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Sharing with Hindus with Ken Roberts
206 Plays1 year ago
In this podcast episode, the hosts discuss the challenges and approaches to sharing the Christian faith with Hindus. They emphasize the need for cultural sensitivity and adaptation in cross-cultural communication. The conversation is focused on engaging with high-caste Hindus, both in India and in the diaspora.
The hosts introduce Ken Roberts, a guest with 15 years of experience in cross-cultural communication with high-caste Hindus in India and North America. Ken shares his journey of redirecting his life from a corporate career to a passion for serving and sharing Jesus with Hindus.
Ken discusses several challenges faced when sharing Christianity with Hindus. The hosts and Ken explore the role of cultural misconceptions in hindering effective communication. They stress the need to recognize the diversity within Hinduism and avoid projecting a singular view onto all Hindus. Ken also advises Christians to learn about Hindu culture, worldview, and beliefs to communicate more effectively.
The conversation shifts towards the concept of contextualization, which involves adapting the message of the gospel to resonate with the cultural context of the audience. Ken explains that contextualization is a biblical principle seen in the Old and New Testaments. He encourages listeners to study the Bible through the lens of cross-cultural ministry, learning from examples of adaptation in the scriptures.
Resources and suggestions:
-Disciple Making Among Hindus by Tim Shultz
-Christian Barriers to Jesus by Paul Pennington
-Ten Tips for Ministering to Hindus by HL Richard
Desiland Masala Podcast:
Bhajans (Worship Songs to Jesus/Yeshu):
Recommended
Transcript
Introduction to Engaging with Hindus
00:00:04
Speaker
Welcome, welcome, welcome back to Let's Talk Diaspora. And today I hope you have your cup of coffee or two cups of coffee. I know Bud might need two cups sometimes, but we've got a bunch ahead of us. Today our focus centers on the important topic of sharing our faith with Hindus.
00:00:26
Speaker
Engaging in such a conversation or these such conversations may invoke discomforts for some individuals, primarily because of the complexities and diverse beliefs within the Hindu faith.
00:00:41
Speaker
Hinduism's belief in multiple gods, the concept of karma and the use of practices like incenses, chants, and yoga can appear unfamiliar and even intimidating to many.
Sensitivity in Religious Discussions
00:00:54
Speaker
However, it is crucial to approach this subject with sensitivity and a genuine desire to foster understanding and build bridges between Christians and Hindus.
Ken Roberts' Cross-Cultural Journey
00:01:04
Speaker
Welcome. Thanks for the introduction, Rebecca. That's so true. If you remember, whenever we had our conversation with WADMASRI, we were talking about bridging barriers between Muslims and Christians. And really the focus of our topic today is to begin to have those conversations. And so I am not an expert in what that looks like. I have some experience. I have some ideas. But we said, hey, we want to get someone who is further down the road from then most of us who are listening.
00:01:34
Speaker
And so that's why today we have a special guest on the podcast to guide us through this topic. Ken Roberts is joining us. Ken has walked alongside High Cast Hindus for 15 years in both India and North America. Ken loves to help train and equip others in cross-cultural communication, Indian culture, and Hinduism. Welcome, Ken. Why don't you just start off by telling us a little bit about yourself and how the Holy Spirit has led you to love and share Jesus with Hindus.
00:02:04
Speaker
Thank you, guys. This is a pleasure. Really, it was definitely the Lord's plans and paths kind of redirecting my life from a corporate career or something that I was pursuing back in college to then
00:02:20
Speaker
changing my priorities and giving a heart for just other parts of the world, which kind of mobilized me to get to go and serve and be in South Asia where we jumped in the deep end, getting to love.
00:02:35
Speaker
high-caste Hindus in major cities, students and professionals, but they're making a lot of mistakes and wonderful mentors. The Lord has brought us, you know, we learned wonderful things about the culture and the people and just how to bridge good news in a way that makes sense in their worldview. So we love taking what we've learned and then passing on to help others who are trying to love their Hindu friends.
