India is often hailed as one of the world’s emerging economies, winning many international contracts and producing large numbers of highly qualified university graduates every year. Some Indians are sceptical about their country’s growing economy, though. They point out that rural areas profit much less from the rapid economic development than the urban centres. Also, scheduled caste (Dalit) and tribal (Adivāsi) communities are less likely to benefit from improvements in economy and education.

Many in those communities are experiencing a change of a different kind: a religious one. When I travelled to India last October, I could not help feeling that something special is happening among the lower caste, Dalit and tribal communities. Touched by the liberating power of the gospel of Jesus Christ, they gather in small communities to sing their songs of praise, pray their prayers and to deepen their faith. Their churches are often not more than sheds in the slums they inhabit, or simple structures in their rural villages. But they are zealous and their movement appears to be growing.

Indian Christianity has many faces, not only in terms of denomination but also in terms of caste. There is little doubt, however, that the majority of Christians, probably between 70 and 90 %, are Dalits. Add to that those from lower castes and Adivāsi backgrounds and it is clear that the majority of Christians are not upper class, rich and influential. James Massey  of the Centre for Dalit Studies in New Delhi estimates that 90 to 95 % of Christians are Dalits or Adivāsis. It appears that most church growth takes places among these communities today.

In India the idea of conversion is politically charged: there is a history of mass conversions for seemingly political reasons. The present movement of poor communities towards Christianity is therefore viewed as a political threat by some Hindu leaders. It is up to the Christian church to explain that conversion is more than just political empowerment. It entails finding forgiveness, new life, new joy, personal and communal freedom, a future hope. Christ is good news to people who are regarded as lower than animals by their surroundings. Visit a Dalit church and you will sense that newfound freedom in Christ among the worshippers. You will hear in their songs and in their prayers. You will see it in their faces as they talk about their faith journeys.

The challenge for Indian Christians today is to communicate to their neighbours that this freedom in Christ is what their faith is about. As Christian Dalit leader Joseph D’souza asks: “Will the Dalits two decades from now have fully accepted the forgiveness of sin that Christ offers at the Cross so that they know deliverance from the notion that God is punishing them and does not love them? Will they experience the liberation of being counted as sons and daughters of God? Will they exult in their adoption as the children of God?” (Dalit Freedom Now, 84)