Becoming an Insider

Andrews University

Seventh-day Adventist Theological Seminary

FIELD RESEARCH REPORT

A Case Study

Presented in Partial Fulfillment

of the Requirements for the Course

MSSN 840 Research Methods in Mission and Ministry

by

Silvano Barbosa dos Santos

Fall 2014

2

Becoming an Insider

I recently had the opportunity to spend about two months observing how the

Seventh-day Adventist Church works in Hindu, Buddhist and Muslim contexts. During

this time, my family and I talked or interviewed church members and pastors in different

leadership positions in the hierarch of the church, as well as adherents and religious

leaders of Hinduism, Buddhism and Islam.1 We traveled to India, Thailand, Malaysia

and Singapore, but most of our time was spent in India, where preaching the Seventh-day

Adventist message to more than one billion Hindus is an almost unimaginable challenge.2

After living some time in this totally new environment, a few things became clear

to me. The first one is related to the high cost that must be paid by missionaries before

1 Part of my preparation process for this trip was made through the reading of Timmothy C.

Tennent, Christianity at The Religious Roundtable (Grand Rapids: MI, Baker Academic, 2002). Tennant offers in his work a philosophical understanding of the concept of God in Hinduism, Buddhism, and Islam. What I noticed in the field, however, was that common regular people do not have a deep understanding of their own religions, and it is not possible to talk to them using philosophical concepts. Nevertheless, having this philosophical knowledge of the world religions is indispensable anyways, since it provides a framework for understanding the several folk interpretations of different aspects of their religion.

2 Another important aspect in regards to the preparation for encountering other world religions is having an understanding about the different attitudes that Christians has been evidencing toward them throughout history. At some point, you can realize some of that attitudes coming up in your own behavior. Being aware of these things is the first step to deal with them. About different attitudes towards the world religions see Veli-Matti Karkkainen, An Introduction To The Theology of Religions (Downers Grove: IL, IVP Academic, 2003), 55-103.

3

they can be considered an Insider.3 In order to be seen by locals as one of them, it is

necessary that the missionaries be willing to give up on the lifestyle they had in order to

fully embrace the new reality, to the point of feeling at home in a completely different

world. Only then they will really be accepted and will be able to exercise a lasting

influence.

This degree of acculturation will not take place before missionaries are able to

learn the language of the

country, get used to the climate

of the region, and enjoy the

local food. 4 Language barriers

are manageable when there is

someone to translate from

English to the local language.

However, the very fact that

they need a translator is clear

evidence that they are not at

home!

3 Paul Hiebert comprehensively approaches this topic considering three basic dimensions of culture: cognitive, effective and evaluative. Hiebert affirms that each one of this aspects may represent a stabling block on the process of becoming a effective participant in a given society. These obstacles must be removed. Some of the most frequent problems in this process are related to cross-‐cultural misunderstandings, ethnocentrism, pre-‐mature judgments, cultural relativism and overcoming the challenges of becoming a bi-‐cultural person. See Paul Hiebert, Anthropological Insights for Missionaries (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Book House, 1985), 91-‐110. 4 Becoming a insider requires more than these three aspects. Even so, the three areas of adaptation mentioned here are those, which in my experience represent the first obstacles to be removed on the way for a complete acculturation. Ibid, 108.

Photo 1 – Series of sermons at the Seventh-‐day Adventist School of Madurai.

4

Translators helped me during the time that I spent in India, not only for the public

preaching of the Bible, but also for conducting interviews with Hindu priests and

believers in general.

Especially in non-

Adventist contexts,

the presence of a

translator was

extremely

important.

It became

clear to me that

learning how to

speak the local

language is fundamental for winning the local’s confidence and sympathy. The same fact

can be observed here in the US, where my family and I have been living for two years

and seven months. I have noticed that whenever Berrien Springs locals, whom I am not

acquainted with, see me talking to another American, they react in a certain fashion.

Their body language, voice tone, and other verbal and non-verbal language somehow

evidences sympathy and acceptance, or at least, they seem unsurprised with us.

Whenever I am talking to another foreigner in Portuguese or Spanish, their reaction

transmits the idea of distance, as if they were uncomfortable with our presence.

Photo 2 – Interview with a Hindu priest. Prabu, a local Seventh-‐day Adventist member who speaks the Tamil language, served as translator.

5

As long as the climate is concerned, during the time I was in India, the

temperature varied between 47 ° and 48 ° C (116.6–118.4 F), and I do not remember

seeing an Indian

with a sweaty

face. At the same

time, my

suffering was

evident and

transmitted to all

the unintended

message that I

needed to find

refuge elsewhere.