00:02:59
Speaker
And I love that you're saying that we're always learning, that you've been learning, you continue to learn, and you're passing on what you're learning to others. Before we dive deeper into this subject, because it can be one of those uncomfortable middles that we're talking about this season, let's lighten the mood a little bit and tell me what's your favorite memory or maybe a fun story of walking with Hindus towards Jesus?
00:03:26
Speaker
Yeah, I'd say it was really hard to pick up a favorite memory, but I'd say just that if I have a memory of it, it's the families, you know, and those deep relationships with families, you know, living in South Asia every day is a crazy adventure. It's never boring. You know, there's crazy festivals with millions of people, you know, and we got to interact in
00:03:48
Speaker
meet with very powerful, influential people and leaders of the country and the society. And as we've traveled, but I've always go back to my favorite memories are the families and the way when Indian families treat me part of their family is something very special.
Cultural Engagement and Challenges
00:04:03
Speaker
The Indian household's a beautiful thing to get invited in and, you know, be treated like an honored guest and loved like a family member. And it's something that we really can't comprehend in our Western culture.
00:04:14
Speaker
But my favorite memories are always about Indian festivals or weddings, the food, the dancing, just the joyfulness. And it's very meaningful, very beautiful. And those are the things I've always cherished the most. So Ken, you mentioned dancing. Are you like a really good Indian dancer? Do you fit in?
00:04:42
Speaker
Thankfully, when it comes to music and dance, you don't have to be good. You just got to try. There's no such thing as being embarrassed in Indian culture. So as long as you're out there trying your best and shaking something here and there, they love it. And it's so much fun. Music, dancing, it's a big part of the culture and communication.
00:05:06
Speaker
Uh, even if you're feeling embarrassed or you know, Tim, I just got to jump in and do it and uh, they'll welcome you in Wow, that's I think that's a good segue. It's a good analogy because when I think of like people wanting to be You know followers of jesus that fish for men. Um, we don't always have to know Everything it's like it's just get started because you know think of jesus He said follow me and i'll make you fishers of men He doesn't say like from day one that you are is like but we have to we have to do it So it's like an indian dance like
00:05:35
Speaker
We're just getting out there and the Lord is pleased with just getting out there. So that's really the topic of our conversation today is sharing our faith with Hindus. And so one of the questions I want to start with is what do you believe is the most significant challenge Christians face when sharing their faith with Hindus? And it could be like negative things that you've seen, but what's the biggest challenge?
00:06:00
Speaker
Sadly, there's dozens of challenges. One of the books I'll recommend at the end even dives into a lot of them. So for just the sake of time, I'm going to show the top three, because you can't even really boil it down to one. The first one I'd say of challenges is that Jesus is viewed as the foreign God.
00:06:19
Speaker
you know, most Indians, you know, in the Indian subcontinent, they've got thousands, millions of their own gods. And both with Christianity and Islam, they came in through colonization and invasion from other parts of the world. And so Jesus is viewed as the foreign Western Christian God, the God of the Europeans, the God of America,
00:06:38
Speaker
the God of the colonizers. And so it kind of creates that view of Jesus is not for us. He's for somewhere else from somewhere else. So that's the first challenge. He's the foreign Western God. The second is sadly, Jesus is also viewed as the low caste God. India is about 80% Hindu, maybe 13, 15% Muslim, and then 2 to 3% Christian based on sentences.
00:07:02
Speaker
But the majority of the Indian Christians who, you know, converted over centuries come from a lower level society background from the lowest castes, the untouchable Dalits, the tribal peoples. And so over 70% come from those lower rungs of society. And so that's created this stigma that
00:07:22
Speaker
Christianity is a low caste religion. And so the middle and upper castes kind of, again, presume that, well, to become a Christian, I'm going to become a low caste person, or I have to associate with low caste people. That's something that is bad and wrong that the enemy uses as a discouragement, again, in terms of social relationship and social status, which is a challenging barrier.
00:07:47
Speaker
And the last one is, again, just with a lot of unique history in India, Jesus is more viewed as bad news than good news. He's viewed as the family breaker, the shame bringer, rather than good news and someone who brings blessings, which he should be.
