SEND! magazine Second Half 2008: Carrying Love into the Conflict

Carrying Love into the Conflict

The Challenge of Ministry in Northeast India

As Siro Kirit talked with Kumar Singh, he realized he shared a violent history with this man. Kumar was part of a rebel group that terrorized the citizens of Assam, India—and Siro had once been an insurgent himself. When the men met one day, the conversation turned to weapons.

"I told Kumar that I also belong to a group and that we have arms," Siro recounts. "He was very curious and asked me what sort of weapons I had. I told him that I was armed with love.

" 'You carry an AK47,' I told him, 'but I carry love in my heart, and I fight with that.' " Intrigued, Kumar wanted to know more.

Siro was happy to comply.

"I took out the Bible and started to tell him about what the Lord has done for us to save us," Siro said.

Every time the two men saw each other, Siro would continue telling his rebel friend about the love of Jesus.

"Gradually the Lord began to change his heart. Later, Kumar repented and came to know Jesus," Siro reports.

A Land in Turmoil

Siro lives in Assam, India. This small state is at the heart of what is known as the "Seven Sister States"—a cluster of geographically isolated, culturally diverse and politically volatile states in the country's far northeast region.

There are literally dozens of insurgency groups in Northeast India. They are known for their brutal tactics of bombing, kidnapping, extortion and even murder, all thinly veiled behind political rhetoric.

Some rebels are demanding a separate homeland for their tribal or ethnic group. Others are fighting to secede from India and become self-ruled nations. Several groups are railing against the influx of immigrants from nearby Bangladesh. And numerous attempts to broker peace deals throughout the region have come and gone.

All of the insurgent groups have one thing in common—their actions have caused irreparable damage and huge loss of life in the Seven Sister States. According to an analysis by the Reuters news organization, at least 50,000 people have died in the violence since 1947. The exact number of internally displaced persons (IDPs) is estimated to be in the hundreds of thousands.

A Rebel Finds Rest

Siro fought with an Assamese rebel group for seven years. He had just left the group and gotten married when he met Gospel for Asia missionary Hadi Rahman. Hadi shared the Gospel with him.

"He read to me from Matthew 11:28, 'Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest,' " Siro recalled. "He explained to me that the Lord knew what I needed, and he gave me a Bible to read. The Lord began to speak to me."

Soon, through Hadi's consistent witness, Siro gave his heart to Christ. Today, Siro serves as a lay leader at a church in Assam where Hadi is his pastor. This former militant is also an accomplished songwriter and poet, drawing from his love for Jesus to write praise music and faith-filled poetry. One of Siro's songs is popular with local believers: "Every nook and cranny is going to be filled with the Word of God," they sing.

'They Are Beginning to Learn'

Preaching the Gospel in Asia can be challenging, but the circumstances in Northeast India make it even more difficult. Hadi and Siro's village is much like thousands of others throughout this area. It is populated mostly by people from the Karbi tribe, who live a very primitive lifestyle. There is no electricity. There are few schools, so many of the people are illiterate. Alcoholism is rampant.

Although villagers often depend on farming for their livelihood, the uncontrolled wild animal population makes agriculture difficult. Elephants from nearby forests come into the villages at night, destroying whatever crops they can find.

Paved roads are virtually nonexistent, as are hospitals and other facilities that Westerners—and even most other Indians—take for granted.

Rebel skirmishes are common.

"Previously there were hospitals. There was electricity, there were schools and there were other facilities," Hadi remembers. "But the insurgents ruined them. They stole what they could get their hands on and sold it."

And in spite of organized missionary efforts beginning more than 200 years ago, the majority of the Assamese still remain ignorant about the Savior.

"In all these villages, these people don't know they are in spiritual darkness," Hadi explains. "They believe in black magic, and there are a lot of tribal worship rituals. They do pujas (prayer rituals) with alcohol and goats and pigs, saying they are able to receive blessings only if they do these things."

