Why You Can’t Replace Yourself as an Alongsider to Hindus
Last week I was reading several chapter of the recently released book Sharing Jesus With Hindus, edited by Sam George, and was struck by a quote. Ashwin Ramani, an Indian Christian pastor who grew up in a Hindu family in India but now serves in a Canadian church, writes, “In the North American context, it is common for Christians to introduce their Hindu friends to other Christians from a South Asian background. One should not assume that they are better equipped to share the gospel. By being their neighbor, your Christian witness will always remain of paramount importance.” [emphasis added] (George, 2024, pg. 95). Why would the author, someone who writes about his deep desire for his own people to come to follow Lord Jesus, write this statement? Why wouldn’t a South Asian Christian automatically be more qualified to “share the gospel” with a Hindu person?
“In the North American context, it is common for Christians to introduce their Hindu friends to other Christians from a South Asian background. One should not assume that they are better equipped to share the gospel. By being their neighbor, your Christian witness will always remain of paramount importance.”
I have personally observed this with many Western Christians. Many Western Christians find themselves in a friendship with a Hindu person or Hindu family through natural connections. Whether in the neighborhood or at the workplace, the connection is cordial and ongoing. Finding themselves in this position, a lot of believers feel both an earnest motivation to help their Hindu friend experience Jesus and, simultaneously, a level of confusion and uncertainty about how to discuss spiritual things with their Hindu friend. They might say to themselves, “I don’t know enough”, “I don’t want to offend them”, or “I don’t know what questions they might have”. It seems that many decide the best solution for their own uncertainty must be to connect their Hindu friend to an Indian Christian – the Indian Christian must have all the answers! Yet, Ramani’s quote above discourages against that. Why?
I believe the reason for Ramani’s assertion is that Hindu people receive truth from trusted relationships, and the existing relationship that you have with a Hindu family or individual qualifies you as irreplaceable. Hindu people are collectivist and strongly family- and community-oriented. Your ongoing relationship provides you a position as a respected, observed, “known” individual, and your words and experiences carry relevance and a weight of importance that are not extended to strangers. Even though South Asian Christians certainly share more cultural similarities with Hindu people than Western Christians, if they are unknown strangers to the Hindu family, they are still strangers. Remember, in Hindu society truth is received through webs of trusted relationships.
Walking as an alongsider with Hindu people is best done by the person known by the Hindu family. That is why bringing in a “cultural expert”, whether a South Asian believer or an experienced ministry worker, is so frequently ineffective. The critical prerequisite isn’t a degree of knowledge or cultural familiarity. Rather, it’s being trusted.
The critical prerequisite isn’t a degree of knowledge or cultural familiarity. Rather, it’s being trusted.
Certainly, there are limitations to what a cultural outsider can do. That’s why wise gospel witnesses emphasize demonstrating reticence as a Hindu family explores devotion to Jesus and begins asking difficult cultural questions. There are complex topics, including various family issues (particularly in relationships with parents, siblings, aunts/uncles and cousins) and the taking of a public identity as a follower of Jesus, that are best decided in collaboration with Hindu background followers of Jesus and, to a lesser degree, thoughtful, sympathetic Alongsiders. But these issues primarily come later, after a Hindu family has developed a growing love of Jesus and an openness to following Him. The first stages of walking alongside a Hindu family as they explore devotion to Jesus are always best done by the believer with an existing friendship with that Hindu family, whoever they are.