00:08:03
Speaker
And so typically it's been extraction conversion where one person comes to faith, but then leaves the family. They change their government identity, lose the rights of inheritance, mess up marriage proposals, and they're always viewed as a black sheep. And it's never a positive blessing for the family and community. And that tends to be kind of the history of missions in India, which has a lot of, you could say shrapnel or damage left in the wake.
00:08:30
Speaker
Wow. One thing, just a follow up question. In previous season, we talked a lot about the idea of people group and not really being rigid in how we define it, but just saying a people group or an affinity of people are someone who identify as like we and us and they and them.
Misconceptions and Diversity in Hinduism
00:08:52
Speaker
And so really what you're saying is in India, a lot of those who have come to faith
00:08:57
Speaker
are not part of it's not it's it's a different people group for maybe lack of a better term would that be correctly yeah yeah they've left their own people their own community their own cost and join now a different community a different cast a different culture and there's a big gap in separation there
00:09:17
Speaker
Can you share with us some of the things, I think of it in this way, that we're looking at from a Hindu's point of view, looking at us as Christians. So what are some of the misconceptions that we as Christians put upon Hindus in looking at Hindus?
00:09:36
Speaker
Yeah, great question. One of them is, I think it's easy as us as Westerners or Americans especially to assume all Indians and all Hindus are the same. You know, oh yeah, we're all American, they're all Indian. But India is so diverse and a lot of people don't understand the immense diversity that every Indian is different, every Hindu is different.
00:09:55
Speaker
Every state in India has multiple different languages. There's thousands of languages in India, thousands of caste, dozens of religions. And so that's why India has over 2,000 unique people groups, most of them unreached. And so each one of those people groups is going to need something different. If you go 100 miles in every direction in India, you're going to get a different language, different caste, different gods, different culture, and we have to be
00:10:23
Speaker
willing to understand and adjust for that diversity. Another big misconception is that people think Hinduism is a religion.
00:10:31
Speaker
which it's not. That's something the British kind of coined about 150 years ago, trying to organize and manage India with these civil law systems. But rather, Indians would say that Hinduism is a way of life. It's more about a culture and society with hundreds and thousands of religions and spiritual beliefs within it. So Hinduism isn't a religion, but it's a culture and society, which will then change again, your understanding and approaches.
00:10:58
Speaker
I think another misconception that a lot of Western Christians have is that people kind of tend to know their brand of Christianity, whether it's their culture or their domination. And they sometimes assume that their version is maybe the only one that exists or is acceptable. And then sometimes they try and import or force that onto others, which has happened a lot in India and creates challenges and misunderstandings and misconceptions. And I think another one too is just,
00:11:25
Speaker
a lot of people don't understand how far away your typical Hindu starts from Lord Jesus. I would say Hindus, especially a high caster, are the most unreached in the world, the most unreached in America, and they start farther than from Jesus than any other culture or religious group, and so typically in the negative, and so just the time and the things that are required to get them
00:11:47
Speaker
moving forward and understanding who Jesus really is, is different than a lot of other contexts. So just understanding that uniqueness and just as we talk about the willingness to learn about culture, worldview, and I'd say just like me when I started, you know, a lot of us are very ignorant about that. We don't understand that as Westerners. And so taking the time to learn about Hinduism, Indian culture,
00:12:11
Speaker
what's meaningful to Hindu people is just really important that a lot of our Western Christian and ministry methods don't really connect and resonate well with Eastern culture people.
Contextual Sharing of the Gospel
00:12:24
Speaker
That's a great point. So at least from my understanding, from a Hindu perspective, experience is really, really important in understanding reality.
00:12:36
Speaker
in sharing with Hindus, what role does the experience play in that?
00:12:44
Speaker
That's huge. That's one of the most important things that we learned is, you know, in Western culture, we define truth in our head and our brain. It's truth, knowledge, understanding. But Eastern cultures, the Jewish people in the Bible, Jesus's culture, you know, Hindus, Muslims, Buddhists, they define truth in their heart through relationships, experience, and emotions. So we're trying to give people truth from our head, but they need truth in the heart. And that's just a huge
00:13:11
Speaker
cultural difference. And so helping people experience Jesus, his peace, his power, his love, sharing your experiences as well. That's what's going to really resonate and connect rather than apologetics, logic, illustrations, and kind of how we try to communicate truth in Western culture.
