From the Worldwide Faith News archives www.wfn.org
PC(USA) Greets Delegation from Church of North India
From
PCUSA NEWS <pcusa.news@ecunet.org>
Date
03 Feb 2000 20:07:41
3-February-2000
00057
PC(USA) Greets Delegation from Church of North India
by John Filiatreau
LOUISVILLE - A delegation of officials of the Church of North India (CNI)
visited the Presbyterian Center here this week as guests of the Ecumenical
Partnership Program Area of the Worldwide Ministries Division.
The visitors were the Most Rev. Vinod A.R. Peter, the CNI moderator;
the Right Rev. Z. James Terom, deputy moderator; Dr. V. S. Lall, general
secretary; and the Rev. Enos Das Pradhan, treasurer.
Victor Makari, the ecumenical program's coordinator for the Middle East
and South and Southeast Asia, welcomed the CNI officials during a luncheon
on Feb. 1. He said the enduring
partnership between the CNI and the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) could
serve as a model for all PC(USA) international missions.
"Working in partnerships with churches that God has called and created
in their own places is the most credible way of doing mission in the world
today," Makari said. "Partnership is at the heart of how we do mission
around the world. The Holy Spirit has been active when missionaries have
gone to distant places - but that same Spirit had been active long before
the missionaries were on the scene."
Presbyterian missionaries have been on the scene in northern India
since 1834.
The CNI came into being in 1970 when six Protestant denominations
decided to become one, after 40 years of negotiation and dialogue. In the
words of Peter, the moderator, the CNI was created "as a movement against
(traditional) institutional forms of mission services," with a particular
focus on "the poor and marginalized, and related issues of social justice."
Peter said India today is a land of contradictions: "Today in India we
have a couple of thousand colleges and universities, yet our illiteracy
rate is very high. ... Food is very plentiful, but still there are people
who go hungry, and children who face malnutrition." He said "growing
religious fundamentalism" in India has challenged the CNI to devote itself
to mission "with new energy, new strength, a new vision, and renewed
commitment," and added: "Times are not easy, politically."
"God has brought into being living, witnessing churches in virtually
every land," Makari said. "We must learn from them and work with them in
supportive ways. The church can benefit a great deal by having people from
our partner churches come and spend time in our midst and help us
rediscover our own calling."
The CNI officials traveled to Louisville after a weeklong meeting in
Toronto, Canada, with all its North American church partners.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
This note sent by Office of News Services,
Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)
to the World Faith News list <wfn-news@wfn.org>.
For additional information about this news story,
call 502-569-5493 or send e-mail to PCUSA.News@pcusa.org
On the web: http://www.pcusa.org/pcnews/
If you have a question about this mailing list,
send queries to wfn@wfn.org
Browse month . . .
Browse month (sort by Source) . . .
Advanced Search & Browse . . .
WFN Home