Hadi began working to change that in 1998. Since then, his perseverance, consistent witness and dependence on God's strength have led to five thriving churches. Hadi also supervises and disciples 20 other GFA missionaries who assist him in the ministry, both in outreach to the community and in the churches he has started. The believers in these churches, mostly first-generation, also have a heart to reach the surrounding areas with the Good News.

"After some teaching and learning to worship God and observing the lifestyle of other Christians, they are beginning to learn about true spiritual things," he says.

And despite the seemingly endless strife and unrest, Hadi has great hope and vision for the next generation in this region of India. That is why he worked to establish a GFA Bridge of Hope center in one Assamese village.

Hope—for the Whole Village

Hadi saw that the children in Assam were in dire straits. With few schools, they had no real opportunities to learn. Hadi saw the effects that multiple generations of illiteracy had on the population.

So Hadi asked the GFA leadership if he could start a Bridge of Hope center. When it opened in April 2007, it sparked many changes in the village.

"As soon as the center opened, the people in this area became very happy. Before that, they wouldn't allow Christians to stay here. They were plotting also to trap me and kill me. But after we opened the center, the people now allow us to do outreach and to share God's love," Hadi says. Today, the children of Hadi's former enemies attend the center.

The boys and girls gather each day to receive academic lessons, to learn practical matters like hygiene and social awareness, and to hear about God's love through Bible stories, Scripture memory and—most especially—songs. Music is an important part of Assamese culture, so the songs the children learned captivated their hearts.

"The children sing these songs everywhere," says Siro, who oversees this Bridge of Hope center. "They sing them on their way home, and they sing them in their houses."

'That's When I Found Peace'

Two of Baruah Chowdhury's children are among the joyful young singers. He had heard the Gospel from Hadi before but continued to cling to his traditional religious practices.

"We are Karbis, and we followed the gods of the Karbi tribe," Baruah stated.

Baruah's children had no idea that these songs would change their lives forever.

"They learned God's songs at the Bridge of Hope center and then came home and sang them to us," Baruah said. "Through them I came to hear the Gospel.

Baruah chose to receive Jesus as his Savior. He said that following Christ gave him the one thing his traditional religion failed to deliver.

"It was a tradition for our family to sacrifice once a year," Baruah explained. "We hoped to get peace and freedom from sickness, but I did not get any of these things. When I chose to follow Christ, that's when I found peace."

Because of the witness of families like Baruah's, this Assamese village is opening its collective heart to the Gospel.

Hadi is there, faithfully telling them about Christ's love. There are dozens of other GFA missionaries sharing the Gospel in Assam—and throughout the rest of Northeast India—every day. Even though the circumstances are challenging and the spiritual attitude is harsh, missionaries like Hadi refuse to abandon the people of Northeast India.

"I have a great desire to do God's ministry," he says. "Whatever comes, I am not going to leave His work.

"And even if it is a long distance, we will go in the name of Jesus. We will never be defeated. Our prize is with Jesus."

A Fractured History

The Seven Sister States—Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland and Tripura—are accessible to mainland India by a tiny sliver of land called the Siliguri Corridor. Indians call the narrow, curving passage "The Chicken Neck."

India's northeast region is home to 38.6 million people—less than 4 percent of the country's total population. The states have very few representatives in the country's government and, therefore, little political clout.

What the Northeast lacks in political power, however, it would seem to make up for in terms of geography. These Seven Sisters are the all-important gateway between India and East Asia. These states share borders—and strong ethnic and social ties—with Bangladesh, Bhutan, Myanmar (Burma) and China.

During British rule of India, the northeast region was divided into three separate states. Manipur and Tripura were princely states, and Assam was a British province. In the decades following India's independence from the British in 1947, the Indian government carried out a policy of reorganizing these states along cultural and linguistic lines. This resulted in Assam being divided into five separate states.

Separating the Northeast to accommodate its diverse population was no easy task. Navigating geographic and political solutions to satisfy a mixture of people from more than 400 distinct tribal and subtribal groups—and those of various races, religions and civilizations who speak dozens of languages—was complicated at best.

