South Asian Forum of the Evangelical Alliance Newsletter
Issue 25: December 2016
S outh As i a n F orum of the
Evangelical Alliance
connecting, uniting, representing
The South Asian Forum (SAF) is a grouping within the Evangelical Alliance, it was set up to provide a place for South Asian Christians in the UK to encourage, support and equip each other for mission, and to represent their concerns to government, media and the wider Church. With the support of both individual members and church members totalling more than 20,000 people, SAF is steadily growing. Visit saf.eauk.org to get involved in supporting this wonderful
ministry by becoming a member of SAF. Once you become a member, you will receive idea, the Alliance’s bi-monthly magazine, as well as regular newsletters from SAF detailing our progress. If you are already a member of the Evangelical Alliance you can add SAF to your Alliance membership at no extra cost. In this instance please send an email to saf@eauk.org
Manoj Raithatha interviews Usha Reifsnider: SAF’s new Programme Coordinator
I raised my hand to accept Jesus and walked forward for prayer. At home I told my parents. They were very upset as they thought I wanted to abandon my family. Decades of misunderstandings gave way to reconciliation and both of my parents coming to Christ.
What is your background?
What is your ministry experience?
I am British Gujarati, second generation, born in the West Midlands. Like many others, my dad came to England to work in a factory to provide for his pregnant wife, widowed mum, younger brother, abandoned sister and her children. In England we lived around working class, white British people. There were few Indians around. My mum said the nurses in hospital where I was born came to see me as an Indian baby was a rarity. There were few Hindu temples then. Wedding and religious celebrations were in school or town halls or sometimes at universities around the country, which my extended family attended. Some of us were involved with singing for special events. The Hindu temple in West Bromwich was built around the early 1970’s.
How was your faith journey? At primary school a teacher invited my older sister to Sunday school. My parents were thrilled that an English woman would befriend us. I remember attending a Don Summers event at Dudley Town Hall. He said ignoring the voice of the Holy Spirit could make the conscience numb. I remember the illustration of moving house and living next to the fire station, being woken by the bells of the fire engine, and how it would eventually become background noise. I knew I needed forgiveness. I had done wrong before God.
My earliest attempts at ministry were disastrous! I would sit at the front of the bus and sing hymns hoping to share Jesus. Some bus drivers smiled, others learned to pass me when they saw me at the bus stop. Later I worked for a wonderful homeless ministry in Birmingham for a few years. My heartbeat is for missions. My husband and I have served in foreign mission mostly with refugees, migrants and victims of trafficking for almost 30 years.
What are you studying? I am researching for a PhD at the Oxford Centre for Mission Studies. My interest is British Gujarati religious experience. How can the British Gujarati follow Christ, remain in their family and embrace aspects of their cultural background? As a British Gujarati Christfollower I seek ways for Jesus not be seen as foreign and irrelevant by South Asians.
What are you passionate about? The obvious one is sharing Jesus in a way that is understood. I am also passionate about seeing the Majority world Church, now bigger than the Western church, take confident steps into new approaches of worldwide mission. I long for increased partnerships with the Western church and the Majority world Church. On a personal level, I am passionate about family, not just my husband and two children and the extended family by blood, but the international family of God that I have had the honour to meet. I am also passionate about long distance running, which is on a bit of a hiatus due to a knee injury.
What is your role at South Asian Forum? As programme coordinator I plan events to bring South Asians together to engage in ways of growing the Church. In addition I get the benefit of talking to people about my research and encouraging them to explore God’s plan for the Church outside of their culture and community.
SAF profiles its work, partners and resources in the quarterly Newsletter and on our website saf.eauk.org
London's church leaders gathered to reach the world on their doorstep
Asian mission workers. There was an immediate connection that made me feel part of something so vital in the country right now."
The Reaching the World on Your Doorstep event last month was a huge success, with more than 200 church leaders learning about reaching out to those of other faiths.