As for the food, how to ignore the claims of my brain informing my stomach

every five hours that I was in the wrong place and needed to do something immediately

about that?

I believe

that, for this reason,

a church member in

Singapore told me

that I would be

ready to do an

effective work

Photo 3 – Sabbath morning at Mumbai — 118.4 F°

Photo 4 – Lunch meal offered to my family when we arrived at the Seventh-‐day Adventist School of Madurai.

6

among them by the time I was cooking their food in my own home, in a way that they

liked. What he meant was that, it would take time for the to see the world as they do.

Once again, moving to the United States can provide a further example about this topic.

Whenever the Brazilian club promotes a potluck, my family brings a Brazilian dish

whereas those who have been living in this country for over ten years bring an American

dish. The local food has become their regular food, even though they are Brazilians. I

had a better understanding about Jesus’ incarnation through this experience, and now I

am convinced that nothing but an incarnational attitude is required so that missionaries

can be efficient in their work.

A second point that I would like to make in regards to this experience in Asia is

related to the importance of having a learning attitude. In fact, there is a lot to learn and

much of what is learned can be applied and somehow bring about positive change,

promoting new approaches to well known methodologies in our homeland.5

I learned from my brothers in India that it is possible to win thousands of people

to Jesus using an indirect approach to communicate the message. In Brazil, for example,

there is total freedom to preach the gospel. Besides, more than eighty-seven percent of

the population is Christians. These facts has historically lead Adventists to apply a very

direct approach when proclaiming the Seventh-day Adventist message. Indeed,

emphasizing Seventh-Adventist distinctive beliefs is one of the most successful methods

to draw attention and interest of Catholics and Protestants in this country.

5 See Hiebert comments on the bi-‐cultural bridge in Paul Hiebert, Anthropological Insights for Missionaries, 227-‐255.

7

In contrast, more than eighty percent of the population in India is Hindu. This fact

has been leading the Seventh-day Adventist church in this country to develop an indirect

approach to proclaim their message. Over a hundred years, they have applied numerous

indirect approaches that can teach us how to communicate the value and relevance of the

Adventist message to people who are not willing to hear it or believe it is irrelevant.6

I believe that the employment of this approach may be added to what the

Adventist Church has already been doing in Brazil. This would enable us to reach an

audience that has currently been overlooked for not being open to a direct exposure of the

biblical truths.

A third important aspect of my visit to this country was the opportunity to get a

face- to-face feedback on the viability of having missionaries working among them. A

few questions were in my mind: (1) Do they still se themselves as a mission field? (2)

Are they willing to receive foreign missionaries? (3) What main difficulties would

Brazilian missionaries face there before could be able to be considered Insiders? These

question were addressed in informal conversation and semi-formal interviews. In total

numbers, I recorded twenty-seven interviews. The transcript of one of them is presented

bellow.

Interview With Pastor Ravi Gill

Ravi Gill is the president of the president of the Madhya Bharat Section of the

6 About the challenge of presenting the Biblical message in a relevant way within a new cultural context, see David W. Henderson, Culture Shift (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books, 1998), 20-‐37.

8

Seventh-day Adventist Church, based in Jaipur, India. He began his ministry in 1979 as

pastor and teacher of Sri Ganganagar Adventist School. Then served as pastor and

publishing department

director in the city of

Udaipur Kanbai. In

the fourteen following

years, pastor Gill

served as pastor,

teacher and deputy

director of the

Adventist School of

Roorkee. From 1999 to 2005 he was director of the School of Lucknow. Since then,

pastor Ravi Gill is the president of Madhya Bharat Section of the Seventh-day Adventist

Church. He graduated in Theology at the Adventist University of Pune, where he also

earned a degree in History.

I met Pastor Ravi

Gill on a visit to the city of

Jaipur. That Saturday, a

gorgeous Women’s

Ministry program was

taking place. It was very

interesting to hear the local

music, to observe the

Photo 6 – Pastor Ravi Gill

Photo 7 – Woman’s Ministry Sabbath at Jaipur Seventh-‐Day Adventist Church.

9

costumes of the region, and to participate in the worship service. However, the most

amazing part was the conversation I had with pastor Gill, which began after the service,

continued after lunch and ended latter that evening.

I was impressed with his hospitality, care, and attention, but these qualities are not

so dificult to find in India. What's really rare is the passion that pastor Gill has for the

mission of the Church. After more than thirty years in ministry, he remains updated, open

to new ideas, and willing to try new possibilities, since his driving force is to see the

message being spread

in his region.