Maintaining peaceful relations among the new states and their people has proved even more challenging. Northeast residents have never been happy with the shifting boundary lines imposed on them. The indigenous people fear their ancient cultural identities will be lost. Immigrants simply want a place to carve out a new life, and differing religions want to maintain a homeland. Anger and subsequent insurgency have been the result.

The Seven Sisters:
A Glimpse
of Northeast India

Arunachal Pradesh

• Christians suffered severe persecution here during the '70s and '80s; anti-Christian legislation was enacted in 1978 and is still on the books.
• With just over 1 million in population, approximately 37 percent adhere to Hinduism, 36 percent to ethnic/tribal religions, and 13 percent each to Buddhism and Christianity.
• One of the more peaceful states, it suffers primarily from "overflow insurgency" from neighboring states.

Assam

• Assam's population is nearly 27 million, with 65 percent Hindu, 31 percent Muslim and more than 3 percent Christian.
• Gospel for Asia's work in Northeast India began here in 1994; GFA's Compassion Services teams helped provide relief following massive flooding in 2007.
• Known for its tea estates, it is home to tigers and the endangered one-horned rhinoceros.

"Every state in the region is currently affected by insurgent and terrorist violence, and four of these—Assam, Manipur, Nagaland and Tripura—witness scales of conflict that can be categorised as low intensity wars." —The South Asia Intelligence Review
Manipur

• Manipur is "one of the most difficult places to do the ministry," says a GFA leader. More than 30 ethnic groups live—and more than 30 insurgency groups operate—in the state.
• In addition to violence, Manipur also suffers from a drug problem (due to its nearness to the Golden Triangle) and a related HIV/AIDS epidemic.
• Thanks to the efforts of Western denominations among the tribes, most Nagas, Kuki-Chins and Mizos turned to Christianity during the 20th century.
• Today, among approximately 2.5 million people, more than 34 percent call themselves Christians, with 58 percent following Hinduism and 7 percent Islam.

Meghalaya

• Meghalaya boasts some of the world's highest rainfall records, with more than 12 meters (472 inches) annually.
• This state has a population of just over 2 million, with 65 percent professing Christianity, 15 percent Hinduism and 4 percent Islam.
• Many Meghalayan Christians are nominal followers only, and young people from Christian homes are leaving their parents' faith in large numbers and turning to drugs.

Mizoram

• With a population of just under 900,000, Mizoram is one of the most literate and well-educated states in India.
• It also has a high percentage of Christians—85 percent—with Buddhists at 8 percent and Hindus at 7 percent.
• The state faces serious challenges in the areas of government corruption, drug and alcohol abuse, and crime among the youth.

[Northeast India] is completely forgotten. Nobody really thinks about it or knows about it. It surprises us that there isn't more out there in the press about it." —Helen O'Neill, Médecins Sans Frontièrs (Doctors Without Borders)–Holland
Nagaland

• Nagaland has had more than 125 years of Christianity and has experienced three major revivals in its history.
• More than 90 percent of its nearly 2 million people profess Christianity, but there is much denominational infighting and ethnic tension in the Church. Approximately 8 percent are Hindu, and 2 percent are Muslim.
• The insurgency in Nagaland began in 1947, shortly after India's independence from Great Britain, and has been the primary catalyst for nearly all other conflicts in the northeast region.

Tripura

• Massive, illegal immigration from Bangladesh over the past 40 years has led to a majority of Bengalis in the state and has marginalized Tripura's original inhabitants, leading to violent confrontations and retaliation.
• Christians have experienced persecution from both animists and extremist Hindu groups, yet there has been an extraordinary openness to the Gospel among all tribal groups.
• Among Tripura's population of 3.2 million, 85 percent adhere to Hinduism, 7 percent to Islam, 5 percent to Buddhism and 3 percent to Christianity.