern of the New Testament church. The first week we decided to begin the regular ob-servance of the Lord’s Supper, someone put this ques-tion. Who has the right to preside at the Lord’s Supper service? There were two opinions on this question. The one was that only elders can preside and no one else; and the other was that any leader of the congregation can do that. The reason which gave rise to this question was this. If the elders are the only persons who can preside then in case all of them failed to attend on any Lord’s day, the Christians assembled for the worship service will not be able to partake of the Lord’s Supper for that day. We therefore waited till the arrival of Brother McMillan, who gave us a satisfactory reply. The first Sunday following- Brother McMillan’s visit, we began partaking of the Lord’s Supper regularly. For some weeks only a very few of us partook of the Lord’s Supper. After that the number increased.
It was most unfortunate to tell you brothers and sisters that the people who are now the backbone of ,the digressive group took advantage; of the introduction of this memorial service as one of their weapons to bring about the division in the church into two opposing groups. If the history of the Restoration Movement in India is to be written in detail, this unfortunate event will receive a prominent place. It will throw ample evidence on how the faithful Christians stood for the truth they hold so dear to their hearts. For sometime after the divisive element were faced with a personal sense of frustration. To our grief they renewed their vicious move to misrepresent facts with a view to gain personal honour and position in the church.
After Brother McMillan returned to the States, we •received good news that the brethren promised financial help to support four whole-time preachers. In fact, the money was received soon after from Brother Wallace. This was brought to the notice of the congregations. Two preachers who already spent whole time with their own support were opposed by the digressive leaders to receive financial support from America. The other two preachers who were backed up by the digressive leaders were right willing to accept the support provided they were allowed free hand to accept into church fellowship denominational peopie without obeying the gospel. The latter two preachers’ stand with regard to the plan of salvation and regular partaking of the Lord’s Supper was the same as that of the digressive group who sought to bring in one unscriptural teaching after another.
Early in the year of 1950, an American Missionary of the Christian church from America, Ben Schiller, visited Shillong. This missionary gave us to understand that the church with which he identifies is the same as the faithful churches in the States in doctrine, organization and worship, excepting in one “unessential matter” namely, the use of instrumental music in worship. It should be noted that the question of instrumental music was taken up more than fifteen years ago and the congregations in India do not use it because it is contradictory to the simple Bible teaching on Christian worship. His argument in favor of instrument has not the least appeal to the mind of the faithful. He was in the defensive position because he has no relevant scriptures to support his argument. In the month of March, 1950, division among the churches of Christ in India was in the offing. The digressive leaders accepted into church fellowship more than thirty denominational members without scriptural baptism. They would have readily obeyed the gospel had it not been for the new plea of the digressive leaders that the church of Christ will accept into fellowship unimmersed people. The digres- sives went further as to refuse fellowship with immersed penitent converts. All sort of un-Christian- like tactics were used by them to interrupt the progress of the church. They pleaded that no penitent converts should be baptized without majority decision of the church, no printed gospel material should be distributed without the permission of their newly con-stituted central organization which they styled “As-sembly.”
According to the views of the digressives, our fel-lowship with the. Christians of the New Testament faith in America and other parts of the world is invalid and unconstitutional unless their central organization approves. Those of us who pleaded for unity among all Christians of the New Testament faith were accused as agents of the American churches. We who pleaded for simple Bible teachings knew nothing such as a central organization. It is a sheer brain wave of the digressive leaders. In order to meet their own selfish purposes they, by sheer force of their childish arguments, sought to shift all the powers of congregations to their fantastic “Assembly.” They were indirectly encouraged to carry on all these denominational and unscriptural teachings by the Christian Church Missionary who very often had correspondence with them. He entirely championed their actions for reasons best known to him. The last stage of division occurred on the second and third visits of the same missionary in May-June 1950. One Sunday when this missionary was present, a denominational preacher was invited to preach to the Christians. True to his denominational beliefs he preached hundred percent denominational teachings including baptism by sprinkling and infant baptism. Naturally, the faithful Christians opposed such an action. The trouble makers stood with one voice with the help and under the instigation of the Christian. Church Missionary, that if we differed with their teachings we must quit from the vicinity of the church meeting house.
