Can Indian Christianity Walk on Its Own?
Two recent developments prompted this reflection.
The first was a video I received about the growing Christian movement in Punjab.$ The second was the news that an Indian Christian delegation had met the Union Home Minister in Delhi concerning the proposed amendments to the Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act, or FCRA.
I mention these two developments not because I wish to connect them directly, but because together they made me think about a larger question concerning the development of Christianity in India.
After nearly two centuries of Christian presence in the country, has Indian Christianity become sufficiently confident to stand on its own feet—financially, institutionally, intellectually, and theologically?
This is not a question about the sincerity of individual Christians or the legitimacy of Christian faith in India. Nor is it an argument against foreign assistance. Foreign contributions can support many legitimate activities, including education, healthcare, social service, and charitable work. The question is rather about the extent to which a religious community that has been established in India for generations should continue to depend upon external sources for its institutional strength and direction.
The image that comes to my mind is that of a crutch.
Indian Christians do not need a physical crutch. Indian churches and Christian institutions are perfectly capable of functioning, organising themselves, serving society, and expressing their faith. But perhaps there remains, in some sections of Indian Christianity, a kind of psychological or intellectual dependence on the West—a feeling that the Western Christian world still provides the necessary support for walking the talk of their faith.
This may be one of the enduring legacies of the missionary period.
Much has already been written about the influence of Western Christianity on Indian Christian theology, church administration, missionary activity, institutional structures, and funding. In many cases, there may no longer be direct control from Western churches. Yet historical patterns can survive even after formal control has disappeared. Influence can continue in subtle forms through institutions, theological education, funding structures, models of ministry, and inherited ways of thinking.
The question, therefore, is not whether Indian Christianity should reject its Western heritage. That would neither be necessary nor reasonable. The question is whether it has become sufficiently confident to think for itself within the Indian context.
A faith may be universal, but its manner of being lived is inevitably shaped by the society and culture in which it takes root. Indian Christianity has had almost two hundred years to develop its own responses to Indian society, Indian culture, Indian religious traditions, and Indian intellectual life. Perhaps the time has come to ask whether it can do so with complete confidence, without continually looking elsewhere for its models, resources, or validation.
This is also why the recent discussion about the growth of Christianity in Punjab caught my attention. Religious movements can sometimes grow very rapidly, attract enormous public attention, and appear to become much larger than they eventually prove to be. History has witnessed such developments repeatedly. Some movements endure; others gradually decline or disappear.
This is not peculiar to Christianity. It is a feature of religious and social movements generally.
Therefore, what we are witnessing in Punjab today may simply become another episode in the longer history of religious movements in India. Time will tell what is lasting and what is temporary.
I do not want to add yet another polemical argument to the enormous literature already written on Christian theology, missionary activity, church administration, foreign funding, and the relationship between Western and non-Western Christianity. There is already more than enough rhetoric on all sides.
What seems more useful to me is to ask a simple question:
Can Indian Christianity now discover the confidence to walk on its own feet?
That does not mean abandoning its connections with Christians elsewhere in the world. Christianity is, by its own understanding, a universal faith. Nor does it mean refusing legitimate assistance from abroad. It means developing the maturity to distinguish between fellowship and dependency, between cooperation and direction, and between receiving assistance and continually needing an external support system.
A mature Indian Christianity need not become anti-Western. It simply needs to become fully Indian.
It should be able to think with its own mind, organise its own institutions, develop its own theological responses, support its own legitimate activities, and discover how its faith can speak meaningfully within the Indian context.
An Afterthought
There is one further question that occurred to me because of the timing of these recent events.
At about the same time that public attention has been drawn to the growing Christian movement in Punjab, a delegation representing various Christian denominations and minority organisations met the Union Home Minister in Delhi concerning the proposed FCRA Amendment Bill.
I do not wish to attribute any particular motive to that delegation. Nor do I suggest that approaching the government to express concerns about proposed legislation is improper. In a democracy, any community or organisation affected by a law has every right to make its concerns known.
The question that occurred to me is simply this: why has this particular concern become so prominent at this particular moment, after the proposed FCRA amendment has come before Parliament?
The Bill is framed in religion-neutral terms and concerns the regulation of foreign contributions generally. Indeed, the Home Minister himself reportedly assured the Christian delegation that the proposed legislation is religion-neutral.
So what particular concerns have made the proposed changes important enough for Christian leaders to seek a direct discussion with the Home Minister?
Perhaps the answer is entirely straightforward. Perhaps their concerns relate to legitimate charitable, educational, social, or institutional activities. There may be perfectly valid reasons for their intervention.
I am not suggesting otherwise.
I am simply leaving the question open.
And perhaps that question takes us back to the larger reflection with which I began: after nearly two centuries of Christianity in India, is Indian Christianity ready to walk entirely on its own feet—not in opposition to the West, but with the confidence that it no longer needs a Western crutch?
That, to me, is a question worth thinking about.
Ashram, August, 2026
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