In the Hindu world, relationships matter. But as Alongsiders, what kinds of relationships can and should we have with our Hindu friends? Most of us belong to non-Hindu communities. For us, relating with Hindus requires crossing community and culture lines. But as outsiders, what posture should we take as we begin to make these relational…
How important are relationships to you? How many close friends do you have? How easily can you build relationships with people who are different than you? These are questions that have challenged and inspired me over the last several years. The longer I’ve come alongside Hindus, the more I continue to learn how important relationships…
Despite a lot of reading and study on missionary contributions in Hindu contexts I have written very little on this topic. The main reason for this is that the most significant thought and action related to sharing Christ among Hindus has not come from outsiders, but from people born in Hindu families. Nonetheless, an impressive…
Close your eyes and picture oil lamps flickering, rising smoke releasing the strong smell of incense, basins for ritual washing, loud prayers being chanted and sung, and bright colored flowers and fruits on display. Where are we? We may be in a typical Hindu temple, but we may also be in the first century Jerusalem…
Inside a Gujarati Hindu Temple Between 2 pm and 4 pm on any Sunday afternoon, a steady stream of cars approaches the 20-acre BAPS (Bochasanwasi Akshar Purushottam Swaminarayan) temple complex in an eastern suburb of Los Angeles County. The cars, some of which have come from up to 50-75 miles away, are directed to a…
As a part of a conference in North America that some of us recently attended, we put together a quiz to see how much people knew about Hindus and India. It was a lot harder than we thought to try to come up with items that were obviously one option or another, but we had…