00:13:31
Speaker
Yeah, great. The focus of our second season of Let's Talk Diaspora has been focused on this idea that there's this uncomfortable middle that almost every topic has ditches on each side. And we're just proposing that the way forward is somewhere in the middle.
00:13:49
Speaker
So in Christian circles, there are various approaches to contextualizing the gospel in general, but specifically to Hindus. If someone, maybe you can just give us some principles, but really speak to those people who have maybe already kind of breached this idea of contextualization. How can we think biblically about contextualization to Hindus?
00:14:10
Speaker
Yeah, that's a great question. And I love that you use the word uncomfortable. I think something that we've really valued and come to learn is that it's our job as messengers, as ambassadors, it's our jobs to become uncomfortable so that those who are receiving the message can be comfortable and it makes sense.
00:14:27
Speaker
And that's kind of the paradigm we see from Paul. But I think the first thing is I just really encourage people to study the Word. As much as we do study the Word and theology in America, I don't think people have ever really studied the Bible from the lens of cross-cultural ministry and really studied it from that angle when I talk to people.
00:14:47
Speaker
And they're kind of shocked that you could even look at that and look for themes. And so I do think there is a biblical basis of cross-cultural ministry, both across the Old and the New Testament. And if you had to summarize it into one word, I'd call it incarnation.
00:15:02
Speaker
the idea of becoming like, adapting. And there's stories and examples from cover to cover Genesis to Revelation of how God in the Old Testament took many things from the local pagan cultures of Egypt and Canaan and adapted those things and repurposed them for His work, His glory, the worship of the Jewish people.
00:15:24
Speaker
just wasn't creating things from scratch, and then we see the examples of Jesus and Paul and the disciples again also incarnating themselves, adapting to the people and context of audience that they were serving. In the perspectives course, if you guys are familiar with perspectives, you know, they use the language of, you know, the Old Testament model of ministry for the Jewish nation was called attraction.
00:15:45
Speaker
Or maybe it's Texan. It's y'all. Y'all come. Y'all come be like us. But the New Testament model of the ministry of Jesus is to go and tell, to incarnate, to become like. And then Paul reaffirms that with 1 Corinthians 9 of becoming all things to all people.
00:16:01
Speaker
Jews to Jews, Greeks to Greeks, slaves to slaves, free to free, you know, Hindus to Hindus, Muslims to Muslims, Buddhists to Buddhists. And so it's the job of the messenger to adapt in 1 Corinthians 9. But 1 Corinthians 7, you know, it's so that they can remain in the family culture, community, and place that God has put them.
00:16:21
Speaker
And so it's not the job of the people who are hearing to change, it's the job of the messenger to change. And I think as Paul strongly writes that, you know, just as the Gentiles don't have to socially, culturally convert and become Jews and get circumcised and eat kosher and give up, you know, pork barbecue. You know, he's very vocal about that in his letters. You know, if you aren't incarnated and if you aren't adapting yourself,
00:16:47
Speaker
You're not going to be following the example of the Bible that we see of what needs to take place for cross-cultural ministry. Wow, this is a lot to really sink in and think about. Can you give us some practical examples of maybe how your contextualization has kind of changed and adapted even over time as you've been working with Hindus and serving Hindus?
00:17:13
Speaker
Yeah, I think one thing too is, you know, we never stop learning. We never arrive. We always have to have this humble teachability. And one of the best ways to learn is from our friends from other cultures. So my Indian friends, my Hindu friends have taught me a ton about the Bible and helped me to understand the Bible better because the Bible, our book is a Jewish Eastern book. And if you're a white Protestant American like me, you know,
00:17:39
Speaker
I'm not Jewish, I'm not Eastern. And Jesus' Jewish culture is way closer to Indian Hindu culture than our Western American Christian culture. So when I study and discuss the word with Hindu friends, they actually help me see things in the Bible that my Western cultural blinders inhibit me with. And so I learn a lot from scripture because the Bible is more closely to an Indian Hindu culture, maybe a Muslim culture than it is our Western Christian culture.
