CHRISTIANITY IN INDIA.

Waikato Times, Volume 97, Issue 15271, 22 June 1923, Page 7

CHRISTIANITY IN INDIA.

ITS GREAT POSSIBILITIES FIFTY. MILLIONS MAY BE .EASILY• CONVERTED. INDIAN BISHOP’S VIEWS. The problems and aspirations of the 'Christian churches in India were touched upon by Bishop Azariah of Doruakal, in a speech at Wellington. A small Community. So far, he said, the Christian community in India numbered only four millions Yet they wielded a great deal of influence Two of the foursecretaries' of the Presidency Of Madras, one of the six judges of the High Court, and one of the City Courts, were Indian Christians. But they could not gauge the influence of the Indian Christian community from the few -leaders who had come to Iho front. It was a great and permanent fact. “Young Indeed.” The Church in India was very young indeed. The problems beforo the Church were great, and they were trying hard to solve them. There were three great problems with which they were face to face. First, the Church was trying to realise for themselves the ideal of a united Church at which they aimed. At present their position was peculiar. They could consecrate no bishops; they could create no diocese without a mandato from ttie King and the Archbishop of Canterbury Also, a large portion of the Church was formed by Indian Christians. And, though the Prayer Book was part> oi every Anglican, to the Indian it was a new thing. They wanted some form in which the Indian would he able to pour out his devotion, and in their attempt to get this they asked for aid. They wanted not only a Churclr of England in India, but a Church of ludia in union and communion with the Church of England. (Applause.) A Matter Of Union. The second problem was one oi union. In England or New Zealand, 'the denominational differences were probably largely of custom or of history., The churches in India wero coming together, trying to keep in touch with those churches which had given them birth, feeling that, united, they would be much better able to grapple with the great task of Christianising India. Lastly, there was another great problem, which was the bringing into the Church the untouched or depressed castes No loss than 50 millions of people, who formed the agricultural backbone of the country were agricultural labourers mostly, and had not been able to realise their true life. In This Generation. In his own diocese they had a constant inflow. There were 103,000 of these people, and thfv were adding to their Church membership from them at the rate of about ten thousand a year. And if the Church had the men and the money to put into the lie id it was possible to bring into the Church in this generation all the 50 millions of outcasts in India.