In recent years, influenced by the charismatic preaching seen on international Christian television channels, the preacher tends to move around on the pulpit and preach very loud in his attempt to imitate the Christianity viewed on the television.
Indian churches typically use an elevated pulpit or a preaching stand. Preaching in Indian churches is also influenced by the western heritage. But the church will remain Westernized and will not be bothered about either the new believers or the common people yet to be reached with the gospel. If he wants to survive among them, then he must become conformed to their image in all the areas of his life. Where are Christians who can speak in languages familiar to the people? If a new believer ever goes to a church service, he cannot even understand the message, not to mention all the other activities of the church. Dayanand Bharati, a leading Christian theologian, says about the language in church: It is not unusual to see the Christians being mocked by people of other religions for the strange form of language that was used in the church. The language used in the church is much different from the common language. In the mind of an Indian these show a lack of respect and devotion to God.ĭue to the limitations of the missionaries’ language understanding, the liturgies and the translated hymns do not match the common usage of the language. But Christian churches do not emphasize these aspects in their worship. According to the Hindu tradition no one may enter the place of worship unclean or wearing sandals. But the Christian churches accepted the Western form of sitting on pews for worship. During the time of prayer they kneel, with their heads bowed to the ground. People sit on the floor, with their legs crossed, as an expression of their respect to their deity. In most Indian religions worshipers sit on a thick mattress spread on the floor. At Christmas time, churches in South India use hymns that talk about winter and snow-when the temperature is 80° F and the people have never seen snow!Īnother significant aspect that the Indian church lost in worship was the posture of worship. The only musical instrument that was allowed in the church was organ only the Catholic, Pentecostal and Charismatic churches attempted to use some of the indigenous musical instruments for worship. Use of the indigenized liturgies was limited to the seminaries and ashrams. Although many Indian Christians wrote songs reflecting their theology in Indian terms, churches rarely took the initiative to use them in worship. But over the years there have been no attempts made to retranslate the Book of Common Prayer or the hymns, or to create a liturgy that is relevant in the Indian context. Problems in syllables and structures make it almost impossible for people to understand the texts of many songs. 1īecause of linguistic limitations, missionaries were not able to make a translation that fits well to the common use of the language. With that in mind, I would like to propose in this article some possibilities toward further indigenization of Christian worship in India. In addition, the Indian church has largely adopted Western pews and postures, with newer generation churches increasingly adopting songs from Euro-American contemporary Christian music, making the worship of the church even more Western. But now even a century later, churches still use the same hymnal and the translated Book of Common Prayer for worship. When missionaries came to India they translated the Bible and their own hymns into the local languages for use in worship.
Most mainline denominations follow a Westernized liturgy and music in their worship. One of the greatest challenges of the Indian Christian church is its Western heritage.
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