TRACING CONTOURS OF A TRIBAL CHURCH
FROM LIVE-IN EXPERIENCE IN BASTAR
Keywords:
Adivasi, Bastar Church, Church from below, Communion of Churches, Ecclesiogenesis, Individual Church, Jesuan Community, Tribals, Tribal ChurchAbstract
A genuine encounter of the gospel and the culture of the people leads to the realization of the Church or ecclesiogenesis. The present article is an attempt to trace contours of new paradigms of a tribal Church in Bastar, an exclusive tribal region in the state of Chhattisgarh. Visualizing a tribal Church in Bastar becomes a serious imitation of the paradigm of Jesus, a radical conversion to the mind of Jesus and achieving a structural change in the life of the Church returning to her original roots to meet the present world with its challenges and promises. It is following the stand point of Jesus with determination in responding courageously and creatively to the challenges, especially in transcending all that prevent people from becoming better humans in various contexts. The tribal Church in Bastar with incarnational approach must be a ‘Church from Below,’ which is sensitive to and fully immersed in the tribal context and breaks down the barriers of any kind in building up the Kingdom of God.
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