Western Influence and Cultural Divide
00:18:08
Speaker
And so being willing to learn from our friends and let them speak insight into what the word is saying, especially in the historical and cultural context. But for me personally as well, just the more I study scripture, the more I get to see these examples and themes and trends and the importance and also just the expectation of adapting and incarnating ourselves as good news messengers.
00:18:28
Speaker
And if we aren't adapting and incarnating our life and our ministry in the context we're serving, then sadly, we can actually be at risk of preaching a false gospel, expecting people to come be like our culture versus helping them to remain in their own culture. If there are, because this is something I,
00:18:54
Speaker
run into occasionally, if there are Christian background Indian churches in North America who have a leg up on someone like me who doesn't speak Hindi or Gujarati, how would you begin to help them think through the process of contextualization, even though they're Indian, but Indian Christian background? Yeah, man, that's a great question. And I'm always careful with using the word contextualization.
00:19:23
Speaker
one, that word isn't in the Bible, and two, it's such a buzzword and gets paired with syncretism and, you know, other trendy missiology terms. So that's why I like using just more adaptation or incarnation, you know, which are kind of more biblical terms. But speaking specifically about Indian Christians, the Indian Christian churches,
00:19:43
Speaker
You know, there's wonderful believers in churches, both in India and here in the diaspora of North America, but they're so in general, culturally different than your typical Indian Hindu. You know, most of Western missions, especially Catholic and Protestant the last, you know, 500 to 200 years, really exported out and imported into India, Western Christianity and Catholicism. So a lot of Indian churches,
00:20:12
Speaker
look and function the same as our Western American and European churches. It's just the skin color is different and maybe they worship longer. And those are the major differences. So while the people are Indian, the context and the culture is more Western. And so that's gonna be a big barrier and obstacle and is not gonna be attractive to your typical Hindus. And so I think a big challenge for the Indian Christian church community is helping them to see that while they are Indian,
00:20:41
Speaker
And while there's some generic cultural overlap, how they worship in the function and form is more Western and it's not going to connect well with Hindus. It's not going to be reproducible and be able to multiply in Hindu families, communities, groups, and societies. And again, how can we not get that one Hindu to join your Western
00:21:01
Speaker
you know, Indian Christian Church, but how can we get these Hindus to remain and worship and follow Jesus in their own culture and be a light in the darkness in their families and communities and casting vision for that. And it can be really hard for these wonderful brothers and sisters in Indian Christian churches to be able to turn that corner because there's for so long been this just huge divides culturally between Christians and Hindus in India.
00:21:27
Speaker
Yeah, it's so good. We've often talked about, like, we want to see the gospel for every person and a church for every people. And, you know, you've said it already, we've talked about people groups, but it's just because someone's Indian doesn't mean that they are connecting of the same culture, background, just one brief story. And then I really want to ask you about a question in the diaspora. It's just recently
00:21:54
Speaker
an Indian Christian brother and I, we were going out and meeting and connecting with Indian Hindus, and I'm not saying I'm good at this, but I was able to connect better than he could.
00:22:09
Speaker
And it was maybe just because I'm a little bit more aware of some cultural nuance, if he was blinded just from that because of his tradition. But oftentimes we think like, oh, well, that would be better. It's not always the case. Everyone has to be like, to use your word adaptable. Every culture is different. We have to approach it in that way. The question I want to ask about the diaspora, Ken, is you've served in South Asia and then now in the diaspora in North America.
Strategies for Engaging with the Diaspora
00:22:39
Speaker
What has been kind of the main differences you have observed with high caste Hindus in the diaspora versus in South Asia? Yeah, yeah.
00:22:50
Speaker
Well, one, they're still just as unreached here in America as they are in India. They're warned before they come over here, so sometimes they're actually even more skeptical about Christians and Christianity and Christian agendas. Many of the students are warned by their parents or grandparents.
00:23:10
Speaker
you know, don't marry an American and don't become a Christian because these are the two things that are gonna bring the most shame and disrupt our family. And it's still a very slow process.
00:23:22
Speaker
here in America. I think one of the challenges is, especially in certain parts of the US, is all the Christians, which I hate to say, but Christians are the challenge because there's many Christians out there who have really good intentions, who have a heart for the lost, but they lack cultural understanding and cross-cultural ministry skills.
