VULNERABLE MISSION

THE KING’S ENGLISH IN A TAMIL TONGUE
After repeated conversations I came to realize that the language of the KJV was not
the primary issue here; it was much more complex than that. Loyalty to the KJV is
directly linked to loyalty to the tradition that had been taught to them in years past by
highly committed missionaries. These American missionaries are heroic in the collective
memory of this Church of Christ community. They propagated their faith with great
confidence. Their version of Christian truth is still canonical in this network. And visiting
Roy’s group of churches is like witnessing the opening of a time capsule, like stepping
back in time to the Church of Christ of my grandparents. Their teachings and practices
have not evolved or indigenized like I had expected. Within 24 hours of my first arrival
to Chennai I found myself entangled in long discussions about why instruments in the
worship setting could jeopardize a person’s soul, why non-Church of Christ Christians
are theologically suspect, why drinking alcohol is a sin, and why women must take no
leadership role whatsoever in public worship. Furthermore, I had heard the same arguments
laid out in the same ways in the United States. I recognized these teachings as a
part of the conservative strands of the Church of Christ heritage, but to witness them
being propagated boldly in twenty-first century India hinted at two things: (1) this network
probably received support from the most conservative Churches of Christ in North
America; and (2) loyalty to the old ways of the missionaries took precedence over cultural
relevance in this ministry.
When I arrived to India, I was given a hero’s welcome due to a strange twist of irony.
While Indians are famously hospitable, and the Church of Christ connection certainly
deepened the immediate level of trust between this community and me, there was something
else going on. At the Chennai airport, an SUV full of Church of Christ preachers
received me like a long-lost relative, with enthusiastic cheers. I found out later, after
lengthy discussions, that they thought I was associated with the missionaries who had
brought the gospel to them decades before. I, however, was clueless to all that.
CANADIAN MISSIONARY J. C. BAILEY
When I first traveled to India in 2003 I was actually working on my PhD at the University
of Calgary, Canada. This was significant because upon arrival to India, I was
surprised to find that this work was actually founded by a legendary Church of Christ
missionary from Canada. His name was J. C. Bailey (1903–2001). 28 In 1963, at the age
of 59, Bailey moved to India as a missionary after many years working in ministry, education,
and publishing. 29 His towering stature in the Canadian Church of Christ scene is
well known and is the subject of at least one master’s thesis. 30 I never met J. C. Bailey but
28 Bailey’s life is chronicled in his two autobiographies: Forty Years a Canadian Preacher, 1921–61 (Abilene, TX:
Mathews Printing, 1961); and My Appointment with Destiny (Fort Worth, TX: Star, 1975). The second one deals
with Bailey’s mission work in India. Another source for Bailey’s life is a chapter entitled “J. C. Bailey” by J.
B. Trotter in volume two of Ira Rice’s autobiography Pressing toward the Mark: An Autobiography (Memphis, TN:
privately printed, 1998), 371–79.
29 The biographical information of J. C. Bailey comes from two sources: his obituary in “Obituaries,” The
Christian Chronicle (July 2001): http://www.christianchronicle.org/article693198~Obituaries; and The
Gospel Herald 66, no. 8 (August 2001). The Gospel Herald is a Canadian Church of Christ publication. The entire
August 2001 issue is devoted to J. C. Bailey.
30 The thesis is by Shelley Jacobs, who plans to publish the thesis eventually. Shelley Jacobs, e-mail message
to author, March 24, 2011. See also Bobby Ross, Jr., “Little Church on the Prairie: God’s work in Gravel-
97