The National Council of Churches in India for the past three years in particular has been engaged in inviting the Churches in India to adopt a new missionary approach to the ageless challenge of Dalit suffering and the ever increasing torture and oppression of nearly 200 millions of the downtrodden people of India, caught in a socio-cultural-religious trap with no hope of retrieval. The solemn appeal of the NCCI to the Church in India is to adopt, the paradigm shift in Mission, namely Dalit liberation as the agenda of the Church as a visible and active preferential ministry. While liberation included salvation, the traditional salvation aim excluded the liberation of all dalits irrespective of the fact that they are converted to Christianity or not.
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paradigm shift in Mission was placed before many Conferences and Consultations
convened by the NCCI. Firstly at a Consultation of NCCI Bishops and Church
and dalit social activists. After intensive debate and discussions, the Consultation
overwhelmingly and with great hope and zeal, adopted the new paradigm shift
of Dalit liberation as the Mission agenda of the Church in India in the 21st
century.
Secondly, for
the sake of wider debate and discussions, the new agenda of the Church-Dalit
liberation - was placed before a highly representative global theological
thinkers and Church and Social activists, at which national and international
Church representatives - about a hundred of them participated. Among the very
highly recognized leaders were the then General Secretary of the World Council
of Churches Dr. Konrad Raiser and Mr. Peter Prove as personal representative
of the General Secretary of Lutheran World Federation, Dr. Ishmael Noko, representatives
of Churches and Mission around the world notably Rev. Dr. Rafael Malpica Padilla,
Director for Global Mission of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America,
among many others, calling upon the Churches in the world to adopt the paradigm
shift towards Dalit liberation as the central Mission objective of the Church
in India and recommended several practical steps including establishment of
National Dalit Task Force, to carry out effective strategies for Dalit liberation
in India. It is hoped that this significant paradigm shift in Mission representing
the agenda of 60 million (The Encyclopaedia Britanica 2004 Year Book puts
Christian population at about 60 millions) Christians of India will also be
highlighted at the projected Athens Mission Conference of World Council of
Churches in 2005.
Finally the Quadrennial Assembly of all the member Churches of the National
Council of Churches in India meeting early 2004, adopted the recommendations
of the National Bishops' Conference and of the Global Conference related to
Dalit liberation.
The Assembly discussed the paradigm shift in Mission on the paper entitled
"Tryst of the Cross with India's Destiny". The Global Conference recommended
establishment of the Dalit Task Force to carry out the recommendations of
this Conference as well as to launch the action programmes of the Dalit liberation
movement, which was accepted.
A proposal to hold a Global Conference outside India on Dalit liberation and
activation of the Dalit Task Force was also endorsed by the Assembly.