Soon after his departure from Shillong, the digressive party who now cooperate with him wrote a lot of unfounded statements which they circulated to all congregations. The main points mentioned in their statements are these:—
1. That the churches of Christ also known as Christian churches are one and the same as the churches of
Christ with which Brother McMillan identifies in so far as doctrine, organization and worship are concerned.
2. That the churches of Christ in America cooperate with denominations in certain matters including exchange
of preachers in pulpits.
3. That we who pleaded for purely scriptural teachings do not like non-Christians to attend at gospel
and that we want to preach only to Christians.
4. That Brother McMillian fully endorsed their de-nominational stand and that he was very displeased with our
unprogressive plea for simple gospel teachings.
5. That we who pleaded for true worship including regular partaking of the Lord’s Supper and vocal music will
soon ex-communicate all Christians who do not partake of the Lord’s Supper every week.
6. That we had already broken connection with the church and that we did not like to explain to the
congregations the reasons why we had drifted away from the faith.
7. That the digressives had used all means to per-suade us to do away with all our wrong teachings in order to
bring in unity and that, they claimed, we refused to listen to their loving plea for unity.
8. That we have misappropriated thousands of dollars sent from the States and would soon be arrested along
with all those who should stand with us.
All these were unfounded statements.
Three weeks after the Christian Church Missionary left Shillong we who had been partaking of the Lord’s supper regularly were told to worship elsewhere. In fact we were threatened physical punishment if we did not listen to their verbal warning. One Sunday they locked up the doors of the meeting house in order to interrupt the regular worship service including partaking of the Lord’s Supper. The last fda|y we met together for worship wiith the digressive group was a Sunday. It was a fairly big meeting. Among the attendants were relatives of the digressive leaders who came to the meeting not to hear the gospel but to attack the faithful Christians should they dare utter a word against their unscriptural actions. A denominational preacher did the preaching and he used that occasion to bolster his denominational church. We foresaw the unfavorable circumstances that would arise should we continue to meet and work together with the unfaithful Christians who have not the slightest desire to maintain faithfulness in the church. The digressive group had other advantages because they had wittingly the trusteeship of the church property transferred to them, and secondly an American Missionary of the Christian Church was immediately sent to Shillong to champion their cause with his experience in creating division and with money from his sponsors. The faithful Christians from that time onward held meetings separately in the homes of Christians for some weeks, and then in a shed placed at the disposal of the church by a faithful Christian man who is one of the staunch leaders of the Restoration Movement. For the last three years the digressives used their time and money to create division in the ranks of the faithful Christians. Some babes in Christ fell prey to their enticing words only to be neglected soon after. They use this with the help of their mercenary preachers who are objects to be pitied for their total lack of the word. At present many of the sincere Christians who have been identifying with the digressive group saw their mistakes and we have every hope to restore them to the truth.
During the last three years we have been able to preach the gospel as never before in the villages and in the big town of Shillong. Despite the limitation in money and time, we have not refused to respond to the invitation of any group of people or individuals who desire to hear the good news. The church in India encourages all Christians to be active leaders according to their abilities and resources.
We try in all possible ways to follow the New Testa-ment teachings. The Christians in India are very grateful to the Christians in the States for their 'demonstration of love and moral and financial support. Specific mention may be made namely:—That you have sent Brother McMillan and Brother Tinius to visit India. Brother McMillan is well known among the digressive congregations. We are. sure that if he could make another short trip to India some congregations would be restored to the truth. Brother Tinius has robed the hearts of the faithful Christians in India. We are confident that he will be one of the fittest preachers from this country for the Indian mission field. That you have recently responded to our request for help to print Christian song books. Through Brother Wallace we always learned that the Christians in America remember in prayer their Christian friends in India and that they are anxious for the progress and prosperity of the church in India. The future of the church in India is most encouraging. The thousands of denominational members among the Khasi tribe hunger for undenominational Christianity. Giving the scriptural teachings by intensive preaching and religious tracts, we hope the hundreds will rally to the banners of Christ in no distant date. We are optimistic about the future of the church although discouragement may come up with every step.
H«lph L. Starling-
Evangelist