Ravi Gill is

also a visionary. He

sees temples where

today there is only

vacant land; plenty of

water where it rains

only a few times a

year. He can see institutions that will gain the sympathy of the masses functioning, even

though most of its members receive the equivalent to twenty dollars per month. But do

not confuse this with ingenuity. Instead, he dreams with open eyes because he has seen

other dreams come true. The compound in which is located the conference, the local

church, a school, a small building with residential apartments, and some meeting rooms

are evidence of this, and for this reason he continues to dream.

Photo 8 — Jaipur Seventh-‐day Adventist Conference

10

In this interview he makes an appeal for assistance to members, pastors, and

leaders of the Seventh-day Adventist Church in Brazil. At the same time, he addresses

what he thinks would be the main difficulties to be faced by Brazilian missionaries in his

region. Nevertheless, he also emphasizes that these challenges have been overcome in the

past, what can perfectly be done by Brazilians missionaries as well.

Silvano Barbosa — Tell us about your territory.

Ravi Gill —The Madhya Bharat Section is composed of two major states of

India: Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh. There are 150 million people in this region, being

eighty-eight percent Hindu, eight percent Muslim, one and a half percent Sikhs and one

point two percent Jains. These people live in Sixty cities, eighty-three districts, 616 towns

and 97,362 villages. We currently have a record of 6,918 members and eleven ordained

pastors, who meet in fifty churches and 160 groups.

Silvano Barbosa — How did you get to know he Seventh-day Adventist

message?

Ravi Gill — I was baptized when I was fourteen years old in one of our schools.

An Australian pastor named Michael Stanley, baptized me in a river during a camping

trip. In this school, pastors and teachers taught us about our message over the years.

When I accepted the truth about the Sabbath, I did not tell my parents. But when I

returned home, God helped me and gradually I was able to transmit the message to them.

Silvano Barbosa — Why did you decide to become a pastor?

Ravi Gill — When I was being baptized, pastor Michael Stanley asked me what I

would do in life and I said I would be a minister of God.

Silvano Barbosa — At fourteen?

11

Ravi Gill — Yes, at fourteen, and after 34 years in ministry I still have passion

for people and am willing to share the love of Jesus.

Silvano Barbosa — What kind of opposition has the Church faced here?

Ravi Gill — The opposition suffered is basically related to the ideological

difference of Hinduism towards us. Recently, a new government was established and it

can be said that they do not like Christians: our lifestyle or anything related to us. They

are very orthodox

and do not want

anyone to come in

and change their

culture. Still, I

believe we can

reach these people

through the health

message. This is

one of the best

ways to spread the

Gospel here. We

may have to adopt their culture so that we can reach them. Maybe we will not use a tie or

go out to preach. We can use the same clothes they are wearing and reach them where

they are following the method of Jesus, so that we have a chance to share our message.

To overcome the opposition, we need to get rid of the cultural differences so that we can

mix with them. Christianity is seen as a foreign religion that competes with the local

Photo 9 – Worship ritual in a Temple dedicated to a Krishna in Delhi.

12

religion. In addition, they also do not really know what Christianity really is, what Christ

can offer to them. It is within this context that we have to finish the work.

Silvano Barbosa — What are some of the challenges you are facing here to

proclaim the message?

Ravi Gill —We don’t have many churches here. Besides, we don’t have many

support materials to reach out these people. The majority of our materials are in English.

We would like to translate the Church materials and pass them out in the form of

brochures or books. We also don’t have many educational institutions where our children

can be educated. When we educate our children in the local church, the Church will

become stronger, and when we do not train our lay members and their children properly,

then we became weak and the church fails, especially for not taking care of young people

who are the backbone of the Church.

There is still another point about which we need to reflect. I feel embarrassed to

tell you this, but we also don’t have enough pastors in our region. We need pastors. We

need workers. Even if all workers from South-east Asia came to this region, there would

still be the need for more pastors.

Here in Jaipur, we have a population of more than four million people and only

one church, and there are still nearly 100 thousand villages that need to be reached.

Again, I am ashamed to say this, but many of the young people who graduate from our

university in Pune will work in call centers as technicians, or as an IT specialist in the

area of Technology, and the Church is not able to retain them. This is one reason for the

shortage of workers and pastors.

13

We started here in our headquarters a seminary for the training of lay members,

which worked for two years, but unfortunately it is closed now due to the lack of funds.

Silvano Barbosa — In addition to the lack of pastors, what are some of the other

needs that we have in this region today?