Michael Green, CMS Westgate churches migrant communication worker, said:
The day was organised by London City Mission, South Asian Concern, Evangelical Alliance and Global Connections, to "encourage and equip churches to reach out more confidently to those around them who are of different faiths and cultures". The event was well attended by a wide variety of churchmanship both in audience and presenters. The workshops, taught by current practioners, covered a range of topics including eastern religions, multicultural Church, refugees, understanding culture, multicultural leadership, street prayer and bookstall mission and others.
Nusrat, Interserve cross-cultural mission worker, said: "I loved seeing so many people interested in reaching the migrant population. It was good to see British South Asians taking hold of the idea to get involved with mission instead of relying on the traditional English church to do the work alone. I appreciate the opportunity to have my voice heard as well. This was because I saw a South Asian woman leading a workshop and teaching instead of us always being the ones taught. This means a lot. "I would love to see more events like this that enable us to socialize and network as well. As a South Asian in ministry I rarely get to be with such a large group with whom I have so much in common. It was really good to meet other South
"I came away greatly enthused and have been sharing with other workers in Ipswich since the event. The future implications of our work to reach our migrant neighbours is huge. While I have overseas mission experience, the migrant context is very different. Being around others who not only have experience in this area, but are continuously looking for ways of relating to multiple generations of multi ethnic, multi religious backgrounds was very stimulating. "Pastor Steve Uppal of All Nations Church shared the story of how someone knocked the door of his family home when he was a baby and led his Sikh parents to Jesus. Now he reaches his own South Asian people group, but also in reverse mission he is reaching the native population of England. "In the workshops I appreciated the idea of looking for ways to reach families rather than extracting a convert. My church had been asking for a plan to disciple Christ followers from other religions. It's helpful to have a variety of resources as well networks of workers that can help each other.
Matthew Irvine, a church planter to South Asian Migrants, said: "This was a very encouraging event with a great cross section of ministries genuinely interested in reaching migrants. The contents of the workshops were so relevant to the needs of those working among a variety of migrant groups. "The speakers were not just those experienced in this type of ministry but also those from other faith
Photo from South Asian Concern
South Asian Forum of the Evangelical Alliance
backgrounds that could speak from their personal experiences of their own journey to Christ and in sharing with others of the same religious and cultural backgrounds. This added value and a sense of reality. "As one involved in this type of ministry for a while, I heard about one attendee with new migrant populations in their town. Encouraging the Church to actual involve ministry to the migrant community is a challenge. Feeling out of their depth they found useful resources and networks of support at the event. "Major ministries were involved throughout the day. There was a genuine sense of shared understanding. Not one claimed expertise, but brought ideas and acknowledged the wide spectrum of approaches. All offered to share their experiences and resources for the task of Reaching the World on Your Doorstep."
Book Review- World on Your Doorstep by Dewi Hughes If you live in Newham or Tower Hamlets in London one third of your neighbours in the borough are Muslims, outside London in Blackburn, Bradford, Birmingham, Luton and Slough, it will be about a quarter. A quarter of Harrow’s population are Hindu, a tenth of Slough’s is Sikh, and if you’re in Barnet you will have one fifth of the UK’s Jewish population as neighbours. Other religious groups are sparser, but the highest concentration of Buddhists (3.3 per cent of the population) is in Rushmore, Hampshire. The picture is clear: we live in a diverse society with adherents of many different religions in our communities. The World on our Doorstep starts with some of these statistics demonstrating the opportunities and challenges for mission to people of other faiths that exist in our neighbourhoods. In the foreword to the book Steve Clifford, general director at the Evangelical Alliance, comments on the shift in mission that has taken place over the past half century: “The missionary endeavours of previous generations took the message of Jesus – often at significant personal cost – to places where his name had not been heard, to people from major religions and innumerable belief systems.”