00:23:42
Speaker
And sadly, they're actually doing more harm than good and pushing Hindus farther away from the kingdom. And that's a problem that we didn't have in India.
00:23:54
Speaker
you know, people who are going to go overseas, go through immense training, work, reading, study, learning. They know it's a huge learning curve. There's these expectations to spend time and be good news alongside us amongst these groups. But now when they're coming here, we kind of throw it out the window and think, well, I guess they're here, so it's going to be easier. And we don't have to learn and train and, you know, become equipped. And for some reason, there's a big disconnect there, which,
00:24:23
Speaker
then yeah, when you're working with people, spending time with people who are very far from the Lord and culturally different, you know, so there's sadly many Hindus who tell us stories that have been hurt and burned by Christian outreach, Western Christian, Indian Christian outreach in America, and we have to do a lot of damage control with our Indian friends because of that. And that's a really just interesting thing that we've observed here that we didn't really have to deal with on the other side of the world.
00:24:50
Speaker
What are some of the ways that would be best to begin relationships here with Hindus? Yeah.
00:25:01
Speaker
I think following Jesus' example of serving and blessing, leading with serving and blessing, figuring out what needs are and lead with love. So kind of cold turkey evangelism of just walking up to strangers or knocking on doors.
00:25:22
Speaker
that lacks the key relational part. Another great just example of Jesus, how he incarnated himself is just, he did life with people. And the best way to build relationships in Eastern cultures through hospitality. So spending time in each other's homes, have chai, have coffee, have meals, you know, in Eastern cultures, do relationships in this idea of reciprocity, a back and forth of giving and serving and showing love and respect in these covenantal relationships. And so if you lead with serving and blessing,
00:25:51
Speaker
focus on authentic, genuine relationships, and that's going to open the doors for then, you know, to get to provide opportunities for your friends to experience Jesus, and then, you know, getting to clarify those relationships and experience with good news and good news truth. Typically in the West, we just lead with truth, but without relationship and experience, and that just doesn't really connect well with people from Eastern cultures.
00:26:17
Speaker
So just a follow up to that. So in the context of connecting and in a relationship, tell us maybe just a couple of examples or the role that not necessarily preaching, but stories play in beginning once you have this relationship, beginning to share truth. Is there specific stories that you find that connect or what process do you follow?
00:26:43
Speaker
Yeah, again, I think being a learner is so important. And so one, we have to be willing to step into their turf and their world before we want to invite them into our turf and our world.
Effective Communication through Stories
00:26:54
Speaker
So going to their home, going to their events, going to their places of worship first as a learner asking questions. And then I like to, you know, one thing, you know, I've had thousands of spiritual conversations with Indian friends on both sides of the world. And when we've asked
00:27:12
Speaker
about spiritual things or ask their beliefs about God, never once have they pulled out a piece of paper and drawn an illustration and never once have they handed me a book to read, which is almost what we always do as Western Americans is draw an illustration or give them a book to read.
00:27:26
Speaker
How they learned about spirituality growing up is through stories from their parents and grandparents, from singing songs, reciting poetry, seeing artwork in the temples, watching theatrical plays, reading comic books and watching cartoons as kids. So they're Eastern oral culture, and those are the ways they communicate, and those are the ways they learn about spiritual things.
Recommended Resources and Training
00:27:49
Speaker
And so instead of our infatuation with ink and paper in our Western culture, we have to be able to pivot and repackage
00:27:56
Speaker
and bring good news messaging in their culture, which is stories, songs, and other types of art and oral medium is what's gonna really resonate with their heart. So the message doesn't change, just the packaging and delivery needs to change.
00:28:12
Speaker
Yeah, so for some of our listeners, that may be sounding like, okay, how do I do that? So Ken, what resources, you mentioned the resource already, we're gonna be able to take everything that you share with us and put in the show notes, but what resources would you recommend to first ignite people's passionate desire to build relationships with Hindus, and then the second part, like effectively sharing the message of Jesus with them?