Ravi Gill — I will list just a few:

1. Professional: To train and educate pastors and teachers.

2. Economical and financial: in as much as the members of this region are

too poor to make contribution for the development of the work here, it is

essential to seek overseas assistance.

3. School /Institutions: To strengthen the backbone of the Local Church , it

is essential to educate the children of the laity and the others. They are

the ones that will carry the worldwide Mission forward till the end.

4. Hospitals/dispensary: There are thousands of people ignorant of health

and hygiene and prevention of many diseases. Our health message will

create an awareness regarding the health principles and promote better

health among the masses. It would be appropriate to have dispensaries

all over this region to ensure health and sanitation.

5. Child Literacy centers: These are a valuable medium to reach many

homes with the Word of God and the health message.

6. Adult literacy centers: Educate a woman and you educate the entire

family.

14

7. Adventist book centers/Libraries: These will bring Adventist Literature

within the reach of the common masses and they will have easy access

to the treasure stored in our books.

8. Literature in local languages: These will bring Adventist Literature

within the reach of the common masses in their own language and

dialect. There is a great need to print seventh Day Adventist Literature in

local languages for free distribution. Above all there is a need of Bibles

printed in Hindi and Marwari to be purchased for distribution.

9. Drinking water: Water-borne diseases are a major problem in Rajasthan.

The provision of clean drinking water shall prove to be a blessing to the

community.

Moreover,

Rajasthan is an

area where

rainfall is

sporadic and the

women have to

fetch water from

far distances.

The installation of hand pumps shall also be a blessing to them.

10. Church buildings: Many of the places where our work is growing are

without a proper place to worship.

Photo 10 – Public laundry in Delhi

15

11. Transportation. We need to reach the people in the remote areas of this

region. Having at least two good four wheelers will facilitate us to move

faster into these areas with the Gospel of Christ. It will also save time

which could be used to achieve other goals.

12. Washing Machines for Evangelism: This project is a step to reach out to

the masses. People will get their clothes to be washed ironed free but

they stay back for one hour to listen to Christian songs and a small

message from the Word of God.

13. Small scale Industries: It will provide job opportunities for our church

member and others interested. (basket making, Tailoring, pottery

making, fishery, Bread making factory, Carpet making, etc.

Silvano Barbosa — What are some of the ways that the Church in Brazil can

help this region?

Ravi Gill — You can help us by bringing teams of workers to teach the health

message, training our people with Bible seminars, establishing or working in clinics. We

will be glad to receive your teams here. Come and let us join our hands to do the work. I

appeal to you to step forward and come because there is a great need throughout this

region. We need a large hospital, institutions, we need our literature to be translated,

printed and distributed, and we must continue our Bible institute so we can train our

volunteer members. Come to train our pastors, leaders and volunteer members for three

or six weeks, we will be very happy to welcome you here. If you have a program on

sanitation or some literature that shows how the gospel can be preached through this

16

venue, you are more than welcome to come here to share your ideas and any help we are

willing to share with us.

I also appeal to you to come and help us build churches, which are memorials to

the true throughout this region. We do not have sufficient resources and the vast majority

of our members are very poor. They are part of the working class, and all they earn is

barely enough for them to survive. They are faithful, but what they give is not enough to

meet our needs. There are millions and millions of people here. We need to build

churches, not one but hundreds, thousands of churches, but this will only be possible with

the help of God through all of you.

Silvano Barbosa — What kind of missionaries would be more useful here in

your region: pastors, teachers, professionals or volunteer members?

Ravi Gill — All are needed, all help is welcome here. But I believe that God's

work will not be complete without the participation and support of volunteer members. If

they come to our region, they will bring resources, establish business and at the same

time, can share their faith. We also need pastors and teachers to train our people in

relation to spirituality, biblical preaching, family counseling and many other topics.

Silvano Barbosa — What are the biggest challenges that missionaries will face in

order to be effective here?

Ravi Gill — First you must face this weather. It is very hot in the summer (118.4

F° on this day), and very cold in the winter. In addition, there is obviously the challenge

of learning the local language. The cultural differences are also a reality, for example, our

food. At the same time, I can mention missionaries who came to this land and were able

to overcome these challenges, learned local languages and reached the people in their

17

communities. I'm sure that, as you come, God will help you, you will get used and we

will keep moving forward. God will provide and you will be able to face this weather.

We will be here to support you.

Silvano Barbosa — If there are pastors in Brazil willing to serve here as district

pastors, working side by side with local pastors, under the leadership of the local

conference, you really believe this would work and they would be a great help in this

area?