Become a member - saf.eauk.org
Clifford goes on to say: “We live in a different world today. Not only is travel much easier, and the task of overseas mission practically less challenging although there remain places where to speak of Jesus’s good news places the bearer of that message in considerable peril – out neighbours are often from the places our ancestors took their missionary message. The world is on our doorstep.” The book, by Dewi Hughes, provides a strong provocation to reach out with the good news of Jesus to people in our neighbourhoods from other religions. But the book isn’t just an encouragement to get off the sofa and share the gospel, it is immensely practical and pastoral in its advice. A substantial section of the book is dedicated to helping churches disciple new believers from different religions, looks in detail at some of the challenges and shares stories of good practice which we can all learn from. A discussion on our use of language challenges evangelical habits, especially thinking through the connotations of words, such as conversion, and the notion of heaven for people from different cultures and beliefs. Throughout the book Dewi Hughes shares stories and case studies of Christians reaching out to different religious groups across the country. It is essential that our mission starts from a place of understanding the opportunities and challenges involved both in sharing the gospel and discipling new believers. Religion is increasing in significance across the world and our work places, schools and neighbourhoods will bring us into contact with people of all faiths and none. This book equips Christians to engage with those of other faiths wisely, demonstrating the love and good news of Jesus.
SAF profiles its work, partners and resources in the quarterly Newsletter and on our website saf.eauk.org
The World on our Doorstep provides a clear theological basis for mission to people of other religious groups, and some of the key challenges that will have to be navigated. The book was launched at a sold-out event shared by Evangelical Alliance, South Asian Concern, London City Mission and Global Connections. It is available to buy now on Lulu.com. You can read Steve Clifford's full foreword over on the Alliance's new Great Commission evangelism hub. Dewi Hughes was Tearfund's Theological Advisor for nearly two decades until his retirement in 2012. Author of numerous books, he now serves his local church, Temple Baptist Church, Pontypridd, as well as being part of the Alliance's Theology Advisory Group.
Written by Usha Reifsnider
Kanchan's Story: â€˜â€ŚI will serve you, but you sort the rest out.' "My earliest memories are of primary school singing hymns and hearing stories about Jesus from a supply teacher. A little later I heard the story of Elijah and the prophets of Baal. A classmate said it was from the Bible, quoting chapter and verse. I was really impressed. I found the story in the public library and another friend told me where I could get a free Bible. I went to Sunday school and learned the weekly memory verses to get a Bible of my own. I was fascinated with the idea of knowing God, but who Jesus was felt like a dangerous challenge. So I focused on the Old Testament stories about Moses, David and Samson. Eventually my parents became concerned so they took my Bible away and I no longer went to church. During this time a Sunday school teacher met me occasionally and gave me Bible lesson material. My friends would tell me stories and teach me songs like I Have Decided to Follow Jesus. I heard about a church summer camp, but I knew I would never be allowed to go. Then someone from the church visited my parents and miraculously I was allowed to attend. One day when I was about 15 I was walking up the hill to my house thinking about the claims of Jesusthe cross, the sin and how to be clean. I distinctly said to God: "If this true, if you are real, I will serve you, but you sort the rest out."
At that stage I was not a good Christ follower, but God was a good keeper. I saved up my dinner money and bought a Bible from the OM bookshop. As a secret believer there were classmates and school teachers who became light bearers in my life. At 17 I refused to participate in arti - a Hindu worship ritual. My parents were very upset and sought many ways to draw me back to Hindu practices and beliefs. My late teens and early 20s were fraught with identity struggles leading to depression and a suicide attempt. The shame of being a failure to my family and failing with my higher education and not being able to attend church was just overwhelming. Years later I met other South Asian Christ followers. I have learned the difference between the cultural Western Christianity that my parents feared would cause us to live immoral lives and being a British Gujarati Christ follower. As I learn how compatible following Christ is to my Indian values and morals, I am restoring and building relationships with the South Asian community, including my family. I understand that Christ and my Indian culture are my places of belonging. These experiences have made it possible for me to reach out to Asian single, divorced women and struggling mums of toddlers many of whom bear some sort of shame and limits their acceptance as part of the respectable Asian community. I journey with them through hardships. My life continues to be a constant reminder of what Jesus brought me through. I often have dreams of being 15 and a never ending walk up that hill. It is a poignant reminder that God is still sorting out the rest.