a contextual missiology of the spirit - eTheses Repository ...

in the academic year 2001-2002. He had submitted a reference letter, saying that it
was from his local pastor from Madhya Pradesh (MP), which stated that he was a
fresh convert from a Hindu family. The pastor’s surname was given as Masih. 145
His fellow students noticed some strange behaviour and reported it to the faculty
members, which initially was not taken seriously by the College authority. It
turned out that the young man was struggling to pretend he was a genuine
Christian, but realized that he could not continue in disguise and finally left the
college. Soon everybody was shocked to see a local newspaper report accusing the
institute of practising forced conversion. A similar incident took place a few
months later. Two other students came with a reference letter from a local pastor
in Indore, MP. Surprisingly, this pastor’s surname was also Masih, and he
requested that admission be given to these two young men, who were introduced
as new converts from a Hindu family. They did not have any sponsor to bear the
expense of the study. However, before they were given admission a few senior
students were suspicious of their movements and reported this to the faculty
members. After a few hours of questioning these young men admitted that they
were sent by a nearby militant organization, and they begged to be forgiven and
not to be reported to the police. They were pardoned and sent away peacefully, as
the Principal of the college said, ‘we should not retaliate as it is our theology to
forgive even our enemy.’ After these incidents, FBC started taking measures to
develop a more efficient strategy for recruiting students from various states.
145 Masih (literally means Christian) was a common surname held by most north Indian Christians.
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