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

strata of society. However, the need for a self-supportive church became a major
missionary concern for Indian Christians. Nevertheless, a significant improvement
in the socio-economic status of the Church in India is not yet achieved, as the
majority of Indian Christians belong to the lower and poorer classes even today.
T.K. John’s study provides an image of Indian Christians at the end of the
twentieth century. According to him ‘about 60% of the Christians are from Dalit
communities, 15% from OBC [Other Backward Class], and 12% tribals.’ 7
Therefore, the poor socio-economic condition of the Church in India is a serious
concern.
It appears that Pentecostal Christianity in Rajasthan is yet to be a self-supportive
community. Twenty out of the twenty five pastors who were interviewed said that
their churches need effort to be self-supportive. They are hardly able to support
their families with the financial support they receive from the head office of their
respective organizations. Only five pastors said that their churches are self-
supporting, and three of them stated that their churches support other missionaries
as well. These five pastors admitted that they do not receive any support from the
head office. The other twenty pastors said that most of their church members are
working class and, these churches cannot support a pastor and his family. Ten out
of the twenty pastors confessed that they work hard on their farm, alongside their
pastoral ministry, in order to meet their needs.
7 T.K. John, ‘Image: Image of the Christian Presented in India Today,’ in Church in India in
Search, 127. Here, both Catholic and Protestant Christianity are included. On the basis of their
social and economic condition, some citizens of India are classified as Scheduled Castes (SC),
Scheduled Tribes (ST) and Other Backward Class (OBC).
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