Ravi Gill - Yes, it will be a great help for our conference and, of course, we are

here to support you all. We are here to walk with you. We will be at the meetings to

translate or to do whatever is necessary. We'll be together as a team. Of course there will

be some difficulties such as language, but soon you will learn, and if you come here to

work and help us, it will be a blessing to the community. We may have to build a new

institution for them. We may have to open a clinic, God may help us to build a large

hospital and when the people see this and all the benefits, we will have the opportunity to

reach them.

Silvano Barbosa — What message would you send to those in Brazil who can

make this possible?

Ravi Gill — My brothers and sisters of Brazil, I want to give a warm welcome to

you here in our conference. In this region there are still thousands of villages and towns

that do not know Jesus. I appeal to you to step forward and give your heart, your time,

your resources and all you can so that we can finish the work and Jesus come back soon.

God will bless our effort. Let us be an instrument and a channel of justice in the hands of

the Almighty!

18

Conclusion

Partnering with in God in his mission is surely one of the greatest

privileges granted to men. 7 In fact, instead of carrying out his mission on his own, God

chooses to involve his people with Him, working through them to accomplish His

purposes. When He is about to take a further step to advance His mission, He comes to

one or more of His servants and lets them know what He is about to do. He invites them

to join Him so that He can accomplish every aspect of His mission through them.8 This is

the divine principle of cooperation without which no true success can be achieved in the

work of wining souls for Christ.

However, God's work must be done in God's way. "As the Father has sent me, so

I send you" (John 20: 21-22). In order to accomplish his mission, Jesus became one of us.

In the broadest sense, he became an Insider. I believe that this was the most important

lesson learned in this trip. Here are some other conclusions:

1. In order to exercise a lasting influence and to perform an efficient work,

missionaries must be willing to accept the challenge of becoming an Insider.

However, it have to be emphasize that there is a high cost to be paid by the

missionary before he or she can be considered a local by the locals.

Missionaries need to be willing to give up on the lifestyle they knew in

7 Ellen White, Atos dos Apostolos (Tatuti,SP: Casa Publicadora Brasileira, 1995), 1-‐3.

8 Henry T. Blackaby and Avery T. Willis, Jr., Perspectives on The World Christian Movement, ed. Ralph Winter (Pasadena, CA: William Carey Library, 2009), 75.

19

2. order to fully embrace the new reality. Only then they will have the chance

of being considered by the locals as "one of us", despite of physical,

cultural, religious, and other differences.

3. Some of the first obstacles to be removed so that the mission can become an

insider are related to the local food, the climate of the region and the

language. Overcoming only these three factors require intentionality and

availability for several months, or years.

4. Becoming an Insider presupposes long-term missionary work. Although

there are places and circumstances where any help is welcome, missionary

should be aware that it will take several years in the field before they will be

able to accomplish their work.

5. After interviewing church leaders in different roles and positions, I realized

that there are many places open to receive missionaries. Still, local leaders

are not willing to give up on the leadership positions they have achieved in

their carriers. Most of the times, the presence of missionaries are still

associated foreign imposed authority, which means a threat to their status.

Therefore, missionaries should be warned to behave with discernment and

humbleness, understanding that their role is not to define what should be

done, but instead, to join the local workers to add in what they are already

doing. They must recognize that long before they arrived in that place, the

Holy Spirit was already working there. Therefore, building trust as time

goes by will provide the circumstances for implementing change.

20

6. Missionaries can learn new approaches in the mission field that can be

implemented in their homelands. They must be open to learning,

recognizing that God has faithful and capable servants in other countries.

21

BIBLIOGRAFIA

Blackaby, Henry T. and Willis, Avery T. Jr., Perspectives on The World Christian Movement, Ed. Ralph Winter. Pasadena, CA: William Carey Library, 2009. Corduan, Winfried. Neighboring Faiths. Downers Grove: Illinois, 2012. Henderson, David W. Culture Shift. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books, 1998.

Hiebert, Paul. The Gospel in Human Context. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academics, 2009.

_______________. Transforming Worldviews. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academics, 2008.

_______________. Anthropological Insihts for Missionaries. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Book House, 1985. Karkkainen, Veli-Matti. An Introduction To The Theology of Religions. Downers Grove: IL, IVP Academic, 2003. Tennent, Timmothy C.. Christianity at The Religious Roundtable. Grand Rapids: MI, Baker Academic, 2002. White, Ellen. Atos dos Apostolos. Tatui, SP: Casa Publicadora Brasileira, 1995.

Becoming an Insider

Documents