00:28:38
Speaker
Definitely. Yeah, I'll mention some good starting spots. A couple of good books. One is Disciple Making Among Hindus by Tim Schultz, a guy who, alongside Hindu communities here in North America and saw really cool things happen. And it's just his story. It's super practical. He's a great mentor and really taught us about that idea of experiencing.
00:29:04
Speaker
and how to help Indian friends experience Lord Jesus and how to build those Eastern style covenantal relationships. So that book is just super practical.
00:29:14
Speaker
So, Disciple Making it on Hindus by Tim Scholz. Another great one is Christian Barriers to Jesus by Paul Pennington. You know, we just scratched the surface in this conversation about the many barriers of Christians and Christianity that Hindus have that get in the way of Jesus. And so this book is really insightful, really challenging. And while it's written for the Hindu context, it applies to a lot of other religious cultural contexts, and even for this growing secular non-religious generation in America as well.
00:29:42
Speaker
So those would be the two books I would recommend people to start with. There's a great website called The Marg Network. Marg means path. There's blog articles that people have written that are just really practical with good tips. They have a new online course called Alongsiding Course. And it's just, again, talking through how to come alongside your Hindu friends and their spiritual journey. Great experts and even stories from Hindu background believers sharing their journeys in this
00:30:12
Speaker
online course. And then there's also the annual Rethinking Forum Conference, which is an annual gathering of people who are loving and serving in the Hindu context. And then for people who want to go a little bit deeper, there's something called pranam. Pranam, which is a type of greeting in India, it's a pranam collaborative co-learning. It's a
00:30:33
Speaker
teaching program that provides module learning center programs designed to help participants both from Christian Hindu communities to learn with and from each other. It's the most thoughtful, academic, well-formed online cohort course that you could go through. And I love being one of the guest speakers there, but really practical for people wanting to go or serve here locally
00:31:00
Speaker
Um, and yeah, it's just really well done. You learn a ton, uh, one just about the word and your own walk with Jesus, but then also a lot of cross-cultural and Indian, Hindu specific stuff as well. And then there are other trainings out there. Uh, we love to do training, um, with the Hindu context, if people are interested. Um, and then there are also in speaking of oral stuff, you know, with orality and how to do storytelling.
00:31:26
Speaker
and also songs and singing. There's some good online resources that I'll share the links that you can put in the show notes for people to also peruse there.
00:31:38
Speaker
Perfect. Thanks for those. I have one final question. It's kind of out of order, so excuse it because we're near the end. But since we are focused on talking about the diaspora, sometimes we see people working with Hindus in the diaspora with the intention of going to South Asia and so that they have like a season here.
00:32:00
Speaker
I've in my mind been weighing what are the pros and cons of them actually engaging in ministry here before going knowing that it's actually just a short time and really what I'm hearing you say is like there's so far away it takes some time so even those types of people where do you land is that beneficial not beneficial
00:32:21
Speaker
Oh, yeah, I mean, I think anything that you can do to learn before you go, the better, you know, the more time you can spend in relationship, doing life, learning the context, the culture, the language, you know, is so valuable. And so I just view it as a learning opportunity. And if
00:32:46
Speaker
You do end up going great. If you don't, it's still going to be valuable. And so, you know, I think, yeah, if you view it with the learner's mentality versus what I'm going to accomplish before I go, you know, then you're going to be disappointed. But if, hey, how much can I learn before I go, then it's going to serve you well.
Conclusion: Importance of Prayer and Outreach
00:33:04
Speaker
That's a good distinction. Thanks, Ken, for sharing your expertise, your experiences with us, and all the things that Ken shared will put in the show notes just to really begin to help you think through and equip you to build relationships with and share the love of Christ with our Hindu friends. So thanks for joining us on the Let's Talk diaspora podcast.
00:33:29
Speaker
Haradi Jews are some of the most unreached people in the world. But God is moving in this community and we sense that the time has arrived to increase her efforts to reach them with the good news. The key to this outreach is prayer. We invite you to journey with us into the world of the Haradium and to meet Haradi men and women as well as the believers who serve them and to join us in the critical work of prayerful intercession.
00:33:52
Speaker
Start learning and praying with us today with a free digital download or you can request a free copy at upgnorthamerica.com forward slash resources.